But here’s an old idea: what if dominant journalism, by and large and in the long run, is actually a drag on progress? What if dominant journalism, and by that I mean the mainstream press, is actually a conservative force? On this view, it’s a drag on change…
On my view the news media in Canada have, by and large and in the long run, misrepresented the concept of jihad. They have positioned jihad as a form of villainy. In so doing they have portrayed Islam as a peril…
When critically considering a given piece of journalism, we might ask ourselves, was it informative? was it engaging? was it helpful? So it’s rather sad that others, when faced with criticism, are inclined to ask simply, was it legal?
Rex Murphy wasn’t the first pundit to misunderstand rights, and human rights. But he is paradigmatic. He has a thing for human rights and mentions them often.
Journalists claim that it’s their duty to give context to important events. The floods in Alberta are important. The context is climate change, but the press is strangely absent…
A further reflection on the absence of hyperlinks in certain mainstream forms of journalism, and what this says about modern editors and journalists …
I was surprised to learn recently that an important paper that forms the basis of the intellectual underpinnings of the austerity movement is wrong. But more importantly, I discovered that Google needs to do a better job indexing webpages…
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…
I don’t make a habit of reading the National Post. It’s what Conservative Party members read. But I did see an article from Friday, November 4. It was on page three. I was immediately struck by the overt racism and decided to try to engage the author, Scott Stinson, by Twitter…
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…
I have a warm fuzzy place in my heart for the engineers and other technical specialists with a penchant for math and a lack of understanding of social nuance, connotation or tone. Heck, in many contexts, I’m the ignorant cis white guy that doesn’t understand the impact that my language choices have on others. But I…
The National Post has a decidedly denialist narrative. Do a search for “National Post climate change” and you get a series of articles on the brave scientists “bucking the conventional wisdom.” Or, if you prefer the second choice, you get a series of article tagged “climate change” by Peter Foster, Lorne Gunter and Rex Murphy:…
Folks have always understood that the various news outlets have brands. But I think this understanding has been superficial.
There was a time when Rex Murphy spoke difficult truths and challenged powerful institutions. There was a time when Rex Murphy was a journalist that I might listen to. But no more…
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 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…
