Winter 2009 • Volume 14, Number One • $3.95

MEDIATHE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS • WINTER 2009 • VOLUME 14, NUMBER ONE • $3.95

STEPHEN HARPER’S VICTORY: The Prime Minister had reason to celebrate. Journalists covering

01 his campaign did not. by Chris Cobb 72006 86194 76

MEDIA WINTER 2009 • VOLUME 14, NUMBER ONE www.caj.ca/mediamag COLUMNS 5 FIRST WORD by David McKie • With three federal elections in the past ﬁ ve years, you’d think media outlets would have improved their coverage. Not a chance. 7 WRITER’S TOOLBOX by Don Gibb • Simple advice for journalists who punish audiences: more periods. 10 JOURNALISMNET by Julian Sher • Google is ﬁ nding new ways to make searching easier.

FEATURES 11 DEMOCRACY IN THE DUMPS by Simon Doyle Journalists covering the recent federal election did voters a disservice by focusing too much on gaffes and too little on policy. Perhaps that’s why few people seemed to be paying attention.

13 ADDICTED TO POLLS by Chris Cobb Media outlets swear they won’t become captives of polls during elections. So what happened in the last federal election?

14 WHAT WAS THE QUESTION? by Elizabeth McMillan When former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion answered a question from a CTV news anchor during the election, the televised interview raised ethical questions. CAJ AWARD WINNERS

16 THE AGENT WHO CONNED THE MOUNTIES Greg McArthur of The Globe and Mail explains how he and the Ottawa Citizen’s Gary Dimmock cracked a case that the Mounties were content to bury.

18 JUSTICE IN THE DEEP SOUTH Filmmaker David Ridgen chronicles how he got the story that took him on an intensely personal journey of truth, reconciliation, and redemption.

COLUMNS

21 UPDATE by Jeffrey Simpson • It took two years, but Nova Scotia’s department of Agriculture ﬁ nally decided to post its restaurant inspection data online.

23 INSIDE THE NUMBERS by Kelly Toughill • Journalists struggled to explain why we should care about the U.S. subprime crisis.

25 FINE PRINT by Dean Jobb • A lawsuit against The Globe and Mail and reporter Jan Wong has the potential to set a dangerous common-law precedent in Ontario and, potentially, for all of Canada.

26 COMPUTER-ASSISTED REPORTING by Fred Vallance-Jones • It’s clear the Conservatives won the last election. Just check the numbers.

27 COMPUTER-ASSISTED REPORTING by Jack Julian • A CBC reporter tells his audience a lot about parking meters, including areas of Halifax to avoid, and culprits who never get caught.

28 ETHICS by Stephen J.A. Ward • Much of the news coverage of the U.S. presidential election was an insult to one’s intelligence and a disservice to democracy.

30 THE LAST WORD by Kimberley Brown • Our media outlets don’t have enough foreign correspondents in parts of the world that are of increasing interest to new Canadians. 3 MEDIA WINTER 2009 • VOLUME 14, NUMBER ONE A PUBLICATION OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS ALGONQUIN COLLEGE, 1385 WOODROFFE AVENUE, B224, OTTAWA ONTARIO K2G 1V8

EDITOR LEGAL ADVISOR ART DIRECTION and DESIGN David McKie Peter Jacobsen, Bersenas Rafia Mahli Jacobsen Chouest Thomson COPY EDITOR Blackburn LLP CONTRIBUTORS Anne Larrass Kimberley Brown, Chris Cobb, Simon Doyle, Don Gibb, Dean Jobb, Jack Julian, Greg ADVERTISING SALES McArthur, David McKie,Elizabeth McMillan, EDITORIAL BOARD John Dickins David Ridgen, Julian Sher, Jeffrey Simpson, Chris Cobb Kelly Toughill, Fred Vallance-Jones, Stephen J.A. Ward Catherine Ford ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR Michelle MacAfee John Dickins PRINTER Lindsay Crysler (613) 526-8061 Bonanza Printing John Gushue Fax: (613) 521-3904 & Copying Centre Rob Cribb Rob Washburn COVER PHOTO Conservative Leader Stephen Harper looks at the confetti following his speech at his election headquarters in Calgary, after winning a second minority government. Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

MEDIA is published four times a year by the Canadian Association of Journalists. It is managed and edited independently from the CAJ and its contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the Association. Subscriptions are $14.98 per year (G.S.T. included), payable in advance. Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. Canada Post Publications, Canadian Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 182796 ISSN 1198-2209

