Category: Summer 1996

The green neon words that throb out into the street are the most noticeable part of the Carlsberg Light billboard that hangs on the red brick wall above Novack’s Drug Store. “Great Pride Makes a Great Beer” it reads in an obvious reference to the gay pride that fills the neighbourhood, the corner, the people… Continue reading The Little Gay Paper that Grew

On October 11, 1995, Toronto’s Sing Tao newspaper changed the face of mainstream Canadian journalism forever. At a lavish event held on the Board of Trade floor inside First Canadian Place, a large crowd ate hors d’oeuvres, drank from an open bar and applauded when the editor of one of the country’s premier publications took… Continue reading Character Study

On a narrow road in the hills of Bosnia, Daniel Gunther, a Canadian infantry corporal, sat in the turret hatch at a white armoured vehicle. The midday sun blazed down on the parked carrier as he surveyed the landscape ahead through a bulky pair of binoculars that he held just under his light blue United… Continue reading In the line of fire

It is June 1975 and Sally Barnes is climbing the red-carpeted stairs to the press gallery at Queen’s Park, home of the Ontario Legislature, as she has done almost every day for the past five years. This day, however, isn’t like the others. Barnes has just made one of the most difficult decisions of her… Continue reading Why Did the Journalist Cross the Road?

FIRST PERIOD On Saturday April 15, 1995, Hockey Night in Canada host Ron Maclean invited Winnipeg Free Press sports columnist Scott Taylor to be his guest during the second intermission. That night, fans in Western Canada and Ontario watched as the Toronto Maple Leafs battled the Jets in Winnipeg. The score was 2 to 1… Continue reading Boosterism: 1 Journalism: 0