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. Mark complex issues with clarity and skill in one year. abundant in Canada. So it is against this backdrop that Glen you have a case ripe for the right kind of a lesson in the importance of sticking to a Burgess interviewed experts. They have MASTER OF JOURNALISM McGregor’s explanation of how to find treatment. game plan. their doubts. Raise your digital skills to the next level with this stories in data takes on more relevance, Enter Steve Buist and the Hamilton The legwork turned up an eye-popping Along the same vein, we take a look innovative ten-month degree program in data leading him to conclude that “it’s a great Spectator, a paper that has been featuring number: 300 inpatient suicides over the at the CBC’s saga, certainly not a tale of investigative journalism or entrepreneurial new time to be data journalist.” his award-winning work for a long time. past ten years. One family featured in death, rather one of survival. ventures. In an age of news cycles populated with “Suicide Watch” is suing. Others may do As it gears up for a future where radio So let’s end on that positive note. short, snappy breaking-news stories, and the same. and television take a back seat to digital MASTER OF FINE ARTS viral pet videos, the Spectator chose to, in Death’s shadow also hovers over the content, the public broadcaster is attempt- IN CREATIVE NON-FICTION David McKie is an award-winning jour- managing editor Jim Poling’s words, go newspaper industry. In this case, Quebe- ing to cater to a general and dispersed Earn a Master’s degree, develop a polished book nalist based in CBC News’ Parliamentary “long and deep,” in recounting an incred- cor’s 175 Sun Media publications. Post- audience, swimming against the tide of proposal and write a substantial portion of your Bureau, and a journalism instructor at ible tale that is still unfolding. media is poised to swallow them whole, niche marketing. manuscript in two years, while being mentored by Algonquin College, Carleton University Media magazine had a chance to sit pending the approval of the Competition Though the public broadcaster receives published authors and publishing professionals. and the University of King’s College. down with Buist and Poling to hear them Bureau, which may impose conditions slightly more than a billion dollars a year He has co-authored Digging Deeper: explain why and how they chose to tell to foster more competitive environments in federal cash, that budget has failed to A Canadian Reporter’s Research Guide, Third Edition; Computer-Assisted Report- “Railroaded”, and the resources they for the sale of advertising -- not editorial keep pace with forces such as inflation. 8 needed to do it. content! Add to this absorption of budget cuts that Apply now at ukings.ca ing: A Comprehensive Primer; and Your Death is also the unfortunate subject We all know that the Sun News Network began in 2012 and ramped up to an an- Right to Know: How to Use The Law to matter of a research project that consumed is now history. Whatever you thought of nual decline of about 10.5 per cent a year, Get Government Secrets. almost of a year in the life of Annie the television network’s content, the sad plummeting add revenue, and the loss of He also edits Media. 4 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 5 STEVE: The involvement of Dennis Monaghan and Graham Court didn’t come FEATURE into play until 1989 (six years after the mobster’s death). Basically, we’ve run the gamut of all three (provincial) parties. The The story behind Railroaded Liberals, the NDP and the (Progressive) Conservatives have all been in power at various points during this exercise. JIM: It hits (Ontario Premier) Kathleen he award-winning Hamilton Spectator has a rich history of innova- Wynne’s dedication to social justice. I don’t even know why there hasn’t been tive investigative stories. In 2012, the paper’s “BORN: A Code Red an inquiry. Now, to be fair, police rules of T evidence, evidence-gathering and Crown Project” won the Canadian Association of Journalists overall award for in- testimony have changed. We have what’s THE DEATH OF A MOBSTER: It may be 31 years since a commuter noticed Domenic black-and-white. Two people in our com- Racco’s bullet-riddled body strewn across the railroad tracks, but the police are no closer to vestigative journalism. The year before, it earned the CAJ’s top prize for munity were wrongfully convicted of a solving a murder that resulted in two wrongful convictions, questions about the police, the murder. And it becomes, ‘Oh, well that’s Crown -- and Ontario’s privacy commissioner. the similarly titled Code Red, which also “combined a scientific approach interesting.’ The only thing that I can put my finger on is police who we have since to investigative journalism” to delve into hidden aspects of Hamilton’s PHOTO CREDIT: THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR/BARRY GRAY talked to off-the-record have said ‘Well, poverty. they were bad buggers. They were mean bastards and they deserved what they got.’ This time, the newspaper set its sights on murder, injustice and cover-up. I understand the sentiment. I don’t agree with it. That’s not who we are in Canada. Its investigation into the 1983 killing of a Toronto mobster, the wrong- I can’t understand politicians, opposition included, not taking this to a higher plane. ful convictions of two local men who police called ‘bad buggers’, and the Nobody’s ever bothered to figure out why subsequent investigations by the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Ontar- and how this happened. There doesn’t seem to be any interest in figuring out io Information and Privacy Commissioner was storytelling at its best. what went wrong here. Q: DID THAT LACK OF INTEREST Media magazine recently sat down with investigative reporter Steve MAKE DELVING INTO THE STORY DIFFICULT? Buist and the paper’s managing editor, Jim Poling, to discuss how the STEVE: I don’t think so. There’s one element that we haven’t talked about project came together, how they obtained a damning confidential Ontario Jim Poling Steve Buist yet. This fight has ping-ponged between Information and Privacy Commission Provincial Police report, why the province’s information commissioner ne- tions of the police and the Crown, to the that the OPP’s investigation was inade- (IPC) going to the (correctional services) inability of police to investigate other quate, virtually inept, and almost comical. ministry and saying ‘you’re not exercising glected to force the province to officially release the report, and why they police, to what has happened to these two It raises some serious questions about the your discretion properly.’ men since the 25 years they were arrested decided to tell the story in the form of a “journalism book”. ability of the police to investigate other Q: WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO for this crime. I had everything. police and the Crown attorney in this case. USE THE LAW TO GET? They were wrongfully convicted. They Q: WHEN YOU SAY YOU OB- STEVE: Access to this 318-page OPP spent seven years in jail for this crime TAINED IT. WHAT DOES THAT report. before they were freed. And neither one of prison. Years later, they win an appeal. A investigators on the case. Eight months MEAN? Q: AND YOU TRIED TO GET IT them has ever received an apology. Nei- Q: WHAT IS THIS STORY ABOUT? judge looks into the case and is horrified later, they issue a three-page press release STEVE: Sources. There have been THROUGH ONTARIO’S FREEDOM- ther has received an explanation as to how STEVE BUIST: “It’s a story that goes to discover that an overwhelming array of that basically says ‘no problems here. some decisions that made portions of that OF-INFORMATION LAW this could happen to them. One of them back as far as 31 years that’s still timely evidence that should have been disclosed Move along. Nothing bad happened.’ document publicly available. Nobody has STEVE: Technically, that fight is still was deported, and for the past 17 years today because elements of the story that to them was never disclosed. What isn’t disclosed is that there is a 318- ever reported on it until this series. And under way. It started in 1998, The Specta- has been living in England and has never involve the murder of a Toronto mobster So that brings the OPP into the picture. page report compiled by the OPP that, to I don’t even think that a lot of people tor and the Criminal Lawyers’ Association been allowed to return to Canada, in part still hadn’t been fully brought to light. So They are asked to conduct an investigation this day, has never been fully made public. realize that, 16 years later, there is still both filed access requests for that report. because of this crime. we had a dead mobster, found in 1983. into the Hamilton and Halton police forces And for 16 years, that document has been a fight going on. And there were also JIM: At the time a judge deemed these JIM POLING: They didn’t receive an We had four men charged with first degree and the Halton Crown attorney. The judge the subject of a fight that’s gone all the a number of pieces of information and were wrongful convictions. He issued a apology from police, from court officials murder, but convicted with lesser charges. said, ‘virtually every piece of evidence way to the Supreme Court of Canada. evidence that had never been made public scathing indictment from the bench of or from politicians. I find that shocking. If That seemed to end the case. And then that could have helped them defend them- And the Ontario Ministry of Community before, dating right back to the murder how police and the Crown conducted we were talking David Milgaard, Steven out of the blue, we had these gentlemen selves had not been turned over to them.’ Safety and Correctional Services has been of Domenic Racco in 1983. And so this themselves. And the two police forces Truscott, and the list goes on (it would charged with first degree murder who It was an incredible injustice. fighting to keep that document from public was just a story that wraps up everything involved, Halton and Hamilton, said ‘well, have been different.) I can’t figure that one had never been connected to the crime. So the OPP conducts this investigation. view. We obtained an unredacted version from the murder of a mobster, to the we better look into this.’ The OPP came on They’re found guilty, sentenced to life in They interview 11 people. They have five of that document, and it basically shows wrongful conviction of two men, to ac- out.

6 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 7 Dennis Monaghan spent seven years in jail before being allowed to walk A hand-cuffed Graham Court shields his face while free because of the Crown and police’s shoddy handling of the investi- sitting in the back seat of a police car. He was gation. Police told Buist off-the-record that Monaghan and Court were eventually deported to England. He and Monaghan “bad buggers” who “deserved what they got.” never received an apology for their wrongful con- PHOTO CREDIT: THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR/BARRY GRAY viction.

