September 28, 2006

Revisiting the Rogers Cell Phone Debacle

I was wondering the other day — whatever happened to that story about Ted Rogers going to someone’s house to apologize for a ridiculous cell-phone bill resulting from stolen service. We had a pretty good discussion about the media ethics aspects of the story on this blog at the time. It’s one of those corporate world stories that briefly touch down into the world of everyday humans... [More >>]

September 21, 2006

If Michael Moore were President of Venezuela

Responding to Hugo Chavez’ speech to the General Assembly at the UN yesterday (from The New York Times): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Mr. Chavez’s comments were “not becoming of a head of state.” And I agree, which means that Condi and I now agree on two things (Peter McKay can be very charming when he wants to be). Chavez’s speech was ridiculous and embarrassing,... [More >>]

September 20, 2006

The King is Dead

It’s official, Ralph Klein’s resignation as leader of the Progressive Conservative party of Alberta was accepted today. Once a new leader is elected, Klein will resign as premier too. Klein has been arguably the biggest problem with Alberta’s PR for nigh-on a decade now. I’ll bet there’s some clinking of glasses happening over on Sussex Drive right now too. Read his complete... [More >>]

September 19, 2006

The future of journalism?

“An experiment in open-source reporting” is how Jay Rosen refers to his web project NewAssignment.Net. Rosen, a journalism professor at NYU and a prominent media critic, is proposing a new kind of citizen journalism in which the audience works with journalists by providing story assignments and feedback, while the professional journalists “carry the project home.” Central to... [More >>]

September 17, 2006

Vancouver Queer Film Fest Raises the Ire of the Right

LifeSite, a close affiliate of Campaign Life Coalition, is targetting Out on Screen, the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, and demanding the federal government revoke its funding. A recent article, headlined “Why is the Conservative Government Wasting Taxpayer Dollars on “Queer” Film Festival?” is posted on LifeSite.net Gwen Landolt, national vice president of REAL Women of Canada... [More >>]

September 15, 2006

Polaris Prize to be awarded on Monday

A while back I wrote about the creation of the Polaris Music Prize, a new award recognizing excellence in music by naming the top Canadian album of the year. At the time I gave a suggested list of nominees, which, as it turns out, included a few of the actual finalists: Broken Social Scene’s self-titled album, Sarah Harmer’s I’m a Mountain and The New Pornographers’ Twin Cinema.... [More >>]

September 13, 2006

Bush, Borat & International Diplomacy

It’s no surprise that Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan, is none too happy with Sacha Baron Cohen’s popular yet politically very incorrect character Borat. What is odd is that Borat has apparently been deemed worthy of an “official talk” item when Nazarbayev meets with Dubya, president of the good old US and A. I’m sure Bush will be able to smooth everything... [More >>]

September 13, 2006