Margaret Wente leaving the Globe and Mail, 5 layoffs following May buyout offer
Departing staff will leave the paper over the summer Continue Reading Margaret Wente leaving the Globe and Mail, 5 layoffs following May buyout offer
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Globe and Mail Public Editor: No need to offer ‘false balance’ to anti-vaxxers
Anti-vaxxers are up in arms about negative media coverage of their cause. Considering the timing, this is a little surprising: measles, a potentially life-threatening disease especially for unvaccinated babies or people with suppressed immune systems, is on the rise, thanks to anti-vaccination scare tactics. Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, anti-vaxxers continue to perpetuate the…
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Globe and Mail Public Editor: Remembering the victims
A number of readers were angry and upset by a headline and story online about the Winnipeg murder trial of the man charged with killing Tina Fontaine. Canadians were outraged by the death of this 15-year-old and the trial is a difficult one to follow. The story from the Canadian Press from that day’s testimony…
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Globe and Mail public editor: When victims come forward, journalism amplifies the truth
In the midst of the #MeToo reckoning, let’s consider the role of journalism. Of course, the foundation of the movement is the brave women who have been abused and who have stood tall willing to reveal the most intimate details, willing to stand the questioning and trolling to tell their truth. Without them, there would…
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Globe and Mail Public Editor: Would you have caught these Globe and Mail slip-ups of 2017?
A reader in London, Ont., wrote to me to say there really shouldn’t be corrections – because all information should be checked before publication. “Doesn’t anybody proofread stories any more before a paper is printed? … To misspell a person’s name (Smyth instead of Smith, or other examples) I can see, BUT to use the…
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GLOBE AND MAIL PUBLIC EDITOR: The fight against ‘fake news’
Earlier this week, I received a complaint about a Globe investigation into a fake news site. The writer, who is a Canadian professor, called the article “fake news.” The Globe story labelled “Media and ‘Fake News’” had the headline “NATO research centre sets sights on Canadian website over pro-Russia disinformation”. The article, by chief political…
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Globe and Mail Public Editor: The need to understand the context of words and how they evolve
Last week, TV columnist John Doyle wrote a column criticizing the CBC’s new show Great Canadian Baking Show. As a TV critic, he was not overly impressed by this re-make of a British show. “If you’re a fan of The Great British Bake Off, you will not feel bamboozled, but you might feel bewildered by…
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Globe and Mail Public Editor: Updating The Globe’s Editorial Code of Conduct
We are witnessing a campaign south of the border to diminish journalism. It is tactical: News reporting holds lawmakers and other powerful people accountable for their actions. At the same time, with the easy proliferation of conspiracy sites and Russian bots on social media, it is becoming more difficult to separate the real from the…
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Globe and Mail Public Editor: A picture can be worth so much more than a mere one thousand words
To say every picture is worth a thousand words sorely underestimates the impact of photojournalism. Think the Vietnam war and what comes to mind? The photo of a girl named Phan Thi Kim Phuc running from a napalm airstrike. The photo was taken by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut in 1972. Think of the protest…
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Globe and Mail Public Editor: Decision to publish gay Chechens story made after exhausting ‘all avenues’
Last week a reader wondered, on Twitter, whether stories by John Ibbitson on Canada’s clandestine project to evacuate gay men from Russia to Canada “put gay Chechen refugees (or continuance of the program) at risk?” It’s an important question. Mr. Ibbitson first broke this story in early September with the news that for three months, the federal…