PHOTO CREDIT: FROM SPECTATOR FILES

story. There was a strong element of pub- copy editor, production, and photography. a need for information no matter how you lic service to it. And we had to tell it long. So there’s a whole chain reaction. I have a present it. as a third party, neutral investigator to look document. We published a 32-page report when we met with the circulation-mar- This was not a 20-inch story. You don’t hard time imagining not doing this. Read- Q: WHAT ABOUT YOU, JIM? at this. They conducted a criminal inves- on it. keting director. He threw out the idea of have that with every story. ers expect us to do these kinds of stories. JIM: It’s an interesting question. I wish tigation. So charges could have been laid. Q: HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT TO publishing this as a one-shot deal that he Q: WHAT ABOUT ONLINE? ANY As much as people want viral cat videos, we had the answer. I tell young report- The judge had the strongest words of all COMMIT RESOURCES TO THIS would charge readers a premium for. And THOUGHT OF HAVING AN INTER- they want long and deep. They expect to ers, do not worry about the format. Worry for the behaviour of the Crown attorney. JIM: Yes, it’s challenging. In my role as that’s where the conversation got interest- ACTIVE VERSION? be informed and they expect good context. about your reporting and the information The judge said there was a lot of potential managing editor, I spend a lot of my time ing and it influenced the shape and form of JIM: We had a strong online presence. They want sense made out of complex you’re giving readers. I think too many evidence that never made its way to court. overseeing the newsroom. It’s challeng- how we told the story. We locked down our website on this. issues. newspaper editors are too concerned about STEVE: On Sept. 25, the Information ing. It’s also massively important. Good It was an interesting conversation People paid for it in paper and online. So Q: HOW MANY EXTRA COPIES things that they needn’t be. I still believe and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario is- content is what good newspapers and jour- because a department other than editorial it remains locked. We knew we couldn’t DID YOU SELL? there’s a strong culture of print newspaper- sued a final order in this case. They threw nalism sites provide. The question is how was involved in how we portrayed it to do this as an ebook. The turnaround was JIM: The last report I have was in ing. There’s a thirst for it. People picked up their hands and they said “we’re walk- do we do it? Our paper has a long history readers. So what we ended up doing was a not quick enough and it would have been excess of 2,000 copies at the stand. I this 32-page story and carried it around ing away from this, and we’re closing the of enterprise and innovation. Newspaper 32-page tab section. Readers got a roughly drastically expensive. We knew what we know the web hits on the weekend where with them. They accessed it like they file. We’re not going to make any further as a novel is a term that we’ve been us- 20-thousand word story in one sitting. could do with print. We have a strong in excess of 5,000 for that story alone. It couldn’t access a tablet. It was portable, orders of the Ministry of Community and ing for several years. Look at the whole STEVE: It was designed, essentially, online model, but we’re not at the point generated considerable traffic. There was handy, well-written. We had a good story Correctional Services, because there’s no Code Red series and what it has done for like a book with a cover that looked like a where we can optimize it for different a bump in single-copy circulation on the and we told it well. It’s too easy for people sense in ordering the ministry to comply conversations around public health, social book cover. tablets or interfaces. Friday, by I believe is a couple of hundred, to bail out. A good story will bring them with our legislation because they have not determinants to health, income inequality, JIM: It has a table of contents, cast of STEVE: One thing that we did is we put which is not insignificant. back. been listening to what we’ve been telling education, and cancer. It’s deep and it’s characters, front cover and a back cover. it on a visually different platform online. STEVE: And don’t forget, that was at a them. Most astoundingly, the information important. STEVE: So on that day, the cost of the JIM: We had an outside server. But it premium price, too. The good news is that commissioner said there’s no legal mecha- Q: SO HOW DID YOU DECIDE paper was bumped up for a single copy. was tagged with omniture codes so that we didn’t lose people. We added people, Related links nism that we have, that we can use, to TREATMENT, THEN? JIM: And we printed an overrun and the Spec site still got credit for it. and they were prepared to pay a premium force the ministry to do what they’re being STEVE: We knew it was going to be it was sold at stands separately for weeks STEVE: It looked a lot nicer. It was for that. cleaner. More like you were reading an Q: DO YOU BUY THE DOOM AND Ontario (Public Safety and Secu- told to do. ‘So we’re just going to close a very large story. There was no wrong following. There were single copies of just rity) v. Criminal Lawyers’ Associa- the file and walk away’. So, basically, it’s way to do it. We could have done it as a that section they could buy for a dollar. online book. It was broken into chapters. GLOOM ABOUT THE DEATH OF an acknowledgement by the commissioner multi-page, per day type of ongoing serial. We also had support from the publisher. And what we could give people there was NEWSPAPERS? tion (2010) – Freedom of Expres- that they don’t have any legal remedy to Those are quite common in the newspaper Because the publisher knew what the story not only a better visual way to read the STEVE: There will always be a need sion and Access to Government force someone to do what they’re told. business. You run it like a chapter a day. was and believed in it. We had a lot of story online, but we could give them the for information. And there will always be Documents Any other ministry would be looking We could have done it as larger pieces buy-in throughout the building that helped added content that they wouldn’t get on a need for people to gather information, to the paper product such as interviews with find information, to synthesize that infor- http://ualawccsprod.srv.ual- at this and saying, “Perfect, if we just dig spread out over weekends to reach your make this happen. berta.ca/ccs/index.php/con- our heels in enough, eventually, we don’t largest audience. And that would have JIM: It was an affirmation that all roads the subjects, a little documentary-style mation. The physical format that it appears have to do anything.” The commissioner’s been fine, too. But this was a story that lead to good content. video, things that add a little bit of extra in, I guess that will change eventually. I stitutional-issues/the-charter/ office has just set a precedent by saying was going to be complicated for people to Q: HOW DO YOU MAKE THAT value. was a person not that many years ago who fundamental-freedoms-sec- “if you don’t listen to our rules, we’ll just understand. There were a lot of moving HAPPEN IN A 24/7 NANO-SECOND Q: HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO DO said I can’t stand reading stories on my tion-2/676-ontario-public-safety- close the file and walk away”. parts, a lot of characters. And if you serial- NEWS CYCLE? THIS KIND OF JOURNALISM? computer screen. I can’t imagine not doing JIM: What becomes difficult is mar- that now. It’s amazing how fast you’re and-security-v-criminal-lawyers- The Criminal Lawyers Association has ize it, every time you run a new piece, you JIM: You have to pick your spots. We association-2010-freedom-of- launched another application for a court have to catch them up and that wastes a lot knew that as we got into this, and Steve shalling the resources. It’s not just about able to change your behaviour. But that’s review to go back to this on the principle. of time, energy and space. started to report it, that it was fundamen- having a reporter commit a length of time. a format thing. And so I’m back to, at the expression-and-access-to-govern- To us, it’s immaterial. We’ve got the full JIM: The magical moment for me was tally a good story. It was an important It’s finding the editing. It’s finding the end of the day, there’s always going to be ment-documents#_ednref6 8 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 9 Prashant Tiwari took his own life while under psychiatric care at Brampton Civic FEATURE Hospital (pictured below). His family is calling for a coroner’s inquest and is plan- ning to sue the hospital, pictured below. Investigating patient suicide in Canada PHOTO CREDIT: PROVIDED

One of the keys was filing lots of freedom-of-information requests

progressive without the data. The data, the facts are what teaches us how to change By Annie Burns-Pieper things, how to do things differently.” In the end every province, except Saskatchewan, provided us some kind his past June a family in Brampton, made me wonder about the care of other these clauses to withhold records, while of number for suicide deaths in health TOntario thought they had done the suicidal patients in hospitals. I was sur- others released the information requested facilities over the past 10 years. Because information I requested right thing. prised to find so few stories about patients without mentioning privacy concerns. we were missing data from Saskatchewan after months of negative When Rakesh Tiwari arrived home and taking their own lives while in hospital. So Given the disparity of responses, the Sander Hitzig, a senior research associ- responses from his col- saw his eldest son, Prashant covered in I wondered how big an issue this was in question that continued to run through my ate at the University of Toronto analyzed leagues. blood after a failed suicide attempt, he Canada. head as I encountered roadblocks was this: our data to come up with our final national 3) Appeal responses: In rushed him to Brampton Civic Hospital’s Did withholding data at which hospitals number of approximately 300 inpatient a couple of cases we were emergency room. Prashant was transferred Search for data suicides occurred in Canada really protect able to get closer to the suicides over the past decade. a large response by viewer mail, many information we requested after we filed an to a unit for mentally ill patients and the privacy of the deceased, or did the people writing in to tell their own stories placed under suicide watch. To try to find a national number of sui- secrecy protect hospitals from having their appeal. Talking about suicide 4) Publish information on transparency The advice given to families with loved cides in hospitals I started in the obvious patient safety records scrutinized? of friends and family members lost to ones in crisis is to get them to the hospital, places for national health statistics, but no What seemed clear was that there were of public bodies: This encourages the The Mindset Guide on Reporting on inpatient suicide. (EDITOR’S NOTE: and get them help. The Tiwaris are like organization kept this information. Next, no formal methods for tracking these release of records next time. Mental health was a resource that I relied The Tiwari family recently announced that many Canadian families, they trusted the I contacted provincial health departments. deaths. Which prompted me to ask another 5) Second-guess primary sources of on a great deal. Both the guide and the it plans to sue the Brampton Civic Hospi- hospital to care for Prashant and prevent Most told me they didn’t keep information question, if no one was monitoring, then data: I have repeatedly had problems with CTV policy urge caution. tal for $12.5 million.) him from further harming himself. He was on suicides in hospitals. I did, however, how often were these deaths occurring? government sources of data giving me However, we believed that stories that Annie Burns-Pieper, is an associate pro- on suicide watch, after all. learn that in most provinces, a coroner or Where were they taking place? What was incomplete or wrong information. Finding included the means of suicide were in the ducer with W5. This story was produced Yet, just 10 days after Prashant’s admis- medical examiner is required to investi- being done to prevent them from happen- out as much as possible about the data can public interest. Relaying how people took by Litsa Sourtzis and reported by Kevin sion the Tiwaris got news they never gate when someone dies by suicide in a ing? help ensure you are getting what you think their own lives in hospital is critical when Newman. imagined possible. Prashant ended his hospital. Our team found further evidence of an you are getting. questioning the care they received. In the own life at the hospital while he was sup- Initially, I tried to get this information absence of data when we interviewed the 6) Find compelling personal stories to case of Prashant Tiwari, a chair was left in RELATED LINKS posed to be under strict observation. without going through freedom of infor- Fraser Health Authority. We asked officials make the data you collect have an impact the bathroom. The chair allowed Prashant W5 uncovered that the Tiwaris are mation, but only a few provinces provided for statistics on in-hospital suicide over 7) Be persistent in getting interviews to hang himself from a weight-bearing Family suing hospital for $12.5M in not alone: approximately 300 patients in information without a formal request. I the past 10 years. After waiting weeks from public bodies and institutions: When ceiling grate using his bath robe. The head Canadian hospitals or health facilities have began filing requests around January 2014. for an official response, it wasn’t until our asking for on-camera interviews with the suicide of supervised patient of psychiatry at the Brampton Civic Hos- committed suicide in the last 10 years It took months to receive full responses. In team arrived for our on-camera interview health care facilities where these suicides http://canadaam.ctvnews.ca/family- pital admitted in our interview that leaving alone. one case we got full information just days that their communications representative occurred, we provided them with at least suing-hospital-for-12-5m-in-suicide- a chair in the bathroom was a mistake. While talking about suicide generally before our airdate on October 4, 2014. could confirm a final number. Andy Lib- two weeks to respond to our initial re- of-supervised-patient-1.2252637 has become more common in Canada, The response from the provinces varied. biter, Mental Health and Substance Use quest. At first, one of the institutions was Tips for others looking to do similar little is known about suicides in hospitals. While some jurisdictions provided the full Services for the Fraser Health Authority reluctant to accept an interview request. It Map of suicides in health facilities stories Unlike in the United States and the United data requested -- hospital name, year of told W5 that he only knew of two other took a few days of emails and phone calls across Canada Kingdom, research on this topic in Canada death and number of suicides in full -- half suicide deaths at their hospitals. However, to secure the interview. When it comes to 1) Give yourself lead time in mak- http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/w5-map- is limited. Information on how frequently the provinces withheld this information. our research through the coroner’s office publicly funded organizations, it’s impor- ing access-to-information requests: This of-suicides-in-canadian-hospitals these deaths occur, and at which facilities, The most common reason? that releasing revealed five others beyond the case in our tant to emphasize how a lack of participa- investigation wouldn’t have been possible has been kept out of the public domain. a year of death and a hospital name where story. tion and transparency about the issue in unless we had started early requesting Transparency lacking in patient safety I originally became interested in learn- the death occurred would identify an Kathleen Stephany, a nursing instructor question will appear to viewers or readers. records. data on suicides across the country ing more about this subject after reflect- individual. and a former British Columbia coroner, 2) Build a relationship with information http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/trans- ing on the death of a high school friend. Even though most Canadian provinces told us that the lack of data prevents hos- This report aired as part of W5’s season officers: In at least one case, a particular parency-lacking-in-patient-safety- Suffering from bipolar disorder, she took have almost identical sections in their pitals from taking steps to avoid suicides. premiere, and also ran on page A1 of the access officer really made the difference data-on-suicides-across-the-country- her own life while on a day pass from a freedom-of-information laws relating to “You don’t make policy changes, you Toronto Star’s Saturday paper that same in providing the requested records. At the Vancouver hospital in 2010. Her death personal privacy, some jurisdictions used don’t retrain staff, you don’t do anything weekend. After our broadcast, we received 1.2037565#ixzz3HZ1jmZIv last minute, he provided me with the full 10 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 11 Digital storytelling THE TALE OF THE TWO GODFREYS

Surviving the takeover

How many Sun Media newspapers will remain intact once they’re folded into the Postmedia chain?

