Category: Journalism

We apologize for the report of an "influencial" Putin-Harper hockey match in Tunisia

Somewhere in Toronto today, one of my colleagues — a copy editor at the Toronto Sun — is most likely having a rather uncomfortable Saturday after choosing to use his or her own unique spelling of the word “influential.” Spelling mistakes happen all the time in all newspapers but it’s always a bit uncomfortable when they happen in a headline. And it’s even more uncomfortable when that headline also refers to The Boss. The good news for that sports editor: The name of The Boss appears to have been spelled correctly!

And  I say, if you can’t have a chuckle at your own expense then you’re in the wrong business. So, go ahead, have a good laugh at our expense. (And, while I have you, let me brag, that the Suns in Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton all have the best sports sections in their market bar none …) : Continue reading We apologize for the report of an "influencial" Putin-Harper hockey match in Tunisia

Want to be a journalist? You'll make more walking dogs

It’s tougher, I would argue, for those trying to make a career as a journalist in the U.S. than it has been in Canada. Why, you ask? Well, newspapers, for one thing, rely heavily on ads from the real estate sector and from financial institutions. Compared to the U.S. over the last five years, Canada’s housing market and banks have done much better than American’s housing market and banks. Canada had no real estate bubble which  burst and Canada, along among G7 countries, never had to bail out its country’s banks by taking an equity/ownership position in those banks.  Which means firms in those sectors in Canada kept buying advertising in newspapers in Canada while their U.S. cousins cut ad budgets and, in doing so, helped kill newspapers there.  Still, this exchange of e-mails, on a listserv for investigative reporters, is a bit sad for those in my biz: Continue reading Want to be a journalist? You'll make more walking dogs

Here comes Battleground. My new show for political junkies


If you’ve been watching my 6 pm show on Sun News Network for the few weeks before the Christmas break, you’ve probably got the hint that we’ve got a new name and brand for the program. Well, tonight’s the night we’re rolling it out.

Some backstory first: For the few months preceding the U.S. general election, the hour-long Monday-to-Friday show at 6 p.m. was called  Road to the White House and focused exclusively on that race. Lots of you watched (thanks!). So the new show is going to try to do something similar: Focus on political horse-races. We’ll talk about  campaign strategy, the ads, the personalities, election issues – real political junkie stuff. The new name of this new show? Battleground. (You need to say it loud with your deepest, “Ted Baxter” TV anchor voice for best effect — see video above!). Continue reading Here comes Battleground. My new show for political junkies

Harper government "most transparent" in history. NOT!

“Our Government is the most transparent government in Canadian history. There has never been a time when Canadians have had as much access to government information.”

– Treasury Board President Tony Clement, Dec. 19, 2012

 While I have personally encouraged Minister Clement about Open Government/Open Data initiatives (and found him to be personally receptive to doing what he can to implement those initiatives), it is demonstrably false for him that he is part of the most transparent government in Canada history.  Continue reading Harper government "most transparent" in history. NOT!

The Boys on the Bus: 1979 vs 2012

Campaign bus
What it looked like inside the Conservative campaign bus in the 2008 general election. Reporters are seated with Conservative “minders” around them. And watching over all of us, that’s Sen. Marjory LeBreton in the bottom right corner.

Washington Post reporter Jason Horowitz files a great piece of what it’s like to be one of the Boys on the Bus (to borrow the title of Timothy Crouse’s 1973 classic) covering the U.S. Presidential campaign.

Having covered a few Canadian general elections often on the buses or planes of different leaders, there was a lot in Horowitz’s piece that was familiar to me. But there were also some significant differences. For one thing, those poor American reporters never get a chance to put a question to the candidate. In the last Canadian general election, the challengers, Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff, would answer pretty much any and all questions the travelling press could dredge up while the incumbent, Prime Minster Stephen Harper, would take questions every day but only a limited amount (usually 5 or so). While I (and many Canadians) don’t like the fact that the current PM takes only a limited number of questions every day from reporters, it’s absolutely god-awful in the U.S. where the incumbent, Obama, has not taken a spontaneous unscripted question from the press that travels with him for months. Romney’s not much better apparently. Continue reading The Boys on the Bus: 1979 vs 2012

Candy Crowley was wrong. Here's why.

In the Saturday Night Live skit, above, that pokes fun at President Obama’s lousy performance in the first presidential debate, there is a point — at 4:24 into the clip — when a daydreaming Obama is interrupted by the moderator who asks: “Mr. President: Governor Romney has has just said that he killed Osama bin Laden. Would you care to respond?”

That, in my view, is exactly how a debate moderator should respond when the moderator perceives a blatant falsehood has been put forward by a candidate. Simply ask the other candidate to respond. Continue reading Candy Crowley was wrong. Here's why.

Should journalists use drones?

ENAC Blender Drone
An employee of ENAC company handles Blender drones, on September 26, 2012 in Merignac near Bordeaux, during the “UAV Show Europe”, an International Drone fair. (AFP PHOTO / PIERRE ANDRIEU)

Tell me, esteemed blog readers: Should journalists use drones? Governments and military, mostly in the U.S., are already using pilotless aircraft to gather information (and carry out military strikes). But should journalism organizations use drones to hover over your house, protest, or corporate meeting? Should a pilotless eye-in-the-sky, like the Blender drones above, be able to spy on you, your friends, or your enemies? Continue reading Should journalists use drones?

English, French media differ in coverage of Trudeau's big day

Justin Trudeau announced his decision to run for the Liberal leadership in Montreal Tuesday evening. The media reaction to the news was, interestingly enough, quite different in English Canada than it was in French Canada. Remember: He’s running to be the leader of the third party in Parliament. With a little help from Storify, here’s the breakdown: Continue reading English, French media differ in coverage of Trudeau's big day

Journalism tool tips: Software tools for capturing, transcribing, and processing audio files

As Antoinette Siu writes in her first post for the excellent Online Journalism Blog, “Transcribing audio is one of the most time-consuming tasks in a journalist’s job. Switching between the audio player and the text editor, rewinding every 20 seconds in, typing frantically to catch every syllable—repeating these steps back and forth, and back and forth… in an age of so much automation, something isn’t quite right.”

In her post, Siu looks at a new online tool

Continue reading Journalism tool tips: Software tools for capturing, transcribing, and processing audio files