• CBC/Radio-Canada building

    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 a pretty fundamental question: why have an Ombudsperson at all? I could go on about…

  • 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 and dozens of you express this fear, using precisely this language. You’ve made it clear…

  • Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

    Media Localism: The Policies of Place. By Christopher Ali. University of Illinois Press – 2017. 272 pages. $25.00. The challenge of enhancing local media regulation beyond geographic and spatial considerations is at the heart of Christopher Ali’s recent book Media Localism: The Policies of Place. Ali, a Winnipeg-raised University of Virginia media studies professor, sets…

  • When not to publish graphic images

    I regularly advocate for journalists to tell stories they see as newsworthy in the manner they see fit, because a key element of the journalistic skill set is the ability to determine news value. Making principled decisions about what is or isn’t news is a vital public service, and news value should be assessed by…

  • A generation of journalists are struggling

    Over the last three years, I’ve had some version of this conversation with countless young Canadian journalists. “I’m so anxious right now.” “My work laid off 15 per cent of the staff and I’m really scared I’m next.” “I’m pretty sure I’m not good enough to be here.” The journalists I have had these conversations…

  • Nonprofit news: Lessons from south of the border

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. When many of my former colleagues at the Guelph Mercury were laid off in 2009, I got in touch to see whether they were going to start their own news website. This has become increasingly common in the United…

  • Stack of newspapers curved in s-shape, in black and white

    Seven ways to bail out the government’s journalism bailout

    This story was originally published by The Logic and appears here with its permission. I anguished over whether to weigh in on last week’s $595-million government-aid package for journalism because it’s deeply personal for me.  I’ve spent almost 20 years in traditional media, studied disruption theory in academia and now, I’m an entrepreneur trying to…

  • Globe and Mail building exterior

    Globe and Mail public editor: When a private school’s history goes public

    A few readers, graduates of St. Michael’s College, were upset with The Globe and Mail’s coverage of their school these past two weeks. Toronto police are investigating allegations of assault and sexual assault connected to the Catholic boys’ school after receiving multiple videos, and six students have been arrested. These graduates aren’t denying the news…

  • Funding journalism means defining who’s a journalist – not a bad thing

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here. The federal government’s recent announcement of financial support for news organizations has been met with understandably wide-ranging reactions — from relief to skepticism, and worse. Among other measures, the package will incentivize consumers to sign up for digital…