By Frank Moher Note the quid pro quo built into The Globe and Mail’s editorial on the subject of Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who showed off his footwear to President Bush. “Mr. Zaidi gained his privileged access to Mr. Bush on the strength of his accreditation as a journalist,” intones the Globe. ” . […]
newspapers
A Frank appreciation
By Frank Moher Your feckless Media blogger has been off cheating with his other mistress — theatre, of all things — which is why this section has been quiet as a dying newsroom lately. While I was away, Canada lost one of its few genuine sources of shit-disturbance, Frank magazine. Its folding was duly reported […]
White wash
By Frank Moher The various human rights commissions that rejected the complaint against Maclean’s magazine — most recently the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal — were right to do so, of course. Members of the Canadian Islamic Congress had charged Maclean’s with inciting hatred and contempt towards Muslims when it published an excerpt from Mark Steyn’s […]
Part II: “We do not talk about things that we do not have enough experts to tell us about”
By Frank Moher In my post of a few days ago, I asked some questions of CBC and Maclean’s pundit Andrew Coyne, about his answers to a 9/11 Truther after a television taping. I said I’d e-mail him a link to the article (did) and advertise it on a few sites, including his own (did). […]
“We do not talk about things that we do not have enough experts to tell us about”
By Frank Moher While researching my next-to-last post (and did you realize that “blogging” and “research” are not necessarily mutually exclusive?), I came across the following video: In it, a very earnest and nervous woman confronts Alan Gregg, Chantal Hébert, and Andrew Coyne after a taping of the CBC political panel “At Issue,” with a […]
Yesterday’s news
By guest blogger Brian Brennan They’re all doing it now but still I have to wonder: Why are Canada’s daily newspapers encouraging their opinion columnists to simultaneously blog on the papers’ websites? I used to think — like media observers elsewhere — that newspaper blogs were meant to be dumping grounds for material the papers […]
Retiring his portmanteau
By guest blogger Brian BrennanIn the midst of the hoopla surrounding the Toronto International Film Festival, a private retirement party for veteran CanWest entertainment writer Jamie Portman rates a 300-word mention in the National Post. “Portman scribe of the stars for a half-century,” says the headline. Is this how Portman wants to be remembered? One […]
Not all Black
By Frank Moher Naomi Klein characterized the trial of Conrad Black as class war. Elsewhere it was posited as a case of dueling tax systems (Canadian v. U.S.) or legal systems (ibid.) I’d say, though, it was a broader culture clash than that, between the populist traditions of the United States (of whom prosecutor Patrick […]
Canadian media de-Zerbified
By guest blogger Brian Brennan So did Tony Burman jump or was he pushed? Don’t look for an answer in the Toronto Star. Up to a week ago, you could have turned to the paper’s dependable media critic, Antonia Zerbisias, for an informed and well-sourced piece on the reasons behind the imminent departure of the […]
Blogging the bloggers at the Black trial, II
By Frank Moher Now that the Conrad Black trial has entered its Radlerian phase, with Black’s former capo taking the stand against him, it’s time once again to blog the poor bloggers (and columnists) consigned to Chicago’s federal courthouse. Question: what is Mark Steyn without his trademark wit? Answer: the rather dull fellow we find […]