4 MEDIA First Word Bad Election Coverage Despite our constant craving to do a better job covering campaigns, we still resort to bad habits that lead to a superﬁ cial treatment.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tom Hanson. David McKie succession of The sharp decline of the global economy That plot should have been about real Aminority govern- and its effect on Canada caught the parties policies in addition to the economy, such as: ments in Ottawa, and journalists by surprise. Media outlets Afghanistan, and whether the 2011 deadline the focus on the U.S. seemed unable to adapt their coverage to for withdrawal is realistic; the environment, primaries and then the refl ect this reality. Doyle writes: and how to square the environmental im- subsequent presidential “News audiences weren’t told about their perative to stem the emission of greenhouse election south of the voting options—they were told what the gases with the economic imperative for com- David McKie is border forced media polls were saying about their options. Vot- panies, especially in the Oil Sands, to remain an investigative outlets into a default ers weren’t told about which policies were competitive; the importance of government, reporter for the position of election- intelligent public policy—they were told and the role it should play to enhance food CBC and teaches which policies would sell or never sell…Voters safety in the wake of the listeriosis outbreak journalism at readiness. Presumably, Carleton University this state of mind weren’t told about the leaders running for that has, as of the printing of this edition, in Ottawa. should have encour- offi ce and what they believed in—they were claimed 20 lives. aged refl ection about told which leaders were seen as strong or It would seem that elections have become improved coverage. perceived as weak.” bad occasions for politicians to address In past editions of Media, we have run stories Chris Cobb echoes this view, observing, these hard questions. However, there’s no about angst-ridden editors and reporters decry- somewhat incredulously: “Why so much of our reason why media outlets should refrain ing the horse race coverage while acknowledg- news media’s coverage of Election 2008 took from pressing them and turning those well- ing listeners, viewers and readers are ill-served this poll-crazed direction is diffi cult to fathom, reasoned responses, inadequate responses, or by this fi rst-past-the-post coverage. So what but by focusing on the polls rather than what non-responses into stories that dominate the changed? Not much, argues Simon DoyleDoyle. might be driving them we lost the plot.” front pages, and lead newscasts. There were

WINTER 2009 5 exceptions, to be sure. There always are. But ‘The Joy of Parking,’ CBC Radio reporter, Jack “A department offi cial told me the food- policy-driven stories were in the minority. JulianJulian, explains how he obtained the parking safety division had wanted a new computer Instead, we were treated to a parade of ticket database maintained by the Halifax system for years but never had the money to gaffes: Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz’s Regional Municipality. The records include make that happen—until my series of stories tasteless joke during the listeriosis outbreak; the time and date of the ticket, a location, car was published.” a Conservative Party political aid’s insensitive makes and models, an offence code, plus fi ne Then, there are accounts of Canadian comments about native people; the pooping and court information. All the tickets were Association of Journalists award-winners. puffi n; and, the topper, the full airing of for- from 2003 to June of this year. Though the awards were handed out last mer Liberal leader, Stéphane Dion’s attempt One of the more intriguing tales in Jack’s May, the descriptions of how the journal- to answer a convoluted question. series concerned the dilemma the munici- ists obtained their stories are timeless, and In her piece about the fi asco that involved pality faces attempting to pursue offenders provide a constant source of inspiration to the encounter between Dion and CTV news who live outside Halifax. “With no address working journalists and journalism students. anchor, Steve Murphy, Elizabeth McMil- to mail a court summons, he writes, “the The Globe and Mail’s, Greg McArthur, ex- lian delves into the controversy, the debate tickets sit in legal limbo. It gives drivers with plains how he and Garry Dimmock from the around the appropriateness of the question, out-of-province plates nearly diplomatic- Ottawa Citizen told the fascinating story that the ethical considerations of breaking a style parking immunity.” has all the suspense of a classic thriller. promise to withhold airing of the leader’s re- Jeffrey Simpson,Simpson another reporter from “Under the Witness Protection Program takes; and the way the issue was reported. Halifax who works for The Chronicle Her- Act, it is illegal for us to disclose the identity In a moment of refl ection, Murphy ald, received news that reporters welcome: of the murderer, or the circumstances behind concedes: “I can see it from both sides, that that an institution has decided to take action his horrifi c slaying,” writes McArthur. “All we is the reason I was and am confl icted. I think in the wake of a story that they’ve published are legally allowed to say is that the murder there is a reason to do it and a case that or aired. In this case, it involves restaurant took place somewhere in Canada over the could be made for not doing it.” inspections. past eight years, and that we wanted to write With Stephen J.A. Ward’sWard column, we In 2006, he wrote a series about the about the man who committed it.” shift to the American McArthur’s and Dimmock contest and the historic won the newspaper category election of Barack Obama. and the overall award for best Some 44 years after civil Presumably, this state of mind investigative story. rights workers fought for You can read the rest of the right to vote and paid should have encouraged refl ection the write-ups from award- the price with their lives, about improved coverage. winners by visiting Media’s he is poised to become Web page at: http://www.caj. the 44th president of ca/mediamag/past-issues. the United States. Even secretive world of food-safety inspections. html and then selecting the against this monumental backdrop, the Simpson exposed defi ciencies in the system, “Summer 2008 Awards” link. coverage (especially major broadcasters such including shoddy record keeping and few And, fi nally, a word about Media’s face- as CNN) was dominated by personalities penalties for places fl outing the rules. He lift. Media’s image has been updated and such as John McCain’s Republican vice- wrote about his behind-the-scenes struggles improved, thanks to the great work of Rafi a presidental running mate, Sarah Palin, and to obtain material for the series in the Mahli, whose full-time job is laying out her inability to grasp key concepts during Winter 2007 edition of Media, as well as the the Ottawa-based Hill Times and Embassy interviews, or whether whites would ever positive reaction the stories garnered. newsweeklies. vote for a biracial man. Now, the province has decided to publish Rafi a explains that she “stuck to a really Ward writes: “How is it possible that information about the restaurants they clean interior. There were too many fussy that public discourse, in one of the most frequent by posting online “a database that details in the old Media that I think made it advanced countries in the world, can be so, provides people with access to the food-safe- look less impressive from a design stand- well, dumb, intolerant and ideological?” ty inspections of all restaurants, supermar- point.” Agreed! Next, we turn to one of the key reasons kets and other types of eateries.” Simpson We hope you continue to enjoy the content that drew us into this business: the ability to writes that although these new measures —and the new look. As usual, you’re encour- tell good, and sometimes great, stories. The fall short of requiring restaurants to post aged to share your thoughts about the articles, journalists who tell us how they got their inspection reports in their businesses, they or issues you believe merit our attention. You stories take us behind the scenes. In his series, constitute a step in the right direction. can reach me at: [email protected]. M

