NewsOntario is expanding the scope of cameras in its courtrooms. As of Sept. 5, 2007, some Court of Appeal proceedings will be available live on the Internet and for broadcast by the media under a new pilot project. Robert Benzie reports in the Toronto Star.
NewsA judge has quashed a subpoena that would have forced the author of a book about the Robert Baltovich murder case to testify and provide materials for the man’s upcoming trial, calling it nothing more than a fishing expedition. Peter Small of the Toronto Star reports.
NewsToronto (June 28, 2007) — A judge has ruled that Toronto author and journalist Derek Finkle does not have to turn over research materials accumulated in writing No Claim To Mercy, his book about the Robert Baltovich murder case. Police subpoeaned Finkle’s notes and interview transcripts in October 2006; Finkle, backed by several writers’s groups, challenged…
FeatureToronto’s streets aren’t “nighttime killing fields” — but it’s easy to say they are. Chris Richardson of the Ryerson Review of Journalism explores the challenges of covering the city’s most notorious neighbourhood.
FeatureGlobe and Mail justice reporter Kirk Makin likens maintaining a beat to tending a garden. “There’s only a certain period where there’s fruit in the trees,” he says, “but you have to do a whole lot of gardening in between.” Beat reporting remains the lifeblood of newspapers. So why is the Globe clogging its arteries…
CommentaryA libel suit filed against Mumsnet, a community website where women offer one another advice, support and friendship, underlines the need for a libel law that reflects the reality of publishing online. In this May 2007 commentary, Justine Roberts, co-founder of Mumsnet, argues that treating an electronic bulletin board as if it were a newspaper or…
FeatureFaced with the challenge of reporting on the graphic evidence presented at the murder trial of Robert Pickton, editors struggled to decide how much was too much. What do audiences want, and should they always get it? Regan Ray reports in the Ryerson Review of Journalism.
NewsEdmonton (June 7, 2007) — An Alberta judge has ruled that mandatory bans on publishing evidence presented at bail hearings are unconstitutional. The federal government has a year to change the law to limit such bans to cases where media coverage could prejudice the right to a fair trial. Fred Kozak, one of the lawyers…
NewsOttawa (June 21, 2007) — The Supreme Court of Canada won’t review a ruling that prevents people whose identities are protected by publication bans from coming forward on their own. But media lawyer Dan Henry says those who no longer want their names shielded should be able to talk to the media without having to seek…
NewsToronto (August 13, 2007) — The murders of Somali journalists Ali Sharmarke and Mahad Ahmed Elmi, of the radio network HornAfrik, are a blow to press freedom in Somalia and a great loss to the journalistic community, says Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. Read the group’s press release.