Going Long (and We Mean Really, Really, Really Long)
The Hamilton Spectator's Jon Wells has but one job—to write extended serial narratives. Mostly they're about crime in his city, but there was one about the nasty industrial inferno that claimed the life of a steeltown firefighter. In conversation, Wells explains how he keeps it all together without losing the plot
The newspaper medium is an easy mark for ridicule. Itscaricature consists of the inverted pyramid, the 5 o’clock deadline and a strict adherence to “just the facts, ma’am.” Yet for a half-decade Jon Wells has worked within the supposedly rigid confines of his daily newspaper, The Hamilton Spectator, and repeatedly tested the limits of long-form […]
Social Conscience + Making Money = Successful Business Magazine Strategy
The editors of the six-year-old Corporate Knights and the recently launched unlimited are confident their mix of corporate social responsibility and profit will appeal to the growing pool of millennial workers
With three days to go until the third issue goes to press,unlimited editor Dan Rubinstein isbusy. Hunched over his computer, he does the last edit on the cover story for January-February’s “Transformation” issue. The story is a feature on 24-year-old millwright Billie Lyons, a woman who symbolizes the gender shift in the trades industry. Rubinstein […]
The Journalism Responsibility Unit
The Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision to allow a new libel defence, “responsible journalism,” opens the door for more stories in the public interest—or does it?
Libel plaintiff lawyer Ronald F. Caza was arguing a motion in an Ottawa court when he received the email from his junior lawyer, Jeff Saikaley. Caza knew exactly when the decision would be made. With 30 seconds of downtime, he checked his BlackBerry and read an email saying something along the lines of, “New defence […]
Sex Bazaars, Porn Stars
Taboo subjects are the last things you'd expect to read in a new South Asian lifestyle magazine, but Desi Life is set on smashing stereotypes
Pick up the October–November issue of Desi Life magazine and you’ll see the headline “Boy Wonder” and a smiling 13-year-old, who happens to be a golf champion, lying in a pool of golf balls. But a quick look inside the magazine reveals decidedly more provocative material: the experiences of five gay men in South Asia, […]
The Case of the Abandoned Shoe Store
Directly across from the western block of Parliament Hill stands the National Press Theatre at 150 Wellington Street, the traditional site of news briefings for every prime minister since Lester B. Pearson in 1965. Because of an ongoing feud with the national media, however, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has only set foot in the gallery […]
The Great Newspaper War of Woodstock, New Brunswick
Ken Langdon says his upstart and independent Carleton Free Press injects competition into New Brunswick's newspaper landscape. Brunswick News, owner of Langdon's former paper, the Woodstock Bugle-Observer, alleges Langdon used proprietary information for his start-up
Ken Langdon was sitting in a Tim Hortons in Woodstock, New Brunswick, talking with a friend and drinking a black coffee when his cell phone rang. Debbie Bustard, house proctor of a residence for students from New Brunswick Community College that Langdon owns, was calling. Two forensic accountants were at the residence; they had a […]
Not Older, Better
If you scan the glossy covers of women’s magazines on newsstands these days, you’ll see a particular type of woman – young, thin, sexy. Or maybe a celebrity. Or a model. Or maybe food. What you won’t see, usually, are middle-aged women staring back at you. More, launched last March, is designed to be something […]
Metal on Metal
How metal magazines—and their fans—keep the Canadian music magazine industry afloat
On the right night, at the right bar, metal fans show up ready to go. Young men and women, barely old enough to cross the ID line, scan merchandise, buy drinks and wait for the show. At the end of a good night, they’ll stagger, — if not limp — toward the exit doors, disoriented, […]
Blog Rolling at CBC
Some complain the new blogging guidelines are draconian. Others, who wrote their own manifesto on rules of conduct over a year ago, say CBC management extends an olive branch to employee bloggers
On August 3, Inside the CBC posted the entry, “CBC proposes approving employees’ personal blogs.” Within 24 hours, CBC’s official employee blog received 60 replies. Another 40 were posted before the end of the month. Many were unhappy with the ideas proposed by management, and several responses called the rules “heavy handed” and “way over […]
Judgement Day
When Paula Todd was a TVO talk-show host she was both a shoulder to cry on and a tough interrogator. On her new CTV legal program The Verdict, she emphasizes the latter, tossing her acerbic opinion into the mix just to watch the fur fly
Paula Todd sits at a table in a CTV studio room. She wears a smart black suit and pink blouse, with a string of pearls around her neck. Her blond hair frames her strong cheek bones. The tag line for the Wednesday, October 17 edition of The Verdict with Paula Todd reads: “Aggressive Panhandlers.” The […]
