Globe's John Doyle strikes the right note on Mansbridge

Excerpt from Doyle's column:
"Kudos to Mansbridge for never complaining that I referred to him as 'Pastor Mansbridge' for years. It can’t be easy to be constantly teased. We all extrapolate from the time we spend watching someone in Mansbridge’s role on TV and what we extrapolate from Mansbridge and his career comes down to individual response, not necessarily what the news anchor or broadcaster wants."
The column

Wednesday morning, a man called the Toronto Star saying he was “at a breaking point.” It was clear this was unlike any other call into the newsroom.

A bizarre happening at the Toronto Star:

"It began with what seemed like any other tip called in to the Toronto Star’s 24-hour news desk.

"But the man on the line — his voice steady, at times upset but never once raised — would soon reveal he had made a desperate move.

"He was 'at a breaking point.' He needed to be listened to. This is what it would take, he said.

"Over the phone, a woman’s desperate screams could be heard — 'I have family!' she cried.

"It was clear this was unlike any other call into the newsroom."

The full story and video

Torstar to lay off 30 employees as it shutters Star Touch app July 31

The Toronto Star is laying off 30 employees as it shutters its Star Touch tablet app — a multi-million dollar bet on bringing in younger readership that failed to meet management expectations, CP reports.
Twenty-nine full-time employees and one part-timer have been notified that they will lose their jobs, said Toronto Star spokesman Bob Hepburn. Some of those employees will continue to work for a while longer and some may be able to stay with the company if they choose to act on a bumping provision contained in their contracts, he said.
The tablet-only app will be replaced by one for smartphones as well as tablets, Hepburn said. The so-called universal app will be available to readers before the end of July, while the Star Touch's latest edition will run on July 31.
Torstar launched the app in September 2015 and invested more than $20 million in the venture.
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Three journalists leaving CNN after retracted article

Three CNN journalists, including the executive editor in charge of a new investigative unit, have resigned after the publication of a Russia-related article that was retracted, CNN reported on its web page.
 Thomas Frank, who wrote the story in question; Eric Lichtblau, an editor in the unit; and Lex Haris, who oversaw the unit, have all left CNN. "In the aftermath of the retraction of a story published on CNN.com, CNN has accepted the resignations of the employees involved in the story's publication," a spokesman said Monday evening.
An internal investigation by CNN management found that some standard editorial processes were not followed when the article was published, people briefed on the results of the investigation said. The story, which reported that Congress was investigating a "Russian investment fund with ties to Trump officials," cited a single anonymous source. These types of stories are typically reviewed by several departments within CNN -- including fact-checkers, journalism standards experts and lawyers -- before publication.
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Excellent piece in the Guardian about Al-Jazeera

Excerpt:                    

"When al-Jazeera was launched, the then emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said journalists would “report the news as they see it”. Al-Jazeera still claims to have been the “first independent news channel in the Arab world”.

"The launch of an English-language channel in 2006 was part of a dramatic global expansion that has led to the establishment of more than 70 bureaux around the world.
"Al-Jazeera launched a US cable news channel in October 2013, but this proved to be the peak of its growth, for now at least.
"Al-Jazeera America was closed last year amid dwindling viewing figures and a collection of lawsuits."

 

 

The full Guardian story

Postmedia announces sale of Infomart

CNW release:
'Postmedia Network Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (“Postmedia” or “the Company”) today announced a definitive agreement to sell its media monitoring division Infomart to Meltwater News Canada Inc., a global leader in media intelligence, for gross proceeds of $38.25 million, subject to adjustments. An amount equal to 15% of the purchase price will be paid into escrow to satisfy claims arising under the purchase agreement. The net proceeds from the sale will be used for debt repayment."
Full release

An excellent take on Al Jazeera and the Qatar crisis by a former staffer

An excerpt from the story by Jessica Lourdis, published in the New Republic:
"Al Jazeera was accused, respectively, of being anti-Western, pro-Israel, Islamist, pro-Iraq, anti-religious, and funded by the CIA. It was also enormously popular. By 1999, when the channel began 24-hour broadcasting, it had twelve international bureaus and employed over 500 people.
"After 9/11, the network gained prestige and made an enemy out of the Bush administration by regularly broadcasting interviews with Bin Laden and footage of American airstrikes in Afghanistan, where it was initially one of the only international channels with a camera crew on the ground."
The full story

National Post permanently ending Monday print edition starting in July

The National Post is eliminating its Monday print edition as of July.

