• J-Source

    Investigative … torture

    Christopher Hitchens, a Washington-based journalist known for his support of the Iraq war and the U.S. war on terror, has subjected himself to waterboarding. The experiment was done in answer to critics who challenged him to try it after he defended U.S. treatment of Muslim prisoners, reported CBC News, which interviewed Hitchens about his upcoming…

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    Brauchli new boss at Washington Post

    Former Wall Street Journal editor Marcus Brauchli has been named executive editor of The Washington Post, stepping into the large shoes of the legendary Leonard Downie, Jr. Brauchli was briefly the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, but resigned shortly after Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought WSJ owner Dow Jones. Brauchli’s resignation — and…

  • J-Source

    China’s broken promise

    Human Rights Watch has released a new report, “China’s Forbidden Zones: Shutting the Media out of Tibet and Other ‘Sensitive’ Stories.” It said China’s government “continues to block and threaten foreign journalists despite repeated promises to lift media freedom restrictions ahead of the Olympic Games.” Excerpts from the press release: — Local Chinese-language media is…

  • J-Source

    Kory Teneycke tagged as Harper’s new communications director

    Canadian Press reports that a former energy-industry lobbyist and Reform party activist is expected to become Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s new communications director. An excerpt of the CP story: “Highly placed sources tell The Canadian Press that (Kory) Teneycke will take over Monday from Sandra Buckler, who announced her resignation June 26.” Kory Teneycke seems…

  • J-Source

    Online ads up

    A release from the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada said online ad revenues in Canada rose some 38 per cent, to more than $1.2 billion, between 2006 and 2007. A hopeful sign? Or such a drop in the bucket that it’s really water torture for journalists suffering the transition from print to web.

  • J-Source

    Cringe

    I feel a little bit mean posting this, but it’s such a perfect example of why journalists have lost respect with the public (in this case anyone with basic science knowledge) that I’m going to post it. I had an email from This magazine, asking for donations to fund This’s investigative journalism. An excerpt: Dear…

  • J-Source

    Dunces

    Thought for the week: “Perhaps a nation can function without newspapers. But it would be a confederacy of dunces.”

  • J-Source

    Buckler resigns

    Reporters were interrupted in their sipping of wine and eating of canapés at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s s annual summer garden party June 26, by an email from Harper’s director of communications, Sandra Buckler, announcing her resignation. The pros were appropriately restrained in their reports: Andrew Mayeda reported for CanWest that Buckler’s resignation ends “a…

  • J-Source

    Monday mayhem

    Apropos of nothing — or just because it’s Monday: Journalist suspected of murdering women in Macedonia Story of a journalist Stripping His Way to a Ph.D. Reporter breaks back after riding inside inflatable ball

  • J-Source

    Is it broke?

    “Journalism is broken,” said a speaker at a lecture series put on by the U.K. Guardian. The series, which is partly available online, asked, “Is it?”