6 MEDIA Writer’s Toolbox Keep Those Periods Handy

Give your readers a ﬁ ghting chance. Keep sentences short, and limit them to one idea.

Don Gibb This is about a sentence. brackets and dashes. Sometimes writers old editor who was turned off by the lengthy It can be short. See— will combine all of these tools to construct fl owery prose of his newspaper’s interns. He four words. unwieldy sentences of more than 100 words, called one of them to his desk, typed out a few Or it can be a long clobbering the reader with a whole bunch of lines of…..and said: “Here, these are periods. convoluted one that ideas in a single sentence. Use ‘em. And when you run out, I’ve got more!” really doesn’t tell read- Try reading this one aloud without stop- Writers would be wise to take heed and to ers very much of any- ping to catch your breath: adopt the period as one of their best friends. Don Gibb, who thing as it meanders Broadcast writers well know the pitfalls taught newspaper reporting at along until it eventu- Claiming the company had of a long sentence. They also know the Ryerson’s School ally runs out of steam grown to the extent that the balance benefi ts of reading their words aloud. They of Journalism until at, oh, 40, 50 or 100 of competitive forces in program don’t want an on-air announcer to stumble he retired recently, words—yes, some peo- buying in Canada is out of whack over the words or to gasp for air part-way continues to con- ple write such lengthy and needs rejigging, the company through a sentence. duct seminars and sentences—and does is using what began as a simple Print people should know that readers one-on-one coach- nothing to advance call for new Ottawa broadcasting don’t want to be put through such aggrava- ing at newspapers the story or enlighten across Canada. He readers other than to is a visiting writing take up way too much coach at The Globe space because the and Mail. He can writer is mesmerized For every word writers add be reached at by the words. That’s 69 [email protected] to a sentence, they increase words. That’s long. See—two words. the workload for readers. In the spring 2008 issue of Media Maga- zine, I talked about tight writing. This time, I want to talk about sentence length—a single element of tight writing. licence applications to leverage its tion to get through a sentence. For every word Sentences should be shorter rather than pitch for regional Ontario distribu- writers add to a sentence, they increase the longer. Clarity is the overriding goal. They tion of its local Hamilton affi liate, workload for readers. should be conversational. They should gener- bumping its penetration to 92% of In The Elements of Style, William Strunk ally follow a simple structure of subject, verb, the province versus its current 61%, Jr. and E.B. White write: “When you become object. Every word should have a function. and building an Ontario presence hopelessly mired in a sentence, it is best And writers should get in the habit of reread- strong enough to absorb the costs to start fresh; do not try to fi ght your way ing and rewriting. of buying national rights for foreign through against the terrible odds of syntax. When I have nothing better to do between programming. Usually what is wrong is that the construc- sips of coffee, I count words. If I’m reading a tion has become too involved at some point; story and fi nd myself struggling to get through Eighty-fi ve words. The story—a clas- the sentence needs to be broken apart and sentences, I count…or leave the story. sic from my fi le of looong sentences—also replaced by two or more shorter sentences.” Invariably, I fi nd that some writers like contains sentences of 80 words, 73, and one Exactly. The period is one of your most stringing words…lots of words…together exceeding 100 words. Because of such lengthy useful writing tools. in one sentence. They have an aversion to sentences, the story is diffi cult to understand. Here’s what happens when the writer tries periods. And invariably, I also fi nd they love I’m reminded of an anecdote about a crusty to squeeze too much into every sentence:

