Another Year, Another Epithet
After the Boxing Day shootings in Toronto's downtown core, local news media quickly labelled 2005 the Year of the Gun. They say they weren't sensationalizing
Rob Roberts, the National Post‘s Toronto editor, got the news within 10 minutes. He was short-staffed – it was, after all, the day after Christmas. So he sent in what he had, two reporters and a night person. He didn’t know who was dead – if anyone – but he knew the story was big. […]
Who Needs Journalists?
From Wikinews to Our Canada, from Fashion to Chatelaine, readers are supplying more—and, in some cases, all—of the editorial content. It's a threat to journalists' livelihoods, but it sure makes the publishers' statements look good
Journalists, are you worried about more magazines folding, about the onward march of corporate downsizing, about the steady migration of readers to the Internet? Of course you are! But fear not. At the Ryerson Review of Journalism, we’ve developed a plan for you to stay in the game. You see, journalists really can benefit from […]
War of the Words
At Canadian Press, style is never taken for granted. Usage, sensibly enough, often comes down to what doesn't look stupid—for now
Patti Tasko calls it a “huge fight”: Canadian Press (CP) versus the town of Lac La Biche, Alta. No blood was shed, no one was killed, and there were certainly no sex scandals. But calls came into CP, including one from the mayor, with people riled up about one thing: the spelling of the town’s […]
Spoiling for a Fight
Two Toronto hospitals, two in-depth series, two newspapers... same day. How did it happen? How did they get access? And what was in it for the hospitals? A behind-the-scenes look
The day before her “Situation Critical” series on Sunnybrook hospital’s critical care unit was set to be published in The Toronto Star, health policy reporter Tanya Talaga caught a glimpse of an open spread of that day’s edition of The Globe and Mail on a colleague’s desk. A half-page ad jumped out at her: “Life […]
Condition Critical
With the proliferation of culture-based websites and a trend toward bite-sized reviews, the professional arts critic may be an endangered species. But there is hope—Internet-based magazines like CBC Arts Online and Television Without Pity are providing a sanctuary for this increasingly scarce brand of journalism
When a big-budget film about the life of Johnny Cash was released in November, Eye Weekly film reviewer Jason Anderson was disappointed. “As a biopic, Walk the Line is riddled with familiar problems,” he wrote. “Director James Mangold’s movie is based largely on Cash’s own frank memoirs so the issue is not that Mangold whitewashes […]
Make That a Double Latté With Internet Topping
Wireless Toronto has helped several GTA restaurant proprietors set up free Internet access. It not only undercuts corporate gouging, but also creates an activist infrastructure. The lofty goal is strong local communities, but will people start to congregate?
“Have you used the Internet?” asks Michael Pereira. Of course I’ve used the Internet, but the question is not actually as odd as it seems. Pereira is a volunteer with Wireless Toronto, a non-profit group dedicated to bringing free wireless Internet access to the city. We’re sitting in the café at 401 Richmond, an arts […]
If You Build It, Will They Come?
The fledgling Canadian Freelancers Union asks independent writers to join together and improve their financial lot. It's a noble ideal, but whether it's achievable is an open question
Thank God for the union! These stalwart guardians of labour rights are often the only defense against The Man and his ruthless march towards higher profit and increased shareholder value. While it’s hard to imagine Canadian journalists as soot-stained workers streaming out of a coal mine or steel mill, they still have to deal with […]
The Mourning After
Saturday Night's latest death reinforces the notion that Canada cannot support general interest magazines—or does it?
An email went around the Saturday Night magazine offices on Tuesday, October 18, announcing that a meeting had been scheduled for Thursday. The email listed a time, but no agenda. There was a mood of suspicion in the windowless boardroom on the morning of the 20th, as a dozen editorial and art staff mulled over […]