Postmedia president and chief executive officer Paul Godfrey attends a Toronto Sun president Paul Godfrey talks on the phone following its deal By Mark Burgess press conference in Toronto Monday, Oct. 6, 2014, announcing Postme- to merge with Quebecor Inc., in Toronto on December 9, 1998. dia’s purchase of Sun Media Corp.’s English-language operations. PHOTO CREDIT: REUTERS/STAFF national, international, business, entertain- “to review mergers exclusively to deter- PHOTO CREDIT: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Hannah Yoon s the Competition Bureau reviews ment and travel news the same in all com- APostmedia’s acquisition of 175 munities. Local papers would still generate a substantial lessening or prevention of rial voices that would have followed sor Chris Waddell said he doesn’t think Sun Media newspapers from Quebecor, sports and local news. mine whether they are likely to result in such a deal 20 years ago. and Alberta, and several mayors. Postmedia will be operating all of the 175 observers are hopeful about the survival of The new scale would allow for bigger The bureau’s reviews traditionally The change is partly due to the pleth- al Godfreyfederal ministers, said Postmedia premiers would in Ontario point papers it’s buying a year from now. most of those titles in an age where media traditional cross-country ad buys. More onlycompetition.” cover advertising rather than get- ora of alternative information sources to Vancouver as a case study. “Part of any sort of takeover like this is concentration is no longer the bogeyman it importantly, it would also permit the ting into editorial voice. While diversity today, but the newspaper industry’s you look for opportunities where there’s was even a decade ago. use of analytics for targeted advertis- of voice could be considered if it’s cast struggles also play into it. and I would say the vast majority of duplication and you try to eliminate dupli- On Oct. 6, Postmedia Network Canada as reduced consumer choice, the bureau “The people who care about these content“We keep is independent the newsrooms of each separate other. cation,” he said, adding that much of this Corp. announced a $316-million deal with Godfrey said this is the only way to com- sorts of things probably have more tol- would take place in back-end operations ing to specific readers across markets. Quebecor for Sun Media’s 175 English- Transcontinental bought 74 Sun Me- erance for extraordinary measures than public issues at all levels of government, like printing, advertising and design. language newspapers, trade publications diawill Quebec likely stick community to advertising. papers in 2013 andThey yet often they take have opposite a common stands advertis on - Unifor’s Scott Doherty said the union is pete with digital giants like Google and and digital properties, as well as 35 real Postmedia’s unique monthly online for $75 million and the bureau made it she said. ing department and a common circula- still in wait-and-see mode, with few devel- Facebook for advertising dollars. estate properties. The deal was financed visitors would rise to 12 million, and put 34 of its 154 newspapers up for sale theyScott would Doherty, have assistantfive, 10, 20 to yearspresident ago,” opments since the deal was announced. with a mix of $140-million in new debt Godfrey said the company would contin- Jerry Dias at Unifor, the union repre- interview. “Really nothing is going to take place and $186-million in equity from U.S.- ue to focus on digital products, though sold 14 of them, 11 of which became tion“The department,” reader’s got he choice. said in The an Octoberreader until the Competition Bureau has made its based hedge fund Golden Tree Asset online-onlyfor a period services.of 60 days. All The but companyone of the the deal, also said it’s probably harder doesn’t care who drops the paper off on decision one way or the other,” he said. Management. Kelly Toughill, director of the Univer- senting most of the workers involved in- their doorstep. And the reader doesn’t The union probably isn’t intervening in “there will always be ink on paper.” The Competition Bureau is reviewing sity of King’s College journalism school, was closed, along with two of Transcon- tion, although the industry’s turmoil care if the papers are produced in the the bureau’s review, he said. It’s looking the deal. said the different papers could survive tinental’sremaining own papers papers. that didn’t find buyers shouldn’tto make an be argument the reason. against concentra same printing plant. But the readers to protect its membership, which includes If approved, the company would have by remaining niche brands. Newspapers Pecman said at the time that the bu- “[Postmedia is] saying all the right do care if they can get some variable those working in printing, advertising, both major dailies in Ottawa, Calgary sell readers to advertisers, she said, and reau had done “everything in its power things at this stage of the game, at least, accounting and other back-end services, and Edmonton. Postmedia would also get those advertisers increasingly want to and I think most people are hopeful,” he National Post political columnist John where he said the union is willing to talk Sun’s English-language Canoe website was a possible alternative to Transconti- said. Ivisonopinion.” viewed the transaction positively. about some “synergies.” to test the market to determine if there portal outside of Quebec. This would be in “I suspect it will continue to be valu- nental owning all the papers. Godfrey said the competition bureau “We’ve suffered a lot of cuts over the “More importantly, I think, for us, it’s be able to know who those readers are. addition to Vancouver, where Postmedia able to advertisers to segregate those would probably focus its review on years and I don’t think we foresee any- about the fact that you can’t consolidate already owns The Vancouver Sun and The audiences because they sell different one, where many newspapers are in thing bad particularly coming of this,” he all the newsrooms and lose your local “Unfortunately, in some cases like this Province. Sun readers - where it would own both major dailies. said in October. “At ground level, there’s news aspect of the papers. We need to Postmedia president and CEO Paul than to Citizen readers, and as long as ing transformation of the community J-Sourcecommunities reported like Ottawain December and Calgary that no trepidation that we’re going to see maintain in these communities, whether kinds of things to [Ottawa] financial distress owing to the ongo Godfrey said in October that Postmedia that’s true you’ll have two papers. But if merged newsrooms or anything like that. it’s small papers or the dailies, we need and Sun Media would maintain their sepa- they start to meet in the mushy middle, - The people who are running this com- to make sure that we’re getting local and newspaper industry, the market dictates rate networks and that he’s not planning statement said. tonGodfrey after had the “courtesydeal was announced. meetings” with pany know newspapers. I would not have different reporting so there’s a broad kind that there are limited alternatives,” his to close any of its publications, though an mayorsThe Financial in Ottawa, Post Calgary and Edmon- said that in every iteration of this com- of perspective on the news in the commu- then you won’t”. internal memo to employees said the deal bureau’s review, Competition Commis- has changed the conversation around ber that Godfrey did considerable politi- pany… and they know that any attempt to nities and for Canada,” he said. In an Oct. 6 statement announcing the Toughill said this financial distress would lead to $6-$10 million in savings sioner John Pecman said that while me- consolidation. cal due diligence beforereported the announce in Octo - integrate the editorial products would be Mark Burgess is the acting deputy editor over two years. dia ownership concentration can raise ment, notifying the Prime Minister’s self-defeating.” of The Hill Times, an Ottawa newsweekly The new papers would organize their public interest concerns, the bureau’s - Carleton University journalism profes- covering Parliament Hill. coverage like Postmedia, he said, with mandate under the Competition Act is outrage“I’m struck over theby howconsolidation much the ofworld edito - 12 has changed,” she said, referring toMEDIA the 2015Office, SP federalRING EDI oppositionTION leaders, sever 13 Reading the numbers

Ten tips for deciphering government budgets

A government budget is a political document that can be understood by anybody who takes the time

By Alan Freeman

elease of the budget, whether it’s finance minister to include the measure in most important elements by reading the Rat the federal or provincial level, the budget. full budget document. has increasingly become the most impor- The upshot of this budget mania is that Do your homework. In the days or tant date on the annual political calendar, it’s no longer sufficient to send a business weeks before the budget, review the most except for an election or a party leader- or economic journalist into the budget important issues likely to arise in the bud- ship convention. lockup and hope it will get adequately get. Make sure you bring previous years’ The budget is no longer simply a docu- covered. It’s the job of every political budgets and fall updates with you into the ment where the government sets out its reporter to find out what’s in the budget budget lockup, as well as other documen- Finance Minister Joe Oliver, middle, makes his way to the podium with Minister of State (Finance) Kevin Sorenson, right, and Parliamentary Secre- spending plans, details how it intends to and how it affects their particular beat and tation you think will be relevant. Com- tary to the Finance Minister, Andrew Saxton, prior to the finance ministers’ meeting in Ottawa on Monday, Dec. 15, 2014. The 2015 federal budget pay for it all through taxes and borrow- the broader political context. Particularly paring the government’s latest forecasts, won’t be delivered until at least April. ing and also forecasts the state of the for journalists who hate numbers and ac- numbers and pronouncements with what it economy. tively avoid anything vaguely financial or said in the past can be very revealing. PHOTO CREDIT: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick In Ottawa and the provinces, the bud- economic, this can be a daunting prospect. Be wary of pre-budget leaks. While get has become the key priority-setting But in the end, the budget is above all a budgets were once kept top secret until document for government. The growth of political document that can be studied and release, the government now strategically understand the process and the contents of Read the annexes. Some of the most the juiciest stories about a budget emerge omnibus budget bills has meant the federal understood by anybody who takes the time leaks most measures in advance. But you a budget. important measures in a budget, particular- only a day or two later. The document is government not only maps out its eco- to prepare in advance and reads the docu- can be played. In advance of the 2013 Ask dumb questions. The government ly where tax changes are concerned, may so dense with measures that the impor- nomic plans in the budget, but also uses ment carefully and thoroughly. budget, the Harper government the staffs the budget lockup with dozens of top be buried deep inside the budget’s annexes tance of some only becomes apparent a the opportunity to announce changes to Based on experience covering seven “good news” that it was going to cut tariffs officials from Finance and other depart- and won’t be detailed in the officially- day or two later when interest groups and policies as varied as immigration and the successive federal budgets in the 1990s for on imported hockey equipment inleaked a quest ments to explain budget measures. Don’t supplied budget synopsis. So find some experts plumb the depths of the budget. environment that have only the slimmest The Globe and Mail as a journalist, and for positive headlines. It proved to be a be intimidated. If you don’t understand time to dig into the annexes. You may find Read the actual budget legislation. link to economic policy. on supervising the communications for diversionary tactic aimed at hiding a much something and find the language vague some hidden gems. Legislation implementing the federal The reason for the popularity of the four budgets between 2008 and 2011 as wider increase in tariffs included in the and indecipherable, insist on an explana- Listen to the actual speech as de- budget usually comes in two chunks, one a budget as a priority-setting document for an Assistant Deputy Minister at Finance budget that raised the costs of hundreds tion. There should be a plain-language livered in Parliament. Most reporters bill introduced shortly after the budget and governments is simple. Because it’s a Canada, here are 10 pieces of advice for of consumer products. Journalists who answer to most questions. are desperately trying to get their stories a second more technical bill that follows confidence measure, the budget has to get journalists as they prepare to cover the swallowed the hockey tariff cut story were Watch for earmarks. U.S. legisla- filed when the budget speech is delivered several months later. The Harper govern- passed, or the government faces parlia- budget in 2015: used by the government for political gain. tors are famous for adding money for pet in the House of Commons at 4 p.m. But ment has developed the habit of changing mentary defeat and an election. Once Read the document and ignore the Speak to experts. The budget is fol- projects, like “bridges to nowhere” in find somebody on your team to listen budget measures in the implementing locked in a budget, a measure is almost spin. Use all the time made available lowed closely not just by journalists, but legislation brought before Congress. Ca- to the speech and check it against the legislation or even adding sections that guaranteed to become reality. And by during the lockup to read as much of the by economists, tax specialists and provin- nadian budgets include similar measures, authorized text. In 1991, Michael Wilson, weren’t in the original budget so budget packaging a disparate number of mea- budget document itself. Don’t depend cial officials, all of whom participate in one-off decisions to fund projects dear finance minister at the time, announced the bills deserve a close look. sures in one giant omnibus bill, individual solely on the pre-cooked spin provided by their own version of the budget lockup. to the finance minister or the ruling party decision to move the headquarters of the Alan Freeman is a Senior Fellow at the policy changes get scant attention from the government. If you read the “budget in Line up experts whom you know will that get slipped into the budget. In 2011, National Energy Board to Calgary from University of Ottawa’s Graduate School MPs in committee and can slide through brief” or the news releases provided with attend the lockup and speak to them after for example, the federal budget included Ottawa in his speech to the Commons, of Public and International Affairs. After with virtual no oversight. So ministers the budget, do so merely to get a quick they emerge. They’ll be better informed $7.5-million for the Royal Conservatory catching everyone by surprise. Not a word more than 30 years in journalism, Alan and outside lobby groups anxious for a overview of what the government has that an expert who gets budget news at 4 of Music, while the 2012 budget included of the move was contained in the speech served as Assistant Deputy Minister for particular tax change, spending program deemed it important for you to know. But p.m. with the rest of the public. Also try money for a future Rouge Valley urban text circulated in the lockup. Consultations and Communications at the or policy pronouncement, will pressure the make your own judgments on what are its to speak to former Finance officials who national park in southern Ontario. Watch for day-after stories. Some of Department of Finance from 2008 to 2011. 14 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 15 Reading the polls

