Investigating the Death of a Mobster
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THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS • L’AssocIATION CANADIENNE DES JOURNALISTES MEDIA2015 SPRING EDITION • VOL.16, NO. 4 INVESTIGATING THE DEATH OF A MOBSTER The Hamilton Spectator dug into a case that went cold 2015 SPRING EDITION • VOLUME 16, NUMBER FOUR MEDIA Table of contents 6 THE DEATH OF A MOBSTER The Hamilton Spectator digs into the 1983 death of a Toronto mobster and finds police incompetence -- and much more . 10 INVESTIGATING PATIENT SUICIDE IN CANADA Annie Burns-Pieper, an associate producer with CTV ‘s W5, explains why she researched patient suicides in Canadian hospitals. 12 SUN MEDIA’S TAKEOVER Postmedia is poised to absorb Sun Media’s print and digital network.Who will survive? By Mark Burgess 14 THE POLITICS OF BUDGETS Budgets are among the most important documents governments produce. Alan Freeman helps make sense of the numbers. 16 THE POLITICS OF POLLS They’re a staple of political reporting. But how do we know which ones are reliable? Eric Grenier has some pointers. 18 PEELING BACK THE LAYERS OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION UNION Warts and all, the National Household Survey is still useful for stories about your community. By James Bagnall 20 LEARNING LESSONS FROM THE OTTAWA TERROR ATTACK A PUBLICATION OF Social media played a key role during the unfolding drama. Practitioners explain what they could have done better. By Mary Gazze THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS 22 SPENDING QUALITY TIME WITH THE CBC L’AssocIATION CANADIENNE DES JOURNALISTES The corporation’s mandate is impossibly unrealistic. By Kelly Toughill 24 FINDING STORIES IN DATA EDITOR LEGAL ADVISOR ART DIRECTION and DESIGN Governments are making more data available. Glen McGregor explains how to turn the numbers into stories. David McKie Peter Jacobsen, Bersenas David McKie 1-613-290-7380 Jacobsen Chouest Thomson 26 SHOULD JOURNALISM SCHOOLS TEACH CODE? Blackburn LL P Fred Vallace-Jones argues yes. 28 ETHICS FOR THE FOURTH ESTATE THE CONTRIBUTORS With more people calling themselves journalists, it’s important to establish clear ethical guidelines. By Stephen J.A. Ward James Bagnall, Mark Burgess, Annie Burns-Peiper, Alan Freeman, Eric Grenier, Mary Gazze, Adam Hooper, Dean Jobb, 30 TWISTED MAPS Fred Vallance-Jones, Glen McGregor, Lucas Timmons, Kelly Toughill, Stephen Ward, David Weisz Maps distort reality. So the one you use, depends on the story you’re trying to tell. By Adam Hooper 33 FREELANCING PHOTO AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE: WITHER THE SUN AND A SENSE OF DEJA VU: With the Sun News Network gone, the tabloid newspa- David Weisz explains how he has learned from his mistakes. pers are poised to be swallowed up by Postmedia. Paul Godfrey, then president of the Toronto Sun, is pictured on the phone in 1998 following the merger of Quebecor. Ironically, he’s now part of the mega deal that will fold the newspaper chain into Postmedia. PHOTO CREDIT: REUTERS/STAFF 34 DEGENAIS AT 20 The ruling in Dagenais v. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. was a game-changer for journalists. By Dean Jobb COVER PHOTO: THE DEATH OF A MOBSTER: It may be 31 years since a commuter noticed Domenic Racco’s bullet-riddled body strewn across 35 MAPPING WITH TILEMILL AND TILESTREAM: PART TWO the railroad tracks, but the police are no closer to solving a murder that resulted in two wrongful convictions, questions about the police, the Crown Building on his first tutorial,Lucas Timmons explains how to export your map tiles and create a map server. -- and Ontario’s privacy commissioner. PHOTO CREDIT: THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR/BARRY GRAY 2 MEDIA 2015 SPRING 3 2015 WINTER EDITION • VOLUME 16, NUMBER FOUR hockey, and you have a corporation fight- dom that viewed the nation’s capital as a ment Hill. ing for relevancy. withering, one-industry town. The death of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the The First Word It’s almost as though the powers that be Using income and pension data, he dem- hands of an assailant who turned out to didn’t see it coming. onstrated that Ottawa’s economy has thus be Michael Zehaf-Bibeau unfolded in real At a particularly tumultuous meeting, far survived the federal budget cuts to civil time on social media. a CBC employee asked the corporation’s servants. Journalism that bucks conven- While some Canadian media outlets president Hubert Lacroix why he didn’t re- tional wisdom is worth pursuing. were praised for their even-handed cover- Exploring death and hope sign. Though the future is uncertain, Kelly In this case, the Ottawa Citizen was also age, there were still many lessons to be Toughill argues eloquently for its preser- able to map the results, showing readers learned. In an intriguing conversation vation as a venerable entity that can