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As the final round of the Joint Review Panel hearings into Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline project began this week, one local journalist has problems with the coverage of the issue. Robin Rowland argues that many of the reporters are not based in northern B.C. and report the news through a business and political lens rather than balancing it with environmental reporting. Simply "balancing" Enbridge's stance on the project against the views of activists and First Nations members does not adequately explain the Northern Gateway debate.
As an obituary writer I have come to accept that most people recoil when they hear what I do for a living, as though I have something catching. I have become accustomed to the arched eyebrow the nervous laugh, the disparaging comments about the Siberia of Journalism and even the jokes: How’s life on the Dead Beat, ha ha ha. Get it? Or a Live? Blog?, as several wits queried when J-Source covered an obituary conference in Toronto recently. Once and for all—I hope—I’d like to dispel the most common myths about obituaries.
The number of beat reporters covering religion for secular publications has declined over the years and too often, stories on religion are covered with an anti-religious bias. While stories on religion in secular papers inform the masses on this age-old subject, niche reporting tackles stories the mainstream media often miss.
A full day conference on the future of obituaries, how writers handle suicide, and the the myths about obituary writing. Speakers: SPOW president Andy Meacham, Toronto Star columnist Catherine Porter and Sandra Martin, senior feature writer at The Globe and Mail and author of Working the Dead Beat.
It can’t do any good to lose the number and quality of people on the Globe list, writes former Globe staffer Dan Westell. But the media owners are desperate to find a way to make money in a digital world, and cutting costs – although not a viable long-term strategy – might provide the breathing room to find a formula for profit.
The abrupt closing of CityNews Channel on May 30 came at an inopportune time for news consumers in the Greater Toronto Area, because it happened while appetite for local news coverage is stronger than usual, writes Centennial College broadcast journalism professor Ellin Bessner.
Canada’s famous abortion doctor, who died last week, was a masterful subject for journalists, his biographer recalls. Catherine Dunphy argues although he was womanizer who loved many, the most important love affair in his life was between him and media.
Last week, J-Source published an op-ed from Melanie Coulson who said the National Newspaper Awards need to make some changes to reflect journalism in the digital era. In this letter to the editor, Scott White, the chair of the NNAs board of governors, responds to that column, arguing the program has never been afraid to adapt to the changing landscape of journalism.
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