….and what shouldn’t have been…. Drones are unmanned aircraft that are used for espionage, rocket fire, and bombing. You have probably heard that the US is using drones in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. You may even have heard that They are also used by police to spy on people without
Continue readingAuthor: Graeme Decarie
The Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 19: credit where credit is due
The Moncton Times and Transcript has carried a story that I did not think it would. Mother Jones Magazine took a secret video of Romney giving a speech at a fund-raising dinner for his campaign. It was given in a quite exclusive club; and only the wealthy were invited to
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 18: "Rosie the cat finds a home"
This is a a big story on p.1. And it has a picture of ‘Rosie’ for those who have never seen a cat. There’s also a picture of a man tossing a frisbee for a dog – for those who have never seen a man, a frisbee or a dog.
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 17: Wow! Did the TandT ever blow it!
Section A is pretty much a wipe-out unless you just live for pictures of kids playing ball hockey and for a picture of a man with his mouth open. The one story worth reading is on Battle of Britain anniversary. Few readers survive who know much about the tremendous tensions
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 16: a very late Sunday night special….
I write this now because there’s a strong chance the Moncton Times and Transcript will not publish this story – not just out of editorial sloppiness, but because of sheer ignorance of the meaning of it. Here’s the context: Israel, a country scarcely bigger than Toronto, gets more US aid
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 16: Stray thought on a Sunday…
Inevitably, if you argue current events, somebody is bound to say “All you do is talk about problems. You don’t have any solutions.”Quite true. You see, before you can present solutions, you have to decide what the problem is. I had a problem about a month ago, a severe stomach
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 15: Big gaps in the TandT….
The Moncton Times and Transcript which vowed to keep us fully and accurately informed on the shale gas issue has still not mentioned that medical staff at the Moncton Hospital and the Dumont have passed resolutions demanding a moratorium on shale gas exploration until we have much more information on
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 14: What didn’t happen in the TandT…
In the last two days, physicians at the Moncton Hospital and medical staff at the Dumont have voted for a government moratorium on fracking for shale gas in this province. The Moncton Times and Transcript, the paper that promised to keep us informed on this subject, and the government that
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 13: A brief supplement to this day’s blog….
I have been waiting for a story that has not appeared in the TandT. An American woman named Kimberley Rivera has been living in Canada as a refugee for four years. She has two children born here in Canada. She was in the American army, and served in Iraq. What
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 13: Maybe I’m too hard on the TandT….
…maybe they aren’t lying. Maybe they’re just illiterate. A1. “Billboard company cuts Dieppe presence” Wow! Those words clearly indicate that a billboard company has done something. It has cut its presence in Dieppe. That impression is reinforced on p. A 15. “Billboard company reduces Dieppe presence”. Again, it is the
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept.12: Gee! Wayne Gretzky
Today’s Victoria Colonist has an interesting story on how Harper said in 2007 that global warming is the biggest crisis the world faces. But ever since, he has been encouraging the use of fuels that create global warming (and sundry other forms of poisoning), has shut down our only station
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 10: The invisible story
It’s not in the Moncton Times and Transcript, though one would think it kind of important, as important, say, as a big, section A story that Riverview Council has set its priorities for roadwork. I learned of it only through friends at La Presse Libre de Moncton Free Press. (You
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 10: Norbert says it all….
Seriously, Norbert does say it all. It’s in a quite decent column on the editorial page in which he comments on an extraordinary discovery about our DNA. He says the implications for humanity are enormous.. Then he says…. “I think there’s a good case to be made that editors around
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 9: more lying?
There’s a remarkable story that is not in Saturday TandT – though it has appeared in papers around the world. Let me bore you a little bit at the start because it’s related to a problem that has long bothered me about the Times and Transcript. The editorial layout of
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: September 8: liars, fools? and Harper….
I am beginning this in the early evening of Sept. 7 because of outrage at what Stephen Harper has done. It is dangerous, potentially murderous- and it cannot be excused simply as stupidity. Harper is too high- focused a scoundrel for that. I am beginning it now because I know
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 7: ..without actually lying… I mean…
….not really lying… like—not really…. The story should be a pretty clear one. It’s about a poll that shows support for the NB Conservatives has dropped. They still lead. But the drop has been substantial – and with all of its lost support going to the NDP. The Liberals, though
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 6: It rained yesterday….
…yes, it did. It said so right there on the front page of The Moncton Times and Tribune. It’s an up-to-the minute fast-breaking story on p.1 that carries over to p. 2. And, get a grip on yourselves, folks, there’s another huge story on p. 3 with big pictures of
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 5: Page one….
In most newspapers, page one is for the big news of the day. But the front page of The Moncton Times and Tribune is always one that would stun a moose in heat. We are reminded, once again, that Highfield Square – where nobody goes, anyway – will close at
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 4: I confess to malice….
Last night, I was studying the major news stories for today. That’s part of what a news editor does. He or she is a person of training (or at least of experience) in the news – what’s important, what isn’t, which sources are good, which ones are biased or unreliable.
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Sept. 3: SPECIAL REPORT
It was, I guess, a special Labour Day gesture by The Moncton Times and Transcript – A boy, a child, had worked for over a year delivering the TandT every morning. He never missed a day.Then he decided he couldn’t carry on, and so he informed them. But he didn’t
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