So the New York Times really did it: after months of speculation, years after its last failed attempt, it announced that it will charge online readers and explained why in a staff memo. There have been so many opinions ventured about this move that it’s become a big, boring, droning buzz. The reality is that…
International journalists in China have had their email accounts hacked, say numerous reports. But are emails in any country safe from surveillance?
The New York Times is expected to begin charging readers for online access this year. A (free) online story in New York Magazine reveals the heated debate between print and online managers, and the difficult issues behind such a decision. Excerpts: “The decision to go paid is monumental for the Times, and culminates a yearlong…
Canadian Press reporter Stephanie Levitz, one of some three dozen journalists who ran with the 2010 Olympic flame, wrote a terrific first-person piece about her ethical dilemma … Update Jan. 17: Canwest Olympics reporter Jeff Lee responds …
The death of Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang on patrol with Canadian troops in Afghanistan has produced an outpouring of sympathy from across the Canadian journalism community – not least because her situation inside an armoured vehicle was both blameless and helpless. It has also reignited debate about the potential return on such excursions. Colin…
John Tierney ponders the key question, imo, of the past decade: “When does the wisdom of crowds give way to the meanness of mobs?” Tierney’s New York Times piece today focuses on a new book by digital pioneer Jaron Lanier, “You Are Not a Gadget,” and Lanier’s attack on “the glorification of open-source software, free…
A Los Angeles Times column, “Freelance writing’s unfortunate new model,” warns that while everyone has been riveted on the loss of staff jobs, freelancing has been taking a quiet nosedive, compounding the loss of journalism. Excerpt from the piece by James Rainey: “Freelance writing fees — beginning with the Internet but extending to newspapers and…
Montreal’s Le Devoir reached the century mark today. CBC reported that the French-language daily was founded in 1910 under the promise, paraphrased, to “support honest people and denounce the villains.” As Metro Montreal noted, quoting founder Henri Bourassa, it also promised depth and intelligence: “Sans doute nous ne donnerons pas à nos lecteurs le genre…
Finally, Canada’s largest newspaper chain is officially for sale. Senior lenders to struggling Canwest Global Communications Corp, made up of a consortium of Canadian banks, made a bid. It follows a voluntary court filing for protection from creditors, which covers Canwest Publishing, Canwest Books and Canwest Canada Inc. — all of Canwest’s newspapers, digital media,…
Benefits for thousands of retired Canadian newspaper workers are at risk. Reported the Hamilton Spectator: “About 3,000 retirees of the Southam newspaper chain, including former Spectator staff, received a letter just before Christmas warning them their retirement benefits are in jeopardy. While coverage will continue “for the time being,” the retirees were warned the company…