House of Cards
When it comes to online content, do newspapers know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em?
The online game many news organizations are playing these days is a lot like poker. Everyone’s waiting to see what cards the other players have. But as Howard Elliott, managing editor of web/editorial page at The Hamilton Spectator, points out, to even get to the table you’ve got to have the goods—in other words, great journalistic […]
King of the Hill
Douglas Fisher, who died in September, wrote thousands of columns over four decades. His old-school reportage earned the one-time MP the moniker "Dean of the Parliamentary Press Gallery"
When a radio or television report suggested something was “unprecedented in Canada,” Douglas Fisher would probably guffaw and shake his head. He knew it probably wasn’t. And who could argue with him? Even if you drummed up the courage to confront his massive six-foot-five frame, you would be faced with a man who could recall […]
Extreme J-school
From a safe distance, Chelsea Murray reports on courses where the real-life lessons are don't get killed or kidnapped or captured
Aboard a vehicle called the Rhino Runner, four journalists pass through some of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad. It’s August 2, 2009, and they’re travelling to the American military’s Forward Operating Base Warhorse. They’re surrounded by highly trained soldiers. They don’t feel so unsafe. Recounting the moment early the next day, Tom Hewitt wrote […]
Webster’s Digest
Reader's Digest Canada has over six million readers and an ambitious new editor hired from one of the country's most daring small magazines. But, asks Matthew Halliday, can Derek Webster save the old standby from irrelevance?
Late this spring, the editorial team at Reader’s DigestCanada (circulation 936,000, founded 1948) gathered in the magazine’s offices on Montreal’s René Lévesque Boulevard Ouest and listened to a two-hour spiel about how to bring the staid old brand up to date. The insight came courtesy of Derek Webster, founding editor of the award-winning but reader-starved Maisonneuve (circulation 5,000, founded […]
Defamatory Bubbles
Iain Bain discusses the laws surrounding libel and defamation with litigation partner and defamation attorney Ryder Gilliland concerning G20's bubbles incident
Iain Bain discusses the laws surrounding libel and defamation with litigation partner and defamation attorney Ryder Gilliland concerning G20’s bubbles incident.
To Report and Protect
With the assistance of a confidential source, Daniel Leblanc helped uncover the sponsorship scandal that rocked the Liberal government. Now the reporter is being asked to name names Katherine Laidlaw looks at the Supreme Court case that could reshape investigative journalism in Canada
“While he likes the occasional brown envelope, he is also open to anonymous emails.” That’s the cheeky one-liner Daniel Leblanc delivers at the end of his Globe and Mailonline bio. An Ottawa-based reporter since 1998, Leblanc has been fighting the absence of source protection in this country for four years. Next week, he’ll sit in the […]
What Women Want
Women's service magazines traditionally bring in top ad dollars. But as Barbara Jobber found out, old standby Homemakers was falling behind upstarts such as More
In an empty downtown Toronto furniture design store in early March, 200 people meet to see, listen and eat the new Homemakers magazine. “It is an experience of the brand,” explains editor-in-chief Kathy Ullyott. At one booth, a life coach teaches time-saving strategies. Beside it is the energizing smoothie stand and five-minute pilates demonstrations-all part of the […]
Agent Derek Finkle
The man behind the Canadian Writer's Group would like freelancers to get what they deserve
Derek Finkle doesn’t think Canadian freelancers are getting what they deserve. The former editor of Toro will be officially launching the Canadian Writers Group on May 11. The group has 50 freelancers signed on now, and the plan is to at least double that number by the end of the summer. It’s not a union. […]
