On the weekend, I dropped off some books at the library So I saw the fine image of Northrop Frye sitting on a bench at the entrance. I’m sure he would have been pleased to know that his image would be seated in front of the library he had so often
Continue readingAuthor: Graeme Decarie
The Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: Wow! lots of pictures of not-very-old cars
That pretty much sums up todays’ news in The Moncton Times and Tribune. Page 1 is headed by a photo of a 2008 Mustang. Now there’s something you don’t see every day. I mean, not every day. Then there’s a picture of a Ford steering wheel. I mean, like, it’s all
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: July 13: Target to take over Zellers…….
……Wow! Stop the presses. Front page for sure. Meanwhile, the only important story in section A is on p. 2. All NB Liberal leadership candidates have taken a position to delay fracking. It is not, as the story seems to suggest, an anti-fracking position. It is a position favouring further
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: July 12: a real news story on p. A1
Breaking with its tradition of the top story of the day being something about a cute budgie, The Moncton Times and Transcript led with a well written story by Brent Mazerolle about how the Canadian Teachers’ Federation released a poll showing that teachers want more freedom in the way they teach.
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: July 11: Something good….
Today’s editorial is good. It’s well-written. It’s logical. There’s no rant in it. This is what an editorial should look like. The subject is the great plan to allow parking on Main St. The editorial writer is calling this a “half-baked plan”. I think he or she is right. But
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: July10: lesson one: the headline
The headline should reflect the theme of the news story. That’s important because the headline is what people remember. In fact, it will often be the only part of the story that will be read. To write a headline that does not reflect the theme of the story, then, is
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: July 9: Our aristocracy
The first section of today’s Moncton Times and Transcript will be a treat for those who just love close-up pictures of rubber boots in the mud at a rock concert – or a picture of a copy of the Mona Lisa propped beside a chair at a flea market. That, seriously, with
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: July 7: I didn’t actually win the $50,000,000, but…
It was last night’s lottery. Fifty million plus fifty more of one million each. I had one number right. I took that as a good sign for things to come; so I’ll buy another ticket. The world needs people like me to keep the tax rate down. There’s no point in
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: July 6: Wow! Evergy industries, corruption,…
….government and regulators on the take, tremendous dangers, death toll unpredictable…..a government-apppointed, expert panel tells terrible story of the betrayal by government, the corruptiong of inspectors and regulars, and the corrupting influence of evergy companies. No, no, no. It didn’t happn here. I mean, this is New Brunswick. Here, we have trusted
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: July 5: Was i wrong yesterday?
I’m afraid I must have been wrong. This was the blog in which I said Norbert Cunningham, in writing a report of a book on how our energy and environmental problems are going to disappear, showed that he didn’t know how to understand a book. I surely wasn’t thinking. Nobody
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: July 4: Lord love a duck…..
….Norbert’s read another book. Two, actually. And once again, they are books that have revealed the secrets of the ages to him and they foretell the future; and so Norbert has come down like Moses from the mount to enlighten us simple people. Well, maybe not like Moses. It might be
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 3: The news vacuum.
There is a story on p. C8 that deserves a close reading – very close. “UNB eyes role in continuing shale gas debate” Sounds reasonable. Except…. The statement is from the university. Why should the Legilature bureau of Irving News be covering it? The Dean or Engineering says that few
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 1: The news we never hear……
Lots bout news we never hear for today… For openers, there’s the howler told by Greg Coleman of Romspan mortgage (a company that needs rezoning cooperation from Moncton City Council) that yes, he did give money to some candidates. The reason? Well, he said, companies often to that because they want to encourage
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 30: Criticizing a newspaper that has no news…
…….ca be very difficult. The purpose of the Irving press is to keep people uninfomed. That’s why it has staff writers for the op ed page who say nothing at all. They aren’t very good even at saying nothing. But that’s okay. If they’re boring, then people won’t read them,
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 29: You are a reporter, and….
….a world-famous heart surgeon visits your city. You ask him, “Tell me, Mr. world-famous heart surgeon, what is the best way to drive a car?” With this, you write your story, and take it to your editor who says’ “Wow! This is the big story for front page. No question.” Only in
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 28:
There’s a story on section A, p. 5 about our New Brunswick fishermen and the low price they get for lobsters, the lowest of any Atlantic province. There has always been something strange about the wholesale buyers of lobsters in this province. It’s not just the low prices they pay.
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 27: Let me save you some money…..
Today’s Moncton Times and Transcript is only for those with an uncontrollable passion to read ads. The NewsToday section has six pages of ads. Make that six and a half because the page 10 story “province ranked last for oil and gas in Canada” is an ad for the oil
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 26: Mea culpa
Yesterday, the Moncton Free Press got it right; I got part of it wrong; and the Moncton Times and Transcript didn’t get it at all. The big story was that Moncton city council planned to accept a deal under which it will get some 12 million dollars toward providing services to the
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June25: Moncton Free Press scoops TandT
The Moncton Free Press, a news service on the web staffed by volunteers, is way ahead of The Monctron Times and Transcript, though the TandT has a paid staff of hard-nosed reporters whose front-page flash was that motorcyles can be dangerous. Wow! Who would have guessed? Other front page news is “Frye
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 23: Why is it called a newspaper?
The Moncton Times and Transcript for today must be well over half advertising. Then there are more, damned grad photos. Then there are pages of comics, advice columns, horoscopes. And then when do find a lonely piece of news, it’s a “who cares” item. Donne moi un break. Where is all the
Continue reading