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Toronto Star Public Editor: Lessons from the eye of a global media storm

Living in the eye of a global media storm of coverage of an alleged serial killer for the past year, Karen Fraser has learned more than she ever could have imagined about today’s journalists and how they work. Continue Reading Toronto Star Public Editor: Lessons from the eye of a global media storm
CBC Ombudsperson: How much detail is enough?

The complainant, Robert Muir, says there were flaws in an article CBC Toronto published in the aftermath of flooding the city experienced last summer. He felt the article left readers with the…
A case study in nondisclosures

(Disclosure: I’m the full-time paid publisher of Briarpatch Magazine, a volunteer board member of the Media Co-op, CEO of the currently inactive environmental consulting company Porpoise B Consulting, and freelance journalist. My…
Top takeaways from NASH 2019

From Jan. 3 to 6, emerging journalists from across the country came together in Calgary, Alta. for NASH, an annual journalism conference hosted this year by the University of Calgary’s student publication…
Hello from CBC’s new Ombudsperson

This post was originally published on the CBC’s website on Jan. 7, 2019. This is my first day as CBC’s new Ombudsperson. I’d like to tell you a bit about how I…
In praise of academic media sluts – a new year’s resolution

Are you a media whore? Or do you worry you might be labeled one by your colleagues – if not to your face, then behind your back? In the process of delivering…
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

Media Localism: The Policies of Place. By Christopher Ali. University of Illinois Press – 2017. 272 pages. $25.00. The challenge of enhancing local media regulation beyond geographic and spatial considerations is at…
When not to publish graphic images

I regularly advocate for journalists to tell stories they see as newsworthy in the manner they see fit, because a key element of the journalistic skill set is the ability to determine…
A generation of journalists are struggling

Over the last three years, I’ve had some version of this conversation with countless young Canadian journalists. “I’m so anxious right now.” “My work laid off 15 per cent of the staff…
Nonprofit news: Lessons from south of the border

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. When many of my former colleagues at the Guelph Mercury were laid off in 2009, I…