Archive
12 Jan

What questions will the future of press councils study ask? Give your input

<p><em>As press councils <a href="http://j-source.ca/article/manitoba-press-council-shuts-down-after-last-participating-newspapers-withdraw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cease operations</a> and <a href="http://j-source.ca/article/it-disappoints-me-ontario-press-council-chairs-reaction-after-sun-media-pulls-out" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news organizations back out</a> of them, what role do the institutions play in the future of journalism?

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4 Jan

With media standards at issue, make way for “expert” witnesses

<p><em>Will a new libel defence bring business to self-styled experts in media practice? As <strong>Rhiannon Russell </strong>reports, that’s been the case in Quebec, and the rest of Canada may follow suit.</em></p><p> </p><p>John Miller knows journalism. He’s worked as a reporter for decades, held various management positions at the <em>Toronto Star</em>, and was, until retirement, a professor and two-time chair of Ryerson University’s School of Journalism. Now, he testifies as an expert witness in libel cases concerning journalism’s standards of practice.</p>

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5 Dec

Wot means journalistic independence? One answer, in the form of a sonnet

<p><em>It's become a familiar, yet unresolved, question: what, if anything, distinguishes an act of journalism from other stuff? <strong>Ivor Shapiro</strong> has a thought on that, with a little help from the Bard of Avon.</em></p><p> </p><p>I have been urged by some colleagues and students to post here a sonnet I wrote last week.</p><p>WTF?</p><p>True, this is not a poetry site, and true, I don't  know diddly about writing sonnets. And true, the work is not especially original (though I'm pretty sure the original author won't be sue me).</p>

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2 Dec

The public media’s quest for integrity in the digital age

<p><em>Where will trust come from in the future of public media? News organizations are beginning to create new, integrated ethical guidelines as they move into the digital age. It is in this age that we need an understanding of public journalism that goes beyond traditional forms, such as radio and television. <strong>Stephen Ward</strong> takes a look at this issue, and tells us why it is important that public media has the trust of the people it serves. </em></p><p> </p>

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25 Nov

Transparency is a double-edged sword: Being ethical takes more than self-exposure

<p><em>When two reporters got themselves fired for joining Occupy protests, some critics said their NPR bosses should get with the program: impartiality in journalism was dead, replaced by full transparency about biases and involvements. <strong>Ira Basen, </strong>returning to a theme he explored </em><a href="http://j-source.ca/article/why-transparency-not-enough-case-mr-mike"><em>earlier this year</em></a><em>, thinks it’s more complicated than that.</em></p><p> </p>

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23 Nov

She said, he said: two accounts of editorial independence in a B.C. community newspaper

<p><em>The publishers of community newspapers are often accused of giving in to advertisers' pressure on editorial content. According to <strong>Micah Luxen</strong>, the </em>Kelowna Daily Courier<em> and its </em>Westside Weekly<em> supplement are cases in point. After quitting her job as the </em>Weekly<em>'s editor last summer, Luxen sent </em>J-Source<em> her account of interactions with ad representatives and with her boss, </em>Courier<em> managing editor <strong>Jon Manchester</strong>.

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16 Nov

Where’s Page Two Online?

<p><em>A new report from the ethics advisory committee of the Canadian Association of Journalists attacks the digital corrections puzzle, providing best practices for correcting inaccurate information published online. Surely, for <strong>Craig Silverman</strong>, one of the report’s authors, the corrections landscape badly needed a new map. </em></p>

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16 Nov

Best practices in digital accuracy and corrections

<p style=" margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;"><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.772922022279349" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_99353" scrolling="no" src="//www.scribd.com/embeds/206827624/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-xdsuodb5wkat1byljat&show_recommendations=true" width="100%"></iframe></p

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4 Nov

New AP retweeting guidelines

<p>The Associated Press has updated their tweeting guidelines once again. This time the revamp focuses on retweets.</p><p>As <a href="http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/152016/ap-issues-staff-guidelines-on-retweets-no-personal-opinions-allowed-or-implied/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Poynter</a> reports, staff are told to keep opinions to themselves – and to AP, a retweet can be seen as an opinion. Disclaimers on retweets and endorsements, editorial staff adds, won’t cut it, either.</p>

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31 Oct

Journalists and opinions: Another Occupy protestor fired from journo job

<p>Another journalist who joined the protests at Occupy Wall Street has been fired.</p><p>Caitlin Curran was the web producer for <a href="http://www.thetakeaway.org/">The Takeaway</a>, a morning news program co-produced by WNYC Radio and Public Radio International – until two weeks ago when she headed to the protests with her boyfriend, and a pithy protest sign featuring a line from an <em>Atlantic </em>article.</p>

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