Category: Articles

An email went around the Saturday Night magazine offices on Tuesday, October 18, announcing that a meeting had been scheduled for Thursday. The email listed a time, but no agenda. There was a mood of suspicion in the windowless boardroom on the morning of the 20th, as a dozen editorial and art staff mulled over… Continue reading The Mourning After

I’m giggling to the Howard Stern Show on 92.9 JACK FM during my Tuesday morning drive to the School of Journalism at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto. It’s one of Stern’s last programs on the Buffalo station, just before he makes his much-publicized jump to Sirius Satellite Radio. That’s when Canadians living near the U.S.… Continue reading A Constellation of Problems

Barely a month after its relaunch in September, Frank magazine was hit with its first libel suit. A “monstrous libel” suit, in fact, according to claimant Pamela Wallin. Many publishers might break into a cold sweat at such a thought, but not Frank publisher Michael Bate. “It’s just like the old days,” he says. “Now… Continue reading The Ballad of Electronic Frank

James Craig, a balding middle-aged man in a blue sweater and thick, black-framed glasses, peers furtively through venetian blinds. He motions for me to come closer. “See that yellowish building?” He’s pointing down busy West Broadway in the trendy South Granville district just outside downtown Vancouver. “Right next to that is going to be their… Continue reading Some Straight Talk on Vancouver’s Weekly Newspaper War

“Is there a Mrs. Anti-Gay Crusader in your life?” The reporter sitting across from Palm Beach congressional candidate Ed Heeney seems determined to get her question answered. Heeney, his tropical shirt drenched in sweat, raises his eyebrows. The slender reporter, dirty blonde hair neatly tucked behind her head, a light pink shirt peeking through a… Continue reading It’s Not News to Her