WINTER 2009 7 Ralph Williams considers it a sport Clear, simple writing with a sense of rhythm with a “social twist to it” to break the is about varying the length of sentences and Some tips to tighter law and hunt for trees, such as fi rs, ce- being more aware that the longer they are, the dars, spruce and yews and many more harder they are to understand. It doesn’t mean sentences: giants of the forest that lurk in the the writer couldn’t have a longer sentence in • Re-read your story, focusing on mak- Vancouver area watersheds. Williams, the passage above, but he has succeeded in ing sentences shorter. who is afraid that these trees that are developing a conversational style. • Look for clutter. Remove redundant as old as 1,000 years are being ignored I’m hoping you’ll see and hear it as good or unnecessary words that add noth- and may fall victim to the chainsaws writing at work. The writer embraces the ing to understanding the sentence of loggers—and he has reason to fear concept of one idea per sentence, making sure or the story. (Examples: end result; the worst—climbs fences and illegally never to give readers too much to digest in completely destroyed; total number; enters restricted areas to compile an one gulp. Just “snapshots,” allowing readers to serious threat.) inventory of these trees. create visual images of the action one shot at • Read your story aloud to see if you a time. Writers perform a service when they Both sentences—41 and 48 words, respec- slow down the story so readers can “see” it stumble over words or phrases. If tively—are jam-packed with lots of detail, better. But, hey, let’s not be obsessive about so, rephrase. redundant words and too many prepositions. the one-idea-per-sentence thing. The key • On deadline, keep those periods The story is better told in a more conversa- word is “variety” in sentence lengths. handy as a quick-fi x for long sen- tional way with shorter, clearer sentences. I like the advice of a writing coach who tences. Here’s how the writer wrote it. Note the says if you give readers a long sentence, • Remember: If you give readers a long sentence, treat them to a short one. • Reduce attribution. If you know something to be true, no need to Writers perform a service when attribute. If it’s clear to readers who you are quoting (because of they slow down the story so readers an earlier reference), no need for can “see” it better. attribution. • Use active verbs. (See the example beginning at the bottom of page eight of the woman shot.) variety of sentence lengths and the easy pace treat them to a short one. Sentence length is • Choose short, simple words instead of the story: about creating a natural fl ow to a story. Here are a few examples to show how of long, diffi cult words. Ralph Williams breaks the law sentence length has a direct impact on • Avoid little qualifi ers (very, extremely, to hunt trees. Big trees. Firs, cedars, story rhythm. The first is a story about a quite, rather). From Strunk and spruce, yews and many more giants woman’s love for a thoroughbred jump White: “These are the leeches that that lurk in the Vancouver area wa- horse that dies of cancer: infest the pond of prose, sucking the tersheds. Williams is afraid these trees blood of words.” Wow … heavy stuff! are being ignored and may fall to the She buried Drifter at home and • Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite is to a chainsaws of loggers. So he climbs got a bronze plaque for him. It journalist what location, location, fences and illegally enters restricted reads, “Ninety or nothing.” Drifter location is to a real estate agent. areas to compile an inventory of wouldn’t have it any other way. He’d • Beware of dashes and brackets. If 1,000-year-old trees. “It’s a sport, in a go like 90. Or he wouldn’t go at all. they make sentences too long, con- way, with a social twist to it.” He was kind of a bonehead, she sider a separate sentence. admitted, but he was one of a kind. • Read The Elements of Style (Strunk Here are the sentence lengths: Eight. Two. Fifteen. Sixteen. Sixteen. Twelve. This And this one about a woman who had and White), On Writing Well (Zins- doesn’t mean that a string of short sentences been shot: ser), or any other favourite book on is the answer to all your problems. You don’t writing just to remind you of the want to overdo it. See Dick. See Jane. See The fi rst bullet shattered the pitfalls and to encourage you to Dick run. Too stilted. bones of her forearm and tore strive for better writing.

