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Star public editor: Journalists honoured in Toronto for pursuit of truth

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression honour courageous journalists who seek truth and report it whatever the obstacles, including jail and torture.
The ethics of Rolling Stone’s Boston bomber cover

When the venerable music magazine used a flattering selfie of the Boston Marathon bomber on its cover, it faced a ferocious backlash on social media. Thompson Rivers University journalism student Adam Williams…
Why we should care when a community newspaper shuts down

Many scholars argue the importance of community journalism to democracy and citizenship, often separately from the business decisions. The historic tension between public service and economics is longstanding. But what if there…
Why the fifth estate created an animated documentary

In the medium of television, you don't have a story without images. CBC's investigative documentary program, the fifth estate is no stranger to that problem. But when its producers decided to present the stories of…
The Unknowable Country: Why aren’t journalists pushing governments for more transparency?

Canada’s newspaper editorial writers and columnists seem reluctant to discuss the country’s problematic access-to-information system. The Unknowable Country columnist Sean Holman wants to know why.
No chequebook journalism at Toronto Star: Public Editor

Paying a $5,000 fee for a video showing Mayor Rob Ford in a drunken, angry tirade is not out of line with the Star’s guidelines on paying for information, says the newspaper's…
Don’t kid yourself: being a freelancer means running your own business

In journalism school, they teach you the “how tos” and “what-ifs” of entering the world of freelancing and don’t hold back on cautioning burgeoning writers about the perils that lie ahead. What…
Make this your new mantra for contract negotiating: Don’t make things worse for the next writer

Just as interns are beginning to question the value of unpaid internships that fail to provide any real training and low-income workers are rallying for the right to a living wage, Ann…
Ward’s Words: Do ethics, not definitions

For some time, journalists and their associations have been trying anxiously to define “journalist” and “journalism” as a media revolution blurs the differences between professional journalists and citizens. But as Stephen Ward…
Opinion: Canada’s access-to-information system is going downhill and fast

Canada’s Information Commissioner, Suzanne Legault, is hopeful the government will listen to her pleas for reform, but J-Source Ideas editor and CBC investigative journalist David McKie says journalists shouldn’t hold their breath.