The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) new regulatory policy to ensure “plurality of editorial voices” and “diversity of programming” in private media is long overdue. Canadians have been waiting for some 38 years. Studies, …
kseastman
Reporting on Burma’s Child Soldiers
In a Burmese border town cafe, in the midst of a military crackdown against pro-democracy protesters, a recently-fled child-soldier sat with me, talking about cell phones and girls. Thet Ye Htwe spent five years as …
OPINION:From civic to citizen journalism: Has YouTube usurped the media’s role?
Alongside a recent Economist editorial “Is America Turning Left?” ran a political cartoon depicting an absurd rendition of a large elephant, exhausted and beaten, carried about on a stretcher by two medical aids straining with …
Journalism in a Wikified world
By Paul Gillin Next spring, colleges and universities will graduate thousands of new journalism students. They’ll go forth into newsrooms across the country to practice the skills that have served journalism well for over a …
Public interest, private grief: The media’s role in the Robert Dziekanski case
When I was sent by the Vancouver Sun to cover the November 17, 2007 memorial service for Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died last month after being Tasered by RCMP, I steeled myself for …
The reporter’s battle: Objectivity and independence on the frontlines in Afghanistan
On his most recent visit to Afghanistan in June, Jas Johal met a 27-year-old soldier from Kingston, Ont. The soldier was married with a two-year-old son and expressed dedication to his mission. The two clicked …
Lost in translation: The dilemmas of reporting in French — in Vancouver
By Francis Plourde “You have two stories, one about a group of Chinese protesters for the independence of Tibet in front of the Vancouver Public Library, the other one about a stolen trash basket in …
The Death of the Reader
by Amanda Stutt Somewhere out there, the people who thought up Craigslist are sitting pretty. It’s no secret that the independent, interactive online services site dealt a blow to the lucrative classified ads sections of …
Could a news war between America and Iran become a physical war?
By Mahmood Ahmadi Afzadi Fox News says Iran should be bombed. This doesn’t surprise me, given that channel’s track record in Iraq. What worries me, however, is that the hawkish channel has just begun saying …
Testing the limits and consequences of free speech on university campuses
The new editor-in-chief at the The University of Western Ontario’s Gazette, Canada’s oldest student newspaper, is starting the school year equipped with a clean slate of ethics and a fresh approach to campus journalism. The paper, …