Series: Spring 1996

The wire machines flash bells-the sound that signalled the biggest stories had been ringing all afternoon. The high-pitched noise penetrated every corner of the crowded Toronto Telegram newsroom. The area where the machines were located, just off the big, high-ceilinged newsroom, was packed with reporters smoking and staring silently at the the four teletypes. There… Continue reading An Officer and a Journalist

For a blitzkrieg in the making, it was announced in innocent-enough language. On August 9, 1995, a modest advertisement in the Report on Business section ofThe Globe and Mail stated that editor Margaret Wente was searching for “several outstanding journalists to help expand ROB’s business coverage.” For years, newspapers had been laying off staff. Now… Continue reading These Guys Mean Business

Back when multilingual radio was still young in Toronto, there were three travel agents. The first, Franceska Starchev (a Slovene), also had an import business. The cost of advertising on a number of ethnic programs on CHIN was, she figured, equal to the cost of creating her own program, and so Caravan of Friendship was… Continue reading The First Casualty

“The fact that your voice is amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other does not confer upon you greater wisdom or understanding than you possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other.” That quotation from Edward R. Murrow is… Continue reading Abort, Retry, Fail

From the Guildnet BBS, an electronic hangout for journalists of the Canadian Media Guild, the first message for August 25, 1995: From: COLIN PERKEL To: ALL Subject: Microsquish I’ve been feeling a tad uncomfortable with the way we’ve all reported the Win 95 launch-and can’t help feeling the line between editorial, advertorial and advertising became… Continue reading Windows Dressing