Journalism cultivates and trades in many dimensions of influence.
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 […]
News publishers want more power, and less accountability. And water is still wet.
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 […]
Paul Wells talks shop with Jesse Brown about Maclean's "resistance" cover.
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 […]
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services global assessment gives us a window into Canadian journalism.
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…
At least, for now.
My local gym and community centre is awesome. It’s a little less than three kilometres from my home. The pool is great. The gym is nice. It’s got a kind […]
Dominant journalism might actually make social change more difficult.
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…
Let's wait a while and try again.
I campaigned during the first and second referendums we had here in BC regarding proportional representation. We won the first one. 58% of voters voted yes for the Citizen Assembly […]
The land under the Empress could turn to liquid in the event of the right sort of earthquake.
My father recently sent me these amazing resources about various risks due to earthquake around Victoria. I immediately had to look at one, because the thought of the ground turning to liquid is terrifying to me…
Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Squamish Nation, Coldwater Indian Band, conservation scientists, and environmental groups won a victory in the Federal Court of Appeal.
Say it with me. The duty to consult Indigenous people does not conflict with the public interest…
99% Invisible did an episode on the interrobang recently. I was interested to learn that early Greek and Roman writing didn’t have spaces! Rack that up to stuff I took for granted. Apparently an ad man in the sixties developed the interrobang…
Are the anti-gay policies and practices of TWU contingent or necessary features of their community?
The Supreme Court of Canada, happily, was not moved by Trinity Western University’s claims that they weren’t hurting gay folks. And the Supreme Court was not moved by the claims by TWU that they…
A critical analysis of The Globe and Mail and the National Post and the perpetuation of Islamophobia.
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…
Canadian journalists tend to flatten the concept of jihad, and this fits a larger pattern.
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…
By area, there are more ads than reports and opinion pieces in this A section of the BC Edition of the Globe and Mail.
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 […]
We now have a notes, or status update section, and here's how we did it.
So I’ve been experimenting with microblogging on Mastadon, micro.blog and Tumblr. I decided it’s time we have our own self-hosted WordPress microblog…
Levidrome is a new synonym for anadrome, heterodrome, volvogram, semordnilap, reversal and several others.
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…
Everyone has a theory-of-journalism whether they admit it or not.
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…
Listening, not celebrating, on Canada 150.
Republished with permission: “Canada150” is not representative of the history of our lands and territories, or of our present realities as Indigenous Peoples. We, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC), cannot, in all good conscience, participate in, and will not celebrate…
Last year I used TimelineJS to create a nice interactive timeline of some misogynist tweets by Colby Cosh. After we added HTTPS to our website, the article never properly encrypted…
Back in the day.
In which Meghan and Sherwin reflect on the old days, hitchhiking, and being young and lucky (and privileged) …
Reflections on libraries, phone books, newspapers, and other models of the world.
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…
Content warning: violence against nonhuman animals ahead.
I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think of how to help stop the commercial trophy hunting of bears in BC, which is ongoing and totally unethical. But I’m pretty smart, so I put this problem in my mind-vice and I’m a genius…
You can't just issue a correction for deep wrongs.
News orgs make a big deal about fixing typos and issuing corrections. But what if there’s a much deeper trust problem…
Canadaland joins legacy media in positioning Islam as religion of bullies.
I’ve become numb to racism in legacy media in Canada. But to see Canadaland unthinkingly repeat a racist trope angers …
