Book reviews

Journalist Nick Davies’ new book is a primer on great reporting and a morality tale about unethical journalism.

Continue Reading Star public editor: Hack Attack a must-read for journalists

Once you earn that hard-won job, you will be too busy doing journalism to read or even think deeply about capital-J journalism. Books Editor Dan Rowe recommends five books that may or may not appear one of your syllabi, but that you should read anyway.

Continue Reading 5 books to whet journalism students’ appetites

Ian Mulgrew, a Vancouver Sun columnist and author of a book about Canada’s marijuana industry, reviews Killer Weed, a new academic study that claims newspapers in Vancouver and Victoria have uncritically hyped public health and safety concerns related to marijuana grow-ops. 

Continue Reading Book Review: Killer Weed argues the news media have stoked “grow-op mania”

Drawing from extensive interviews with more than 100 key players in Canadian and British broadcast newsrooms, Rena Bivens’s Digital Currents is rich with insider examples and perspectives on the roadblocks and the rewards of making TV news in the digital age. Concordia University’s Corrine Smith reviews the book.

Continue Reading Book Review: Digital Currents explores how online news is changing television

Dan Rowe, coordinator of Humber College’s Bachelor of Journalism program and former Quill & Quire news editor, takes over the book review section.

Continue Reading Dan Rowe is J-Source’s new book review editor

Edited by Craig Silverman, the founder and editor of Regret the Error, The Verification Handbook contains case studies written by various journalists working in digital media. The book is easy to read, with parts of it resembling a Storify piece with embedded tweets and photos to illustrate points, writes Diana Pereira. 

Continue Reading Book Review: Verification Handbook is a must-read for all digital journalists

Former Canadian Press journalist Catherine McKercher writes that Allen’s book is a thorough chronological analysis of the first 50 years of Canadian Press. She hopes for a sequel.
Continue Reading Book Review: Gene Allen’s Making National News cements the influential but little-known role Canadian Press played as a significant cultural force

Michael Maclear is not as well-known as he should be, writes David Common, host of CBC’s World Report, in this review of the journalist’s latest book Guerilla Nation. But that’s a shame because Maclear’s tales of North Vietnam, as well as his struggles with Canada’s public broadcaster, are riveting.

Continue Reading Book Review: Guerilla Nation brings to life the challenges faced by the first western journalist reporting from North Vietnam

Stephen Puddicombe, a veteran CBC reporter with 15 years of experience working as a conflict zone reporter, says Lindhout’s book about her kidnapping in Somalia concerns him. He worries about the future of journalism when we put people on pedestals for being reckless in the field, however well meaning.

Continue Reading Book Review: Amanda Lindhout’s A House in the Sky came at too high a cost

In her new book, University of Alberta professor Patricia Demers examines the legacy of Miriam Green Ellis, an all-but-forgotten agricultural reporter from the Prairies who refused to be confined to the "women's pages." J-Source Agricultural Editor Mary Baxter writes Demers should be lauded for her eye-opening book. 

Continue Reading Book review: Travels and Tales of Miriam Green Ellis: Pioneer Journalist of the Canadian West