8 MEDIA through the muscles. Its force spun ended in a fl urry of peacekeeping Re-read the passage above and mentally her around like a music-box bal- efforts. After Israeli Major-General insert periods to slow down the amount of lerina. The second one hit her in the Amos Gilad met Palestinian security information readers receive in every sentence. back like a sledgehammer, knocking chief Mohammed Dahlan on Satur- William Zinsser, in On Writing Well, offers her to the ground. More bullets day, their subordinates met into the this advice. Often, he says, the problem can be hit her, so many and so quickly she early hours of this morning to work solved by simply getting rid of it. Look at the couldn’t count them. The doctors out details of a plan under which Is- troublesome sentence or part of a sentence found fi ve. rael gradually would withdraw from and ask, “Do I need it at all?” Bethlehem and parts of the Gaza Probably you don’t, says Zinsser. “It was try- And fi nally, a story about a man shot and Strip, putting security back in the ing to do an unnecessary job all along—that’s killed by police investigating a domestic hands of Palestinians after months why it was giving you so much grief. Remove dispute: of Israeli occupation, the Israeli it and watch the affl icted sentence spring to Defence Ministry said. “I’m taking life and breathe normally. It’s the quickest Smith was well known on the this as a serious proposal from the possible cure and very often the best.” street. They knew him by the spin- United States,” said Ghassan Khatib, The last word goes to Zinsser: ning tires of his truck. They knew a Palestinian cabinet minister, “Writers must constantly ask: ‘What am him by the rage on his face. They knew him by the family fi ghts echo- ing from the troubled home. ‘If you fi nd that writing is hard, These snippets show the hard work writ- it’s because it is hard. It’s one of ers put into constructing their sentences one by one. Clear. Strong verbs. Active voice. the hardest things people do.’ Rhythm. Conversational rather than formal. Specifi c rather than vague. Rewriting to get it just right. referring to the Gaza security plan I trying to say?’ Surprisingly often they don’t Sometimes, however, writers can be over- pushed by the United States in its know. Then they must look at what they have whelmed by the magnitude of a story and its attempts to have the so-called road written and ask: ‘Have I said it? Is it clear to many complex facets. The result can be too map to peace implemented. someone encountering the subject for the many long sentences strung together. fi rst time?’ If it’s not, some fuzz has worked This is too much information squeezed its way into the machinery. “ …Writing is hard Israeli and Palestinian offi cials into three sentences that are 40, 62 and 41 work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very edged toward a security deal in the words long. Writers who adopt the general few sentences come out right the fi rst time, Gaza Strip and Egyptian mediators concept of one idea per sentence give read- or even the third time. Remember this in coaxed Palestinian militants toward ers a fighting chance at understanding the moments of despair. If you fi nd that writing a ceasefi re agreement as one of the information, especially in such complex is hard, it’s because it is hard. It’s one of the most violent weeks in the confl ict stories as the one above. hardest things people do.” M New gallery of FREE photos for your editorial use

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WINTER 2009 9 Journalism.net Updates for Google and News Sites

The search engine that keeps on getting better.

Julian Sher

he good news nalismnet.com/tips to read about why Firefox News Sites Tis that the Web is a better browser for journalists.). Now you The two top news media sites on the Web keeps changing and might want to check out Google Chrome. —the New York Times and the BBC—are Web tools keep im- (www.google.com/chrome) also always adding new features or improving proving. The bad news As Google says, “Like the classic Google their fare. is that it can be hard to homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. Check out the New York Times Topics at keep up to date with It gets out of your way and gets you where you topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/ Julian Sher, the all the improvements— want to go.” Not as sophisticated as Firefox—at index.html for an alphabetical listing of thou- creator and Web even with your favou- least not yet—Chrome is still sparkling. You sands of news topics. It has news, reference master of Journal- rite and well-used sites can search from the address bar. Plus, when and archival information, photos, graphics, ism Net (www. like Google, the New you just start typing a Web address, you will get audio and video fi les dating back to 1981. journalismnet. York Times and BBC. suggestions for both searches and Web pages. The Times also has a popular news blog com), does Inter- So here is a quick-hit There are thumbnails of your top sites, and you net training in called the The New York Times Lede at list of some of the can access your favourite pages instantly from newsrooms around thelede.blogs.nytimes.com. It now has new the world. tweaks and tune-ups any new tab. Want to bookmark a Web page? relevance with the current economic crisis you may have missed. Just click the star icon at the left edge of the —plenty of background and links to breaking address bar and you’re done. stories, even from rival news sources. Google Improvements Some Google tools are still in the testing Similarly, the BBC offers its own Topics Google News (news.google.com) remains stage but you can try them out at Google page at BBC In depth at news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ the best news search site. Now Google News Experiments at www.google.com/experimen- in_depth/default.stm. Dozens of BBC news dos- has offered a new feature, listed on the left- tal. Why settle for results in Google the way siers from 1998 to the present. An excellent way hand column of its news page. When you put everyone else gets them? Here you can pick to get background, leads and timelines on major in a name such as “Colin Powell” or “Sarah and sign up for one of several “Alternative stories. The Beeb also provides a selection of the Palin” and click the Quotes link, you receive views” of your Google results—a timeline, a latest top video and audio stories plus back- a selection of recent news quotes from that map, or in context of other information such ground dossiers and links to its major programs person. This is a faster way of getting the as key dates, locations and measurements. at BBC Video and Audio at news.bbc.co.uk/2/ quotes you need without having to go through Finally, why settle for a Google search page hi/video_and_audio/default.stm. And if you are all the articles. Another useful improvement when you can personalize your own page with really pressed for time, there is even a single click is the Google News Timeline available at news. news headlines choose, weather, maps, even for a one-minute world news summary. google.com/archivesearch. games. Think how often you go to Google. As always, this article and other columns Click on the Archive News Search button Why not have your news and vital informa- are available online with links to all the sites in Google news and then, when you enter tion handy as well? You can personalize your mentioned on the JournalismNet Tips page at your keywords, select “Timeline.” This will Google page at www.google.com/ig. www.journalismnet.com/tips M give you results along with a sliding timeline: you can select a year or month to narrow Web sites mentioned in this article: your news archive search to a particular time news.google.com period: year, month and specifi c date. google.com/experimental The best search engine on the Web is also google.com/chrome trying to take over the browser market. Let’s journalismnet.com/tips hope most of you have already abandoned thelede.blogs.nytimes.com Internet Explorer for the much more fl exible news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/default.stm and user-friendly Firefox (Go to www.jour-

