By Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman CBC News in Montreal published a story about SNC-Lavalin and illegal political contributions they had given to the Liberal and Conservative parties over a 7-year period. The complainant, Beverly Akerman, thought the headline featuring Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre made it sound like he knew about the payment to his riding…
By Sylvia Stead for The Globe and Mail Earlier this week, a reader complained about an article published online about a diamond mine in Northern Ontario. She works in the North in resources and said she knows communities are divided on the subject of development in general and its impact on indigenous people. The article…
By Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman The complainant, Gregory Duffell, thought a story on The National about Liberal cabinet minister Maryam Monsef was a journalistic failure. He considered it a “cover-up” to counter criticism of the minister and the entire Liberal government. He asked why details of Ms. Monsef’s life story were reported as fact when…
By Dale Eisler, Senior Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy In the 18th century, Thomas Jefferson famously wrote that if the choice were government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, he would choose the latter. Today, almost two-and-half centuries later, Jefferson’s observation might actually be tested. The great disrupting influence of digital…
By Sylvia Stead for The Globe and Mail In June, I asked readers what issues they felt should go under the media microscope. The Globe and Mail had been honoured for its work on military men and women suffering from post-traumatic stress and from its coverage of indigenous women, but there is always much more to do.…
By Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman The complainant, Mary MacDonald, thought Anna Maria Tremonti was hostile and biased in an interview with Conservative Party leadership candidate Kellie Leitch. The topic was a proposal to have a values-screening of immigrants. The interview was challenging, the questions were appropriate, and the interviewee was able to present her views…
By Paul Willcocks for The Tyee As traditional news media fade to black, one promising business model is built on providing high-value, exclusive information at premium prices. Good news on one level. Operations like Politico Pro and Blacklock’s Reporter can keep journalists working, focus on stories that matter and shed light in dark corners. Not so…
By Sylvia Stead for The Globe and Mail In just over a week, the United States will go to the polls in an election that has been unprecedented – not just because of the bizarre nature of the campaign, but because of the impact it has had on journalists, both personally and professionally, in their…
By Kathy English for the Toronto Star Can we talk, please, about that baseball team from Cleveland that dare not speak its name on this particular page of the Toronto Star. It’s not surprising that some readers are vexed and confused by what looks to them to be a gap between what a Star editorial…