This story was funded by the J-Source Patreon campaign. By Tennessa Wild The Instagram profile “What Brings Us Here” is filled with real stories in real time. The collection of photographs on the profile are compiled by the National Film Board to showcase the activism by local grassroots organizations in Winnipeg, MB. What started out as…
By Sylvia Stead for the Globe and Mail Should journalists use made-up words? Sometimes yes. Language changes constantly, and so words such as “post-truth” and “yogalates” come into the vernacular and should be used and explained until they are well understood. (Post-truth: when emotions, beliefs and even lies trump facts as the drivers of public…
The following memo was sent to Toronto Star staff on Nov. 25, 2016 from Michael Cooke, editor, and Irene Gentle, managing editor. Colleagues, Very happy to announce some terrific new moves in the newsroom. Dave Washburn will begin an exciting new role as acting sports editor, starting Monday. Dave joined the Star newsroom in 2015…
By Allison Ridgway for the Ryerson Journalism Research Centre Three Canadian researchers are giving people who’ve experienced mental illnesses the resources and training to make their own documentary films to see if such videos challenge traditional media stereotypes about people who are mentally ill. So far, participants have created videos with substantially different themes and…
By Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman The complainant, Kamran Moghbel, thought a reporter should not have used the colloquial phrase “kick out” to describe an incident in which a student was told to leave an exam for refusing to remove her hijab. He said colloquialisms don’t belong in the news and in this case it distorted…
By Esther Enkin, CBC Ombudsman CBC News in Montreal published a story about SNC-Lavalin and illegal political contributions they had given to the Liberal and Conservative parties over a 7-year period. The complainant, Beverly Akerman, thought the headline featuring Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre made it sound like he knew about the payment to his riding…
By H.G. Watson, Associate Editor A memo sent to National Post staff on Nov. 18 by editor-in-chief Anne Marie Owens details 20 newsroom departures, most the result of a round of buyouts aimed at reducing salary costs at Postmedia by 20 per cent. In the memo obtained by J-Source, Owens writes, “We are losing a…
By The Canadian Press Unions representing Canadian journalists want five Postmedia executives to reject bonuses totalling $2.275 million as the struggling newspaper chain continues staff reductions. The company awarded Postmedia president and CEO Paul Godfrey $900,000, CFO Doug Lamb $450,000, COO Andrew MacLeod $425,000, legal and general counsel Jeffrey Haar $300,000, and National Post president…
By H.G. Watson, Associate Editor Postmedia editors across Canada have announced plans to move most local coverage to the A section of the print editions in similar editors’ notes that ran in four newspapers on Monday. The move comes just as the Globe and Mail broke news that five Postmedia executives were paid $2.3 million…
By John Sandham for The Signal Kathy English is a busy person. As public editor of the Toronto Star for almost 10 years, she deals with dozens of issues every week relating to errors, omissions, or content. Of course, she doesn’t remember small details of stories that have produced complaints. Nevertheless, she remembers the public outcry over…