Postmedia-Torstar’s deal to close 37 papers a big loss for communities, say MPs, Hill reporters
The Postmedia-Torstar deal announced last week to shut down 37 community newspapers, including nine in Ottawa, is another blow to the business and a loss for those communities, say MPs and Hill reporters. “The local papers present stories that the national papers don’t and honestly can’t. They are the reporters who submerge themselves in issues […]
The slow death of local news is bad for democracy
The week started with a thud Monday in newsrooms across the country, as journalists were hit with the news that Canadian media giants Torstar and Postmedia were swapping 37 community newspapers and four free commuter papers, only to shut down most of them. That means nearly 300 full-time and part-time jobs will be gone, mostly […]
Kudos to Green Party strategist
Re: “‘What do you think of CBC News’ new and totally revamped The National?’” (The Hill Times, Nov. 27, p. 34). Congratulations to Green strategist Debra Eindiguer for a succinct and forthright answer relevant to the new format of the program, while the other respondents muddled the issue with partisan gobbledygook. Kope Inokai Toronto, Ont.
Torstar-Postmedia deal drives home need for government support
OTTAWA—If the rise of Donald Trump proved anything worth knowing, it’s the risk to democracy posed by an uninformed electorate. The story of the 2016 United States election woke everyone up to the extent of the problems with social media in an election, whether it was to do with the widespread dissemination of false and […]
“What do you think of CBC News’ new and totally revamped The National?”
Cameron Ahmad Liberal strategist “Reliable, robust, and independent journalism is critical to the success of any healthy society, and is crucial to the promotion of democracy, accountability, and transparency around the world. Canadians count on the tireless work of thousands of journalists across our country, and place their trust in national and local media productions […]
How a handful of reporters unearthed Canadian links to the Paradise Papers
A small team of reporters from three national newsrooms unearthed a web of Canadian connections in the Paradise Papers as part of a global group working in secret and scouring 13.4 million documents over almost a year before emerging last week with a series of blockbuster news reports. On Nov. 5 the CBC, Radio-Canada (its French […]
Libs’ ‘strategy right now is to weather the storm’ over Morneau mess
Crafting a cabinet shuffle is “a complex art in the world of politics” and insiders say the persistent negative media coverage like the sort surrounding Finance Minister Bill Morneau is rarely a deciding factor in pulling a minister from their role. Mr. Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.) has been at the centre of a storm of […]
Right-wing provocateurs’ effect on democracy hard to ignore
Just as your left-wing friends probably gravitate to the Broadbent Institute-founded PressProgress, right-wingers tend to clamour for right-wing propaganda. Research has shown that consuming certain media affects how we see others and how we see ourselves, even if we don’t realize it—which is known as implicit or unconscious bias. This could explain why Andrew Scheer […]
Echo chambers, strategists and Scheer
OAKVILLE, ONT.—A recurring theme in politics is that “behind-the-scenes” guys, a.k.a political party strategists, don’t always remain behind the scenes. Every now and again one of their number flashily pops into the media’s consciousness, sometimes popping in voluntarily; sometimes, involuntarily. An instance of the latter case occurred recently when The Walrus, a left-wing magazine, ran […]
Hamish Marshall is no Ezra Levant
OTTAWA—Andrew Scheer will not win the 2019 federal election if he espouses and advances the editorial content of Rebel Media. But he is not jeopardizing the Conservative Party’s prospects by bringing former Rebel Media corporate director Hamish Marshall on board as his campaign chair. Marshall, affectionately known by some in Conservative circles as the “Nerd […]
