“The Postmedia chain has turned against the PM. Period.”
An anonymous missive has appeared on The Gazetteer, purporting to be from “a newsworker at Postmedia” and offering an explanation for that chain’s sudden turn against the Harper Conservatives. The Gazetter‘s proprietor, RossK, had wondered if aggressive work on the robocall file and other signs of journalistic life at Conrad Black’s former playthingie meant some [...]
How the Sun helped post the Playhouse’s closing notice
By Frank Moher The sudden news that the Vancouver Playhouse is closing after 49 seasons comes as a shock, of course. We assume these venerable civic institutions will somehow always manage to lumber along, despite economic downturns and hostile governments and digital depredations. This, after all, was the company that gave Canadian theatre its seminal [...]
On Blatchford, Hitchens, and why babies suck
By Frank Moher One is impressed by just how credulous the reading public — that would be you — can be. You see what I just did there? I just insulted you. Conventional wisdom would suggest that insulting one’s readers is not the best way to start an article. But conventional wisdom is pretty stupid, [...]
The Star and The Mark: open for shilling
By Shannon Rupp The Toronto Star just announced that you can’t trust a thing you read on their website — although that’s not quite the way they phrased it. Canada’s largest daily has joined forces with TheMarkNews.com, one of those free blogger sites, to acquire a small army of unpaid “community correspondents” to cover Ontario’s [...]
No Murdoch-style scandal in Canada, you say?
By Alison@Creekside We’ve been getting a lot of stories from our media lately (here, here, and here), assuring us that an equivalent to the Rupert Murdoch scandal couldn’t possibly happen in Canada. Really? No cozy incestuous relationships? No dirty tricks? On March 30, 2009, Stephen Harper, PMO staffer Kory Teneycke, Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox [...]
Who needs attack ads when you have the Globe and Post?
By Montreal Simon Well I must admit it’s looking bleak out there. It’s been raining for days. The traffic cones are sagging like most of the population. And the Dark Lord of Canada is working feverishly in his castle preparing to unveil his zombie cabinet under a cone of silence. From The Globe: The pieces [...]
Stelmach resignation leaves old-school media in the dust
By Brian Brennan Can the mainstream print media successfully reinvent itself to become as relevant to news consumers in the digital age as it used to be back in the days when readers looked to their morning newspapers for authoritative coverage of the previous day’s events? The question arises in the wake of Tuesday’s surprise [...]
Mike Farnworth: gay matters
By Dave Brindle Is BC ready for a story asking if it’s ready for a gay leader? It’s the story that Mike Farnworth, a leading contender to replace the deposed Carole James as leader of BC’s NDP, knew would be told before he announced his candidacy. A story that I, along with NDP MLA Spencer [...]
The Harper marriage and the Globe
By Frank Moher While you were enjoying the festive season, a minor contretemps blew up and just as quickly away at The Globe and Mail. Both parties to the matter have been studiously decorous about it, but it deserves further scrutiny before disappearing entirely down the memory hole. On Dec. 24th, the Globe pulled from [...]
Russell Williams: reality is reality
By Frank Moher The Canadian news media have been engaged in a lot of hand-wringing and debate over the Russell Williams trial and their coverage of it. Should they have published photos of him dressed in his victims’ lingerie? Should newspapers have kept the photos off the front page? Should the details of his crimes [...]
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