The keys to understanding polls

Before reading the latest political poll, ask yourself some basic questions By Eric Grenier

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau speaks at a press conference following a two- Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an announcement at Frame- day caucus meeting in London, Ont., Wednesday, January 21, 2015. craft Ltd. in St. Catharines, Ont., on Thursday, January 22, 2015. he results of the latest poll have How was the poll conducted? the expert, after all – the pollster is. But PHOTO CREDIT: THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Geoff Robins PHOTO CREDIT: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Tjust come across your desk. The There are some basic methodological if the pollster has been willing to answer numbers are surprising. The headline will questions that need to be asked. Was the these questions directly, you probably be great. This poll will make news. poll conducted via telephone, interactive don’t have much to worry about. A good NDP Leader Tom Mulcair reads to children at a daycare centre in But what questions should you be ask- voice response, or online? If it was over pollster will explain the limitations of his Toronto on Tuesday, January 20, 2015. ing the pollster – and yourself – before the telephone, were the numbers dialed or her own survey, and any caveats that PHOTO CREDIT: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn you publish? randomly and were cell phones included? should be included with the results. A bad Were attempts made to contact people pollster will evade and deflect. If he or she Where did the poll come from? who did not pick up when initially con- is not willing to answer these basic ques- previous poll, or 19 times out 20. Prepare your readers, The poll might have been conducted by tacted? And if the poll was done online, tions, you should probably think twice you may be viewers or listeners for the possibility a national pollster you’ve heard of before. how were respondents recruited to take before publishing. looking at that this could be that 20th poll. When the But if it wasn’t, it is important to know as part? Are they representative of the entire Does this poll make sense? just a wobble results of a poll are unusual, it is a good much as possible about this new organiza- population? What kind of weights were Now that you’ve gotten through the back and idea to see what future polls show before tion. Has it publicly released polls before? applied to the raw data? What questions methodological questions and are satis- forth. Look coming to any definitive conclusions. And What kind of track record does it have? were asked in the poll, and in what order? fied that the poll is worth reporting, take for longer- when those new polls emerge, start the What expertise does it have to conduct Might the wording of the questions, or the a look at the results. Place it within the term trends, process all over again. these polls in the first place? order of them have influenced the results? context of current events, but also within and here you Éric Grenier is the CBC’s polls analyst Another important piece of information How does the sample look? the context of other polls. If this poll is can evaluate and founder of ThreeHundredEight.com, is whether the poll was commissioned by a If the pollster is willing to provide showing results that are wildly out of step voters or the sample of respondents among the poll next to ones conducted by other a website dedicated to political polling in third party. Most polls that make the news you with both weighted and unweighted with what other polls have been showing, one demographic or within one region. pollsters. If one pollster is showing a con- Canada and electoral forecasts. He has today are either commissioned by a media sample sizes, then you can take a quick this is something that should be mentioned And a shift in support is not necessar- sistent drop in support for one party over previously written for The Globe and Mail, outlet or are undertaken by the pollsters look to see how close these are. If they when you are reporting on it. Readers ily significant just because it is outside the last three polls, and another pollster is Huffington Post Canada and The Hill themselves for free. Polls are a chance are relatively close, that means the sample need to know that these results are out of the stated margin of error – there is also showing the same thing, you have a trend Times, and has worked with Le Devoir to promote the research capabilities of a was probably a good one. If they are not, the norm. the question of the margin of error of the that is worth noting. If two pollsters are and L’actualité during the most recent company. Nailing an election is the best however, there could be problems. Many What has changed since the last poll? previous poll to take into account. As a showing support levels heading in oppo- provincial and federal election campaigns kind of advertisement for a polling firm. polls have difficulty reaching younger But don’t directly compare the results rough rule of thumb, if a change in support site directions, this is again something that in Quebec. But if the poll was conducted for a po- people. To ensure that young people make of this poll to the results of a survey done is 1.5 times the size of the margin of error may be worth mentioning. litical party or organization, that can throw up the appropriate proportion of the entire by a different pollster. They use different of the sample you’re reporting on, it is a Everything looks good. Now what? Related links up some red flags. The data itself may be sample, their results would have to be methodologies, so any changes that have statistically significant shift. Anything less The methodology seems solid. The reliable. But has this party or organization inflated. But a smaller original sample taken place between two polls by differ- than that cannot definitively be said to be shifts appear significant. The numbers are Fundamentals of Polling-Glossary of commissioned polls that have not been size means errors can creep in, magnify- ent pollsters might have everything to do something real. part of a trend, but this new poll is particu- Terminology made public? Imagine a scenario where ing that error when the weighting formula with how the poll was conducted. Instead, Is this part of a wider trend? larly eye-popping. Rather than take it as http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/ a party has commissioned a poll every is applied. If the results that were derived compare the poll to the last poll published What is perhaps the most important fact, it is important to couch your coverage education/polling_fundamentals_glossary. month for the last year, but you have not from these smaller samples are counter- by this pollster. Have any shifts occurred? thing to look at when it comes to the of the poll in caution. You might have no html seen one before today. Are you being fed intuitive, it may skew the poll. What does If so, are they significant? results of a poll is whether or not it is part methodological reasons to discount the re- Sampling, weighting, and transparency just the information that a political party the pollster think about this? This can be difficult to determine. The of a wider trend. A jump of five points sults, but that does not mean the results are in public polls wants to be made public? How bad were Has the pollster been transparent? margin of error, usually included with may be outside the margin of error, but beyond reproach. The margin of error is http://www.threehundredeight.com/ those polls that have not seen the light of These are a lot of questions, and you a poll, refers to the entire sample rather if support had dropped five points in the always stated with 95 per cent confidence, search?q=unweighted+sample+size day? may not know the right answer. You’re not than, for example, the sample of decided

16 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 17 I kept the focus on a series that compared the number of government employees to the Tools of the trade total workforce within each census tract. The date of the survey coincided with the all- time peak for federal government employment. Peeling the layers of the National Capital Region onion The Ottawa Citizen – Source: Statistics Canada

Using Statistics Canada’s census data to tell stories in your community

The national data showed just how different Ot- tawa and Gatineau really are compared to other large cities. PHOTO CREDIT: Pat McGrath/OTTAWA By James Bagnall This led me to yet another area of inqui- ’ve lived in Ottawa for 34 years and ment paychecks. In Calgary and Toronto around Parliament Hill. ry – public sector compensation. While the Ithought I knew the town. But that was the ratio is three per cent. As a bonus, the census tract data offered Conservative government has been mak- before last spring. This suggested government downsizing rich insight into the various government ing headlines with its moves to bring civil At the time, the Harper administration on a large scale should have been hitting communities. For instance, the vast major- service pensions and other benefits into had cut 34,000 federal civil servants from the nation’s capital much harder than it ity of these commuters owned their homes, line with private sector experience, the the government payroll in the National appeared to be doing. providing a sharp contrast with Parliament pace of reform is actually quite measured. Capital Region, a drop of 22 per cent. To help me better understand the com- Hill area residents, who preferred renting Government workers will contribute more While not unprecedented, it was a swift munity of civil servants I was dealing – reflecting the more transient nature of towards their pensions and post-retirement and significant downsizing. I wanted with, I turned to the National Household politics. House prices revealed that three health benefits until at least 2018. to understand how it was affecting the Survey, which complemented the 2011 of the most concentrated civil service But even then, federal employees will region. national census. enclaves were home to the top echelons of do very well compared to retirees in other The research proved anything but The survey divided the National Capital the bureaucracy – with the Anglophones industries. I located a Statcan series that straightforward – every line of inquiry Region into more than 270 census tracts, in the Glebe and Francophones in Chelsea, calculated the average pension obligation for their pensions and benefits. And they Cansim 282-0116 - total employment led to another. Combined, however, they a small enough sample to include in an Quebec. Top foreign affairs employees owed to each federal government worker will likely remain fewer in number. They by city produced an unexpectedly rich portrait of Excel spreadsheet. I manually entered preferred New Edinburgh. in 2012 was nearly $500,000 – compared will never have it as good as their prede- Information about salaries: the capital area through the prism of its 10 variables such as income levels and This snapshot told us a lot about which to $209,000 for all employees with a pen- cessors did. Cansim 111-0008 - Median income by biggest employer. language spoken at home. But I kept parts of town were likely to be most af- sion plan. Then, for details about how the When we published Capital Reckoning city, % of taxpayers with income in excess The first cut – which involved tracking the focus on a series that compared the fected by a shrinking government. federal government pension plan worked outlining all these trends, it was the most of $75,000 employment and salary trends through number of government employees to the And yet, despite the dramatic downsiz- in practice, I relied on multiple interviews popular story online for four consecutive Cansim 202-0001 - % of total city in- Statcan and other databases – was pretty total workforce within each census tract. ing, the economy of the nation’s capital with the office of the chief actuary. There days, most unusual for a daily newspaper. come earned by top 1 per cent of tax filers clean but left a lot of questions unan- The date of the survey coincided with didn’t seem to be hurting that badly. I I learned that the average male civil It was a good reminder that when we fol- Cansim 202-0107 - median salaries by swered. The exercise told me what was the all-time peak for federal government turned to the Conference Board of Canada servant still working in 2011 had a salary low our journalistic instincts in a story that job sector and city obvious – that Ottawa was a government employment. for insight. The Ottawa-based independent of $76,100. This made him eligible for a matters to local readers, the result can be Information about pensions: town and civil servants were well-paid I shipped the calculations to Dennis think tank publishes detailed forecasts for fully-indexed pension of $53,270, which very edifying. Statcan cansim database 280-0012 – compared to employees in retailing and Leung – the newspaper’s longtime graphic metropolitan areas – and its calculations would jump to roughly $60,000 when he James Bagnall an author and award- pension assets per member by industry other sectors. artist – who created a map of where civil suggested that the economies of Ottawa began receiving old age security payments winning journalist. He’s the associate Public Accounts of Canada - The data lacked context. So I added servants lived. I was surprised to discover and Gatineau continued strengthening de- at age 65. business editor at the Ottawa Citizen, Includes breakdown of pension and other two dimensions. The first was national – I we had never done this at The Citizen. The spite a shrinking government. The capital When the Conservatives launched their where he has worked since 1993. He be- benefits for multiple plans held by federal compared Ottawa and Gatineau to other result was an eye-opener. Dennis colour- region was growing more slowly, to be downsizing program several years ago, gan his journalism career in 1978 at The government workers. Canadian cities. The second dimension coded the census tracts that contained un- sure, than the country’s other large cities. many government workers were part of Financial Post and was a senior writer Actuarial report for the Public Service was intensely local. usually heavy concentrations of govern- But there was still improvement. the baby boom and already close to retire- at The Financial Times of Canada from of Canada - the largest of the govern- The national data showed just how ment workers. This meant anywhere from Something else was happening. Low ment. Leaving was not a difficult decision. 1989 to 1993. Bagnall was a member of ment’s pension plans. different Ottawa and Gatineau really are 27 per cent to 50 per cent. interest rates were helping the housing And because their pensions and other the Parliamentary Press Gallery for more Detailed data about residents in each compared to other large cities. Jobs in The map instantly explained so much sector and a series of large construction benefits did not drop significantly, they than 20 years. census tract: public administration made up more than about the Region – its commuting pat- projects, including light rail transit, had continued to spend in the Ottawa area. The Related links National Household Survey 20 per cent in Ottawa and nearly 25 per terns, the presence of very large civil ser- stabilized the building trades. The high- short-term economic damage was blunted. Information about employment: Information about the economy, city cent in Gatineau. Even in a provincial vice bedroom communities in the suburbs tech sector was strengthening. But these Longer term, it will be a different story. Statcan Cansim database 282-0111 - job by city: capital such as Edmonton, just five per of Aylmer and Orleans, and the intensity alone couldn’t account for the capital’s Once the baby boomers finally exit gov- sectors by city, such as public administra- Conference Board of Canada, Metro- cent of the workforce depends on govern- of government in the square kilometer relatively stability. ernment, those remaining will pay more tion() politan Outlook bi-annual survey

