What about the old notion of journalism’s purpose being “to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted”? The Globe and Mail today seems more interested in reflecting and reinforcing the assumptions of its tribe—those with household incomes of $125,000—than in challenging them.
A complainant said The National’s political affairs panel, At Issue, lacked balance. He though that the panelists were supporters of the Liberal and Conservative parties and that there needed to be someone to speak for the NDP. But CBC's ombudsman Esther Enkin found that the panelists were non-partisan, that the discussions were not based on…
Why does the Toronto Star publish opinion columns that readers judge to be outrageous, offensive, inappropriate? Columnists express their own views, not the views of the Star, which are expressed on its editorial pages, writes public editor Kathy English. They can and often do express opinions the Star does not agree with.
Once you raise the issue that many in the media haven’t mentioned John Greyson’s orientation for “fear it would go worse for him,” as Margaret Wente wrote), The Globe and Mail's public editor Sylvia Stead says you need to very explicitly answer that question about why you have chosen to mention his orientation.
Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, will give a talk at Carleton University titled: "So you want to know the future of news? Ask the Audience." Rosenstiel is co-author of The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect and the newly-released The New Ethics of Journalism: Principles…
Michael Maclear is not as well-known as he should be, writes David Common, host of CBC’s World Report, in this review of the journalist’s latest book Guerilla Nation. But that’s a shame because Maclear’s tales of North Vietnam, as well as his struggles with Canada’s public broadcaster, are riveting.
Can Toronto Star reporters take material from the Star's own archives? Sometimes, yes. But outright copying of a colleague's work is plagiarism, writes public editor Kathy English.
When the Ottawa Morning Show ran an interview with Terry Woodard, the widow of the driver of the Ottawa bus that collided with a train, there was quite a lot of reaction. The interview was raw and painful to listen to. Was it the wrong decision to air it? The complainant, Chris Young, thought it…
If you are a fan of page A2 in the paper and the corrections online, you will be interested to know how The Globe and Mail staff find out about errors, writes public editor Sylvia Stead.
When a then 25-year-old Ben Peterson launched a global media development organization called Journalists for Human Rights in 2002, he faced his share of critics, skeptics and naysayers for somehow tainting the notion of “objectivity” in journalism. Fast forward 11 years, Journalists for Human Rights has become Canada’s largest media development charity. And as its founder put it, “If…