Trouble is His Business
He battled Hells Angels. He brought down a dirty cop. He exposed pimps who exploited teens. He’s one of our top investigative journalists. So why does Julian Sher struggle to find work?
It’s 5 p.m. and Washington, D.C. buzzes with pencil-pushers crowding into Beltway bars. Julian Sher joins them at a spot not far from FBI headquarters and the U.S. Department of Justice. One Child at a Time, his book about the child pornography underground, has just come out and he’s here to catch up with two […]
The Outbreak Next Time
When another pandemic hits, will the sensationalism and ill-informed reporting that infected H1N1 coverage strike again?
The morning ritual at CBC begins in a typical boardroom with a long wooden table and well-worn chairs. The windows overlook the hydro substation across the street. The room is busy. People mill in and out, preparing for different deadlines, but there are always 10 or 12 in the boardroom. The microphone in the centre […]
Low Fidelity
Smart rock criticism in the dailies was once number one with a bullet. Now the pages are full of boosters who never mind the bollocks
On a Saturday night in December, a large crowd packs Lee’s Palace in Toronto to watch a performance by the Handsome Furs. The Montreal band, husband-and-wife team Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, starts around midnight under a red glow. For the next hour, all heads face forward—barely turning, if only to dance—captivated by the act’s […]
Off the Rails
Prue Hemelrijk and the golden age of fact-checking—and why magazines will never see such rigour again
Prue Hemelrijk sits at her desk on her first day at The Canadian, a national general interest magazine. She’s unsure what’s in store for her as editor Harry Bruce, carrying a manuscript, makes his way toward her. He sets it on her desk and says, “We need to do something called fact-checking. Do you know […]
Humourist-In-Chief
Eight Canadian funny men and women on Jon Stewart, the Air Farce, South Park, Playboy, Tim Hortons and the effect extreme cold has on the genitals:a miscellany
Tucked away in the folds of glossy magazine pages, below the fold in newspapers’ lifestyle sections, you will find them. They have the wit, the sarcasm and the good sense to make you laugh about war, politics and celebrity – if and when they ever get the chance to crack wise. With few venues, and […]
Obstacle Course
Why are there so few disabled journalists? Physical barriers are just one part of the answer
Even if you don’t remember Jeff Adams’s name, you probably remember what he did last fall. On September 26, 2002, he climbed the 1,760 steps of the CN Tower staircase – in a modified wheelchair. What you probably never knew was why he did it. Media coverage of the Toronto event came close to saturation […]
Up From the Underground
After three tough years representin' hip-hop Canada, Pound magazine's Rodrigo Bascu??n and Michael Evans have found commercial success. They're expanding into the U.S. and, if all goes well, moving out of Rodrigo's Mom's basement
Saddam Hussein circles Lanny McDonald, preparing to spit venom at the retired hockey player. Twirling his moustache, McDonald stares the dictator down. The Iraqi leader and the hockey legend line up head-to-head in the cipher, preparing to face off in the final round of the battle of the moustaches. They bump mikes, declaring lyrical warfare. […]
Dead in its Tracks
Shift seemed to have as many lives as a cat. Or at least it did, until Multi-Vision Publishing put it out of its misery
It’s a cold, mid-November night, but inside at Shift‘s annual “State of the Net” party, things are heating up. The scene: the vast open space of the Guvernment, a Toronto nightclub, where the thump, thump, thump of the bass is pounding so forcefully that it feels like a second heartbeat in your chest and where […]
Wheels of Fortune
Papers are publishing increasing numbers of advertorials. Is the credibility of the dailies taking a backseat to revved-up revenues?
Robert Reid has seen the advertorial battle from the front lines of his own newsroom. As a reporter and union chair for the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, Reid remembers when the advertising department tried to introduce advertorial production into the newsroom back in 1989, just as staff were about to ratify their first union contract. At other […]
Home Alone
For the Toronto Star's David Olive, one of Canada's most respected business journalists, writing isn't what he does for a living. It's his life's work. But at what personal cost?
It’s near midnight in October on Bloor west near Keele in Toronto’s west end. All is quiet except for whirring winds and the thunder of late-night transports, but the neighbourhood coffee shop-reminiscent of a garage-turned-game show set-is still open for business. Under the pulsating glow of the flashing bulbs bordering the Galaxy Donuts sign, a […]
