The October 28, 2005 headline jumps off the Chronicle Herald‘s front page: “ATV Crash Kills Two Girls.” The girls, aged 14 and 15, died just outside Shubenacadie, near Halifax, when the all-terrain vehicle they were riding went down a four-metre embankment and crashed into a mass of trees. The 14-year-old driver, another girl, was injured… Continue reading A Matter of Opinion
Category: The Magazine
Rough, Tough, and Ready to Rumble
Neil Macdonald licks his lips and pats his hair gently into place. Sporting a slick navy suit, rose-coloured tie, and shiny brown shoes, he paces the room reciting his lines. Macdonald is taping intros and extros for CBC Newsworld’s Face to Face, a show that features interviews with passionate American politicos such as conservative queen Ann… Continue reading Rough, Tough, and Ready to Rumble
Addicted to Hype
It’s March 25, 1999, and health reporters across the country are hard at work. “Some people can hardly contain their excitement,” gushes a front-page article in the Calgary Herald. They “may have an extra bounce in their step today,” it adds, “but it’s not just because spring arrived this week.” The event that floods newspapers across… Continue reading Addicted to Hype
Risky Business
Case study. Subject: Report on Business magazine, The Globe and Mail‘s almost monthly business insert (published 11 times a year). Business challenge: competing for readers against a host of other sources of financial information. Question: can a magazine stay comfy with Bay Street while reporting – in an entertaining yet critical way – on its world, leaders, and… Continue reading Risky Business
The Improviser
I’m standing at rec-eption in The Drake Hotel, a posh Toronto haunt for artists, authors, and alternative scenesters, waiting for Paul Wells. He’s flown in from Ottawa to hear Branford Marsalis. The show was “absurdly sold out,” he said in the email, but the first set was an industry showcase, so he might have some… Continue reading The Improviser