18 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 19 Social Media

Lessons learned from the Ottawa shooting

Three editors reflect on how they could have done a better job

By Mary Gazze

he shooting at the National War reflected on our social media channels as officer from the street? Police scanner? TMemorial in Ottawa that left Cpl. well.” Chief of police? Or their media liaison? Nathan Cirillo dead and storming of Both Yates and Jennifer Wilson, the Ask them ‘how do you know that?’” he Parliament at the hands of Michael Zehaf- Toronto Star’s Senior Editor, Social Me- says. Reveal this information to the news Bibeau were part of a day of violence, fear dia, say their most popular social media consumer. and uncertainty rarely seen on Canadian posts were simple bullet-point rundowns He added that teams should stick to soil. of the facts. information from their own reporters and But level-headed Canadian-style report- Wilson says these types of posts got the official sources such as police to keep ing was praised around the world for being most click-throughs, retweets, likes, or rumors out of coverage. “We did not go to calm, clear, shying away from specula- replies. Twitter and say ‘we’re hearing this.’” tion and avoiding those heavily-produced “When news is breaking, it’s not so breaking news stings. Mother Jones said much about dragging people through to Do Coordinate And Call Reinforce- This was one of the many vigils for slain soldiers Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo (left). A lot of the coverage of their deaths it “Put American Cable News to Shame.” more information. They really just want ments unfolded in cyberspace. The basic idea of social media is to get people talking, but with a major story, there is so much publishing that has to be done, Several reviews cited CBC’s Peter Man- to know what’s happening in a really bite- At the time of the shooting, the Star that sparking conversation falls to the back burner. sbridge in particular for consistently reit- sized chunk, so we found that that stuff happened to have a sports reporter already PHOTO CREDIT: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz erating what was confirmed, and keeping really resonated on both the day of and the in Ottawa who had travelled with the speculation out of his narrative. day after,” says Wilson. Toronto Maple Leafs who were staying at With more Canadians using social me- Andrew Yates says these types of posts a hotel near Parliament Hill. dia, Media magazine surveyed a few news are becoming more important as more “All of a sudden (he) starts tweeting form, it’s important for mainstream media policies at least once a year, and will 1) Check with other departments to see organizations about what they learned people are accessing news intermittently from Ottawa and “I’m like, wait, is he ac- to act as a filter, verify and use credible review events like the Ottawa shooting if they already have staff in the area on an from one of the biggest stories in Canada’s on mobile devices, and may not have tually there?” recalls Wilson. She says that sources, the managers say. Lessons about and last August’s murder of three RCMP unrelated story; history, and how to bring top-notch report- context. lack of coordination was a lost opportunity verification that were learned from one of officers in Moncton to see what can be 2) Coordinate with local bureaus or ing to social media. Here are their biggest to get a great eye-witness account from a the more famous celebrity death hoaxes learned. other departments on coverage; do’s and don’ts: Don’t Be A Tease trusted source. still apply. “I think tweaking is a good word,” says 3) all backup staff to actively respond to While cliffhanger-style headlines are The basic idea of social media is to get We learned our lesson with lots of Yates. “I feel quite proud actually of the comments; Do Remind People About The Facts the bread-and-butter of websites such as people talking, but with a major story like events. I used the Gordon Lightfoot hoax coverage we did (in Ottawa) and a lot of it 4) Display the facts in a bullet-point list; Andrew Yates, former Senior Producer, Buzzfeed (and the reason their stories of- this one, there is so much publishing that as one of our key stones. (We as an indus- was really good… but as you know, social 5) Give context in snippets. Remember Community and Social Media at CBC ten go viral), major breaking news stories has to be done, that sparking conversation try) can’t do that again,” says Lundy. media is still in its infancy and certainly that audiences come and go, and may not News says that while his team had some are not the time to tease, says Wilson. falls to the back burner. Looking back, Everyone we interviewed agreed that news gathering and live blogging are prac- have the full picture; great coverage that day, they could have “You don’t want to say ‘you won’t Yates says when a huge story breaks, he’d even though the technology is new, it’s tices that are evolving.” 6) Be transparent about where you got periodically reminded viewers that things believe what happened next.’ You want like to call in reinforcements. important to hang onto basic journalistic Wilson boils it down to a message that the information (e.g. “police are telling are changing fast. to give people information they need in a “We didn’t have horses to engage with principles to avoid losing credibility. you’ve heard a lot, but may sometimes us”); “I think we could’ve taken a page out of really easy way so they understand it, even the audience to the degree I would’ve “Trying to confirm things and taking forget. 7) Teaser headlines don’t work; Peter Mansbridge’s book in a sense,” he if they don’t click through. You can say a liked — actively and proactively answer- our time with that, not being as reactive “Nothing on the Internet can really go 8) Try Storify. It will help you create a says. lot in 140 characters.” ing people’s questions and responding to as social media as a platform is — I think away. So if you do something wrong, you visual social media rundown that is easy- “We’re telling you what our report- Andrew Lundy, Vice President, Digital their concerns, and sort of be more part of that’s what separates more of a trusted need to be very transparent to clear it up,” to-insert into webpages; ers are hearing from police and hearing at The Canadian Press adds that it’s im- the two-way conversation.” journalism outlet from the noise that’s out she says. 9) Debrief later and review what you from the scene, but be mindful that we portant to be transparent about where the there,” says Lundy. can learn for next time. still don’t have the full picture. I think information is coming from. Don’t Forget Basic Principles In the end, all three social media manag- Tips for the next real-time story: Mary Gazze is digital producer at The that kind of information could’ve been “Who told you from the police? An With social media giving anyone a plat- ers said they review their social media Canadian Press. 20 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 21 Behind the numbers

Spending quality time with the CBC

We need a better way to measure the public broadcaster’s less tangible impact

By Kelly Toughill

he CBC might be gone in a decade. amount spent on advertising in Canada has by a private telecom or cable company. T We’re used to grousing about the skyrocketed. Only conventional networks Some content companies are experi- CBC – the parade of job cuts, the tilt-a- were hammered; ad revenues doubled for menting with native advertising – doing An unidentified man is pictured outside the CBC building in downtownToronto. The corporation is scaling back its conventional television program- whirl management ride, the strategic shifts specialty channels in the same period. PR gussied up as editorials. That isn’t ming as part of a five-year shift toward more web and mobile broadcasting.The CBC’s mandate is mass, but the mass media busniess model is dying. so abrupt that they can induce whiplash. Obviously the Internet accelerated going to fly from a public broadcaster, PHOTO CREDIT: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young But this time it is different. The CBC the trend to niche marketing. Digital and would be strongly opposed by private is being forced to adopt a dying business advertisers can reach customers without competitors. (EDITOR’S NOTE: for a academics and advertisers. Almost all of as it should be, or as it used to be; the re-organized media world. model that other media organizations are assembling an audience at all. The bulk discussion of native advertising, please see the discussion has focused on television, Butterball was shot with chemicals, the We can only do this if we take advertis- fleeing as fast as they can. of online and mobile advertising dollars the Spring 2014 edition of Media.) even though the digital arm of the broad- chestnuts were wizened, Uncle Morgan ing out of the equation. It is fundamentally The advertising-supported business go to Google and Facebook, which use Other mass media organizations are caster reaches nine million Canadians a was a deadbeat and the pumpkins were unfair to subsidize CBC while urging the model for news and current affairs is on information and key words in profiles, going behind paywalls online, counting on month and polls show that Radio One and too ripe for pie. But then she would pull public broadcaster to compete with private its last legs. Some news organizations will emails, search terms and social posts to readers and viewers to pay for the creation Radio Two are popular across the country. this steaming, succulent creation out of broadcasters for advertising dollars. survive through subscriptions, subsidies send targeted ads. of the news and entertainment content Just about everyone agreed that Radio- the oven, a king of meals followed by a I miss those holiday dinners with my from their telecommunication corporate Media companies used to sell access to they consume. Canada is doing well, and no wonder; it trail of adoring side dishes. She made the grumpy Aunt Honey. I miss spending parents, moving to niche markets, becom- the total audience that watched a show or That won’t work for CBC because it is doesn’t have to compete with American best stuffing in New Jersey, and there were hours in a small, overheated bungalow ing PR organizations or by selling cus- bought a magazine. Now they are offering in direct conflict with the corporation’s programming and has much higher per people I genuinely loved at the table. She with a yappy dog, the world’s ugliest tomer data. None of this is going to work different slices of that audience to differ- mandate, which requires it to create pro- capita funding from Ottawa. always pulled it off, and she always pulled cuckoo clock and a dozen people I barely for the CBC. ent types of advertisers, not based on the gramming that “informs, enlightens and English television is another story. It at- us back – all of us – every year. knew. That’s because Aunt Honey built The problem is not technology and the editorial content that someone consumes, entertains” and “contribute(s) to a shared tracts on only five per cent of the viewing CBC as we know it will not survive the family. It wasn’t the amount of time we Internet. The big problem is fragmenta- but based on personal information gleaned national consciousness and identity.” That hours of Canadians. cuts planned for the next three years. Ot- spent with her, or each other, it was the tion: the move to niche marketing. from his or her digital footprint. mandate has to include all Canadians, not For some of the senators, that tiny figure tawa must either shrink the CBC mandate, commitment to be there. We knew it For most of the last two centuries, So, what does this mean to CBC? The just those who can afford a subscription on is evidence that CBC-TV is done. or dramatically increase funding. wouldn’t last forever. Honey did what we advertisers wanted the biggest audience public broadcaster is being told to increase top of cable and/or mobile fees. But perhaps we shouldn’t value CBC There is a business model out there that will all do. She got old and died. There they could get. Newspapers and broadcast- “other” revenues at a time when mass The mandate of CBC is mass, but the solely on the basis of ratings. Perhaps we works, but it requires a commitment from are relatives I haven’t seen since her last ers sold readers and viewers to advertisers. media advertising is in decline. business model of mass media is dying. need to figure out a way to measure its less the nation. Canadians pay roughly $30 per Thanksgiving dinner. The audience was the product and broad- How are other media companies re- Mass media builds society and feeds tangible impact. capita, per year for the CBC. That’s the The CBC forces us to recognize our based news was one of the ways to hook sponding, and why won’t that work for democracy, particularly through journal- The family analogy is irresistible when same funding the corporation received 30 own family, even the members who aren’t that audience. CBC? ism. It is the dialogue of the public sphere. talking about an institution that is sup- years ago. The BBC, which operates in like us. When it is gone, we won’t have In the 20th century, advertisers began Many broadcasters developed a roster of When we lose that, we end up talking posed to help forge our collective identity one language on a small island, receives that reason to get together. Something will marketing to smaller and smaller seg- specialty channels. Those channels gener- to ourselves. Internet-search algorithms and bring us together as a nation. We don’t almost $100 per capita per year from be lost. ments. This was very bad news for mass ate more advertising than conventional reinforce our own biases by drawing on measure the value of parenting by the taxpayers. Journalism is a vital public service. It media – including CBC. Specialty chan- television and also charge subscription our own past history to guide results. In number of hours we spend with our chil- Many Senate witnesses urged Ottawa needs public funding. We have an easy nels grew as conventional TV shrank. fees to viewers. Then broadcasters were a world without mass media, we aren’t dren. Those of us in tough, full-time jobs to adopt a tax, levy or programming fee way to do this in Canada. It’s called the The audience for conventional televi- absorbed into distribution companies – exposed to the views of others or to the often spent a mere five per cent of our 24- that is clear to the public and not easily CBC. We should use it. Instead, we are sion in English Canada dropped from telecoms, Internet and cable companies range of experience in our own commu- hour day actually playing with our young manipulated by the ruling government of trying to kill the infrastructure designed to 60 per cent of all viewing at the turn of that had the ability to profit from content nity. children. We called it quality time. the day. This is the system used to fund deliver the information we need to sustain the century to 40 percent of all viewing partners. A Senate committee is currently study- Talking about the CBC reminds me a many public broadcasters, including the Canadian democracy. in 2013. Ad revenues for conventional CBC is not going to develop profitable ing the CBC, preparing recommendations bit of going to visit my Aunt Honey for BBC. Several witnesses suggested the Kelly Toughill is the director of the TV are actually lower today than they niches because its mandate is to serve all for its future. The committee has listened Thanksgiving. Honey would bitch and telecommunication companies pay the tab, University of King’s College School of were a decade ago, even though the total Canadians. Nor is it going to be taken over to unions and managers, past presidents, moan and complain that nothing was ever since they are generating big profits in the Journalism. 22 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 23 Data journalism PET NAMES You can always get a fun story about the most popular dog and cat names in your community by requesting a copy of your municipalities pet licence data- base. “Brandy”? “FiFi”? “Rex”? Tips for finding stories in data Source: The city of Port Coquitlam

