Archive for the ‘Favourites’ Category
Toronto Standard Clippings
For the second half of the summer, I worked at the Toronto Standard as a city hall reporter. This included covering the all-night deputations protesting the service cuts proposed in the KPMG Core Service Review, or “the citizen filibuster.” Here are some of my favourite pieces from my time there, just in case you missed them.
I also did some work for Spacing Radio and CBC’s As It Happens.
Toronto’s “Citizen Filibuster”
The Marathon City Meeting Explained (in 10.5 points)
Toronto
The Arrival of Kristyn Wong-Tam
James Pasternak, a Ford ally, questions the city’s buyout package
Jarvis: A Street in Four Chapters (including reporting from Rob Mackenzie)
Denzil Minnan-Wong and Dave Meslin: Tandem Troubles
The Bloor Cinema: Rocky Horror is a Documentary, Right?
Semantics or Stigma: Councillor Vincent Crisanti wants to revamp “priority neighbourhoods”
When Buying Local Isn’t Enough
Fixed Market Rents and a Youth Club Under Scrutiny
Urban Invaders: What Can Cities Do When Climate Change and Globalization Invites Pests?
Hole-y Toronto: Paul Ainslie’s pothole proposal
Fallen Ashes: the Emerald Ash Borer takes Toronto
Ontario
Ontario 2011: Where could Liberals fall again? (with infographics by me)
Making the Great Rabbit Ears Movie (Donations Accepted)
Food
Carleton Prof. takes stand on science journalism in Canada
Remember how I said that I’d get around to cool Carleton profs once I got past posting about NYU’s Jay Rosen and Adam Penenberg? Here’s a Carleton School of Journalism and Communication professor who is making a splash: Kathryn O’Hara (not to be confused with Catherine O’Hara from SCTV/Home Alone).
“Openness is being held ransom to media messages that serve the government’s political agenda,” wrote Kathryn O’Hara, president of the Canadian Science Writers’ Association, in an opinion published online Wednesday in the international scientific journal Nature. [CBC]
The CSWA has put together a report detailing ways the governments tight media-management protocol has interfered with good scientific reporting. The CBC account provides some basic background on how the report was put together, but you can read the original article online at Nature’s website.
(h/t @LegaultMyEggo)
Reading List 2010-09-24
My required reading list at school continues to grow as courses and assignments ramp up.
Here are things that caught my eye in the past week in the real world.
Bloomberg reports BHP Billiton hired former aides to three Canadian prime ministers. Is this nefarious in and of itself? Looks like pretty standard lobbying practice/ BHP Billiton is one of the main bidders interested in Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. Though the post-politics lives of PMO staffers have gained more attention since Kory Teneycke’s Sun Media experience – which ended Monday.
Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian-Canadian blogger based in Toronto, might face the the death penalty. Known as the “blogfather” for being a pioneer in the Persian blogosphere, Derakhshan had a change of heart in a recent years and has come to support the governing regime. Nonetheless, he faces the possibility of the death penalty. [The Monthly Review- Interview with Derakhshan's mother - ] [Reporters sans frontières]
Amy Harmon’s Sunday New York Times cover story is about the costs of the scientific method – and the harsh human toll that can be paid in clinical trial. Harmon weaves the story of cousins Thomas McLaughlin and Brandon Ryan gracefully with the world of clinical research. It is a wonderful piece of reporting and research. [New York Times - New Drug Stirs Debate on Rules of Clinical Trials]
On that note, Discover’s blog has an interesting article called “Should science journalists take sides?” Get past the overdone Matrix screen capture and read what is a really important ethically debate. With issues like anti-wireless internet in Barrie, Ont. and the controversial MS “Liberation” treatment getting more attention, journalists need to think long and hard about how they fit into these debates. [Discover - Should science journalists take sides?]
A must-read for Carleton students, their parents, staff and faculty. The faculty, contract instructor, teaching assistant and support staff unions are all in labour negotiations. Matthew Pearson presents the issues for the faculty union. [Ottawa Citizen - Promotion, tenure at the heart of faculty debate at Carleton]
