This is not about the Times and Transcript. It’s a report on and suggestions for the anti-fracking movement. I place it in a separate post because this is an issue about which I have a strong prejudice. I am opposed to fracking. I am absolutely opposed to it no matter what
Continue readingAuthor: Graeme Decarie
The Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 2: Being D and D…
Back in the 50s, Marlon Brando starred in On the Waterfront, a film about gangsters who dominated a neighbourhood in which everyone was terrified into silence about what was going on. The favourite warning of the gangsters was, “Are you D and D?” (Deaf and dumb). If you weren’t D
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: June 1: Lots of ads….
…but really , really light on news today. Perhaps the story for the day is on section A, p.8. It’s a type of photo and story at which The Moncton Times and Transcript has beccome a leader – a group of smiling execs as they hold up a giant cheque,
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 30: (extra blog for the day) evening thoughts
Today, Norbert Cunningham wrote an introductory column on the baby boomers. He’ll continue it on June 1. I have no idea what he’ll write – so this is no attempt to disagree with him. It’s just that he got me thinking about that generation. And I feel like writing about
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 31: The little newpaper that wasn’t there
I was a year and a half ago that there was a protest by parents at Edith Cavell School. It was so small as to be irrelevant. But the Moncton news media covered it like a rug for day after day. I was astonished at the assignment editors who would
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 30: No bigger fool than me….
Yesterday, a reader sent me a post that I have not mentioned the lawyers in Montreal – and what happened at the courthouse. Damn. He’s right. I didn’t mention it – and it’s key to understanding the Quebec student strike and what it has come to mean. (If I get
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 29: Even the sport section has no news today
Normally, the sports section is the only professionally done section in the Moncton Times. Headline – “Rugby Royals confident this year” Duh. Yeah Are they usually depressed before games? So let’s look at a few stories this wretched popaganda sheet missed. Victoria Park, 8 p.m. last night, there was a
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May28: Better than usual…almost….
At first, I was heartened to see that the Quebec student strike made the first page but, alas, with not the slightest attempt to explain what it is about. As a result, the whole point of the story is missed. To the reporter who wrote this and to the editor
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 27: Sunday night – two, brief notes
1. The current events group will meet at Moncton Library at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. June 5. The topic will be” Quebec Student Strike:Protest or Revolution?”I lived in Quebec most of my life, was closely involved with the politics of the province, and was in close contact with leading political
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 26: An editor’s philosophy…
and you have to decide. You really do. Read today’s editorial in The Moncton Times and Transcript. It’s about Moncton’s bus drivers; it’s about humanity; it’s a profound statement about how to judge what you are worth as a living human. A bus driver does not deserve an annual salary
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 25: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire….
Today’s lead story in the Moncton Times and Transcript is the worst case of lying I have ever seen in a news report. It is so bad, I shall be sending copies to friends who teach in journalism schools. The headline and subhead are: “Many NBers support oil, gas industry
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 24: How not to write a news story
It’s the banner headline on the front page “Former CN Terminal Plaza to be reborn” Then there’s the sub-head that says, “Major renovation a show of private investor confidence in land around proposed downtown centre”. The headline, as a headline, is true. There are plans to renovate the building. The
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: EXTRA,EXTRA for May 23
Go to google. type in manifencours. The first entry to come up should be the twitter site for the strike in Montreal. And it gives a very different picture from what most of the press is giving us. It is in English – and most of the writers seem to
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May23: Praise the Lord and Poison all the Water
It is perfectly reasonable that the federal government change the EI rules so that an unemployed person must accept a job within an hour’s drive from home – or be disqualified from receiving EI. In the lead story of NewsToday, this is the quotation from an ‘expert’. An expert on
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 22: no room for news….
There are close to nine pages, mostly pictures, of the Prince of Wales and Camilla.There’s another full page of pictures, supposedly of people enjoying Victoria day – two people on bicycles, a man fishing another cutting grass – and a lobster boat lying on its side. Wow! Talk about gutsy
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 21:
NewsToday devotes four (plus) pages to the visit of a man whose only distinction in life was being born into a royal family. There is also a picture of his wife smiling. Yes. It’s true. It says so right under the picture…Duchess…smiles…. I was so thrilled to read that. Will
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 19:Will Montreal come to Moncton?
First, just a quick look at the Times and Transcript.1. Four pages of pictures and story about Prince Charles and Duchess Whatever. And they aren’t even here yet.2. A two page spread of identical photos of various companies getting awards for energy efficiency. This is, presumably, an ad paid for
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 18: Quebec and spoiled brats
Okay – The Moncton Times and Transcript quickly. What is in the TandT? 1. Brilliant column by Alec Bruce.2. disturbing column by David Suzuki.3. Phony action on shale gas by the NB government. What’s not in the TandT?1. Ford and Geneal Motors linked to illegal destruction of Brazil rain forest
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 17: Prince Charles and Camilla to walk on….
…a street in St. John. Oh, I could die. I could just die. That’s the big story in section C. But skip through the rest (almost all ads) to p. C 8. Look hard. There’s a tiny story hidden way up in the corner. (U.N. criticizes Canada”). It seems that
Continue readingThe Moncton Times@Transcript - Good and Bad: May 16:Lots of ads….
Not much news.That makes it hard to talk about what’s in the Moncton Times and Transcript – because almost nothing’s in it. So today, we’ll take a quick look at what’s in it – and then a look at what isn’t in it. The risk of E. Coli infection has
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