Public institutions we cover create data with virtu- ally everything they do

SUSPENDED DOCTOR By Glen McGregor The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario “suspended the certificate of registration of Dr. Sharif Tadros which means that Dr. Tadros is not allowed to practice medicine effective today”, read the part of the summary that appeared in the Toronto Star’s Nov. 8, 2014, story. The college’s news release goes on to o you’ve learned how to sort, sum public is logged electronically. No one is liquor laws. The data they collect shows explain that the doctor is facing a “discipline hearing on allegations of professional Sand average data in Microsoft Excel. writing things down and stuffing paper which bars sell booze to minors and which misconduct related to sexual abuse of two patients and breach of restrictions on his With practice, you’ve become a Pivot- into folders in steel filing cabinets any “overserve” drunk customers. certificate of registration.” Table ninja, finding trends in thousands of more. We’ve all seen news stories about the You can use different methods such as scraping to assemble disciplinary data from rows of numbers. And because of open-record laws at the cockroaches uncovered through municipal the websites of self-governing bodies. You can create beautiful data maps federal, provincial and municipal levels, restaurant health inspections, but munici- in Qgis or ArcGIS and export them to you have a legal right to obtain these elec- palities also inspect massage and tattoo Source: Toronto Star Google Fusion Tables to post online. tronic records. parlours, strip clubs, city-run social hous- The interactive data visualizations you That means it’s a great time to be data ing buildings and countless other regulated build in Tableau Public are things of great journalist. entities. beauty. The key, though, is figuring out what There are potential news stories in every You’ve even learned to write structured datasets public institutions maintain, and one of them. queries and can handle datasets with mil- which will make good news stories. You Some questions your data reporting can long been used as a measure of economic longer dance using open-records laws. You Certification: What do architects, lions of records in MySQL. need to think data. answer: Who fails inspections most often? growth, but drilling down into the list of can find the type of complaints that inter- teachers, dieticians, nurses, massage In short, you’ve mastered the technical Some starting points: Why do they fail? Is there a risk to the actual addresses for permit applications est you the most in the data, and then file therapists and veterinarians all have in skills you need to become an award-win- Inspections: Whenever I get on an public? Is the government agency inspect- can show important trends in the changing more open-records requests for specific common? They’re just some of the profes- ning data journalist. elevator and scan the ceiling to avoid ing often enough? face of your municipality. complaints in the data that will give you sions whose credentials are certified by Now, one problem: Where do you get eye contact with other passengers (admit Licencing: Whenever someone asks With licensing and permit data, the more narratives to write into your story. self-governing professional bodies that the data? it: you do, too), I invariably land on the government for a license or permit, an names and addresses of license application Contracts: No other component of the are required to provide information to the For Canadian journalists, obtaining inspection certificate posted on the wall. application is filed and stored in a data- may be protected by privacy law, but the work government does on your behalf public on the status of their members. electronic records to work with is often the That certificate, I imagine, is just one base. You can always get a fun story about data will show the date, type of applica- should be scrutinized as closely as the way Increasingly, these bodies provide data biggest hurdle to turning data into news. data point stored on hard-drive full of the most popular dog and cat names in tion, whether it was granted, and possibly our tax dollars are spent. The public has on their members through searchable Our American cousins are swimming inspection reports for every elevator in the your community by requesting a copy of other aspects that can make news. a right to know whenever a contract or online databases that can be used to check in data we can only dream about. Con- province. your municipalities pet licence database. Complaints: Handling grievances standing offer is issued to a private sup- whether the professional has ever been sider, for example, the online sex offender Elevators, like any device, service “Brandy”? “FiFi”? “Rex”? from the public takes up a lot of govern- plier. Every contract is logged in a data- sanctioned for misconduct. registries in most states that give not only or industry that is regulated by govern- Your newsroom colleagues will laugh, ment time and, thankfully for us, creates base somewhere, and some governments, Because self-governing bodies aren’t the name and age of every offender, but ment, will be subject to inspection, and but the story will be devoured by read- a lot of data. When a government agency including the federal government, proac- covered by freedom-of-information laws, also the street address. Overlay their ad- those inspections get logged in a database ers and if -- hopefully not --- a child is takes a public complaint, it is usually tively post their contracting records online. you can’t get these datasets by filing a dresses on a map of, say, day-care centres somewhere. Industry Canada keeps a com- mauled by a pit bull, your database be- logged in a database somewhere. Again, Which companies are winning government request. But if you learn a bit of program- and elementary schools, and you’ve got a prehensive database of inspection reports comes a serious and useful tool for report- privacy laws will likely exempt the name work? Where are they located? Were the ming, you can sometimes “scrape” the bang-up story for A1. from fuel pumps at gas stations that will ing on dangerous breeds in the city. of complainant, but other key data won’t contracts tendered competitively or “sole- data on members off their webpages. Here, with our national obsession with show which are short-changing consum- A database of marriage licences will tell be. Sometimes, the narratives of the sourced”? Contracting data can generate Glen McGregor is an award-winning privacy -- the Correctional Service of ers. They also check the scanners used to you the most popular day for weddings. complaint -- “The Jones family next door an enormous number of stories. At The Ottawa Citizen national affairs reporter, Canada won’t even tell you in which weigh produce in groceries stores. Health Canada’s database of applications is playing death metal in the backyard at Citizen, we found a disproportionate num- covering government and politics on prison an offender resides -- we have to be So, too, does the Canadian Food Inspec- for medical marijuana permits shows 4 a.m. again” -- will be severed, too, but ber of contracts issued by the department Parliament Hill. He specializes in data more creative. tion Agency log data on meat and poultry which postal code in the country has the the databases set up to log the complaints of Public Works were valued between journalism and social-media evangelism. Fortunately, the public institutions we plant inspections. In larger cities, the Al- most legal pot smoking per capita. (Hint: often have general categories of the type $24,900 and $24,999 -- just below the Follow Glen on Twitter at@glen_mc- cover create data with virtually everything cohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario it’s not in British Columbia, as you might of complaint. $25,000 threshold required for a tendering gregor or email him at gmcgregor @ they do. Almost every official interaction sends inspectors into bars and nightclubs suspect.) Sometimes, obtaining a database of process that generated a lot more work for ottawacitizen.com. between government, industry and the every weekend to check compliance with Aggregated building permit data has complaints will be only the first step in a bureaucrats. 24 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 25 Data journalism

The code question

The debate about journalism schools teaching code is heating up

By Fred Vallance-Jones

hould journalism schools teach govern how web pages are structured and As the excellent article linked to at Scode? look, to writing JavaScript, a program- the top of this piece points out, some It’s a question that has resonated on so- ming language used to create web pages argue vehemently that journalism schools cial media and in the halls of the academy, that change dynamically with user interac- shouldn’t bother with this kind of code with little real consensus (for example, tion, to creating scripts and programs us- because students won’t want to learn it. see http://ajr.org/2014/09/24/should- ing full-featured languages such as Python Some believe it is easier to train a pro- journalists-learn-code/). and Ruby, right on up to writing complex grammer to be a journalist than vice-versa. Some argue urgently for teaching code; applications using compiled languages But these arguments make what to me is others counsel teaching a few basics; still such as C. a flawed assumption that there is but one others say journalists should know about There is no question to me that if by variety of journalism student. code, but leave the actual coding to others. “coding” we mean using HTML and CSS, It’s true that journalism schools have Reporter for the weekly in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, Nicholas Mercer, and King’s master’s student,Terra Ciolfe, take part in a data-journalism So who’s right? all journalism students should be learning been attractive to, and have marketed boot camp. Depending on the students, their the basics. As tagged markup languages, themselves to, people primarily interested PHOTO: FRED VALLANCE-JONES aptitudes and their goals, they might all they are straightforward in concept and not in the core skills of 20th century journal- be. But one thing to me is clear, journal- difficult to grasp. These are the founda- ism, writing, editing and presenting. ming languages, this group is arriving ally drawn to journalism schools, those need to adapt again. ism schools need to teach code, or risk tion of web design and web storytelling, Journalism school was often seen as a demanding to work with them. primarily interested in the craft of writing, A journalism school exists to teach irrelevancy. and are in my mind as important in today’s refuge from math and science, a place for Here at King’s, we now have students or a career in broadcast journalism, will journalism, using whatever tools are cur- There’s no doubt that journalism has journalistic environment as knowing how the more artistically inclined who wanted who come here specifically because they continue to come. And those people will rent at the time. It is the intellectual skills changed forever. The rise of the Internet, to properly use CP Style. They are also an exciting and engaging career. Those can learn data journalism. To wit, when still find opportunities. involved with using the tools, how to spot, social media and mobile technologies pretty straightforward to teach, and are with more technical or mathematical in- the latest crew of students in the investiga- But the world in which I came of age, see and tell stories, whether using a word ensured that. Even the most traditional at least introduced in most journalism terests enrolled in other faculties. As well, tive data stream of our master of journal- in which a small assortment of powerful, processor to type words, a digital voice journalist in the most traditional news- schools now. the destination for journalism students ism program arrived last summer, the first conventional media players dominated recorder to capture voices, or a computer room is probably at least filing for the If by teaching code we mean program- was usually the “factory floor” of mass thing some asked was when the program- journalism and set the rules for entry, is program to scrape data from a government web using a content management system. ming languages, I think they have a place, production journalism. Schools needed to ming classes started. waning. It is being replaced by a more website, that sets the journalism school At the other end of the spectrum, some too, but probably at a more advanced turn out “job-ready” graduates who could For those students, in order to prepare chaotic world of conventional payers, apart. journalists work entirely with data or on level, as electives in the last couple of immediately start being productive in them for the kinds of careers they are go- startups and independents, in which the At their finest, journalism schools are a the web, using programming languages to years of undergrad, or in graduate pro- traditional mass media. ing to want, exposure to more advanced definition of journalism is being inexora- crucible of vigorous, intellectually driven create interactive news applications. grams. While they won’t appeal to all But with the shift in the journalism coding is not just a nice idea, it’s a neces- bly changed, and the definition of journal- practice, where technology and critical With all this change has come a tech- students, nor will all students have the away from the dominance of traditional sity. I don’t think this will ever be the ist with it. thinking meet daily to produce genera- nological shift at least as profound as the aptitude for them, JavaScript and its media, I see a new breed of student arriv- mainstream for J-schools, and it may be If we accept that journalism is about tions of journalists equipped to tell stories, arrival of broadcasting in the 20th century. popular JQuery library are important tools ing in journalism school, very different accomplished partly through partnerships finding, researching and telling stories, today and far into the future. Suddenly the ability to write in language for those who would tell stories that are from the student of even a few years ago, or joint ventures with schools of computer then teaching code has to be part of the And that means we must teach code. that computers can understand has become native to the web. And for those with an who was quite often trying to avoid any- science, but I see it as something we have mix. Just as J-schools adopted broadcast central to a great many jobs in journalism. eye on the most challenging “coding” thing technical or mathematical. to do, if we are going to remain relevant. methods in the 20th centuries, moving Fred Vallance-Jones is associate Of course, the complexity of those jobs, languages such as Python and Ruby This new breed wants to use the wealth This is not to say schools will change from being completely print-centric, and professor of journalism at the Univer- languages varies greatly, as does the com- are essential. They are more challenging to of online and data tools to find and tell sto- overnight into coding academies. adopted basic online journalism at the sity of King’s College, where he teaches plexity of teaching them. As used now, the learn in-depth, so will probably never be ries in ways previously unimaginable. And The basics of reporting, interviewing, start of this century, the emergence of data advanced data-journalism skills, includ- term “coding” can refer to understanding for everyone, but proficiency in these lan- far from being uninterested or incapable writing and editing are as important as journalism and web development as recog- ing basic programming, in the master of the relatively simple HTML and CSS that guages opens up enormous opportunities. of working with more advanced program- ever. And many of the people tradition- nized fields in journalism means J-schools journalism program. 26 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 27 Ethics CODES TO GOVERN BEHAVIOUR Journalists in the United States and elsewhere created their first explicit public ethics — codes that applied across the new profession. Their familiar principles –– impartiality, verifica- There’s No Such Thing As ‘Personal’ Journalism Ethics tion, accuracy — were justified in a public manner, in terms of the democratic function of journalism.