The newspaper hasn’t published on Mondays during the summer months for eight years. This year, it won’t resume the print edition on Mondays when the summer ends. But it will introduce a Monday ePaper edition starting July 3. The company says the decisions will put its National Post brands on a stronger financial footing. It’s also set to launch new websites for the National Post and Financial Post on Tuesday as well as new mobile apps later this month. (CP)

Police lied to obtain warrants, Quebec journalists testify at inquiry

The Globe and Mail's Les Perreaux reports:

Two of Canada's top journalists have testified they were shaken to discover what they allege are half-truths and lies used by some police forces in Quebec to obtain search warrants from credulous courts to track journalist telephones.

Marie-Maude Denis, an investigative reporter with Radio-Canada who was pivotal in uncovering the construction and political financing scandal in Quebec that triggered a public inquiry and dozens of arrests, and Patrick Lagacé, a columnist for La Presse, an occasional contributor to The Globe and Mail and one of Quebec's most prominent TV personalities, testified Thursday at the province's public inquiry into police surveillance of journalists.

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Three anchors to replace Mansbridge: HuffPost

Three anchors will replace Peter Mansbridge at the new version of CBC's flagship national news program, "The National," the Huffington post reports.
The incoming hosts will also report in the field, said Jennifer McGuire, general manager and editor-in-chief of CBC News. However, the people who will fill the high-profile positions are still being decided.
"As yet, no decisions have been made with respect to who will replace Peter and October 30th is the launch date, "said CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson in an email to HuffPost Canada on Thursday.
Full story

Doug Knight retiring; muses on media changes in Globe interview

The Globe's Susan Krashinsky Robertson reports on his exit. Excerpt:
"Mr. Knight began as a producer at CBC before spending 20 years at the Financial Post, including time as publisher and CEO. He was part of a management-led leveraged buyout of Toronto Sun Publishing Corp. from Rogers Communications Inc. in 1996, after which he served as publisher of the Toronto Sun. In 2000 he moved to New York and in 2003 became CEO of Spanish-language newspaper company ImpreMedia. He returned to Canada, to his post at St. Joseph, in 2006."
Full story

London Free Press wins 2016 Michener Award

The London Free Press has won the 2016 Michener Award for its series Indiscernible, an investigation into the death of a local man that led to changes in Ontario's criminal, corrections and mental health systems.

"The judges concurred that this two-year investigation exemplifies the best in public service journalism and the critical value of local media," said Russell Mills, president of the Michener Awards Foundation.

Media release

CBC launches London, Ont. radio station

In an incredibly corny post on its web page, CBC today announced the launch of a radio station in London, Ont.
"Take a look as the host of London Morning, Rebecca Zandbergen, makes history in the Forest City with the launch of the CBC's newest station.  . . .
"CBC London will produce all-day local digital and radio programming with a focus on southwestern Ontario in the afternoon."
Link to the whole barfy story

Duffy's lawyer lambasts media in Michael Harris interview

Michael Harris writes in iPolitics:
"The lawyer who bested the combined might of the Ontario AG’s office and the RCMP in the criminal trial of Senator Mike Duffy says he was shocked by the uniformed media “maelstrom” that formed against his client — a bias which he says continues to this day.
"Donald Bayne says that the entire experience has convinced him that something has to be done about elevating news coverage of the courts from vaudevillian info-tainment to accurate reporting — and that something might even be the creation of a 'press judge', as the Canadian Bar Association suggested in a 2016 article.
"The stakes couldn’t be higher: the public’s right to get the facts rather than emotional rants from the media — and an accused’s right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
"When asked by iPolitics if he had been ready for the media gauntlet both he and his client had to run for nearly three years in a case that pitted his client against public opinion and the PMO, Bayne didn’t beat around the bush.
“'Absolutely not. I expected one-quarter of what the actual media experience was like. When I got involved, one of the reasons I didn’t expect the maelstrom was that I believed that anyone looking at the same emails would come to the same conclusion I had, and that Justice Vaillancourt did — that Duffy wasn’t behind this affair, the PMO was. I was shocked by the avalanche of charges and the coverage.'”
Full story

La Presse ending print edition, going fully digital in 2018

Montreal's La Presse is going fully digital, putting an end to its print edition at the end of this year., CP reports
The 133-year-old French-language newspaper, owned by Power Corp., said Thursday its last Saturday print edition will be published Dec. 30.
La Presse had already ceased publishing a daily print product on Jan. 1, 2016, and the latest move is a continuation of that transition.
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