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…
Journalism
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
My Canada Doesn’t Arrest Journalists
My Canada respects citizen and journalist free speech. My Canada respects the role of the media in enhancing democracy. My Canada does not cast a chill on political participation. But…
We Need to Prepare for Those Worse Than Trump
We can't just worry about Trump, but all those for whom he is paving the way. #Trump #TrumpTapes #SoftFascism #cdnpoli #bcpoli — Politics, Re-Spun (@PoliticsReSpun) October 8, 2016 It’s one…
A Very Small Victory
In a seemingly endless battle, even small victories deserve to be noted. And it is indeed a small victory on the climate-change front that The Star's public editor, Kathy English,…
News from the echo chamber
Columnist Vaughn Palmer reports concerns expressed by Moody’s Investors Service about growing BC Hydro debt. The agency stated the obvious, which is that numerous capital projects are adding billions to…
News from the echo chamber
Columnist Vaughn Palmer reports concerns expressed by Moody’s Investors Service about growing BC Hydro debt. The agency stated the obvious, which is that numerous capital projects are adding billions to…
