Town Hall

May 22, 2013 - Posted by Janice Neil

The Rob Ford video is not news, it’s only gossip, according to two journalism ethics professors, and the difference is the standards of verification. Romayne Smith-Fullerton and Maggie Jones Patterson argue the public must be wondering what outweighed the search for truth.

May 20, 2013 - Posted by Janice Neil

Last week's stories about a man who appears to be Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking what might be crack, raises just about every journalistic issue around responsible reporting and libel that there is. Western journalism professor Paul Benedetti says the incident  provides a perfect teaching example about what journalists can and cannot say to avoid a libel court case. 

May 17, 2013 - Posted by Tamara Baluja

John Gordon Miller writes the Star skirted around the edges of these editorial principles by rushing into print, without anything but a last-minute attempt to get Ford and his people to tell their side of the story.

May 17, 2013 - Posted by Tamara Baluja

Shocking news is hard to believe. Last night, there was lots of news, plenty of it shocking. The sun was setting on another day, literally, when newsrooms tore up their front pages and started from scratch, writes Nick Taylor-Vaisey. 

May 17, 2013 - Posted by Tamara Baluja

It is dinosaur thinking to consider yourself a newspaper, writes Melanie Coulson. You are a news organization, committing fantastic acts of journalism online, on tablets, on smartphones and social media. The inky print product is but one platform. The NNAs, sadly, don’t recognize this.

May 17, 2013 - Posted by Tamara Baluja

Far too often, news organizations focus on the horse race between the parties or the leaders. The endless barrage of who is ahead or behind drowns out a lot of other coverage.  Innovation editor Rob Washburn writes that these polling gaffes are an excellent reminder to focus on issues and analysis when it comes to election coverage instead of using the crutch of polls endlessly. 

May 15, 2013 - Posted by Tamara Baluja

Most journalism schools don’t like to talk to their students about public relations.  They teach them nothing about PR history, theory, ethics and practice.  It’s as if they believe that by teaching them about the “dark side” they will somehow be made impure. Journalism professor Ira Basen writes this lack of knowledge about PR does a real disservice to journalists. 

May 14, 2013 - Posted by Tamara Baluja

With several mistaken facts in The Globe and Mail editorial endorsing Christy Clark for premier, David Beers writes the editorial will do little to change the views of any British Columbians who resent that so much of the province's major media is owned and run outside the province.

May 07, 2013 - Posted by Tamara Baluja
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