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Public editor: Rob Ford and ‘crack cocaine’ video – Now, do you believe the Star?

Police verification of Mayor Rob Ford 'crack cocaine' video is vindication for the Toronto Star – and for journalism, writes the newspaper's public editor Kathy English.
The Unknowable Country

In this new monthly column, Sean Holman maps the boundaries of openness and accountability in Canada and explores what they mean for the people, the press and the powerful.
Globe public editor: A diverse audience and the struggle with language

With an increasingly diverse audience in a diverse country, Globe editors struggle to standardize spelling with non-English languages, although that standardization does not include accents.
Live blog: The Coveted Journey: From Journalist to Bestselling Author

It’s no secret that many journalists have a book manuscript tucked away. Or a great idea for the Great Canadian Novel. But rare is the journalist who achieves big-time commercial success beyond…
Book Review: Gene Allen’s Making National News cements the influential but little-known role Canadian Press played as a significant cultural force

Former Canadian Press journalist Catherine McKercher writes that Allen’s book is a thorough chronological analysis of the first 50 years of Canadian Press. She hopes for a sequel.
Health Journalism: Balanced but Broken

Trudy Lieberman, past president of the Association of Health Care Journalists in the U.S., will be visiting Winnipeg as a Fulbright Scholar and guest of EvidenceNetwork.ca. Lieberman currently covers health and the…
Opinion: Community newspapers do more than fluffy, “happy news” stories

Frustrated with the prevailing opinion of community newspapers—that they don’t necessarily report on hard news, rely on fluff and are a mediocre place to work—Kamloops This Week journalist Dale Bass argues that…
CBC ombudsman: No bias in Zimmerman trial headline

CBC Ombudsman Esther Enkin responds to a complainant who thought referring to the prosecution's case and not the defence's showed bias in CBC News coverage of the George Zimmerman trial in the…
Star public editor: Star need not take all responsibility for perception gap

Toronto Star public editor Kathy English explains the dfiference in perception between journalists and the public when it comes to the paper's reporting about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
Globe public editor: The Fords, the facts and the use of anonymous sources

Following the Ontario Press Council's dismissal of complaints against The Globe and Mail for its coverage of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, public editor Sylvia Stead provides the backstory on the paper's allegations…