It’s 8 o’clock on a mid-October evening, a few weeks into Toronto1’s broadcasting life, and Tracy Moore, a reporter for the fledgling television station, is on her way to interview Playboy Bunnies. The release party for the trademark calendar – featuring young Canadian women – is being held at a Thomas Hinds Tobacconists shop in… Continue reading Problem Child
Series: Spring 2004
The Walrus Loses Its Carpenter(2)
It is the afternoon of February 4, 2004. David Berlin has taken time out from deadline pressure at The Walrus’ Duncan Street offices in downtown Toronto to be a guest speaker in a journalism class at Ryerson University. The editor of the ambitious new Canadian general interest magazine – Canada’s answer to Harper’s, he hopes… Continue reading The Walrus Loses Its Carpenter(2)
Crusades, Convergence & Cutbacks
When The Ryerson Review of Journalism began developing story ideas last September, we had two proposals about Torstar. Keri Schram wanted to look at The Toronto Star’s investigative crusades that, though risky and expensive, sparked debate about pressing city issues. Melissa Hank wanted to write about The Stoney Creek News, a weekly paper near her… Continue reading Crusades, Convergence & Cutbacks
Big Push, Big Error
It was the Saturday morning of the 2003 Canada Day weekend and Don Sellar, ombudsman for The Toronto Star, was in for a big shock. Sellar, who was on vacation at his brother-in-law’s Balsam Lake cottage, had decided to pick up a copy of the Star from a nearby newspaper box. That’s where he saw… Continue reading Big Push, Big Error
The Sun Also Rises Up
It’s not that I am anti-union, it’s that I’m anti-union for newspaper writers,” wrote columnist Christie Blatchford in 1991, while praising her employer, The Toronto Sun, on its 20th anniversary. “This is one of the greatest jobs in the world. I do not need a union to tell me I should be demanding time-and-a-half while… Continue reading The Sun Also Rises Up