Journalists are ignoring the real threat to a free press
Canadian journalists have spent the last couple days shooting fish in a barrel and congratulating themselves for it. On Tuesday, The Rebel reported that its journalists were barred from several government events between January 29 and February 3 because Alberta’s department of justice ruled that the publication — started by Ezra Levant — does not produce […]
Extreme Makeover: Office Edition
Long gone are the days when cigarette butts and cluttered desks shaped a newsroom. How modern design influences storytelling—and puts digital first
As winter turned to spring in 2014, journalists at The Hamilton Spectator worked to the sound of contractors drilling through concrete floors and reconfiguring the wiring. The “banana cream” yellow on the walls soon became grey and indigo blue, the Spec’s corporate colours. The paper moved the curved desks to create pods of four and […]
Full Immersion
From Syria to street protests, virtual reality technology lets us experience stories as if we were really there, but not without ethical concerns
The streets of downtown Montreal are cluttered with protestors chanting, “Fuck the police!” Traces of the sun filter out from behind department store buildings as anti-capitalists rally for International Workers’ Day. Spectators capture footage of police spraying a thick cloud of tear gas into the crowd, which sends people running. Marie-Espérance Cerda interviews protestors and […]
Who’s telling the truth about #WelcomeRefugees?
Across Canadian news outlets, there is a strange discrepancy in reports about whether or not the Liberal government is excluding single male Syrian refugees
I don’t know who’s telling the truth about the Liberal refugee plan. On the one hand, there’s Paul McLeod, BuzzFeed‘s political editor, who published an article on November 25, 2015, titled “Someone Gave The Media A Bunch Of False Info About Canada’s Syrian Refugee Plan.” McLeod takes issue with a CBC report by Rosemary Barton that, days before the Liberals […]
Beirut vs. Paris: Unbalanced coverage
Journalism is about fair and objective reporting, but in practice coverage is often skewed toward one event more than another
The events of the Paris attacks last night are still unfolding–“still” being the operative word. Much journalistic attention has been given to the situation in Paris, and rightly so. At the time of writing, CBC reports stated that at least 150 people had been killed after six separate attacks in public places like a music venue in central Paris, […]
Vignette Journalism: Storytelling for the Social Media Age
How news outlets engage readers and audiences with tales of unsung people doing extraordinary things
I sat in a heart surgeon’s office, waiting to ask what it’s like to touch a beating heart. It’s not every day that you get to put such questions to people, even as a journalist. But this summer at the Calgary Herald, my editor assigned me to a project called What’s it Like? The idea […]
Bending the Rules
Now that Worn Fashion Journal has ceased publication, can fashion magazines continue to analyze the industry?
As a studio arts, fibres and material practices student at Montreal’s Concordia University and having worked in the fashion industry, Serah-Marie McMahon wasn’t able to find the insightful fashion writing she craved as a reader. While skimming through newsstands, she found nothing she could relate to in traditional fashion magazines. So she created Worn Fashion […]
Prize Fighters
Sports sections are on the ropes, but columnists with distinctive voices are still throwing punches
Sports sections are on the ropes, but columnists with distinctive voices are still throwing punches
Talk is Cheap
Supporters say streeters show us what the public thinks. Critics call them lazy journalism. What are they really worth?
Supporters say streeters show us what the public thinks. Critics call them lazy journalism. What are they really worth?
TEASER: Prize Fighters
Here is a sneak peek at one story from our Spring 2015 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism magazine.
