The muck is good, I promise

Ryerson Review of Journalism editor Chantal Braganza sees the arsenal of web weapons new media provides and wonders why they haven’t spawned more in-depth reporting and must-read reportage. The second of two annual RRJ issues covers various hot spots in the industry including outsourcing to India, John Macfarlane’s Walrus, trouble at shelter mags and the trials and triumphs of female sports journalists.

Last month, the two annual issues of the Ryerson Review of Journalism picked up a combined six awards from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC) student magazine awards. The second of the two issues, Summer 2009, is now on newsstands.

In her editorial, “Back to the future,” Summer issue editor Braganza notes that the journalism industry might be writing its own obit when the public looks back at the coverage of the current recession and remembers it as the “most overhyped of the century.”

She writes:

“If the headlines aren’t about our own industry – Print is penniless! Magazine massacre! Broadcast buyout! – it’s another credit-card sob story, another frugal consumer activity guide, another alarmist update on the latest bankruptcy…

“To be fair, this issue of the Review isn’t blameless either, its spotlights the murky economy, with stories on how it affects shelter magazines, local broadcasters and our dailies’ copy-editing practices. But the muck is good, I promise: a challenge when it’s increasingly difficult to sift out and report on economy stories that matter.”

Here are some of the highlights from the second of two issues:

Deconstructing Barry
Inside the mind of controversial illustrator Barry Blitt

Passages to India
If outsourcing copy editing saves the odd daily in Canada, is it so bad?

The WoW Factor
Dailies must attract new readers or be destroyed. So why are they virtually ignoring millions of gamers?

Shadows and Light
The piercing perspectives of Rita Leistner

Helter Shelter
As the economy and the housing market falter, can decor magazines remain standing?

Cold War
Face off: A conflict between ownership and the press that’s just as tense as the action on the ice

Play Ballsy
The new trials and triumphs of female sports journalists

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
A successful news operation fades to black

The Long Goodbye
Former Toronto Life editor John Macfarlane had his retirement plan all set. He’d edit books. He’d sit on boards. He’d travel. Then and ailing Walrus came to his door.

A Canadian in Paris
Gladys Arnold was an eyewitness to history, sending home reports on the Nazi’s rise, meeting de Gaulle, working for the Free French and earning a modest reputation as a trailblazer in Canadian Journalism.

“I’m not a racist, but…”
The small story that ignited a huge debate

The Summer issue is now on newsstands.