This week in Canadian media history: Fist fight between Moncton mayor and newspaper publisher in 1906
On May 24, 1906, Moncton mayor James Ryan was found guilty on two counts of assaulting newspaper publisher John Hawke.
By Eric Mark Do, Reporter
Sometimes it seems like journalists and politicians are at odds, but in one New Brunswick incident, it literally came to blows between the mayor and a newspaper publisher over 100 years ago. On May 24, 1906, Moncton mayor James Ryan was found guilty on two counts of assaulting Moncton Transcript newspaper publisher John Hawke. According to the Heritage branch of New Brunswick, the guilty judgement was “the result of brutal fist fights in Hawke's newspaper office and Moncton's Council Chambers.”
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Tamara Baluja is an award-winning journalist with CBC Vancouver and the 2018 Michener-Deacon fellow for journalism education. She was the associate editor for J-Source from 2013-2014.