10 MEDIA Feature: Election 2008 Democracy in the Dumps

The recent federal election coverage offered more of the same.

Simon Doyle

t was a campaign all Iabout the economy, the pundits said. Choose your leader now, Canada. Then, in the fi nal push before the Thanksgiving weekend, Simon Doyle, CTV aired a video of formerly the deputy Stéphane Dion strug- editor of The Hill gling to understand Times, an indepen- a question about the dent newsweekly economy. Funny thing in Ottawa, is now a was we never heard his researcher with the answer (See Elizabeth Montreal Institute McMillan's article on for Genocide and page 14). Instead, the Human Rights networks treated us to Studies at Concor- a little candid camera dia University in showing him re-start an Montreal. interview three times. Sure, it was embarrass- ing for Dion, but damn, it was good TV. The 2008 federal election campaign—at least the fi rst half of it—saw some of the weirdest campaign coverage yet. The media put on its show, but it’s not clear who was watching, other than ourselves. Audiences are never as steeped in the news as journalists, a point they easily forget. The result is campaign coverage focused more Gaffes, moi? Prime Minister Stephen Harper greets supporters upon his arrival in Ottawa after winning a on the horse race and the quality of the minority government in the federal election, Tuesday Oct 14, 2008. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tom Hanson. campaigns than policies. A lot of the coverage believed in—they were told which leaders were repeatedly, showing him trying to get away in 2008 was so post-modern, self-refl exive and seen as strong or perceived as weak. At the from a bold CP reporter at the airport. Party specialized that newspaper readers and televi- start of the campaign, voters heard less about leaders that day were asked to respond to Ritz’s sion viewers weren’t treated as voters. the leaders and party policies than about the leaked comments (which originated from a They were treated as initiated spectators of campaign “gaffes” (pooping puffi ns) of staffers government conference call in August). They an obscure and complex sport. and candidates, some of them resurfacing after weren’t asked so much about the Liberal Party’s News audiences weren’t told about their several years (plagiarized speeches). It was all a $70-billion infrastructure plan announced that voting options—they were told what the polls lot of pre-game analysis. day—and this at a time when cities are broke were saying about their options. Voters weren’t The day the story broke about former ag- and critical infrastructure is going to seed. told about which policies were intelligent riculture minister Gerry Ritz’s offensive death Come to think of it, there was another big public policy—they were told which policies by a thousand “cold cuts” remark, I fl ipped story turning over the newsreels that day. For- would sell or never sell, which were marketed between CBC Newsworld and CTV NewsNet mer transport minister Lawrence Cannon’s effectively or poorly. Voters weren’t told about to see if there were other issues making news. assistant, Darlene Lannigan, told aboriginal the leaders running for offi ce and what they The networks played the same Ritz footage protesters that she didn’t mind them protest-

