• How will Peter Mansbridge be remembered by Canadians? Photo courtesy Charmaine Millaire.

    Peter Mansbridge: Debating his legacy

    By Charmaine Millaire for The Signal On the crisp winter morning of February 17, 2009, Peter Mansbridge walked off the elevator towards the main doors of the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. Before reaching the doors he noticed his reflection in a full body mirror, and realized he had paired the wrong coloured pants with…

  • How 1.5 million hearing or visually impaired Canadians stay up-to-date. Photo courtesy of Megan Fraser.

    News for all

    By Megan Fraser for The Signal In the last three years, administrative clerk Jennifer Gibson has answered more than 5,000 phone calls. She sits in a cubicle on the sixth floor of a downtown Halifax office building, facing two computer screens. And she faces a daily challenge – she is hard of hearing. Gibson took…

  • What’s at stake for journalists who use social media? Photo courtesy of Sydney Jones.

    Blessing or curse?

    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,…

  • The 13 per cent of adults who don’t follow news at all are almost four million people. By Francesca Handy.

    The worrisome 13 per cent

    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…

  • The Public Policy Forum’s report The Shattered Mirror recommended Ottawa step up to help preserve Canadian news coverage. Screenshot by J-Source.

    Don’t touch that chequebook! A second look at The Shattered Mirror

    By Madelaine Drohan Traditional media firms are undoubtedly suffering in the digital age. But does it follow that the public is being harmed? The Public Policy Forum’s recent report on the state of Canadian media conveys a great deal of information about journalistic jobs lost, newspapers shuttered and the giant sucking sound of advertising revenues…
  • Canadian Journalists for Free Expression hosted a rally outside Osgoode Hall during the appeal. "We're not facing a brave new world, but a frightening new world," CJFE executive director Tom Henheffer (left) told a small crowd. Right: Ben Makuch.

    Vice Canada’s ongoing legal case is about bigger issues in Canadian journalism

    By Kat Eschner Third-party intervenors in yesterday’s appeal by Ben Makuch and Vice Canada provided broader context into the importance and dangers of this case. Vice Canada and Ben Makuch’s lawyer Iain MacKinnon argued that forcing the national security reporter to give up records of his Kik messenger chats with alleged ISIS member Farah Mohamed…
  • Independent journalist at No DAPL protest

    Ten ways to build a new Canadian media ecosystem

    By David Beers and Robyn Smith “Ailing,” “beleaguered” and “being murdered” — according to its own headlines, 2016 was a rough year for journalism in Canada. Entering 2017, it shows no signs of recovery. Legacy media are still struggling with the digital transition. Advertising dollars are all but gone, sucked up by American web platforms…
  • The burning of Rome: Detail from the cover of E.T. Paull's The Burning of Rome sheet music. Wikicommons

    Must journalists fiddle while democracy burns?

    By Robert Sutton The broad mandate of the Public Policy Forum’s report, The Shattered Mirror, was not ultimately to defend any particular mode of news delivery, but to evaluate the risks to Canadian democracy if the delivery of news continues its current decline. Sadly, within days of the report’s Jan. 26 release, discussion has devolved to one…