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A prank played by an Irish student who laid a trap for lazy journalists on Wikipedia  — and caught some big prey around the world — proves again that journalists should check, double-check and check again all sources — especially sources on …

Canwest Global Communications Corp. received another two-week extension, until May 19, in talks with debt obligations with senior lenders and U.S. bondholders. Noted the Hollywood Reporter, “The latest extension came as Canwest Global faced a Tuesday night deadline to make an overdue $30.4 million payment to 8% U.S. bondholders.” The Canwest press release is here.

Journalists who are not American — and thus protected by that country’s constitution — are working under tough new restrictions imposed by NATO in southern Afghanistan, reported Canadian Press. The story notes that the Canadian military “has tried unsuccessfully” to reverse the new policy, which mirrors American military media policy in Iraq. Canadian journalists are now…

The New York Times looks at the conundrum of whether coverage exacerbates a crisis. An excerpt: Without the news media the public would be dangerously unaware of the swine flu outbreak, but perhaps without saturation coverage on cable news networks and the velocity of information on the Internet, the public would not be so hysterical,…

Canwest’s Leonard Asper blames the regulators for the woes of broadcasters such as Canwest’s Global…

Does concentrated ownership of media help render Canada a “Third World” nation? Elizabeth May thinks so — but her reasons and where she lays blame are contentious …

Canwest News Service has launched a series in its chain of newspapers examining the “siege mentality that is gripping the newspaper industry.” The topic is especially challenging in this series for two reasons. First, reporter David Akin (a superb journalist) now works for a company with the same owners who have historically stifled in-house criticism.…

In an investigative piece of journalism into human honesty, the Toronto Star dropped 20 wallets in urban and suburban locations. Most came back. Wow: journalism that affirms humanity’s capability for goodness. If we are to live up to our claim of writing history’s first draft, journalists need that once in a while, imo — just…

The Nation considers whether, and how, the Wall Street Journal has changed under Rupert Murdoch’s ownership…

Studies show visits to American newspaper Web sites are up by more than 10 per cent, and the audience demographics should be valuable to advertisers. Now if only Nielsen Online could answer the big question: how to get those online readers to pay for the journalism they consume?