Stenographic journalism
Writing in Salon, maverick journalist Glenn Greenwald criticized news reporting that follows the stenographic model. It involves repeating what people say without any effort to judge the truthfulness of statements…
Journalism
You tell me, Dear Readers: Did I unfairly beat the Wildrose finance critic like a piñata?
PHOTO: Your blogger, at right, wearing the brand new string tie he just bought in Santa Fe, takes a whack at Derek Fildebrandt, the Wildrose Opposition’s finance critic. Actual Alberta…
Can we talk politics without lashon hara?
Over the course of the election campaign to this point, the Jewish community has seen repeated and sometimes flagrant violations of halachic and ethical prohibitions against lashon hara – wicked…
Code Crossover: How long before the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Sun are merged?
ILLUSTRATIONS: Sun Journal, or Journal Sun? Hyphen or no hyphen? Broadsheet or tabloid? Now that Journal subscribers are being pitched the Sunday Sun, and the two papers’ staffs will soon…
Iceland Wants to Help Journalists Expose Real Threats
Iceland continues on it’s quest to be the ‘Switzerland of data‘ and is extending its program to do so for journalists. Part of the country’s plan to become a haven…
CBC House Cleaning Claims the Vapid Evan
Evan Solomon was always a pathetic pseudo-journalist. Ask an intriguing question, politician spins or lies or evades or trots out talking points, then Evan…what does he do? Move on. Nothing…
Flawed analysis
Following the passing of Alberta’s Conservative party, Macleans writer Colby Cosh described a drawn-out illness that made the result inevitable. Followers of British Columbia politics will recognize symptoms also found…
Mohamed Fahmy “has no relation to the Muslim Brotherhood”
A billionaire telecoms tycoon has told an Egyptian court that Mohamed Fahmy, a journalist and Canadian citizen, “has no relation to the Muslim Brotherhood” The post Mohamed Fahmy “has no…
Cracks in credibility remain
Two days ago, retired journalist and TV newsman Harvey Oberfeld headlined, “Bell Media President Brings Shame to CTV.” Today, the company reacted to disclosures Bell Media President Kevin Crull interfered…
Shining a light
Glenn Greenwald, “A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the…
Chomsky on media
What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream, Noam Chomsky, Z Magazine, October, 1997 Part of the reason why I write about the media is because I am interested in the whole intellectual…
The moderating effect of moderation
RossK writes about the Pro-Media Club and its implicit rulebook, which includes a requirement that no one reprove a colleague, even if overstatements and misrepresentations morph into purposeful lies. The…
Setting priorities
I’ve written about politics influenced by a captured and compliant press. This is from a helpful Canadian Press article published by Macleans Magazine weeks before the last BC election: …A…
Agenda journalism
Black Press political reporter Tom Fletcher, whose wife is a Public Affairs Officer for the BC Liberal Government, occasionally recalls the nineties: The dark decade, the dismal decade, the decade…
Oh, what a tangled web we weave…
I will comment about BC Budget 2014 after more study but I’ve read a few reports from media stenographers. Studying detail takes more time than rewording notes issued by the…
MORE Sexism Against Female Canadian Athletes!
THIS picture respects the dignity of a tennis player. Not, “give us a twirl” demeaning, sexist abuse. Today is a terrible day for gender equity in sports. What it looks…
Nobody’s servant…
North Van’s Grumps is the proprietor of Blog Borg Collective. While I search for material in the main aisles of information warehouses, NVG prowls the dark recesses. Happily, he shares…
Real Journalism: Holding Harper To Account
Unlike the kind of faux journalism that the CBC’s most reverent chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge, has perfected, real journalism requires critical thinking and hard-hitting questions. In that, The Toronto Star…
In the Time of the "Official Truth" There’s No Room for Journalism
John Pilger looks at what the Western media offer up as journalism and sees instead propaganda. He sees the essence of the mainstream media as not information but power. The…