[ ] Review of Journalism : The School of Journalism

Do editorial endorsements matter?

On October 17, The Globe and Mail published an editorial announcing their endorsement for Toronto’s mayoral race: “John Tory is Toronto’s best bet.” Torontoist wants citizens to vote for Olivia Chow and the Toronto Star will release their endorsement this week. These endorsements may be a big deal for candidates. But beyond politician’s personal promotion,… Continue reading Do editorial endorsements matter?

Stories in the ashes: covering disaster in Lac-Mégantic

By Rebecca Melnyk Inside his west-end Toronto apartment, Justin Giovannetti was cocooned in blankets, sick in bed with a bad cold on his day off. His cellphone rang. Dennis Choquette, his editor at The Globe and Mail, wanted him in the office. Giovannetti rolled off his mattress, slipped into his least flattering clothes and schlepped in… Continue reading Stories in the ashes: covering disaster in Lac-Mégantic

Northern Revival

Watson proposed a different way to cover the North—like a foreign bureau. It costs just as much as a overseas posting, but the Star approved the idea

Paul Watson wends his rented car along the picturesque Alaska Highway. Past Carcross, he keeps heading south on a road that hugs a towering mountain to the right with blue snow-capped mountains across a grey lake to the left. The rain gently pitter-patters and the windshield wipers do not change their slow, steady pace. Country… Continue reading Northern Revival

Mighty Mouth

Inside a classroom in the Bancroft Building at the University of Toronto, fluorescent lights buzz above Heather Mallick’s head as she sits behind a long desk, poised in a long-sleeved dark blue dress, wide-eyed and nodding at a student in her continuing education course, Town Hall: The Bush Legacy. It’s her first time teaching this… Continue reading Mighty Mouth

Leading Men

The theatre performance du jour in Toronto is Soulpepper’s adaptation of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker. Having just finished their opening night performance, the three actors return to the stage to take their bows. A sparse standing ovation springs up for the 2005 Nobel Prize winner’s 1959 classic. The audience members process what they’ve seen. “That… Continue reading Leading Men