By Duncan Pike A new report from the global press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), describes the tenure of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a “dark age” for journalism in Canada, citing his hermetically-sealed style of government and the shameful state of our access to information system. The report notes that current Prime Minister…
By Esther Enkin for the CBC In a story about conflict at a Montreal community college, the complainant, David Murrell, noted that another media outlet identified the religion of one of the students alleged to be involved. The college has been associated with students accused of attempting to join Islamic State. He thought those details…
By Esther Enkin for the CBC The complainant, Mark Wright, thought CBC in New Brunswick was providing free advertising to one of its regular columnists. The author of World of Work broadcast on radio, and had a column online. The online column linked directly to his company. There’s nothing wrong with using experts, but the…
By Kathy English for the Toronto Star Reporting on the tabloid tizzy over a British court order blocking British media from publishing details of a celebrity sex scandal has embroiled the Toronto Star in a global controversy about press freedom in our digital age. The Star received a “cease and desist” letter Tuesday from a…
By Kathy English for the Toronto Star (ICIJ) came calling for Canadian journalists who could put collaboration above competition to investigate a gigantic global data leak, it is not surprising they reached out to the Toronto Star’s Rob Cribb. The award-winning reporter has spent much of the past three years working on investigative “co-productions” that…
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting announced The Dalton Camp Award in 2002 to honour the memory of the late Dalton Camp, a distinguished commentator on Canadian public affairs. The Dalton Camp Award goes to the winner or winners of a juried essay competition on the link between democracy and the media in Canada. This year,…
By Esther Enkin for the CBC The complainant, Mark Wright, thought CBC in New Brunswick was providing free advertising to one of its regular columnists. The author of World of Work broadcast on radio, and had a column online. The online column linked directly to his company. There’s nothing wrong with using experts, but the…
By Esther Enkin for the CBC The complainant, John Gilmore, thought that a news story about violence in the West Bank was biased because it did not present the Palestinian perspective. He cited the absence of the word “occupied” to describe the territories as one example, and felt the story did not make clear that…
By Kathy English for the Toronto Star It has long been the Toronto Star’s policy not to name the victims of alleged sexual assault. That is in line with provisions of Canada’s Criminal Code, which makes a ban on publication of the identity of a sexual assault complainant mandatory if requested by the Crown or…
By Sylvia Stead, for the Globe and Mail On Friday afternoon, a failed attempt to be clever in a blurb on a Facebook posting sparked the wrath of many readers. It was about an amazing survival story that showed the courage and resourcefulness of two men and a teenager lost in a blizzard on Baffin Island. Nunavut…