Journalism is about power. From the stories we choose to cover, to the way we present them, to the conflicts between writers and editors-every aspect of the industry assumes some type of control over our audience, our subjects and ourselves. More and more, journalists are seen as sources of information, “experts” on whatever subject they… Continue reading The Power and the Story
Series: Spring 1992
Looking Back on a Legend
Ralph Allen was angry. You could tell by the way his face changed color, and it was now a deep shade of red. The staffers of Maclean’s magazine, all sitting at tables in a private room of a Bay Street restaurant, shifted uneasily in their seats. The 1950s were drawing to a close, and Maclean’s… Continue reading Looking Back on a Legend
Post Mortem
Once upon a time, there was a great grey lady of the financial press. Prim, pedigreed, if a trifle sheltered and old-maidish, she was a respectable broadsheet, born of leisurely and writerly ways, contemplative and conservative in her nature. Every week (more or less at the same time, depending on the whims of Canada Post),… Continue reading Post Mortem
Is Nothing Sacred?
The last time I was in church was when I was 14 in Singapore. On those Sunday mornings at St. Andrew’s Cathedral I always felt a sense of moral inadequacy as, from the pulpit, Father Thomas feverishly condemned the dishonesty and debauchery he was all around him. The same feeling came back to me after… Continue reading Is Nothing Sacred?
A Few Choice Words on Critics
Barbara-jo McIntosh couldn’t understand what had happened. A week earlier, when Eve Johnson of The Vancouver Sun had called her, they’d gotten along fine. Quite well, in fact. Johnson had asked her about the chef, the menu and the history of her central Vancouver restaurant, Barbara-jo’s Elegant Home Cooking. She hadn’t sounded unimpressed. Certainly not… Continue reading A Few Choice Words on Critics