Category: Blog

While readers may not notice a publication’s stance on the serial comma or whether it spells smartphone as one word or two, these minutiae are all painstakingly detailed in newsroom Bibles: the style guides. In the case of Canadian newspapers, one of these is likely the CP Stylebook; another is the house style list, assembled… Continue reading Changes in Style

Tim Butcher remembers being told to move quickly. He was in Katanga, a vast province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sent to Africa in 2000 as a war correspondent for The Telegraph, he knew he was an outsider—a natural target for the rebels. He was traveling on a small motorbike across rutted roads,… Continue reading Covering the Congo

In December, McGill University filed a motion to deny certain access-to-information requests from its students, journalists at student newspapers at both McGill and Concordia University, and anyone else who may be associated with them. The university says the requests, which went up from 37 to 170 between 2011 and 2012, require too much time and effort. However,… Continue reading Access Denied

Flip open the front cover of The Walrus magazine’s January/February 2013 issue. On the inside front cover you’ll see a house ad for all the different outlets at which you can find The Walrus content. Fold out that cover, and across the gatefold you’ll see early evening on the Rideau Canal. Dozens of lamps line… Continue reading Selling out for survival

A Canadian journalist has officially written the “worst lede of all time.” At least that is how Gawker has crowned the cringe-worthy introduction to Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno’s article about the victims of a North York General Hospital anaesthesiologist charged with sexually assaulting 21 women. In fact, the lede was horrible enough to get the… Continue reading Fishing For Clicks