Taking stock of media and democracy
New developments in the media may not have such a positive effect on the openness of information after all. The quality of news hasn't fared too well, either.
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One soldier, one Tweet: remembering Canada’s war dead
Twitter gives its users a platform to broadcast, to promote, and to converse. Melanie Coulson tells us how one journalist used it to help Canadians remember the history of our fallen soldiers. This post was originally published on Coulson's blog, Journomel.com
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Ming Pao’s union fight
When workers at Ming Pao, one of Toronto’s largest Chinese daily newspapers, started to unionize this summer things got nasty fast. Management laid off union organizers and openly likened others to Maoists. Seven weeks into the resulting strike, Rhiannon Russell visits the picket line for the inside scoop.
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The power of the Punjabi press
A growing number of people in the GTA say they are becoming victimized by the highly influential, and allegedly irresponsible, ethnic media, reports the Toronto Star.
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Roy MacGregor decries reporters treated like “hamsters” to “file, file, file” the arcane and minutiae
In a passionate call for a return to storytelling, Roy MacGregor, blames the an "obsession with 'content'" for applying pressure on reporters to "file, file, file" to produce content that lack substance. [node:ad] MacGregor says reporters are treated like "hamsters stuck in an endless wheel, spinning nowhere. They must set up games, tweet from morning…
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Another great books list
Who doesn’t love a top j-books list? For journalists, it’s endless fun debating what books should have made it but didn’t, and what books did but shouldn’t have.
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Maclean’s tries augmented reality for Rethink issue
For its second annual Rethink issue, Maclean’s is all about innovation – even when it comes to the magazine itself.
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A short history of the ampersand
Did you know the wily (seriously, try drawing it) ampersand is really the result of B.C.-era scribes working too fast while writing “e” and “t”?
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The CBC got it wrong on Rob Ford: Torontoist
When it comes to the Rob Ford/22 Minutes sideshow the CBC failed big time, writes Mark Bourrie in the Torontoist.
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Rob Ford’s freeze out
Toronto mayor Rob Ford may pride himself of being accessible to every regular Joe who phones him, but he's spent his first year in office freezing out selected media. Now, the motion to address the slights in the public arena, and get the mayor talking, has flopped. Rhiannon Russell has more.