Journalistic principles must promote the common good

By Stephen J. A. Ward

Ethics Belongs to the Public they will accept. They must show how digital journalism ethics are transposed These points lead me to my main their values are well-grounded in the six into a global key. ow should we reconstruct journal- public impact, such as guidelines for al- Impact of Journalism conclusion — journalism ethics does not media needs. Practices, such as reporting on global ism ethics now that a media revolu- lowing terminally ill patients to die. My claim is that publicism applies to all H “belong” to journalists. Journalism ethics Of course, journalists can make an- issues, are evaluated by principles of uni- tion has left a pre-digital, professional An ethics is public in justification if it is forms of journalism, new or old, online or belongs to the public. nouncements ex cathedra, but their asser- versal human rights and the flourishing of consensus in fragments? required to justify its norms by reference offline. Journalism is a prime example of Responsible journalists must formulate tions will lack any social force unless they humanity as a whole. Here, subjectivism Some journalists are skeptical about to some conception of the public good, not a practice that, given its impact on society, principles that meet the “media needs” of show how their principles promote the cuts little ice. any attempt to forge a new practice-wide individual goods. Typically, the ethics of cannot avoid grounding its primary prin- citizens in self-governing democracies. public good, and not just their subjective A public ethics does not mean ethics consensus on aims and principles. There practices, professions and institutions are ciples and aims in a special public ethic. There are at least six media needs: or idiosyncratic aims. lacks a personal side, e.g. when we consult are too many practitioners, too many public in topic and justification. The ethics Historically, journalism ethics increas- Informational needs: Citizens cannot There is, then, no such thing as personal our conscience. It does not mean there platforms, too many conflicting values. of law and medicine are not grounded ingly took on the burdens of publicism. be vigilant and informed without access journalism ethics, if this means that the ba- cannot be differences in the practices of Journalism, it seems, is irrevocably frag- in rules determined by each practitioner, Journalism changed from a hobby and to a rich informational soup of facts and sis for its values are the beliefs or interests journalists. mented. subjectively. These disciplines are gov- social activity in the 1600s to a social reports about their world. of individual persons or particular groups. For example, satirical journalism dif- Therefore, there is a trend toward a erned by practice-wide codes that promote practice in the next century. New politi- Explanatory needs: Citizens need more The only plausible journalism ethics is a fers from objective reporting. Yet, both “personalized” or “Do It Yourself” ap- public goods such as a fair justice system. cal constitutions in revolutionary America than facts. They need context and causal set of values justified by the public good. approaches are justified by the need for a proach. Journalists construct their own The more a social activity takes the and France recognized the press as a explanations for properly understanding Journalists must face the tribunal of diversity of journalists in an open society. ethical guidelines. form of a practice, profession or institu- “fourth estate” and as an institution which facts and events. the public, not just their own conscience, Nor, does rejecting “personal journal- In many cases, the underlying justifica- tion, the more society demands explicit deserved constitutional protection. By the ‘Perspectival enrichment’ needs: when their conduct comes into question. ism ethics” mean that journalists cannot tion for personalized ethics is subjectiv- public codes concerning transparency, late 1900s, a powerful mass commercial Citizens need informed commentary, criti- They need to provide reasons that other interpret principles differently. ism or relativism: Each person or type of conflicts of interest and other matters. For press raised concerns whether journalists cism, and multiple points of view on the citizens would accept. Broadcasters interpret the public princi- journalist has her own values. Journalism example, few people would doubt that a served the public interest. information they obtain, and on the state ples of accuracy and verification in a way ethics is not a public ethic that applies tough public ethic should govern the office In response, journalists in the United of their society. Subjectivism as Negative Force that makes sense for news broadcasting. across a practice. The justification of of the public prosecutor. For hobbies and States and elsewhere created their first Advocational and reform needs: Subjectivism in journalism ethics can Newspaper editors may interpret the norms seems to be reduced to: “Because social activities with little impact, from explicit public ethics — codes that applied Citizens should be free to go beyond damage a free journalism. If journalists principles differently. Online journalists these values are mine.” stamp collecting to attending cocktail par- across the new profession. Their familiar commentary to use media to advocate for say they make up their own ethics, citizens may interpret the principles differently The idea of journalism ethics as largely ties, calls for a special public ethic are out principles –– impartiality, verification, ac- causes, and push for reforms, or to hear may conclude that tougher press laws are when blogging a court case. (or only) personal, or subjective, is mis- of place. curacy — were justified in a public man- the positions of advocates. needed. Also, “ethics as subjective” makes A public approach to journalism does leading in two ways. First, it misconstrues I call this view of ethics “publicism”. ner, in terms of the democratic function of Participatory needs: Citizens should a hash of the idea of journalistic self- not require a code of absolute principles how we justify moral claims for practices It is the belief that society legitimately journalism. have the ability to participate in a mean- regulation. applied in the same way across time and such as journalism. The justification is demands important practices to articulate Has the media revolution undermined ingful fashion in the discussions and The latter refers to a practice-wide place. public, not personal. Second, it is out of and follow an ethics grounded in serving the idea that journalism ethics are based debates, and the sharing of facts and accountability for conduct. The “self” in It only insists that differences in applica- step with the history of journalism ethics the public good. on journalism’s public role in democracy? analysis. “self-regulation” does not mean that each tion and interpretation are not just as- and with trends in global journalism eth- Publicism asks practitioners to develop The answer is no. Journalism’s over-all Dialogic needs: Citizens should have journalist regulates his own conduct. serted, or said to be valid because they are ics. codes that supplement the common moral- impact increases, not decreases. What is the opportunity to be part of reasonable Ethics as subjective and non-public “mine” or personal. ity of society, such as telling the truth different is that many citizen journalists and informed dialogue on common con- also runs counter to the development of It should be possible to justify differ- Why Is Ethics Public? and keeping promises. The codes contain do not fall under professional codes. But cerns, and not be subject to disrespectful a journalism that is global in reach and, ences from a public point of view. An ethics can be public in two ways — additional rules that apply specifically to such difficulties do not invalidate the idea attacks. therefore, incurs global responsibilities. in terms of topic and in terms of justifica- the practice in question. The codes define that some public grounding for journalism Therefore, journalists have no special We need to engage in a public dialogue Stephen J.A. Ward is a Halifax-based, tion. professional ethics, from business and ethics is needed. The task is to reinterpret authority to announce ex cathedra what across borders on journalism and on global independent media ethicist. You can learn An ethics is public in topic if it evalu- medical ethics to research ethics. public journalism ethics for digital media, values they honor or what ethical restraints society. The public principles of a pre- more about his work at Media Morals. ates conduct and policies with significant not abandon it. 28 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 29 into straight lines: “Northwest” on both parts of a Mercator world map would point 45 degrees from horizontal. Mapping Mercator’s projection is great for driving directions because it makes straight roads straight. That’s why it’s ubiquitous online. But Mercator wasn’t Canadian. Back in Mercator’s day, no- Twisted maps body had discovered oil up North. Heck, nobody had discovered the North. And it shows. Mercator maps approach infinite distortion close to the poles, so Google crops its maps at 85 degrees north and south. That If your story comes with a map, excludes parts of our globe that matter today. And the distortion on the remaining northern area makes Nunavut appear larger than you’re distorting the truth every province. The North Pole and Aliens Let’s try a different approach. Go to the centroid of Canada (southern Nunavut, north of Man- By Adam Hooper itoba) and point straight up. Imagine there’s an alien in that direc- tion, hundreds of light years away, with a fantastic telescope. This map depicts what the alien would see. The projection is called orthographic. This is distorted, too. Manitoba bulges a bit because it’s at the t doesn’t matter whether you include Tibet in China, where luit, you won’t reach 250. Five degrees south from either would IIsrael’s border is, or what colour you choose for Quebec. take you 550. Even excluding politics and people, a map twists reality. The lines of latitude and longitude shouldn’t be squares. On So ask yourself: “how shall I distort my map?” this map, towards the south, Canada appears about 40 per cent Longitude and Latitude wider than it really is. Towards the north, it becomes two times Distortion comes from a projection. That’s the math that wider still. converts longitude and latitude to pixels on a screen or dots on a Driving directions, Sailing directions printed page. Here’s a map you probably use daily. This is what you saw in your elementary-school textbook. Here is the simplest projection possible. It’s called equirectan- Don’t recognize it? Browse to https://maps.google.com and Statistics Canada recommends it. For Canada, it fixes the gular. zoom out completely. skews and bulges of an orthographic map. Of course, it turns straight lines into curves and it distorts sizes. But as Lambert proved, you can’t win ‘em all. Why should I care? A photojournalist seeks apt lighting. A filmmaker strives for crisp timings. A writer chooses perfect words. Bad choices mis- lead and misinform. During the Cold War, the United States government favoured Mercator and similar projections to make the USSR seem larger (and thus more intimidating) than it really was. The same trick helped colonial powers assert themselves over equatorial nations. centre. Yukon and Newfoundland are smaller than they should Mapmakers chose particular colour schemes and labels, too; but be. They’re also rotated and skewed, like rectangles turned into clearly, projections were part of the propaganda. parallelograms. Every map distorts, and readers pick up on these cues. Despite these flaws, Canada looks better. Which areas should you distort? Should you make them larger, Lambert Conformal Conic smaller, or misshapen? Should the effect be obvious or subtle? Swiss mathematician Johann Heinrich Lambert was a pio- As with words, pictures and sources, you should choose a neer in the field of curvy shapes. He proved that π is irrational in projection your readers would agree is sensible. 1761. He went on to prove that any map projection must distort How do I choose a projection? either sizes, shapes or both. In 1772 he published several general- If you’re zoomed in on one city, don’t worry: the projection purpose projections, including one that’s particularly important to won’t make much difference. It only matters for broader maps: This is Canada – as computers see it. It spans longitude -141 This projection solves a problem that dates back to the Age of Canada: provinces, Canada, or the world. to -52 (negative means “west”) and latitude 41 to 83 (positive Sail. Use Lambert conformal conic when portraying Canada as a means “north”). I just placed each point of Canada on a Cartesian During the Cold War, the United States If a ship is heading exactly northwest, its path on an equirect- country: that’s the standard. For an example, click here. plane. angular map curves leftwards. But 16th-century navigators used Lambert conformal conic is fine for any province or state in It looks wrong. The lines of longitude and latitude on the map, government favoured Mercator and similar rulers, not computers. Curves were not an option. Canada, the United States or Europe; but you can be pickier. The spaced five degrees apart, show why it’s broken. Gerardus Mercator, a Flemish cartographer, invented a United States prefers Albers, which is like Lambert, but preserves In reality, lines of longitude (vertical) touch at the North Pole; projections to make the USSR seem larger (and simple solution: double the distortion. If an acre of land in White- sizes. Click here for an example. Every government has a favou- on this map, they don’t. If you fly five degrees east from Toronto, horse would appear twice as wide as an acre of land in Panama rite projection; search online to find it. you’ll move 400 kilometres; if you fly five degrees east from Iqa- City, then make it appear twice as tall, too. Straight bearings turn thus more intimidating) than it really was. Continued on page 32 30 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 31 Continued from page 31 sity within a city; it’s terrible for displaying population density across Canada. (I admit: I’ve committed this faux-pas.) Freelancing For a world map, Robinson is a safe choice. Click here for an Those sites all work by pre-rendering map tiles as images. For example. custom projections, you need to build maps as polygons, using If you’re mapping roads, use Mercator. Roads tend to follow geographic coordinates from Natural Earth Data and the Census Selling the data-journalism story cardinal directions, which are straight lines on a Mercator map. of Canada. If you’re showing flight paths, use a conic projection. Flights If you’re a beginner, try Tableau Public. It defaults to Mercator, tend to follow straight lines on conic projections. but Tableau has published a guide on choosing alternate projec- David Weisz provides a tip sheet for maximizing success If you’re comparing sizes of large regions, or of small regions tions. from different parts of the world, try orthographic projections. Do If you’re a JavaScript buff, Leaflet and OpenLayers support not use Mercator: it makes Greenland larger than Africa. custom projections. D3 does even better: it includes a dozen pro- Do not attempt a conic projection: the math would be brutal. jections with sample code for each. D3 is the library of choice for You can also get artsy and choose a view from above. Click web mapping experts; unfortunately, it doesn’t include widgets here for an example. for panning and zooming. How do I set a projection? The next (or first) time you make a map, remember your story’s elling that first freelance piece is your own computer savvy as well as the prepared to stake your reputation on your It all depends on how you’re making your map. focus. Be sure the map enhances it. Ssimultaneously the most reward- stories you want to tell. data. If you use Google Fusion Tables, CartoDB or MapBox, you’re Adam Hooper is a Montreal-based journalist and software ing and frustrating experience a journalist From there, it really depends on your How can I learn from your mistakes? stuck with Mercator. That’s great for displaying population den- engineer. can go through. Successfully selling, and own personal preferences. One of the This is one thing I wish I had done getting paid to write about is one of the hardest things that I continue to struggle sooner – because while I have been a most rewarding experiences I’ve ever felt with to this day is a desire to add as many working freelance data journalist for sev- as a journalist, and I’m sure many would data journalism tools to my skillset as pos- eral years now, my portfolio is fairly lack- agree. Everything else that encompasses sible. Though curiosity is fundamental to ing. As someone who specializes more in freelancing -- getting in contact with edi- being a good data journalist, and journalist the granular, research-driven side of data tors, ever-shifting publication dates and in general, trying to absorb too much at journalism, a lot of my work, frankly, isn’t For exclusive content, stories, interviews about journalism dealing with financials -- is as frustrating once can be overwhelming and ultimately, very conducive for a public gallery (for as any scrum I’ve ever been in. Selling a paralyzing. Focusing on a single project example, my work for 16x9, for which I freelance data-journalism story ramps up will allow you to organically develop the gained a researcher credit, didn’t involve the agony and the ecstasy exponentially. skills you need. any data visualization at all). Frankly, turn to Media. That’s because doing freelance data How much of a story should I com- given my fairly bare portfolio, I’ve been journalism adds new complications to the plete before going to an editor? pretty fortunate when it comes to land- traditional freelancing model. In addition This is what I understand to be one ing gigs. I’m taking steps to rectify that to the added work of researching informa- of the bigger departures from typical though, and so should you. Visit tion, and calling sources, you’ve also got freelancing. But when it comes to data Also, while large, multi-faceted projects to deal with scraping/cleaning/analyzing journalism, showing a sortable spreadsheet are great for learning a variety of skills, data, and then relaying this additional or rudimentary visualization beats a pitch they often take longer and are a harder sell work to an editor. But with the added or query letter every time. Data journalism to an editor, especially if you’re relying on http://www.caj.ca/media-magazine-archives/ frustration comes the chance for greater is fairly demonstrative by its nature, and them to provide any front-end, back-end professional rewards. you’d be surprised how far a simple tech support. Stick to smaller projects at first to How do I get started finding a data demo will go, even if it’s a simple Tableau build up your portfolio, so you have some- story? visualization. thing to back up your dream project with. Do you know how to do a pivot table? How does traditional fact-checking How much should I charge? If you don’t know the answer, then drop factor in? Keep track of your hours and take your everything and get comfortable learning When freelancing a piece for a publi- best guess. Every publication is different, Microsoft Excel. Ten times out of 10, your cation, it’s a normal assumption that the and the field is so relatively new that as far data work will involve a spreadsheet of article will be scrutinized and fact-checked as I know, there isn’t a standard pay scale some kind. . When interning at the The Grid, many for data-journalism pieces. The best thing If data management was one of those writers definitely took it for granted. Do you can do is outline everything you’ve high school courses you slept through, not assume that this is the case with your done, and impress upon your editors the take the time to understand basic statistics, freelance data story. time and labourious nature of what you’ve and I mean really basic -- when to use a What I’ve found is that by presenting done, and as mentioned above, give them mean, median and mode. yourself as a data journalist, you are given a demo of the final product. After that, I would say the best thing the tacit benefit of the doubt, in that your David Weisz is a Toronto-based free- you can do is pick a project. Find a story data is correct. Keep meticulous notes and/ lance journalist, copywriter, educator and you want to tell and how you want to tell or versions of your data, including the self-described “data geek”. He specializes it, and then work backwards. There are very important “master” data file (the raw- web scraping, database querying, and many ways to tell a data-journalism story, est copy of data you have before you start freedom-of-information requests. He can and many different ways to display data tinkering with it). Write a methodology be reached at davidaaronweisz@gmail. -- what you choose to learn will depend on to go along with your data. You should be com.

