Lynda Shorten, executive producer for CBC Radio’s As It Happens, exits a news meeting upset. After a wave of deaths among Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, management at the public broadcaster is asking: What are we going to do for the 100th death? Almost a month later, I’m in her office. I’ve worked at the show and know Shorten… Continue reading Death Watch
Category: Online Exclusives
Investigating Harvey
On an August night in 2007, Luc Lavoie lounges in the shadows on the back patio behind a Montreal old boys’ club. The then-spokesperson for former prime minister Brian Mulroney cuts an ominous figure in the dark, his face half-illuminated by the glow of the club’s lights. He puffs on a cigarette in one hand… Continue reading Investigating Harvey
Everyone’s a reporter
After receiving a US $10.6 million windfall of venture capital financing in July 2007, NowPublic.com co-founder and CEO Leonard Brody boldly promised that in 18 months the participatory news site would be “by reach, the largest news agency in the world.” The small Vancouver start-up that began as an experiment in co-founder Michael Tippett’s garage,… Continue reading Everyone’s a reporter
Family Affair
Peter Legge is a wildly enthusiastic man. The chairman and CEO of Canada Wide Media Ltd. says he has an “exceptional circulation department,” “exceptional sales people”—just an “exceptional staff” altogether. But he has reason to be optimistic: Canada Wide (CW) is the largest independent magazine publisher in Western Canada. And the 66-year-old’s family-run company now… Continue reading Family Affair
Lighting a Spark
As I pull out my high-tech Sony recorder, the producer, Elizabeth Bowie, startles me. She stares at it and says, “Oh, look at that”—and I thought Nora Young, Dan Misener and Bowie, the people behind the technology-based radio show and podcast Spark would laugh at my two-year-old digital recorder. But of course, the show’s website… Continue reading Lighting a Spark