BackgrounderConrad Black’s fraud trial in Chicago highlighted the differences between the Canadian and American systems of justice. A Canadian journalist who needs to know how a grand jury works or where to find a case file down south can consult the Knight Centre for Specialized Journalism’s court coverage website. It’s designed to help rookie and…
FeatureAll CBC reporter Linden MacIntyre wanted was to see search warrants tied to an RCMP investigation into allegations of political corruption. That simple request wound up before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1982, one of a handful of important open-court precedents to come out of Nova Scotia. By Dean Jobb.
When journalism and national security collideToronto’s Osgoode Hall Law School hosted a panel discussion on March 21, 2007, exploring media coverage of Mahar Arar story. How should journalists have handled anonymous leaks that falsely branded Arar a terrorist? Should the media “out” confidential sources who spread lies? These are among the issues discussed by Julian…
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.