What's new // Journalism
I enjoy to think critically about journalism. I support good journalism and I do think that journalism can be an important contributor to a healthy democracy. But it’s not clear to me that journalism always has been, or is currently. Maybe it is. But how would we know?
Journalists complain about the rise and impact of public relations. It’s the “dark side”. Public relations (PR) “exerts a pressure” on journalism. It has a “distorting influence”. Journalists find themselves “at odds” with PR pros and “resist flacks”. This is the story told by journalists about PR and it positions public relations as outside of…
When Margaret Wente was getting busted repeatedly for plagiarizing, her publisher, The Globe and Mail, more or less defended her. Critical commentators’ noted that no one spins harder or better than a newspaper team defending one of their key assets. The thing is, journalists are trained story tellers. They’re fast. They’re persuasive. They’re wordsmithy. They…
From time to time I like to check in on how news orgs are doing with their online publishing practices. In particular, I like to review how they handle reports and science articles. So when Oxfam published their inequality report this year, I was keen to see how journalists and their editors are doing. Hyperlinking,…
This particular Code Switch episode on the explanatory comma is itself a kind of extended explanatory comma, or perhaps an interrogatory comma.
Headlines matter. Publishers know it. Good headlines help with the understanding, reach, and impact of a story. Headlines frame articles, shaping the information in the article that follows, and alter reader comprehension. Headlines can induce positive priming effects in readers.1 Headlines are efficient at doing this. They play a significant role in readers’ memories, inferential…
I like to imagine different metaphors for journalism. Consider that the press is a giant inertia machine, for example.1 I like to imagine different metaphors as a way to resist, and make evident, the dominant ones. The dominant frames are so common, so worn, they become invisible. One worn metaphor for journalism is food: it…
Good journalists do what they do because they care. They have interests. The organizations that employ journalists also are guided by interests. They have purpose. The Washington Post wears their mission on their sleeve. Their tagline is “Democracy dies in darkness.” This stated vision is shared by many in journalism. If true, journalism has a…
Misinformation is a big deal. Hate online is a big deal. And as the public catches up to their reach and impact, we’ll see more and more talk about regulation of media. Interestingly, news organizations love talking about regulating Facebook. But journalists, and their overlords, are allergic to talking about regulating news. So allergic are…
I like Maclean’s about as much as I like the National Post. They’re rightwing, partisan, and legacy. On my view they have courted hate and burned trust, undermining journalism along several dimensions.1 Also. I will admit it. I often don’t get sarcasm.2 When I saw the “the resistance” cover by Maclean’s, I thought it was…
If news orgs are serious about being good partners in mitigating misinformation, they need to link meaningfully to relevant references and especially science-based organizations…
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…
If you read Canadian journalists on the topic, you might not understand that jihad has some very nice meanings. Most Canadian journalists seem to commonly misrepresent the concept. It’s not just them, mind you. There’s lots of misrepresentation of jihad to go around…
Here’s the A Section of the Globe and Mail. It’s the BC edition for June 2nd, 2018. There are 19 reports and 5 opinion pieces. I counted the weather section on page 22 as a report, and also the Donkey Kong “Moment” on page 2, but nothing on the cover. The cover is arguably editorial…
How a heartwarming news story about an interesting linguistic phenomenon widely mislead people that there are no words to describe that spell different words when they’re reversed…
A good theory of journalism helps us understand what media are not journalistic. And, equally important, a theory helps us understand what unconventional kinds of media are journalistic…
What does an Auto Trader, a phone book, a card catalog, a post office, a mall map, Google and a newspaper all have in common…
News orgs make a big deal about fixing typos and issuing corrections. But what if there’s a much deeper trust problem…
I’ve become numb to racism in legacy media in Canada. But to see Canadaland unthinkingly repeat a racist trope angers …
There is a kind of journalist that pretends their work is beyond criticism. It’s an art form. Here’s a rough taxonomy of techniques..
Canadian journalists and other forms of media types rely on press releases written by public relations pros and the problem can be easily fixed by…
In which Colby Cosh calls Stephen Marche a cunt, and then Jonathan Kay and Stephen Marche and Andrew Coyne totally miss the point …
Some thoughts regarding what counts as journalism particularly as it relates to Queen’s Park Today, and subscription news that arrives by email…
The Toronto Star continues to be wrong about “Canada’s only Pulitzer-prize winning journalist”. Yes, Paul Watson won a Pulitzer. But Barbara Davidson has two…