WINTER 2009 11 Feature: Election 2008 ing as long as they were sober. Another gaffe. and stump speeches were staged and in leaders had just fi nished discussing policy for Another headline. Sure, it was amusing to the presence of Conservative supporters two hours. Readers didn’t waste any time tak- watch Gerry Ritz bob and weave around a (i.e. not open to the public); the leader did ing the Globe to task over its leaders’ debate journalist cornering him at the airport, and not do scrums (the RCMP on one occasion story. On Oct. 4, one letter-writer wondered who’s to say the “sober” comment isn’t a was instructed to clear reporters from an whether Green Party Leader Elizabeth May’s story? It is. But an undecided voter watching area because they were asking questions at exclusion from the newspaper’s front-page the news that day didn’t learn a hell of a lot a photo-op); and candidates and “human story on the debates meant that her participa- about which way to vote. props” present at announcements were tion was “merely decorative” and “a conspiracy scuttled away by party operatives before the of silence.” Another letter-writer contrasted Lunatic literalism media could talk to them. the newspaper’s coverage of Julie Couillard The fi rst few weeks of campaign 2008 con- Gaffes are one thing. But citizens care little with that of May. “I guess this tells us just tained what seemed like an unprecedented about cheap gaffes and excessive horse-race what a girl has to do to get the Globe’s atten- number of mistakes, resignations, dismissals, analysis. The news in campaign 2008 was tion,” wrote Victoria Foote in Toronto. and apologies. The problem with gaffes is predictably dominated by mistakes, polls, that they’ve become a product of what Liberal and front-runner discussion. Some of it was good leader Michael Ignatieff once described as A friend recently told me that his The coverage in 2008 wasn’t all bad. Some “lunatic literalism:” Politicians and their aides father—let’s say a typical retired voter— newspapers provided in-depth coverage. And are now held to such high standards that they learned more about party policy from the it was good to see the economy, and how the can’t get away with much. Past indiscretions English-language televised leaders’ debate leaders would approach it, emerge as a central are now more easily dug up on the Internet, than he did from news reports throughout campaign issue following the debates. That and even more easily drew the media away from posted on public sites “the Google gaffe campaign” like YouTube. (Take the toward a serious discussion Liberal war room’s effec- It would be nice if most voters were on government fi scal policy. tive release of Stephen Some even said it was like Harper’s plagiarized as interested in federal politics as watching two campaigns: speech, for instance, one before the debates, and which was all over the political reporters. one after. But CTV’s release Internet just before of the Dion tape ended all of the televised leaders’ that serious discussion about debates.) the campaign. This observation reminded the economy and reminded But part of the reason gotcha journalism is me of a clever editorial cartoon in The Globe us what election campaigns are really about: so prevalent on the campaign trail is that the and Mail on Sept. 23. It depicted a pack of entertainment. press don’t like to be chewed up and spit out by tenacious reporters chasing “gaffes” around Campaign gaffes, six-year-old pot-smoking the spin cycle, and leaders’ tours are designed a dog-racing track. In the bleachers was a videos, or analysis of daily, rolling public to do just that. Campaign tours are “bubbles” in single spectator—who was asleep. opinion polls, don’t do voters much of a which it’s easy to control the message. Report- service when they could be learning about ers cover announcements, often late in the day, Polling their national leaders, their platforms, and ask a question or two, bang out a story, and While interesting, it’s diffi cult to know their political views. It would be nice if most if they have time, squeeze in some criticism. what public service the national public opin- voters were as interested in federal politics as “I’ll tell you why they’re frustrated,” Martin ion polls served. In campaign 2008, each news political reporters. Goldfarb, a former Liberal Party pollster, told outlet, like in previous elections, relied on its Imagine that they’re so well-informed The Hill Times during the campaign, while own polling fi rm and its exclusive numbers about policy that the horse race just becomes discussing the media. “Because they don’t have to try and tell voters who was ahead and who the added fun part. But that isn’t the case, and as much infl uence as they think they have.” was behind. The Globe went so far as to track if voters can’t rely on the news for solid infor- The more the parties control the message, party support in 45 swing ridings in Quebec, mation about policy and their leaders, how the more the media will try to defy the spin Ontario and B.C. In fact, this may be more are they supposed to learn anything? Read the game, throwing leaders off-message. Gaffes useful to voters than national polls. Polling party platforms? Not only does Joe the voter present an opportunity for reporters to take numbers don’t really serve any practical pur- have to register, get the necessary papers, en- control of the message, however shabbily. pose for those who intend to vote strategically sure he has photo I.D., and then take time out Consider the controlling environment report- unless the polls provide levels of support in of his day to fi nd a polling station and mark ers were faced with on Stephen Harper’s tight, specifi c electoral districts. an X on a ballot, he also has to read three or front-runner “bubble” campaign. Polls trying to determine the “winner” of a four policy platforms. Democracy is looking Harper took only 10 questions per day leaders’ debate similarly refocused discus- less appealing to many, especially those who’d from the national media; announcements sion on the front-runners. And this, after the rather be playing their Xboxes. M

