This Magazine is fortunate to be associated with a number of other fiercely independent news gatherers in Canada; we tend to believe that a diversity of voices is an essential part of a democratic media system. That’s why the success of The Tyee website (which I wrote about in the magazine awhile back) is so […] More »
Some intriguing details coming out of Britain surrounding the resignation of Lord Browne as head of British Petroleum after revelations of, among other things, a gay affair. The intrigue? No-one’s all that intrigued. “Gay stories are just not appealing to the masses it seems.” — so says PR consultant Max Clifford in The Guardian, attempting […] More »
The latest dead Russian journalist, Ivan Safronov, fell from the fifth floor of his apartment building on March second. Authorities claimed it was a suicide but nobody believes this. He was, at the time, working on an article about Russian arms sales to the Middle East, making him the twenty second working journalist to die […] More »
(image courtesy Frank Magazine, apparently) The pro-Conrad Black website www.supportlordblack.com is a truly brilliant Frank Magazine hoax, proving once again that if it seems too funny to be true… D.B. Scott’s magazine blog reveals the saddest detail, which is that it appears Lord Black himself sent the site a note of thanks and a t-shirt […] More »
As we all await Lord Black’s day in court (March 14th, or as I like to think of it , 3 days before Guinness Day), we sadly mourn the death of ironic comment and hope that Rick Mercer can do something to bring it back to life. A while back, I posted here about a […] More »
Arthur Magazine, the free journal of freak folk, radical politics and alternative living from Los Angeles is now deceased. Over the four years and 25 issues of its existence I learned about artist like Devendra Banhart, Brightblack Morning Light and Joanna Newsom. Perhaps even more important than the music was the bold editorial stance against […] More »
The Toronto CBC morning radio show, Metro Morning, featured an interview with two women this morning on the topic of “Why are wives and girlfirends so difficult to buy gifts for?” The real subject was “Why are men so bad at buying gifts for women?” One woman told a story about how a former boyfriend […] More »
For those out there who think all I do on this blog is refer to Paul Wells’ blog (properly apostropheed this time) and then say something smarmy, read on. Wells wrote of Ignatieff yesterday: Michael Ignatieff’s campaign is now reduced to a kind of dare. If you don’t support him, it’s because you’re not sophisticated […] More »
“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.” […] More »
The Toronto edition of today’s National Post carries a commentary by yours truly on the importance of harm reduction strategies in fighting drug addiction and the spread of diseases involved in unhealthy drug use. In it, I mention why Insite should stay open beyond the end of its trial run next month. Say what you […] More »
BabyTalk, a free publication in the U.S. aimed at new mothers hoping to illustrate the controversy surrounding public breastfeeding in the U.S. by publishing what is said to be the first American magazine cover to break the taboo about showing a woman’s breast, has done exactly that. According to this AFP report, 25% of some […] More »