I challenge white journalists to tell us how much they think they know about about the history and relationship between settlers and Indigenous people. Judging by their recent strong opinions about First Nations governance, Indigenous land rights, the Idle No More movement, Attawapiskat, and Chief Spence, they are all experts…
I see bias everywhere. Yes we all struggle with our biases. I wish the reporters, editors and owners at the Globe and Mail would own up to theirs. There’s bias in the conversation our biased reporter has with his biased editor, bias in the call list he develops for his story, bias in his choice…
This is my sixth post in my series on Dan Gardner’s article about the Muslim veil. I want to reflect on the language of hate, and on having successful public disagreement via Twitter…
Do a search for the name, “Jim Hansen” on the National Post website and you get two hits from 2012 and 2011. Both hits are about NASA, which is good, since Hansen is the leading climate scientist at NASA. Unfortunately, both articles promote the protestations of 49 former NASA employees…
On November 30th, Derek Abma wrote an article for the National Post, claiming that the journal Nature, and one of it’s authors, Elliot Diringer, was recommending that we let the Kyoto accord die. While the article gets many small facts and half truths right, Abma manages to misrepresent the essential argument by Diringer. But that’s…
For anyone that hasn’t heard, John Crosbie told a joke about a Pakistani suicide bomber last week. Strangely, it occurred at the inauguration of his new position as Lieutenant Governor General of Newfoundland and Labrador. The joke was racist. The provincial government of Newfoundland has admonished Crosbie, saying the joke was inappropriate. But they came…
Folks have always understood that the various news outlets have brands. But I think this understanding has been superficial.
The officers failed to properly assess and respond to the situation effectively. Then they used too much force. Then they failed to administer CPR. Then the officers lied. Then their superiors and media relations officers lied…
Soon I am embarking on a discourse analysis of the National Post’s coverage of the Robert Pickton murders. This is my second foray into a discourse analysis of a major media outlet. The first was on the Calgary Herald and I was interested in their analysis and value judgments of climate change issues. This time…
The Age of Persuasion is a CBC radio show that I’ve always enjoyed.1 Terry O’Reilly is the host and has worked in advertising for thirty some years. He has recently published a book with Mike Tennant, who co-authored the book and who probably co-writes the radio show. They’re ad men. So ultimately they’re apologists for…
Ages ago I wrote about how the brand of the Olympics is a safer investment than investing in a single athlete or even an entire team. Since I wrote that, a particularly high profile athlete has had a massive brand crash. So it seems like a good time to underline the relative brand security of…
The study that inspired the racist comments, and this post, is interesting because it helps folks who have a hard time seeing racism understand that it’s rampant in Canadian culture. The researchers sent off over 6000 resumes to potential employers in Toronto. Among many other findings, it was found that those resumes with English sounding…
Okay. I’ve been very critical of journalists and newspapers that are getting it wrong on climate change: here and here and here. But you should know that I have moments of being more, well, sympathetic with the modern journalist. I also believe that healthy journalistic institutions are essential for a healthy democracy. But our democracy…
Jim Prentice and the Harper Government have earned Canada several Fossil Awards for the positions they have been putting forward in negotiations at Copenhagen. Actually, we’re currently leading the scoreboard for total points. Hell. We took first place and second on Friday, December 11. We took Second place for trying to argue that our target…
Here’s a fun thing that you can try at home. It’s a simple form of media analysis. The result of this particular analysis leads me to think bad thoughts about Canwest. But that’s just me. Here’s what I did. First I went to the Calgary Herald website. But you can pick any online media outlet…
The thing about Rex Murphy that troubles me is the way he calls his show “Cross-Country Checkup” but whenever I find myself listening I hear a representative from The Conference Board of Canada or the Fraser Institute. These guys (they seem to be men mostly) are payed to pretend they’re experts on any topic of…
Over thirty police officers were counted at Centennial Square on Friday during the No Olympics protest. That’s not including the snipers that were reported to be on the rooftops or the officers on horseback or the officers that make up the dedicated security detail of the torch itself. It doesn’t include the officers at the…
We made this piece last year. We picked up a magazine off of the shelf in our neighbourhood grocery store. Yikes. I am very interested in the way we shape people through media, especially advertising. What I find interesting about magazines, is how any individual image seems unimportant. But what is the aggregate affect of…
