You can’t rewrite the past for political convenience
Historical revisionism is sloppy journalism. We cannot rewrite the past for political convenience. “You do not put a coin in the slot and have history come out,” as historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. once put it. Yet it seems some pundits and politicians are waging a passionate campaign to rewrite Canada’s past as justification for the […]
When Bay Street talks, media listen
When Bay Street talks, media listen. This explains our continued fascination with the half-crazed scheme of the investment industry to have Canada adopt the U.S. dollar. The American greenback is weaker now than at any time since the aftermath of the U.S. defeat in Vietnam in 1975. Canadians who find a southern holiday surprisingly affordable […]
Dads don’t fare well in media coverage
So passes another Father’s Day, an observance with all the sentiment of National Safety Boot Week. Recent news coverage affirmed the popular wisdom that fathers are weaker and more useless than originally thought. Groucho Marx joked that of countless songs written in praise of mothers the only tune to even mention dad was a 1905 […]
Most media never forgave Premier McGuinty for tax-hike trickery
Spotting a newspaper photo of the premier of Ontario last week, I was reminded of the words of Canada’s greatest living poet, Raymond Souster, in his immortal work Note For An Upcoming Election: “All of us should probably use/the word ‘horseshit’/a lot more often.” Of all provincial elections this year, none is more keenly awaited […]
When in doubt leave it out, especially when it comes to editorializing news coverage
Of all complaints against media, none are taken as seriously as suspicions of editorializing in news coverage. Canadians don’t expect reportage by ciphers. “Objectivity is impossible in journalism,” veteran newsman Peter Worthington once explained. “Every reporter has to distill or compress what he or she sees into a television or radio sound bite, or a […]
Nothing like bad politics to drive a rich country to ruin
There is nothing like bad politics to drive a rich country to ruin. As Zimbabwe goes straight to hell, it is interesting to note that President Robert Mugabe was once Canada’s best friend in Africa. There was a time a Canadian prime minister publicly embraced him, and the columns of a national newspaper likened Mugabe […]
In wartime, Canadian reporters have a job to do
It is a reporter’s job to expose blunders and wrongdoing by officialdom in the belief exposure will make things better. The job is never more critical than in wartime, when lives and large sums of money are at stake. Yet the Afghan war seems to be a struggle for journalists. Freed from official censorship, some […]
Climate issues coverage delves into gibberish, becomes hypnotic
Did you hear the one about the phantom glacier? This and other tales highlight the most badly-reported story of 2007, global warming. Long a hodge-podge of half-facts and supposition, coverage of climate issues now delves so deeply into gibberish it’s become hypnotic. Bad enough the public is told we are marching to a global doomsday. […]
Is Harper’s elusive majority because of his fight with Parliament Hill media?
It looks like Stephen Harper has one more reason to despise reporters. Uh-oh. When daddy gets angry, he makes a list. The Prime Minister’s suspected displeasure was apparent in a strange and revealing incident last week. He did not call an election. Harper had bought campaign-style TV ads, opened a campaign headquarters and eyed campaign […]
Live cellphone videos, blog postings are not journalism
Is a teenager with a telephone a journalist? No more than a kid with a stick is a carpenter, yet even some media are confused on this point. The implications are interesting. I’ve worked in newsrooms since I was 17. I knew a colleague who started as a copy boy, when newspapers still used child […]
