• J-Source

    Cuts threaten journalism: association

    “A flood of job cuts threatens to hobble high-quality journalism in this country,” says a press release from an association representing some Canadian journalists. “The retrenchment is…

  • J-Source

    The point of journalism, in a nutshell

    “Why,” asked the CBC’s David Gutnick of an ex-soldier and new journalist in Mali, “did you become a radio reporter?” “Because it is a way of doing good,” answered Daouda Diarra. “When I go on the radio I try and do my best to tell the truth about what I find out. I try to…

  • J-Source

    Journalists in the Red Chamber

    Two journalists were among 18 people appointed to Canada’s Senate by Stephen Harper: Mike Duffy and former broadcaster Pamela Wallin. The acceptance of the position by high-profile political reporter Duffy is raising perhaps the most eyebrows; one story quoted a critic charging that the” move also points to the slipping standards of Canadian political journalism,…

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    “Hotties” only need apply

    “Women have made huge advances in TV sports broadcasting over the past 10 years,” writes William Houston in a Globe and Mail critique of women’s role in sports broadcasting. “There are more working in the business. They hold jobs as reporters, anchors and, in the United States, even play-by-play announcers.” “But as the numbers have…

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    Paper cuts

    The American Society of Newspaper Editors will vote next April on cutting the word “paper” from its name and expanding its membership to include editors of online-only news Web sites and journalism educators. From a society news release: “The new name would be the American Society of News Editors. The logo would remain the same:…

  • J-Source

    Reporting on the dead

    Why did neither of Canada’s two major all-news networks — CTV and CBC — for the first time fail to cover, live, the Dec. 16 repatriation ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Trenton for three more Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan? “… it takes less than a half-hour to unload the coffins of three young servants…

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    Obama and the press

    Between Obama and the Press, a piece in the upcoming New York Times Magazine, looks at how the relationship between the press and the new president might shape up — or not…

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    A disgrace to journalism: shoe-throwing

    In a tone of hilarity and snickering approval the story of Iraqi “journalist” Muntadar al-Zaidi’s throwing his shoes at U.S. president George W. Bush at a news conference has flooded all forms of media. Responds an editorial in the Globe and Mail: “The moment world leaders think they will be the target of projectiles thrown…

  • J-Source

    Nolen: Out of Africa

    Globe and Mail Africa correspondent Stephanie Nolen is taking up a new post in New Delhi and leaving Africa. The Globe published a remarkable first-person piece in which Nolen “bids farewell to a place she’s come to love, she reflects on how it has changed, and how it changed her.” She writes of covering African…