Gerald Donaldson is sitting in the din of a jammed pressroom overlooking the front straight of a rain-soaked Nürburgring road racing course, site of the 1999 European Grand Prix. The course is carved out of the lovely Eifel Forest of west-central Germany, but on this dreary September afternoon, Donaldson’s concern is not with the scenery… Continue reading Speed Writer
Category: Summer 2000
The Comeback of Kirk LaPointe
Kirk LaPointe, whom Conrad Black once called a “presentable young man,” sits in the front row of an auditorium filled with restless teenagers and their beaming parents. The new editor and associate publisher of The Hamilton Spectator is out on this cool October evening for two reasons. The first: to introduce the Hamilton Public Library’s… Continue reading The Comeback of Kirk LaPointe
The Tragically Square
The steadily greying readership of newspapers has been a cause for concern among publishers for some years. Now, in the age of great newspaper wars, dailies are even more desperate to recruit younger readers. Meanwhile, teens, who are being courted by everyone from clothing stores to credit card companies, aren’t even reading enough papers to… Continue reading The Tragically Square
Overshadowed
Reporter Rick Gamble enjoys the challenge of local television news, whether that means reporting on a fatal car accident on nearby Highway 401 or, as he is doing on this late August afternoon in 1998, reporting on the annual “wiener dog” faces in the southwestern Ontario city of Cambridge, about 20 kilometres from the Kitchener… Continue reading Overshadowed
The Wizard of Ooze
A dozen broadcasters file into the Speaker’s gallery at Queen’s Park, a legislative locker room perched high above Ontario’s elected MPPs. They’ve reported dutifully for the annual Speaker of the House election, but their attention is focused, more or less, on another man: Steve Gilchrist. The Conservative minister of municipal affairs and housing is under… Continue reading The Wizard of Ooze