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Globe and Mail Public Editor: No need to offer ‘false balance’ to anti-vaxxers

Anti-vaxxers are up in arms about negative media coverage of their cause. Considering the timing, this is a little surprising: measles, a potentially life-threatening disease especially for unvaccinated babies or people with suppressed immune systems, is on the rise, thanks…
How to fix Canada’s biggest media problem in one easy step

Ottawa is poised to provide almost $600 million in financial assistance to Canada’s news media. Will it do the right thing and restrict the incentives to Canadian-owned companies?
Suffering outside the headlines

A new report proves that humanitarian crises are going underreported in English, French and German media across the world. Here’s why we need to rethink how we approach these stories
Bail out the journalists, not their bosses

Rather than bolstering the corporations that have decimated Canada’s media ecosystem, the federal tax incentive package should be used to fund journalists’ work
Toronto Star public editor: Filipino journalist Maria Ressa’s powerful defence of truth is truly inspiring

When Maria Ressa learned, via Twitter, that she was among the group of journalists Time magazine recognized as “Person of the Year” — “Guardians” in the “war on truth” — her immediate thought was sobering, indeed.
The missing fact-checker: Merchants of Truth’s Achilles heel

Why the controversy surrounding Jill Abramson’s newly released book puts the spotlight squarely on the valuable research department
Toronto Star Public Editor: Lessons from the eye of a global media storm

Living in the eye of a global media storm of coverage of an alleged serial killer for the past year, Karen Fraser has learned more than she ever could have imagined about today’s journalists and how they work.
CBC Ombudsperson: How much detail is enough?

The complainant, Robert Muir, says there were flaws in an article CBC Toronto published in the aftermath of flooding the city experienced last summer. He felt the article left readers with the wrong impression about the municipal government’s ability to…
Hello from CBC’s new Ombudsperson

This post was originally published on the CBC’s website on Jan. 7, 2019. This is my first day as CBC’s new Ombudsperson. I’d like to tell you a bit about how I plan to do the job. It starts with…
In praise of academic media sluts – a new year’s resolution

Are you a media whore? Or do you worry you might be labeled one by your colleagues – if not to your face, then behind your back? In the process of delivering hundreds of media engagement workshops, I’ve heard dozens…