Maclean’s, true to form lately, is at the centre of controversy again. This time it’s in the U.S., because of a magazine cover depicting U.S. President George W. Bush dressed as Saddam Hussein, including a moustache, beret and military attire. Here’s the canoe.ca site (CP) story. USA Today took up the issue on a blog.…
One good thing about the charges Dan Rather is making that government and corporations unduly influence the U.S. media is that they’ll be put to the test, in his law suit against CBS for wrongful dismissal. That’s critical because, as with many conspiracy theories, Rather’s allegations are compelling. And — as with all conspiracy theories…
Some excerpts of recent stories about this week’s CRTC hearings: Federal broadcast regulators revealed anxieties over delving into journalistic standards and independence as they heard complaints from unions on Wednesday about the negative consequences of cross-media ownership. Canadian Press story on CBC.ca — Canada’s broadcasters should be required to compete for their licences when they…
I often wonder how many of today’ media “products” — yes, those things that we used to think of as “journalism” outlets — have gone from aspiring to straight reporting to routinely reporting everything from a premise that our society ought to be run on principles of Economism, a libertarian and free-market perspective that everything…
OK, now this is a cool idea. Poynter is asking everyone to help select the “Seven Wonders of the Journalism World,”for fun and “to remind all of us of the historical forces that help us do our best work today; and to articulate a set of enduring values that will help protect and advance journalism…
“The level of consolidation in the Canadian media industry has reached levels that “in any other country would be considered unacceptable,” Canada’s public broadcaster told regulators Monday at the start of federal hearings into the state of ownership concentration in broadcasting,” reports the Globe and Mail’s Grant Robertson, live online. ““Our view is, generally speaking,…
Toronto Star public editor Kathy English has a column this weekend in which she reacts to a Star manager’s workshop with Newspapers Next. In part, the workshop discussed how newspapers can survive, and the “jobs” that need to be done. An excerpt:“… newspaper companies that aim to grow and prosper must resist the “sucking sound…
“Al Gore couldn’t believe his eyes: as the 2000 election heated up, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other top news outlets kept going after him, with misquotes ….while pundits such as Maureen Dowd appeared to be charmed by his rival, George W. Bush,” writes Evgenia Peretz in a Vanity Fair piece that…
“On many days the newsprint front page tastes of already chewed gum,” says Jack Shafer, in a Slate column reflecting on how his news consumption has shifted to the Internet. It’s an icky comparison but many of us will recognize the reality that print is already old when it rolls off the press. It’s also…
Canadian media have consistently given priority to covering the deaths of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan; today’s Globe and Mail top-front page piece about the death of Simon Longtin of the Vandoos is an example. In the U.S., however, a weariness with carnage seems to have set in, and there’s apparently lessening appetite in the media…