Climate Comedies
I caught Al Franken and David Letterman’s Funny or Die series on climate change: Boiling the Frog. It’s vaguely informative and not particularly funny, but fans of either guy might…
media
Cultural appropriation is the new gluten free
Like food fads, political fads wax and wane as the gnat-like attention span of their followers gets diverted by the Next Big Thing. Political Correctness has of late given birth…
Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Martin Lukacs writes that the world should able to draw plenty of positive examples from Canada’s politics – though not from the corporate-focused…
Will Mandryk Eat His Privatization Crow?
Has anyone watched Mandryk eat crow about this doozy of a column defending Wall’s last campaign yet? “NDP must get off privatization merry-go-round“ “On Tuesday, Wall emphatically said “no” to…
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…
VLC Demonstrates the Awesomeness of the FOSS Movement
VLC plays anything you can throw at it as it’s an amazing piece of software. The application is focussed on doing one thing really well: playing media. It’s so good…
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…
Why all the Bodyslam Jokes on Twitter?
You may have heard people talking about Montanan Gianforte. He attacked a journalist. Greg Gianforte just body slammed me and broke my glasses — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) May 24, 2017…
Feminism and Intersectionality, LIVE!
Feminism, intersectionality, activism in a world spinning out of rationality? Need to some grounding, inspiration and joy? Want to see the woman who invented the word “intersectionality”? Here’s what should…
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…
Silence on the right and in the media about NDP role as Alberta adds an impressive 20,000 full-time jobs in March
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who is not getting any credit for her economic successes from the Opposition or the media. Below: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci; Saskatchewan Premier Brad…
NDP plan to change funding model for agricultural commissions is unlikely to much help farmers or the government
PHOTOS: Alberta Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier with some of the members, staff and leaders of the province’s agricultural commissions at a sparsely attended news conference in Edmonton yesterday to announce…
Adult Assembly Required: Fake News
The term Fake News isn’t real! Surprised? Probably not, as we have been bombarded with the term Fake News as an action verb since the election of Donald Trump, in…
How Safe Will the Model 3 Be?
The Tesla Model 3 could be the safest car on the road — and that’s bad news for every other automaker Matthew DeBord Mar. 23, 2017, 10:42 AM MORGAN STANLEY:…
On Beauty and the Beast
I saw the newest version of this classic, which was close to being very good. There were a few long boring bits, and the CGI of the beast was hard…
Castro coverage shows fake news is ubiquitous
Photo by NBC Miami Perhaps the biggest media story of 2016 was the overdue discovery of fake news: totally manufactured information slickly packaged as journalism. Getting a lot less attention…
Chrystia Freeland should not be punished for her grandfather’s sins, but for misleading Canadians about them
PHOTOS: Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland during her visit to Edmonton in the midst of the 2015 federal election. Below: Former Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and Prime Minister Justin…
Systemic Misogyny Even in Literature? Of Course.
As we pivot to a world of post-patriarchy, let’s look at literature. Are most published books written by men? Are most characters in children’s books introducing and reinforcing patriarchy? Yes,…
The Shattered Mirror: What caused the fall of mainstream media – the Internet or shoddy, sycophantic corporate journalism?
“Nine-year-old newsie and his 7-year-old brother ‘Red.’” (1915 Photo: Lewis Wickes Hine/Shorpy) OOOOH CANADA, WE STAND ON GUARD FOR WE … On January 27, an outfit called the Public Policy…
2017 Tobacco Company Ad-buy For YouTube
I would take the plain packaging ad circulating more seriously, if it wasn't funded by Japan Tobacco International. #canpoli — Lucas Kuffner (@lucaskuffner) February 27, 2017 My YouTube viewing on…