The Globe and Mail‘s editorial ran under a grave headline: “The State as editor.” The writer insisted the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission had no business imposing a 45-percent Canadian content quota on the news broadcasts of two Windsor radio stations, citing freedom of the media as guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.… Continue reading Getting it Wrong
Under the Gun
For 17 days during the TWA hijacking in beirut last June, terrorists took over the airwaves as the networks battled each other for the inside story. In the months that followed, American networks came under fire for giving up their editorial control in exchange for drama. Meanwhile, networks that relied heavily on the American footage,… Continue reading Under the Gun
Scribble Scramble
The first piece I published in Toronto Life appeared in October, 1973. Actually, it was the first piece I’d published anywhere, except for a precious little effort in Performing Arts in Canada, which examined wrestling as a clue to society’s ills, and another that wound up hacked to bits in Maclean’s, one of whose editors… Continue reading Scribble Scramble
Breaking Point
Every freelance writer has run into conflict with an editor at one time or another. Writing is a very subjective thing, and some conflict is inevitable. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen all that often. Most magazine editors are willing to negotiate with writers, and vice versa. And both editors and writers realize there are certain obligations… Continue reading Breaking Point
After It Happened
Broadcaster Elizabeth Gray is in the midst of a controlled panic. With three days to deadline she’s taken on a piece for CBC Radio’s Sunday Morning that will analyze the decline of the National Energy Program-no small feat for the most seasoned of the current affairs show’s field producers. But Gray characteristically has taken on… Continue reading After It Happened
