J-Topics

A photojournalist declares the profession legally dead, and suggests that writers are next...

The Tyee has hired its first resident writer, muckrucking journalist Andrew Nikiforuk, who will write a regular column called Energy and Equity... 

As journalists trek toward the G8/20 Summit, it may be hard to muster excitement for another round of unmet aid pledges and quickly forgotten PR moments for the hosts. Outside the gates there's perhaps a more interesting story in the showdown between political power and street power. Yet social activists complain the issues at stake seldom get covered, as focus tends to settle on anarchist offshoots like the Black Bloc and Padded Bloc, guaranteed to be wearing the most photogenic attire. Meanwhile, Indigenous land rights are a hot topic at related civil society gatherings, as are migrant workers’ rights in a global economy, and the proposed 'Robin Hood tax.' Journalists who find these things a yawn might want to wake up and take note: time and again, yesterday's fringe issues are tomorrow’s front page.

To get an inside track, the G8/20 Toronto Community Mobilization website is a hub for activities ranging from bike block actions to radical street parties. Rabble.ca has a G8/20 ‘one stop shop’ of alt media coverage, and has published a guide to independent journalists covering the event, including what to do when CSIS comes calling. The Toronto Media Co-op, a division of Dominion News, is reporting on the People's Summit, while OpenFile offers coverage from a local perspective. The G20 Alt Media Centre is already abuzz with reports, tweets, photos and video from the streets. There are also individual activists like Krystalline Kraus and Stefan Christoff blogging and tweeting from ground zero, and a lively online debate about the relationship of the bank bombers to social movements. Journalists who want to dig further into the banquet of issues on offer will find a virtual library of resources at the G8 Information Centre provided by the University of Toronto and Munk School of Global Affairs.

Al Jazeera English, the 24-hour global news and current affairs channel, began broadcasting on Shaw Cable today. Shaw subscribers can tune into channel 175 and watch the channel for free until August 31...