Iraq coverage by major American news sources has dropped to about one-fifth of what it was last summer, says a New York Times story, which also notes, “the drop in coverage parallels — and may be explained by — a decline in public interest.” Shame! The New York Times story is here.
Just why has CanWest Global — the giant media company in an industry that is rightfully leery of libel chill and which relies on the right to freedom of expression for its existence — begun using law suits to squelch criticism of itself? CanWest is suing The Tyee, an independent online magazine founded by David…
“Canadian TV news has been hopeless in capturing the meaning of the implied censorship behind Bill C-10,” writes John Doyle in a Globe and Mail column. The omnibus bill would change the Income Tax Act, and also give the heritage minister the discretion to deny tax credits to any production deemed contrary to public policy.…
Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq five years ago, Iraq has become the world’s deadliest country for media while hundreds of Iraqi journalists have been forced into exile because of threats or murder attempts, said Reporters Without Borders, in a report on the state of Iraq’s journalists. Instead of reporting in Iraq, they are refugees…
“Occasionally, despite their aim to represent objective journalism, newspapers have to assert an ethical position on divisive issues. The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Weymouth, recently instituted the inalienable right to extreme procrastination in the workplace: She established a game room at the D.C. daily, complete with air hockey, foosball, and a Wii.” — From the…
“Every once in a while I feel that it might be helpful to readers if I explained what it is I am trying to do in these columns,” wrote Stanley Fish in the New York Times. Kudos to Fish. As both a reader and a some-time column writer, I have often thought both readers and…
In a March 4 opinion piece featured on the Globe and Mail website, Ryerson journalism professor John Miller argues the Ontario Court of Appeal made the right decision last week in ordering the National Post to surrender a leaked and allegedly fraudulent document relating to “Shawinigate.” The court ruled that the public interest in determining…
Vanity Fair’s website has a story about the story — of the celebrity magazine’s quest to find out if a Victoria, B.C. resident was the son of J.F. Kennedy.It’s a fishy tale to be sure (one that I was surprised to see pop up repeatedly in the Globe and Mail), but nowhere does Vanity Fair…
Ontario’s highest court has set the interest of police criminal investigations above the need of journalists to protect confidential sources, in a ruling against the National Post (and the Globe and Mail and CBC as intervenors). In a case involving former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and Andrew McIntosh’s reports of business dealings connected to…
The House of Commons heritage committee recommended that the federal government commit “stable, multi-year funding” to the CBC, though the committee split along party lines over the future of the public broadcaster, said a Canadian Press report. Members of the minority Conservative government wrote their own, dissenting report, but all all agreed that the CBC…