32 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 33 The Fine Print Lessons Learned Mapping with Tilemill and Tilestream: Part 2 Dagenais at 20

n our last installment I showed you how to create a map in Tilemill by importing Why a landmark ruling on press IOpen Street Map data. This tutorial builds on that knowledge and will show you how to export your map tiles, create a map server, and use them in your projects. freedom still matters This process will export your map for you to use as a basemap for other projects. By Dean Jobb Tilemill does this by creating a set of tiles for each zoom level. The tiles are simple By Lucas Timmons .png files that are arranged together to create the map. Each zoom level will have different levels of detail of features on the map. These details were set by you in the e can broadcast the video-record- right to a fair trial. the Criminal Code and other statutes, so .mss files in the previous tutorial. Tilemill does all the work for you and makes all the images you need. Wed confession in which Justin The Supreme Court declared, however, evidence presented at bail hearings and PART 1: Making the tiles Bourque matter-of-factly describes how he that a defendant’s rights do not “trump” preliminary inquiries, to cite two common set out to kill RCMP officers in Monc- the media’s right to report the news and examples, is usually kept under wraps To begin, open Tilemill and choose your project from those displayed on the main screen. The main map win- ton last June, leaving three dead and two inform the public. until a defendant stands trial. dow will show the map you created before. The panel on the right will show your styles in the .mss files. wounded. We can publish, in detail, the Evidence will be suppressed only if And while the right of news outlets to evidence gathered as police probed allega- there is a “real and substantial risk” that challenge other publication bans is widely tions that former Toronto mayor Rob Ford disclosure will harm a victim of crime, a recognized, too many judges and court was obtaining and using illegal drugs. witness or the trial process itself. officials err on the side of caution and im- And the public can see, hear or read the While publication bans were the issue pose bans that ignore the letter and spirit details of countless other crimes, police in Dagenais, legal challenges mounted by of the Dagenais precedent. operations and court cases, all thanks to media outlets have established the ruling Some provinces, with Nova Scotia in a Supreme Court of Canada decision that as a template for greater access to the the vanguard, have established procedures has opened the justice system to an un- justice system. to notify the media when bans are sought, precedented level of public scrutiny. In 2001, in the case of R. v. Mentuck the so the proposed restrictions can be chal- The ruling in the case of Dagenais v. Supreme Court overturned a ban on the lenged. If you are ready to export your map click on the export button on the top right of the screen. Choose the MB- Canadian Broadcasting Corp. handed investigative techniques used in a Mani- Too often, though, they are imposed Tiles option from the drop down menu. You could choose a different kind of export, such as a svg file, but for down more than 20 years ago (in De- toba murder investigation, exposing the without warning and without consideration cember 1994), was a game-changer for controversial “Mr. Big” sting for the first of the impact on press freedom. our purposes MBTiles work best. journalists. Bans on publishing evidence time. Publication bans can protect privacy presented in court, it decreed, should be Four years later, in Toronto Star News- as well as the right to a fair trial, and the the exception, and not be the norm. Judges papers Ltd. v. Ontario the Supreme Court interests of people caught up in court cases accustomed to rubber-stamping requests extended the Dagenais test to any court are emerging as a major battleground. The for bans were told to consider the media’s order, issued in any court proceeding, New Brunswick judge who released Justin right, enshrined in the Charter of Rights that limits freedom of expression or press Bourque’s confession last December, for and Freedoms, to cover court proceedings. freedom. instance, took into account the impact on “Dagenais was a watershed that forced “The administration of justice thrives relatives of the slain officers, before decid- courts to re-examine whether bans were on exposure to light,” Justice Morris Fish ing the public interest takes precedence. really necessary,” Toronto lawyer and me- noted in the latter ruling, “and withers Two decades years after Dagenais set dia law specialist Brian Rogers has noted. under a cloud of secrecy.” the rules, the media’s right to inform the “Contentious stories in the public inter- Dagenais is the wedge that pried open public rests on a firm foundation. And so est about crimes and court proceedings the doors to our courtrooms and our jus- does the public’s right to know. could be published without jeopardizing tice system. Dean Jobb teaches journalism at the fair trials. The question became ‘why not Evidence once off-limits to journalists – University of King’s College in Halifax publish?’” information in search warrants, videotaped and is author of Media Law for Canadian The ruling overturned lower-court confessions, crime scene photos, record- Journalists (Emond Montgomery 2011). In the dialogue window that appears, choose your settings. In the main map window you can choose which orders that prevented the CBC from air- ings of 9-1-1 calls – will be made public His latest book, Empire of Deception, the area of the map you’d like to export. This will allow you to pick just the area of the map you will be using. If ing The Boys of St. Vincent, a fictional unless there are compelling reasons to true story of a 1920s American swindler account of child abuse at a Catholic boy’s prevent its release. who escaped to a new life of luxury in you want to export the entire world, expect several gigabytes of data, based on the number of zoom levels you school. Dagenais and three other Ontario The ruling has not removed every Nova Scotia, will be published by Harper- would like. Remember, the more data you include, the more storage space you will need. priests accused of sexually abusing chil- barrier to news reports. Dagenais does Collins Canada in May. Details at www. To download the entire tutorial, please click here. dren argued the broadcast threatened their not apply to most of the bans set out in deanjobb.com. 34 MEDIA 2015 SPRING EDITION 35