Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
In his Saturday column, Toronto Star Ombudsman Don Sellar writes about a how a start-up allowance for refugees was misinterpreted by a reader, who then spread his misinterpretation far and wide on the Net. But then the Star's letters page helped perpetuate the new myth by printing a letter to the editor on it. An [...]
Mon, November 29 2004 » Main Page » Comments Off
The Sunday Star held forth on the case of Hamilton Spectator reporter Ken Peters, who faces possible jailing for contempt of court because he's refusing to identify a confidential source. It also talks about some wider freedom-to-gather news issues facing Canadian journalists and news organizations. An excerpt: A case now before an Ontario court is [...]
Mon, November 29 2004 » Main Page » Comments Off
Here's a roundup of some stuff I've found about Ukraine's and Russia's news media, normally compliant beasts, in these abnormal times: Guardian: Television becomes attuned to a new spirit (Nov. 29) Globe and Mail: 'We're not lying any more,' defiant media in Ukraine say (Nov. 27) BBC: 'Soviet grip' on Russian media (Nov. 26) ILCA Online: Ukrainian Media [...]
Mon, November 29 2004 » Main Page » Comments Off
A useful but not ground-breaking BBC piece: Journalists' safety is top priority By Peter Feuilherade BBC Monitoring In war zones and conflict areas across four continents, the number of journalists and media assistants killed has shot up in recent years. In response, a “safety industry” has developed, with global newsgatherers and specialist training and counselling services all [...]
Mon, November 29 2004 » Main Page » Comments Off
Daniel Okrent, the NYT’s public editor, looks at why editors didn’t like the old NYT Sunday arts listings, the backlash by some readers against the changes, and has some critical words for the editors. It’s a particular example of what I think is a widespread phenomenon in journalism: editors wanting to put their stamp on something and [...]
Mon, November 29 2004 » Main Page » Comments Off
Pakistan found the Nov. 22 issue of Newsweek had some content in it offensive to Islam; to wit, verses of the Koran appearing on a semi-naked woman's body. The story was about the murder of Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker, who was murdered for blaspheming Islam. An excerpt from the AP story: Pakistani authorities [...]
Mon, November 29 2004 » Main Page » Comments Off