An image forms in my head as he describes the scene: a man hurrying down a crowded street puts his hand to his head. Speaking to himself with two fingers to his ear, he can be mistaken for one of two things: a nut or Inspector Gadget. The man is using a new computerized wristwatch… Continue reading CTRL+ALT+REPEAT
Category: The Magazine
A Son’s Dilemma
When I was at media school in England I used to daydream-usually during shorthand or media law classes-of the day when I would walk out of college and go straight onto the pages of a national newspaper. Reader, I did. But nothing in my wildest daydreams would ever have hinted at how I would eventually… Continue reading A Son’s Dilemma
Conflict of Self-interest
There was a press package waiting for reporters when they walked into the small, well-lit conference room. Dated December 17, 1999, it contained a press release titled: “CLC’s Ken Georgetti Launches Boycott of Conrad Black’s National Post in Support of Calgary Herald Strikers.” The package also included a three-page backgrounder on the strike, which reporters… Continue reading Conflict of Self-interest
Speed Writer
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
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