In response to my critique (here and here) of the national news media's handling of the @vikileaks3o dustup last Friday, CBC's Kady O'Malley has offered a more thoughtful rebuttal (more thoughtful than this): Here's the major flaw in @kempthead's thesis re: "Hill journos" allegedly enraged at having "the news cycle snatched from their grasp"...
Press gallery' tweets in response to this and this (best read from bottom to top): My favorite response was Glen McGregor's question, "Do you know any journalists?" Yes, Glen, I have two National Magazine Awards, one Michener Award (out of three times as a finalist), and when I left journalism, I had more Atlantic Journalism Awards than the province of Prince Edward Island. No offense, though. I'd never heard of you, either. And for the record, I did not call Kady O'Malley anything. My criticism was directed to the Ottawa press pack generally, and neither attempted nor purported to assess any individual reporter's...
Blogger and tech journalist Jeff Jedras has a good analysis of the moral panic that swept through the Parliamentary Press Gallery last Friday (and previously touched on here). The leading lights of Canadian journalism had had the news cycle snatched from their grasp not once but twice the day before, and not by the customary culprits in the PMO but by a pair of tweeters, one obscure (the PEI man who kicked off the wildly popular #tellviceverything meme) the other anonymous (@vikileaks30). After floundering unhappily for 24 hours in the turbulent wake of these citizen journalists, the gallery regrouped Friday for an...
Earlier today I criticized several Nova Scotia media outlets — The Chronicle-Herald, The CBC, AllNovaScotia.com — for ignoring The Coast's breathtaking scoop about Mayor Peter Kelly's mishandled duties as executor of a friend's estate. The omission makes them look small. That's nothing compared to the Parliamentary Press Gallery's competition to out @vikileaks30, the anonymous tweeter who exposed details of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews' messy divorce. It's increasingly clear that many of the same reporters who are now hellbent to expose @vikileaks30 knew Toews had fathered a child after cheating on his wife for years, but helped him keep that secret. They will...
At a news conference marking the 10th anniversary of Portugal's bold experiment in drug policy — the decriminalization of all drugs — Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, said, “There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal." The number of addicts who repeatedly use hard and intravenous drugs has fallen by half since the early 1990s, when the figure was estimated at around 100,000 people. Goulao, a medical doctor, stressed that treatment decriminalization was not solely responsible for the drop, but that treatment programs and risk reduction policies also played a role. As E.D. Cain...
One in Brittany, France, the other in Cape Breton, Canada. One cleaned up in a month, the other untouched after four, with no cleanup in sight. Here's the TK Bremen shortly after it grounded on Kerminihy Beach, near Erdeven, Brittany, France, on December 11. 2011. And here's the M/V Miner after it grounded on Scatarie Island, Cape Breton, after a towing cable parted on September 14, 2011. The much larger Miner was under tow, bound for a scrapyard in Aliaga, Turkey. Here are the two ships' specifications: M/V Miner TK Bremen Launched 1965 1982 Type Bulk carrier General cargo & bulk carrier Built in Quebec, Canada Pusan, South Korea Length (LOA) 222.5 m 109 m Beam 23...
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald and AllNovaScotia.com, ranking arbiters of mainstream opinion in Nova Scotia, lent editorial support Monday to Mayor Peter Kelly's forcible police removal of peaceful Occupy Nova Scotia protesters. The Herald, in a bracing throwback to its days as the fusty Old Lady of Argyle, approved the eviction in every detail: violence, secrecy, sneakiness, double-dealing, rights-violation, and even Remembrance Day timing. AllNS tried to have it both ways. A commentary* by former-Managing-Editor-turned-United-Church-minister Kevin Cox quibbled with Kelly's timing and secretive decision-making, but endorsed His Worship's position that a vague and rarely enforced municipal bylaw should trump Sections 2. (b), (c),...
Here are the events that led to today’s arrests in Halifax. A group of protesters exercised their right to assemble peacefully and petition their government for redress of grievances by camping out in the Halifax Parade ground. City burghers found the demonstration unruly, distasteful, and inconvenient. Seizing on the central role the Parade Grounds traditionally plays in Halifax's Remembrance Day observances, Mayor Peter Kelly demanded the protesters vacate the area before November 11. Showing more strategic accumen than one might have been inclined to expect, the OccupyNS protesters negotiated respectfully with veterans’ groups and HRM officials, and voluntarily withdrew to Victoria Park, a...
Earlier this week, various blogs and media outlets reported that Beijing was experiencing frightful levels of air pollution. To document the crisis, China hand James Fallows cited what he called "the indispensable (and highly controversial)" Twitter feed @Beijingair, which produces hourly readings of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Beijing. On Monday, @Beijingair showed readings in excess of 300 µg/m3, contributing to conditions the US EPA characterizes as "hazardous," and warranting "health warnings of emergency conditions." What caught my attention was Fallows's assertion that the @BeijingAir feed is "the only known source of PM 2.5 readings in China." That is astounding: one PM2.5...
To judge from my inbox today, something about the manner of Robert Chisholm's departure from the provincial leadership pissed off a few New Democratic Party loyalists. But one party stalwart rejected these comments as, "old wounds and sour grapes." Don't be too quick to put him in the Chisholm column though: More to the point - how can a uni-lingual politician aspire to the leadership of a national political party in Canada in 2011? A party with over 50% of its caucus from Quebec? A party with official opposition status and its eye on the big prize? Je ne comprends pas. Moi non plus....