We shouldn’t need a Super Bowl commercial costing around $10 million to remind us that information is supposed to matter in a democracy. Yet the Washington Post thought we did, so it told 111 million Americans watching the Super Bowl that “knowing empowers us, knowing helps us decide, knowing keeps us free.” It was another…
Besides everything else I do, I am first of all a business owner. I started Halifax Examiner Inc. in 2014 with all my life savings, $10,000. By the time the first post went live, I had something like $2,000 in the company bank account. Since then, I’ve operated the company very conservatively, and I think…
The government capitulated to the demands of traditional publishers with its financial package of “support for Canadian journalism.” If you missed the news, it’s probably because after months—make that years—of lobbying, public awareness campaigns and many, many editorials written in the country’s newspapers, there’s been almost no coverage of the media (don’t call it a…
We’re not looking for a handout. But we didn’t expect the government to distort the playing field so dramatically Continue Reading Liberals’ journalism funding makes it harder to launch news startups
The federal budget has finally answered some of the questions about the Liberal government’s plans to subsidize the news business, which were first floated late last year. But the details revealed by Finance Minister Bill Morneau raises many more questions about Ottawa’s reasons for supporting journalism. There will be a 25-per-cent refundable tax credit (up…
By Heather Rollwagen, Ryerson University and Ivor Shapiro, Ryerson University Ottawa has finally announced the details of how it will offer financial assistance to the country’s struggling news media industry — a controversial policy that will lead to suggestions that journalistic independence is compromised by government funding. Under a heading called Support for Journalism, Finance…
Women of colour in journalism bring a lot to the job. And take a lot, too Continue Reading Working as the newsroom’s ‘diversity hire’
Anti-vaxxers are up in arms about negative media coverage of their cause. Considering the timing, this is a little surprising: measles, a potentially life-threatening disease especially for unvaccinated babies or people with suppressed immune systems, is on the rise, thanks to anti-vaccination scare tactics. Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, anti-vaxxers continue to perpetuate the…
Ottawa is poised to provide almost $600 million in financial assistance to Canada’s news media. Will it do the right thing and restrict the incentives to Canadian-owned companies? Continue Reading How to fix Canada’s biggest media problem in one easy step
By Cristina Sanza, Concordia University; Brittney Borowiec, McMaster University; David Secko, Concordia University; Farah Qaiser, University of Toronto; Fernanda de Araujo Ferreira, Harvard University; Heather MacGregor, University of Toronto; Michael Bramadat-Willcock, Concordia University, and Pouria Nazemi, Concordia University Eat blueberries for the antioxidants. Exercise daily at a moderate intensity for optimal heart health. Get the vaccine…