I may not be an expert, but I play one in print
There was more booze on that bar’s back wall than I’ll drink in my entire life. Yet I sat on a stool, staring at 400 bottles of alcohol, as the bartender pointed out the most popular spirits, showed off several different types of glasses and compared brandies to bitters (like I knew the difference). The […]
I don’t always play by hometown rules
As I reach for the voice recorder on the desk, the professor asks, casually: “You’ll send me my quotes, right?” I freeze. I’m sitting in an office on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, finishing up an interview my classmate and I are conducting for a story about legalizing weed.
As I reach for the voice recorder on the desk, the professor asks, casually: “You’ll send me my quotes, right?” I freeze. I’m sitting in an office on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, finishing up an interview my classmate and I are conducting for a story about legalizing weed. Trying to be polite, […]
My name’s Amelia. I’ll be your server tonight.
The tables are filling up quickly and the kitchen bell is ringing, just as more diners arrive. I seat them before running back for the food. The young woman at the door doesn’t have a reservation, but I happen to know who she is.
The tables are filling up quickly and the kitchen bell is ringing, just as more diners arrive. I seat them before running back for the food. The young woman at the door doesn’t have a reservation, but I happen to know who she is. Her photo appeared in a story with my byline. We exchanged […]
Campus clampdown: student governments bully the papers that cover them
Journalists at schools across the country are under attack from the politicians who control their budgets
Last summer, Queen’s University’s The Journal ran a story on the renovation and rebranding of a money-losing campus pub. Two months later, the school’s student government pulled its ads—a large part of the paper’s revenue. The move was, according to co-editor-in-chief Alison Shouldice, “an extreme threat to the democracy of the student body on campus.” […]
Endangered species: why we’ll miss radio documentaries when they’re gone
Steve Wadhams proves that despite budget cuts and declining audience members, storytelling through sound is still powerful
Steve Wadhams is editing and layering the voices for a CBC radio documentary about the persecution of Italian Jews during the Second World War for his show, Living Out Loud. His office in the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto is small and the door is open. The foot traffic of radio colleagues out in the […]
Crystal balls and strikes: swing and a miss for baseball’s pre-season predictions
After the hype died down, the Blue Jays didn’t win the World Series last year—but don’t expect that to stop fortune-telling reporters
“If something seems too good to be true, it probably is,” cautioned National Post baseball writer John Lott in November 2012, as fans whipped themselves into a frenzy over the Toronto Blue Jays. With everyone in baseball talking about the team—which had just completed a massive deal with the Miami Marlins for two starting pitchers […]
Office space: the story behind newspaper buildings
As more and more journalism moves online, do the headquarters of publications still matter?
In the city of Metropolis, one building stands out from the rest. It’s a beacon of hope and a symbol of enduring truth—and it’s entirely fictitious. But the Daily Planet headquarters, where Clark Kent works as a reporter, is nevertheless a powerful reminder of all that newspaper buildings used to be. Crowned with an enormous […]
Polar vortex meme shows journalists don’t have the weather down to a science
When reporters sacrifice accuracy for readership and retweets, they deserve cold criticism
A retired Pennsylvania State University academic is “mad as hell” at journalists for getting the story so wrong during January’s record-breaking chilly temperatures. “The broadcasters and bloggers who introduced ‘polar vortex’ into the discussion of Arctic outbreaks this January made a giant, unscientific leap,” former lecturer and forecaster Lee Grenci wrote on a Penn State […]
Are letters to the editor still worth reading?
Although readers once cherished getting their words published in their favourite newspaper, the page’s migration online means more content and less substance
When Bob Dylan brought his Christian gospel tour to Toronto’s Massey Hall in 1980, he didn’t play his popular songs from before 1979. The ensuing controversy carried over to newspapers, where Toronto Sun reader Douglas Greenwood wrote a letter to the editor, reminding people of Dylan’s Jewish heritage. Some of Greenwood’s comments, such as, “If he is […]
Athletes increasingly jump from the podium to the Olympic broadcast booth
Two-time Olympic medallist Jennifer Heil is used to performing under the lights with her ski goggles and skis strapped on. But this month, as a commentator for CBC’s Sochi Olympics broadcast, the former freestyle moguls skier performed by analyzing the event in which she competed four years ago. Heil isn’t the only athlete to turn […]
