Why does the Toronto Star publish opinion columns that readers judge to be outrageous, offensive, inappropriate? Columnists express their own views, not the views of the Star, which are expressed on its editorial pages, writes public editor Kathy English. They can and often do express opinions the Star does not agree with.
Once you raise the issue that many in the media haven’t mentioned John Greyson’s orientation for “fear it would go worse for him,” as Margaret Wente wrote), The Globe and Mail's public editor Sylvia Stead says you need to very explicitly answer that question about why you have chosen to mention his orientation.
Can Toronto Star reporters take material from the Star's own archives? Sometimes, yes. But outright copying of a colleague's work is plagiarism, writes public editor Kathy English.
When the Ottawa Morning Show ran an interview with Terry Woodard, the widow of the driver of the Ottawa bus that collided with a train, there was quite a lot of reaction. The interview was raw and painful to listen to. Was it the wrong decision to air it? The complainant, Chris Young, thought it…
If you are a fan of page A2 in the paper and the corrections online, you will be interested to know how The Globe and Mail staff find out about errors, writes public editor Sylvia Stead.
When a then 25-year-old Ben Peterson launched a global media development organization called Journalists for Human Rights in 2002, he faced his share of critics, skeptics and naysayers for somehow tainting the notion of “objectivity” in journalism. Fast forward 11 years, Journalists for Human Rights has become Canada’s largest media development charity. And as its founder put it, “If…
A reader wondered: “Why does The Globe persist in using the sexist … and outdated term ‘schoolgirls’ in reference to the victims of Paul Bernardo? Public editor Sylvia Stead writes it may be time to find a better description.
Especially during times of ethnic tensions, it is much more important to tread carefully and not make connections that aren’t proven or even real, writes The Globe and Mail's public editor Sylvia Stead.
A complainant said a CBC News story from Calgary unfairly singled out the pit bull to sensationalize the story and that the media has created the bias against these dogs. But CBC ombudsman Esther Enkin did not find any policy violation.
Tyler Olsen, a photographer for the Chilliwack Times in British Columbia, had questions about CBC’s use of a photograph from his paper when they were covering a news story. He acknowledged it was allowed under a Copyright Act provision called fair dealing, but asked the CBC's ombudsman if the use of his photo was ethical,…