[ ] Review of Journalism : The School of Journalism

Pros vs. Joes

Alternative journalists differ from mainstream ones and will produce a different kind of story

Updated January 23, 2010, 8:24 p.m. Fenced in by wire and concrete, guarded by thousands of police officers dressed in riot gear with gas masks and shields, G20 leaders gathered inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre at the end of June for their fourth summit. Police had already made 32 G20- related arrests in the… Continue reading Pros vs. Joes

Suicide Notes

For too long journalists have been told how not to cover suicide. Pushing beyond the guidelines, though, is difficult.

My heart thumps as I scramble out of bed and grab the phone. Anita Murray, my assignment editor at the Ottawa Citizen, tells me the police have pulled a body from the Rideau Canal. The third day of my internship had been reserved for training until police discovered the “floater” around dawn. I find nothing at… Continue reading Suicide Notes

At the Corner of Hope and Hype

"A narrative about a problem on one street will speak to somebody three blocks away, six blocks away, in another city, in another country" says Wilf Dinnick

I pissed off Jay Rosen. The New York University professor is a celebrity in the online journalism world—he has over45,000 followers on Twitter and is renowned for his 2001 book on public journalism, What Are Journalists For? and I’d been trying to reach him for months. The guy’s a leading expert on hyperlocal and collaborative journalism, and I… Continue reading At the Corner of Hope and Hype

Goodnight, Andy. Good Morning, Matt

Matt Galloway, the new host of Metro Morning, is no Andy Barrie, his predecessor Photography by Jeff Kirk

With only 10 minutes left in Metro Morning’s live outdoor broadcast, the show’s host has disappeared. At 8:20 a.m., the table where he and his colleagues have been sitting is completely abandoned in Toronto’s Simcoe Park, above which the Canadian Broadcasting Centre looms, and yet Matt Galloway’s voice continues to resonate over large speakers. It’s Bike to… Continue reading Goodnight, Andy. Good Morning, Matt

London News Is Falling Down

Nick Paparella is famous for sinking his teeth into his stories. He declares the winning rib recipe at Ribfest, barbeque sauce dripping down his chin, and digs his spoon into his bowl at the annual charity chili cook-off. Today, he’s taking a bite out of one of farmer Bill Millar’s first red strawberries of the… Continue reading London News Is Falling Down