bring the hot spots for government workers and with some of the social media bosses for people together, just like her grizzled and political staff. the country’s largest news organizations, The stories in this edition run the gamut much-loved aunt Honey, whose holiday “The map instantly explained so much Mary Gazze strings together an impres- dinners she fondly remembers. about the Region – its commuting pat- sive list of do’s and don’ts, an essential tip While casting a critical gaze at the terns, the presence of very large civil ser- sheet in these days when the talk of terror industry is important, it’s also crucial to vice bedroom communities in the suburbs both home and abroad dominates the news aggressively explore ways to get better at of Aylmer and Orleans, and the intensity cycle. what we do. of government in the square kilometre Fortunately, journalists have other By David McKie Thankfully, this focus is the opposite around Parliament Hill.” places to turn to find stories that are not of death, and is based on the assumption It’s no wonder that “Capital Reckoning” part of anyone’s agenda. that the media landscape is changing in was the most popular story online for four Increasingly, governments at all levels ways that journalists and the schools that consecutive days. are releasing data online. The city of To- produce them should – no, make that must And speaking of online, social media’s ronto issues more than two million parking t certainly wasn’t by design, but the Burns-Pieper, an associate producer with fact is that a lot of people are unemployed, -- embrace. importance continues to increase (cabinet tickets a year. Itheme of death runs through the first the CTV’s investigative magazine program something this industry should never Fortunately, there are a number of ministers are more likely to tweet their Journalists with knowledge of MySQL portion of this edition, beginning with an W5. As is frequently the case with long celebrate. columns that achieve this goal, beginning new policy or political reaction to a criti- can download this data, and analyze it for extensive interview with the Hamilton investigations, Burns-Pieper was moti- The newspapers, on the other hand, with James Bagnall’s explanation of cal event, before issuing a news release), story ideas that can keep you going for Spectator’s Steven Buist, whose work vated by a tragedy that hit close to home: will survive. But in what form? And more how he used data from the 2011 National and at no time was this more evident than months. Federally, journalists can down- should be familiar to readers of Media. the suicide of a high school friend who importantly, what will happen to the news Householder survey data to paint a picture last October’s shooting at the National load data sets that track everything from The case in question could be mis- killed herself while on a day pass from a coverage in markets where the dailies that ran counter to the conventional wis- War Memorial, minutes away from Parlia- contracts, to vehicle recalls to access-to- taken for a mini-series or Hollywood Vancouver hospital in 2010. share the same owner? Not to worry, information requests. movie filled with secretive cops, a dubious “Her death made me wonder about the assures Postmedia president and CEO And if anyone thinks that data is un- Crown attorney, and two unlovable “ bad care of other suicidal patients in hospi- Paul Godfrey, ironically the same execu- important, just check out the job board at buggers” who spent seven years behind tals,” Burns-Pieper writes. tive who was the Toronto Sun president the recent National Institute for Computer bars for a murder they didn’t commit. “Suicide Watch” features stories of loss in 1998 when it merged with Quebecor. TAKE YOUR CAREER TO Assisted Reporting conference in Atlanta It’s a cold case that goes all the way and disbelief that a patient can take his or Godfrey points to the Vancouver market as where postings for journalists with data back to 1983 when a commuter discovered her own life while in a place that is sup- proof that common ownership can get out THE NEXT LEVEL. skills provided a welcome antidote to the bullet-ridden body of Domenic Racco, posed to be the safest possible refuge: a of the way of unfettered competition: in the doom and gloom enveloping on the the mobster you can see on this maga- hospital. this case between the Vancouver Sun and BACHELOR OF JOURNALISM industry. zine’s cover. Filing freedom-of-information requests The Province. Hunt truth. Tell stories. Think like a journalist. Gain the There are also encouraging signs that Add to the mix, a damning police inves- to obtain a national picture became an Of course, it remains to be seen how edge in researching, analyzing and communicating these kinds of jobs will also become more tigation that was subject of a cover-up, and exercise in frustration and perseverance, the media landscape will evolve.