Updated from June 2016. In an earlier article, I made reference to BC Legislative Press Gallery members producing commissioned articles. These are public relations pieces intended to serve particular needs of government or entities doing business with government. It is the kind of output that will ultimately be replaced by
Continue readingTag: Journalism
Susan on the Soapbox: The Role of the Political Journalist
“The journalistic mission remains at its simplest: know your patch and use your knowledge to try to tell readers what’s actually going on.”– Katharine Murphy, Journalism Professor & Guardian Australia’s deputy political editor. Is it right for a political journalist to simply quote a politician’s comments without challenging their veracity
Continue readingIn-Sights: CBC offered “pure propaganda”
After a CBC radio offering that made little effort to provide a complete story, economist Erik Andersen sent a message to CBC Early Edition. Erik keeps a close eye on public policy, particularly when natural resources are involved. If one looks at economic disasters of the past, one thing is
Continue readingWe Pivot: Louis C.K.’s “Victims” Didn’t Put Vancouver Animators Out of Work
We need more from the CBC. And the Canadian Press. “Sexual Misconduct Claims Against Louis C.K. put Vancouver Animators Out of Work” was the initial headline of a Canadian Press wire piece that the CBC ran, which has since been … [Read more]
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Abandon hope, all UCP who enter here? Ted Byfield may have opened the gates to Lake of Fire 2.0
PHOTOS: Social conservative publisher and ideologue Ted Byfield (Photo: Screenshot of Youtube Video). Below: United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney, NDP Education Minister David Eggen, and Calgary-West UCP MLA Mike Ellis (Photo: Screenshot of CBC broadcast). It’s fair to suggest Ted Byfield always dreamed of being able to direct Alberta’s
Continue readingIn-Sights: Postmedia’s colours
Rafe Mair was a man with long experience in government, journalism and political activism. He warned us of the consequences after Canada’s largest newspaper chain crawled in bed with the fossil fuel industry. We have an illustrative example this weekend. Saturday, hundreds of protesters took to the waters of Burrard
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Too High A Price To Pay
This year, The Star has been running an Atkinson Series entitled The New Newsroom, which looks at both the challenges and the possibilities facing journalism in this age of Internet freebies. It is an excellent series that I hope you get a chance to check out. Here is an excerpt
Continue readingIn-Sights: Plug pulled on LNG
Today, China pulled the plug on Aurora LNG, the last large LNG project proposed for British Columbia. This comes 55 months after Christy Clark, leading her first general election campaign, announced: …the new British Columbia Prosperity Fund to ensure communities, First Nations and all British Columbians benefit from the development of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sic transit gloria mundi … Globe and Mail, a ‘writers’ newspaper’ no more or a national one either, cans two great columnists
PHOTOS: This was the way into the Globe and Mail back when it was located at the unfashionable west end of Toronto’s Front Street. The door was moved. Apparently the “writers’ newspaper” behind it didn’t come with it. Below: Fired Globe columnists Tabatha Southey and Leah McLaren (Photos: Twitter). Many
Continue readingIn-Sights: R.I.P. Merv Adey
It’s a sad day today. I knew Merv had been seriously ill for some time. Four weeks ago, he was hoping that a series of new treatments would be successful and we planned to meet this month at his “humble digs.” Merv and I began communicating in 2011. His first
Continue readingIn-Sights: Behind the ostensible government
An item previously published, with minor updates: I studied political science at university long, long ago. In those days, I was naive and idealistic and a member of the Liberal Party. Because I did not stay naive, I did not remain a Liberal. Yet, the theory of party politics makes
Continue readingIn-Sights: Overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks…
Hunter S. Thompson: As far as I’m concerned, it’s a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. One ubiquitous messenger from the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The full-court press is now under way to get Canadians ship their tax dollars to right-wing ‘legacy’ media
PHOTOS: Canada’s newspaper publishers are finally getting a grip on how to deal with this new-fangled technology stuff, like that Internet thing. Just pick up the phone and get the federal government to give you money! Below: Postmedia columnist Andrew Coyne, Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey, former Globe and CBC journalist
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Edward Snowden defends jailed NSA contractor Reality Winner
The unveiling prosecution of 25-year-old National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Reality Leigh Winner is “a fundamental threat to the free press,” says Edward Snowden. The post Edward Snowden defends jailed NSA contractor Reality Winner appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Media readers deserve the whole story about the sources reporters quote in public policy stories
PHOTOS: The question isn’t just whether Alberta’s students are getting the information they need, but whether media is giving the rest of us all the facts we require when we read news stories about education policy. Below: Former Edmonton Public Schools curriculum director Stuart Wachowicz, a frequent source used in
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Desmond Cole, the Toronto Star and Another Existential Crisis for Professional Journalism
DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. I see this as a two-fold issue; firstly, actions and secondly, words. I’ll consider both briefly and then elaborate on my concerns. Actions There is no point in rehashing here the now well-known details of what lead to Desmond
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: How the everyday use of militaristic jargon makes us more combative
The language of warfare and violence dominates public discourse in the United States and around the world, even when war isn’t part of the conversation. Nan Levinson, a writer, teacher, and journalist covering civil and human rights, culture, and the military, discusses how the normalization of militaristic jargon is making
Continue readingWe Pivot: Stop Fact-Checking Christy Clark
We’ve learned a few things. But we need to pick up the pace of wisdom. As we pivot to a new world that is suffering from deeper entrenched tendencies of fascism and contempt for truth, we need to stop wasting … [Read more]
Continue readingWe Pivot: The Globe and Mail Just Punked the Leap Manifesto
You’ll notice in this graphic that as the Leap Manifesto linked to an anti-pipeline op-ed in the Globe and Mail in Facebook, the subhead brutally misrepresented the article. Either it was an error, sadly, or it was an intentional opposite … [Read more]
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Julian Assange Statement on the US Presidential Election
In this statement issued on the eve of 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Julian Assange defends WikiLeaks’ publication of the DNC Leaks and the Clinton political campaign and Foundation email leaks (Podesta Emails). “The right to receive and impart true information is the guiding principle of WikiLeaks,” says Assange. The post
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