By Sylvia Stead for the Globe and Mail Today and yesterday, the website and the front page of the newspaper have been and are dominated by extensive coverage of the attack on the Quebec City mosque. Much more coverage is and will be done in the coming hours and days and readers still have many…
By Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman The Alberta Teachers’ Association released a toolkit for creating curriculum dealing with “sexual and minority genders.” The complainant, Greg Murphy, questioned the balance and fairness of an article about the handbook framed by the objections raised by a critic. He thought it misrepresented the document and distorted its meaning. There…
By Kathy English for the Toronto Star What happens if and when there are no news media? That is the critical question at the heart of an essential public conversation that began in earnest this week with the release of an exhaustive report by Canada’s Public Policy Forum entitled The Shattered Mirror: News, Democracy and…
By Marlene Murphy “What kinds of journalism do we think are worth protecting, and what are we willing to do to protect them?” Christine Crowther said that was the starting point for a new book, Journalism in Crisis. Crowther, a former CBC journalist who now teaches part-time at Carleton University, is one of the six…
By Kathy English for the Toronto Star There is nothing new about critical readers expressing their concerns about what they read in the Star in strong words. My in-box, and those of most other journalists here, is evidence of that. What is new in recent weeks however is the fact some of those critics are…
By Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman The complainant, Paula Vallee, had a relative die in a car crash. While she herself was not contacted, she alleged the reporter was insensitive and insistent with other family members. She also said some reports had errors and her messages were ignored. CBC News staff in Edmonton acted appropriately in…
By Sydney Jones for The Signal On the morning of Halloween, 2014, adults disguised as ghouls and witches carried briefcases and purses as they walked to work, crunching across the leaves in front of Stephanie Domet’s house. Normally by this hour on a Friday the CBC Radio Mainstreet host would be getting ready for work,…
By Sylvia Stead for the Globe and Mail Words matter, accuracy matters, fairness matters, independence matters. With journalism under attack these days south of the border, journalists need to focus on the basics of the craft and not become defensive to the swirling charges from Donald Trump that they produce “fake news” and are the…
By Kathy English for the Toronto Star It would be ideal if every person who has something important – and largely, secret — to reveal to the public through the media about matters of public interest could be fully identified. Clearly, readers would prefer that: numerous credibility studies tell us readers most believe news reports…
By Francesca Handy for The Signal Midafternoon on a Tuesday, the food court in Scotia Square shopping centre in Halifax is full of people sitting alone. Professionals working in the area are on their lunch breaks. If they aren’t only focused on their food, they’re holding a newspaper or cellphone. Some are looking at news apps or online…