Instead of concentrating its reporting force in Egypt to replicate saturation coverage already available everywhere, the Toronto Star has nine journalists covering “the Arab Awakening” from Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Yemen, Lebabon, Kuwait, Tunisia, and, of course, Egypt. The result is a riveting and varied text-and-photos portrait of a region in flux, including a…
Citizen journalism, public journalism, grassroots journalism, participatory journalism—just some of the terms used to describe the public’s new role in the production of news. But what do any of those terms mean in a practical sense? Field Notes editor Nicole Blanchett Neheli explains.
Vancouver blogger Adrian McNair has taken issue with a column by Susan Delacourt on the possibility of a spring federal election. Delacourt quotes Don Burroughs in her story, noting he was called by the Conservative Party and asked if he is a member, but she doesn’t say who Burroughs is. McNair says Delacourt is “stretching…
As turmoil deepens in Egypt, media critics accuse U.S. broadcasters of serving up “blather and confusion” from the mouths of “unqualified panellists.” Most columnists agree that Al Jazeera continues to lead on-the-ground coverage, despite being expelled. “The day belongs to Al Jazeera,” declared the New York Times. The BBC also stands out from the pack…
Here’s a fascinating story about how a friend of the accused Tucson shooter was treated by the media. She’s just a high-school student who, it seems, became a commodity for the news media in the U.S. after the shooting. It’s great reading. Thanks, Tom Hawthorn, for sending the link.
Mike Elk was fired as a labor blogger for the Huffington Post because he took part in a labor disruption. The guy who fired him was earning a reported $300,000 a year. Elk was earning . . . nothing. In this posting, Elk cries foul. He says he’s providing a public service. Should a pro-bono…
Twenty-six months ago, Beverley Giesbrecht was kidnapped by the Taliban in the tribal regions of Pakistan, not far from the Afghanistan border. She was a self-styled journalist from British Columbia, on a mission to meet Islamic insurgents and have them tell their side of the “war on terror.” She’s almost certainly dead and, as Claude…
An article in the Montreal Gazette condemns journalism for failing to show assertions by a British doctor that vaccinations could cause autism. Freelancer Neil Cameron notes: “The widespread fears about vaccination were created not only by Wakefield, by the grapevine fears of anxious parents, and by additional confused leadership by some celebrity nincompoops, but by…
Here’s another good article that perhaps we should all print and keep handy for the next time we find ourselves covering unspeakable tragedy. With thanks to Jane Hawkes of the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma for pointing me to it.
Interesting piece in the New York Times about how the media was quick to blame the shootings in Arizona on politics, the Tea Party, Sarah Palin and ramped-up rhetoric. I’m not sure I agree; it’s all too easy to just blame unexplainable situations on mental illnesses, but the point is one we should be considering.