J-Links for July 20: Toronto Sun columnist wins baseball writing award; CBC reporter Louise Charette dies at 53; Belarusian journo arrested for teddy bear pictures

In Canadian media:

Toronto Sun columnist first Canadian to receive prestigious baseball writing award

Bob Elliot began writing for the Toronto Sun 25 years ago and will become the first Canadian to receive the J.G. Taylor Spink Award, considered the highest honour a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) can receive. Baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins interviewed Elliot about winning the award, his career as a writer and baseball.

CBC Winnipeg reporter, Louise Charette, dies from cancer at 53

Award-winning CBC News reporter, Louise Charette, passed away Wednesday night at 53 after a long battle with cancer. She began working at CBC Radio in Manitoba in 1993 and is known for covering both local and provincial politics as well as her coverage of Aboriginal issues.

Jian Ghomeshi’s rise to radio superstardom

Globe and Mail’s music writer Brad Wheeler writes an in-depth profile on CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi, where he talks about his past and family, his  ‘workaholism’, what it’s like to work on his radio show Q. He writes about Ghomeshi’s rise to fame and points to the interview when Ghomeshi kept his cool while conducting an awkward interview with Billy Bob Thornton and his band in 2009.

In international media:

Journo in Belarus arrested over publishing photos of press freedom teddy bears

Belarusian website editor Anton Suryapin was arrested for publishing photos of teddy bears pinned with press freedom messages on a website called Belarusian News Photos after the bears were dropped from a plane over Minsk on July 4. Regional media has reported that a Swedish advertising agency airdropped the toys, but Belarusian authorities say it never happened and have detained Suryapin. Belarus is ranked 10th on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ “top 10 censored report”.

Today’s read:

Pregnant women addicted to painkillers means tiny graves in aboriginal community

Northern Ontario’s Fort Hope aboriginal community’s cemetery is home to some of the tiniest graves of miscarried fetuses, and the number of them continues to grow. There are a growing number of pregnant women addicted to Oxycodone and other painkillers, and when they stop taking them – either because of a lack of supply, or out of concern for their unborn child – the withdrawal can cause miscarriage.  The Ojibway community believes that fetuses are human beings from inception, and thus, deserve a proper burial.