When the Print Measurement Bureau released its 1983 study, it contained bad news for Quest, the controlled-circulation magazine published by Comac Communications Inc. According to PMB ’83, Quest had lost 600,000 readers since 1981. Within months ad revenues started to nosedive. In an attempt to save the magazine, its circulation was cut from 710,000 to… Continue reading Wide of the Market
Category: Spring 1985
Climate of Fear
On May 28, 1982, Jenny Isford, 19, was discovered on a lawn five doors from her home in North York. She had been raped and strangled. Less than a month later, the body of Welsh nanny Christine Prince, 25, was found floating in the West Rouge River near the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo. On July 12,… Continue reading Climate of Fear
Death Wish
The phenomenon is well known and well documented: when a number of police are murdered in the line of duty, the murders inevitably result in yet another campaign for the return of capital punishment. Although often guilty of a certain sensationalism, most media vehicles try to maintain at least a semblance of objectivity in the… Continue reading Death Wish
Mass Appeal: Papal Visit a Media Bland Out?
The CBC’s coordination of the TV coverage of Pope John Paul II’s 12-day visit to Canada last fall, touted as the biggest media event of the decade, could have drawn considerable criticism. But most of the stations that had to rely on the public network were surprisingly uncritical. This harmony existed from the outset. When… Continue reading Mass Appeal: Papal Visit a Media Bland Out?
Win, Place, Show: Poll Reporting as Bookmarking
Reporting public opinion polls is a firmly entrenched element of election campaign coverage. But whether polls influence election results is the subject of a continuing debate. Alan Frizell, codirector of the Carleton School of Journalism poll, told The Toronto Star that after the 1980 federal election the school did a poll asking people why they… Continue reading Win, Place, Show: Poll Reporting as Bookmarking