The 2009 issues of the Ryerson Review of Journalism were launched this month at a gathering in Toronto. The Spring edition of the award-winning mag is now available on newsstands.

Here are some of the highlights from the first of two annual issues:

One Powerful Union Tactic
The inside story of the labour-management conflict at Le Journal de Quebec

What About Bob?
A case study in Robert Hurst’s aggressive leadership at CTV News

Rookie of the Year
New editor Sarah Fulford changes tacks at Toronto Life

Declarations of Independence
Are privately owned alt-weeklies really a better alternative to their big-corporate counterparts?

The Man Who Flipped Off Trudeau
Quebec’s troublemaking journalist Michel Vastel: a retrospective

The Body Politic
How much of columnist Terence Corcoran’s bombast and umbrage is just for show?

Hysteriosis
Did the media overreact when reporting on tainted meat?

Ideas Man
The life and death of celebrated public intellectual Lister Sinclair

Book Camp
The writers, the parties and one memorable elk: a look at two decades of Banff’s exclusive Literary Journalism program

The Spring 2009 issue is now on newsstands and the Summer issue will be available later this summer.