The Snooze at Six
...and seven, and eight and what sometimes seems forever on Newsworld
Right off, an ugly problem stood between me and my assignment to write a piece on CBC Newsworld, “the all-news channel for Canadians.” I would have to watch it. Try it sometime. While you yawn your way through another Capital Report or Ontario Update you get a small dose of what it must be like […]
One Side to Every Story
The bad news is that more and more 'good news' really isn't news at all
The item was legitimate news, there’s no argument about that. And it was also legitimately placed, well down in CFTO’s early evening line-up. If there was something “wrong” with the item, the viewers never knew it. But something was indeed “wrong.” The story, as introduced by newsreader Tom Gibney and narrated by reporter Jim Wicks […]
The Voice of Another Village
How did Now show that an alternative weekly could survive and prosper in the Toronto of the '80s? By getting down to business
“We had the advantage of being extremely naive-had we known anything about publishing, we never would have started the paper.” Edwin Fancher, co-founder of the Village Voice. The Great American Newspaper, by Kevin Michael McAuliffe. “We were convinced we could make it work as a business. It seems a bit ridiculous when we look back […]
A Non-Explosive Issue
W5 established that Canadian uranium was helping to fuel the American war machine. It also established that when it comes to scandal, Canadians tend to prefer tuna
Had the story been ready on time, it would have kicked off W5’s 19th season opener on CTV. It was-or at least it had the ingredients of-a very good piece of journalism, one of those coveted stories that makes news as it breaks news. The only reason it did not open W5’s new season last […]
Fact Do Not Speak for Themselves
Looking over the pallid prose that poses as print journalism in this country, it seems to me that most news and feature stories that get published contain a good deal less than meets the eye. We must do better. It is simply no longer enough to arrange facts into logical sequences, or to report events […]
Making It Hot for the Sun
The charge was 'racism.' The countercharge was 'censorship.' And when the opposition grew as fast as the Little Paper itself, both sides ended up shedding a lot more heat than light
Toronto is having a nice day. Despite the time of year-it’s July 24th-the air is as fresh as the sky is blue. Later on, it will get hot, but at least it won’t be humid. Which is always a blessing, especially for those who crowd into buses, streetcars and subways to begin their daily journeys […]
Peake’s Performance
(FLASH) “Right hand a bit lower on your bum Suzie.” (FLASH) “That’s it, head up, smile.” (FLASH) “Good now turn a little to your right and show us what you’ve got.” (FLASH) “Fantastic!” The studio on the second floor of the Toronto Sun building is small, dark and cool. But the air is filled with […]
Strolling to the Rescue
The journalists at Metroland's 17 papers believed that their future lay with unionization. What they didn't figure, however, was just how long it would take for the future to arrive.
The management team begins to file in at 9: 15 on this warm October morning. By 9:30 a.m. half the room is full. The only two women in the crowd almost disappear into the sea of more than 30 men who sit anxiously in their grey and navy suits. They are the editors and publishers […]
Getting it Wrong
Was the CRTC dictating news content? The editorialists thought so...
The Globe and Mail‘s editorial ran under a grave headline: “The State as editor.” The writer insisted the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission had no business imposing a 45-percent Canadian content quota on the news broadcasts of two Windsor radio stations, citing freedom of the media as guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. […]
Under the Gun
How TV news delivers a captive audience to terrorists
For 17 days during the TWA hijacking in beirut last June, terrorists took over the airwaves as the networks battled each other for the inside story. In the months that followed, American networks came under fire for giving up their editorial control in exchange for drama. Meanwhile, networks that relied heavily on the American footage, […]
