This Magazine

Progressive politics, ideas & culture
Menu

media

November-December 2016

Inside the Chronicle Herald’s ongoing strike

The now nine-month strike exposes media’s precarious labour landscape. In an industry rife with layoffs and low on jobs, how can unions protect news integrity, connect with young journalists, and keep everybody from crossing the picket line?

Michaela Cavanagh@mmcavanagh

In January 2016, just weeks before the Chronicle Herald would begin its still-unresolved strike, management at the paper offered Nathan Clarke a job. Clarke covers sports, and the Herald, Nova Scotia’s newspaper of record, wanted him to be its sports reporter, stepping in to fill the shoes of a striking worker—what’s called being a strikebreaker or, […] More »
November-December 2016

The media organization Canada needs to understand Indigenous issues

Rick Harp's mediaINDIGENA is a much-needed platform for an underserved population

Laura Eley@tweetsbylaurae

Photo by Greg Gallinger Rick Harp is no stranger to the power of digital media to incite change. In 2015, the 48-year-old media veteran launched a crowdfunding campaign aimed at raising $10 million to build an all-weather road that would connect Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, a community near Winnipeg that’s been without access to clean […] More »
September-October 2016

Making radio magic with Toronto’s Veronica Simmonds

Yes, she'll braid your hair on the air

Michaela Cavanagh@mmcavanagh

Photo courtesy of Veronica Simmonds/Braidio If Veronica Simmonds were writing a how-to guide for unparalleled elation, it might go a little something like this: follow your curiosities, meet all kinds of people, do the research, piece it all together and go live on-air—without knowing if anybody is listening. A sound-loving radio artist from Toronto, Simmonds has […] More »

Surprise! Tabloids are still biased when it comes to gendered violence

What we can learn from Kim K's robbery, Angelina Jolie's divorce, and media that continues to push sexist coverage of them

Lisa Whittington-Hill@nerdygirly

Photo via Costumeish/costumeish.com If you’re looking for a last-minute Halloween costume idea, sadly, Parisian Heist Robbery Victim is no longer an option. If you’re looking for an offensive costume you’ll just have to go as Donald Trump and his merry band of women-respecting hombres. If you don’t get the biggest Kit Kat complain loudly and […] More »
September-October 2016

It’s time to amplify women’s voices in Canadian media

Men's perspectives continue to outnumber women's by three or four to one in much of Canada's influential news media

Shari Graydon@ShariGraydon

For our special 50th anniversary issue, Canada’s brightest, boldest, and most rebellious thinkers, doers, and creators share their best big ideas. Through ideas macro and micro, radical and everyday, we present 50 essays, think pieces, and calls to action. Picture: plans for sustainable food systems, radical legislation, revolutionary health care, a greener planet, Indigenous self-government, […] More »
September-October 2016

Could government-created social media work in Canada?

It’s time to consider what a public social network might look like

Navneet Alang@navalang

For our special 50th anniversary issue, Canada’s brightest, boldest, and most rebellious thinkers, doers, and creators share their best big ideas. Through ideas macro and micro, radical and everyday, we present 50 essays, think pieces, and calls to action. Picture: plans for sustainable food systems, radical legislation, revolutionary health care, a greener planet, Indigenous self-government, […] More »

Jennifer Aniston gives birth to teenager!

Deconstructing the media's obsession with Hollywood celebrity pregnancies—starting with none other than Jennifer Aniston

Lisa Whittington-Hill

Sixteen. That’s the number of years tabloid magazines have spent declaring Jennifer Aniston pregnant. Rumours started gestating while the actress was still married to Brad Pitt, but really ramped up post-Pitt. Aniston has been “pregnant and alone,” “pregnant with twins,” “pregnant with John Mayer’s baby”—your body is not a wonderland when that happens—and a “pregnant […] More »
May-June 2016

Small is good

Big media is one hot mess. But it’s not all bad news. How community radio is set to triumph in the digital age and emerge as the surprising winner in the battle for the future of media

Doug Horner

THE CHEERY BANTER between a cartoon moose and flying squirrel has rung out over Calgary airwaves every Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. for the past 14 years. Dedicated listeners know what the goofy bit signals: it’s time for radio magic. “And now…” “Hey, Rocky!” Bullwinkle interrupts. “Watch me pull a rabbit out of this hat.” […] More »
March-April 2015

Forgive and forget

Lisa Whittington-Hill

Media loves celebrity redemption stories—if you’re a man Lindsay Lohan’s 2015 Super Bowl ad for car insurance company Esurance generated more pre-game controversy than a million Deflategates. Admittedly, Lohan’s had issues with hitting people and things with her car, as well as with remembering to bring a valid driver’s licence, and not cocaine, to her […] More »

Gender Block: body shame doesn’t cancel itself out

Hillary Di Menna

Is dissecting a woman’s picture to prove it has been Photoshopped really body positive? Media is a big message transmitter and dictates feelings, philosophies, morals, values—pretty much everything that makes up society rules. No matter how critical the viewer, we are still subjected to ads in subway stations and on buses, on billboards and in […] More »

Gender Block: media misgendering and Chelsea Manning

Hillary Di Menna

On August 22 Chelsea Manning came out to the world, saying that she is trans gendered. She has been open since 2010 within the transgender community, using the name Breanna online. In her open letter to NBC’s Today Show Manning writes, “I also request that, starting today [Aug. 22] you refer to me by my […] More »