The Election-Eve Racist, Sexist Attack on Olivia Chow
If this cartoon were published, say, 2 weeks before the election, it would have been debated as a tool of racist, sexist propaganda and yet another blemish on corporate media.…
Journalism
Zombie Journalists
If you’re wondering what’s contributing to less accountability and more soft fascist, totalitarian government behaviour… Leaked memo confirms that Globe and Mail wants journalists to write advertorials http://canadalandshow.com/article/leaked-memo-confirms-globe-and-mail-wants-journalists-write-advertorials August 28,…
The CBC Respects Dignity Better than Corporate Media
Corporate media, being owned by corporations, needs to maximize shareholder wealth. That means news is a loss leader. News is about generating sensationalism, excitement or hysteria. News is about generating…
Climate Change Science Deniers, Ignorance and Media’s False Balance
Climate change deniers are science deniers. That makes them either stupid, or so incredibly biased/conflicted that they are willing to ignore science and dodge accusations of their own stupidity to…
Join Ricochet: A new take on independent media.
Have you joined yet? No? So, you’re good with corporate media spinning things for you, against your personal, community, national and ecological interests? Oh. Ok. 🙂 Ricochet is an audacious…
People Should Stop Attacking The Margaret Wente
It doesn’t matter that she hasn’t read Naomi Klein’s new book about climate change. It doesn’t matter because the internet of things. It doesn’t matter because most of what’s important…
Comforted by false reality
A New York Times article, The Surprisingly Large Cost of Telling Small Lies, quotes a successful English business person about the need to confront truths, even uncomfortable ones, “…telling lies…
Beat reporters left the building
In 2010, the small city of Bell, CA was front page news nationwide. Over 17 years, the city manager and other municipal officials bilked tax payers out of millions of…
PR tops journalism in U.S.
If Americans often seem uninformed or misinformed about current affairs, it may be because they get more propaganda than news. There are now five times as many public relations experts…
Racism taints Kwikwetlem reporting
My initial reaction to reports of compensation paid the Kwikwetlem First Nations Chief was plain wrong. Until detail was gained, I assumed Ron Giesbrecht committed an egregious abuse of public…
Redefinition of news
It is no secret that Postmedia, owner of daily newspapers from Montreal to Vancouver, accumulates losses at rates it cannot sustain. Raising prices and reducing expenses is not a solution.…
R.I.P. Paul St. Pierre, 1923-2014
In the summer of 1968, I was a naive minion of the Liberal Party, helping manage the coastal part of Paul St. Pierre’s campaign to become MP for Coast Chilcotin.…
Just How Many BC Government Comms Staff Are There?
Below are all the job titles of all the comms staff in the BC Government Communications and Public Engagement bodies as of last week. Count with me! 🙂 There are…
Hudson Mews v. Portland Hotel Society
The Code of Ethics published by the Society for Professional Journalists includes, among others: Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. Deny favored treatment to advertisers and…
Hey Tom, whose energy policy has been nonsense?
In the article “Unparalleled, indeed,” I quoted from an item written in 2011 by Black Press proselytizer Tom Fletcher. In it, he “lauded Gordon Campbell’s “long-term strategy to export hydroelectric…
Occupy, For Democracy
Journalists protest the erosion of freedom of expression in Canada on Feb. 27 in Toronto. Photo Credit: Hiba Zayadin When I write about soft fascism, I sometimes feel too Canadian.…
17 Things To Do While Watching TV News
There’s more than 17. Way more. And you don’t have to do them all, you just have to start with a few. Chances are, though, that you already do some…
If the 1% Has Russell Brand Killed…
If the 1% has Russell Brand killed, we will see it in the corporate media as a drug OD relapse, or a freak accident. Why? He is dangerous because he…
Systemic Pressures Make Journalists Sloppy
Gosh, the corporate media sure can be sloppy. The heart-wrenching photo of a four-year-old Syrian refugee pictured alone crossing a desert into Jordan spread far and wide this weekend, but…
The Media Corruption Trifecta!
It’s a trifecta of moral corruption! Rex Murphy shills for Big Oil and Gas. Postmedia consigns its editorial control to the Oil and Gas Lobby. Postmedia, naturally, fires one of…