Operation Infektion 2.0? State-sponsored journalism and disinformation
How do democracies deal with disinformation that is indistinguishable from journalism? Continue Reading Operation Infektion 2.0? State-sponsored journalism and disinformation
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A paltry number of Canadians are paying for online news
Attitudes towards news media and consumption behaviour in Canada pose a sort of conundrum. In general, Canadians have a positive view of journalism and relatively high trust in media, but on the other hand, they are little inclined to pay for digital news sources. Continue Reading A paltry number of Canadians are paying for online news
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Trudeau’s government continues to fall short on media’s access to information
Bill C-58 is in its final stages. What happens to the public’s right-to-know if it passes? Continue Reading Trudeau’s government continues to fall short on media’s access to information
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Dear Journalists of Canada: Start Reporting Climate Change as an Emergency
A five-point plan for mainstream media to cover fewer royal babies and more of our unfolding catastrophe Continue Reading Dear Journalists of Canada: Start Reporting Climate Change as an Emergency
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Political cartoonists are out of touch – it’s time to make way for memes
The New York Times came under fire after a political cartoon appeared in print on April 25, 2019. Continue Reading Political cartoonists are out of touch – it’s time to make way for memes
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Thunder Bay: Local news is important for conversations on reconciliation
The Ontario city of Thunder Bay is in the headlines these days for all the wrong reasons. Canada’s highest rates of murder and violent crime. The highest number of hate crimes per capita. Systemic racism embedded in shoddy police investigations. The deaths — many unexplained — of Indigenous students who come to the city for…
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Shutting down social media does not reduce violence, but rather fuels it
In the wake of a series of coordinated attacks that claimed more than 250 lives on April 21, the government of Sri Lanka shut off its residents’ access to social media and online messaging systems, including Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, Snapchat and Viber. The official government concern was that “false news reports were spreading through social…
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The pedestrian misogyny behind the van attack
Coverage of mass violence against women still leaves out the basics Continue Reading The pedestrian misogyny behind the van attack
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Journalism’s Assange problem
By Kathy Kiely, University of Missouri-Columbia and Laurel Leff, Northeastern University These days, anybody with an internet connection can be a publisher. That doesn’t make everybody a journalist. This distinction has become more important than ever in light of two recent events. One was the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The other was a…
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Our faith in information is faltering when we most need facts
We shouldn’t need a Super Bowl commercial costing around $10 million to remind us that information is supposed to matter in a democracy. Yet the Washington Post thought we did, so it told 111 million Americans watching the Super Bowl that “knowing empowers us, knowing helps us decide, knowing keeps us free.” It was another…