On Monday, August 17, 1992, Toronto Star reporters Kevin Donovan and Philip Mascoll sat at a wooden picnic table on the outdoor patio of a Lick’s restaurant on Kingston Road sipping coffee amid the lunch-time crowd. Each wore a concealed tape recorder attached to his leg, just above the ankle, with masking tape. Across from… Continue reading The Star Set the Trap
Series: Spring 1993
The Wholesome Story
When Canadian Living published its 150th issue in 1989, Norma Taylor of Summit Lake, British Columbia crocheted a blanket and sent it to the staff to mark the occasion. Taylor isn’t a former Canadian Living staff member and she’s not the editor’s mother. She’s just one of thousands of loyal readers across the country who… Continue reading The Wholesome Story
Understated and Understood
My first unfavourable review hurt more than I let on. It was 1989. I had been The Toronto Star’s national affairs columnist for four years and I was beginning to feel comfortable in the job. “No one expects her to persuade or entertain,” wrote Charlotte Gray in Saturday Night. “Were a strong opinion or a… Continue reading Understated and Understood
A Woman’s Place in the News
Joanne Ramondt thought she had found a good example of male bias in the pages of the Calgary Herald. In a photo of a husband and wife business team, the husband was standing in the foreground, clearly the focus of attention, while the wife sat off in the background with the children. Ramondt is a… Continue reading A Woman’s Place in the News
Dances with Journalists
“And everyone laughed. It was so preposterous, as if I said to you that the world is flat. People don’t realize how unanimous and overwhelming the conventional wisdom was.” – Michele Landsberg, recalling an incident in the 1950s as a first-year student at the University of Toronto. She had told a group of students that… Continue reading Dances with Journalists