12 MEDIA Feature: Election 2008 Addicted to Polls

By focusing on the polls rather than what might be driving them, we short-changed coverage of the issues. Chris Cobb he Conservatives reporting on other people’s surveys), came back fuzzy sweater television commercials to help al- Tcalled the 2008 into the game full force. lay Canadians’ deep-seated mistrust of Harper federal election because In coverage of modern election campaigns, it’s and the votes would fl ow the Conservative way. they thought they unrealistic for news media not to poll or report The Liberals lacked a convincing response. could win a majority. on polls. But media polls are typically done on Dion was reportedly deaf to advice. Voters didn’t want an the cheap, or for free, in exchange for the profi le The former Liberal leader was derided in election and the Conser- it brings the pollsters. The samples are usually news media and elsewhere for his failure to Chris Cobb is an vatives, who had prom- too small to accurately measure regional trends ‘sell’ his Green Shift plan to voters, and for author, senior ised not to have one, so and too superfi cial to accurately refl ect impor- insisting on making it the main plank in his reporter with the soon, had no issues they tant nuances in the national picture. platform despite being warned by his strate- Ottawa Citizen were interested in debat- Reliable, accurate polling is time consuming, gists that it could lose him the election. and a member of ing. They cruised through detailed and expensive. Political parties do it and If I were a senior Liberal strategist, I would Media magazine’s most of the soulless use the results to guide their campaigns, but news likely feel aggrieved. However, for all his editorial board. campaign with the single, media polls are entertainment by comparison strategic missteps, Dion at least brought into and ultimately successful, and rather than playing on the front page with the campaign one fl eshed-out and principled strategy of undermining Stéphane Dion, who was screaming defi nitive headlines would often be policy. He stuck by it, whether through ar- unable to muster an effective counter attack. more appropriately positioned alongside the rogance or unshakable belief. When the prospect of their expected majority horoscopes, crosswords and Sudoku puzzles. So why is it that a politician who offered vot- began to evaporate, they were forced into releas- We get what we pay for, but neglect to ers a principled piece of policy was portrayed ing a hastily cobbled together platform in the tell our readers, listeners and viewers about as a misguided loser, while the politician who last week of the campaign. (Remember the Lay- the data’s possible shortcomings. Instead, we broke another promise, this time with an end- ton zinger during the leaders’ debate: “Where’s dutifully chant the ‘considered accurate…plus run around his own fi xed election legislation, your platform? Under your sweater?”). or minus’ mantra that few people understand, escaped with barely a media murmur? There were issues at the start of the cam- but makes the vendor feel somehow cleansed. The economy eclipsed everything during paign, of course, but the Conservatives—and Why so much of our news media’s coverage the last two weeks of the campaign. When it Liberals—chose not to seriously debate one of of Election 2008 took this poll-crazed direc- did, party leaders were in such a platitudinous the most important of them: Afghanistan. tion is diffi cult to fathom, but by focusing on groove they had no credible answers. For their We are a nation at war, losing soldiers, the polls rather than what might be driving part, news managers, bloggers and their pun- ruining the lives of many others and spend- them we lost the plot. dit pals were too preoccupied with polls to go ing billions of dollars on the military and its Polls have traditionally been used sparingly hunting for answers voters deserved—the few mission on the other side of the world. The and as a guide to how well the policies being voters actually paying attention, that is. Conservatives had boxed the anemic Liberals debated by the politicians are being received You can speculate how media polls affect in a political corner on the Afghanistan issue by voters. The pattern of extensive cover- voters and voting patterns. Do they create leaving the Dion campaign with little room age and analysis of the issues and platforms, apathy? Do they encourage people to vote to maneuver. That being said, there were followed by a check-in once a week with the strategically? Can they pervert the course of a hard questions that needed to be asked about pollsters is reasonable. What’s unreasonable, campaign? Many a thesis has been written on the Afghanistan mission, including Canada’s at best, is when the polls become the main the subject. We’re still short of answers. realistic ability to meet its 2011 exit deadline. story throughout the entire campaign. What we do know is that Election 2008 had News media chose not to force the issue. Perhaps we got sucked into the Harper the lowest voter turnout since Confederation. Faced with a limp, issueless campaign, save game plan. News media can’t take all the blame, but for Dion’s muddied but at least principled The Conservatives signaled long ago how neither are we blameless. Green Shift plan, media managers decided to they were going to fi ght the election. They had More sobering is the thought that election fi ll the policy vacuum with horse-race polls been personally attacking Dion in TV ads from coverage, and the time, energy, money and and horse-race pollsters. the moment he became Liberal leader and space devoted to it, failed to engage so many Polling mania was everywhere, everyday. continued to do so through to polling day. The Canadians, or move them to get involved in CBC, which swore off polls during the last theme was ‘Harper strong, Dion weak.’ Period. the democratic process. That’s a failure of both federal election (though that didn’t stop its No policies required. Just air a few warm-and- mission and business. M

WINTER 2009 13 Feature: Election 2008 What Was the Question?

When a local CTV host asked former Liberal leader Stéphane Dion a question about the economy during the election campaign, the encounter made news.

Elizabeth McMillan

f you were prime Iminister now, what would you have done about the economy that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not done? This was the Elizabeth question that Steve McMillan is in the Murphy, CTV news one-year journal- anchor, posed to former ism program at the Liberal leader Stéphane University Dion in Halifax on Oct. of King’s College in 10, four days before the Halifax. federal election. Dion became confused. He asked Murphy to restart the interview. A rough ride: Stéphane Dion, accompanied by his wife Janine Krieber, waves to supporters on election They did, three times. night. His campaign was marred by Conservative attack ads and a disastrous interview with CTV news What was to be a quick live-to-tape inter- anchor Steve Murphy. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand. view has sparked an ethical discussion about Journalists, bloggers and the public have com- dents and professors at the University of King’s how journalists should, and do, handle retakes. mented both on the quality of Murphy’s ques- College on Oct. 28 in Halifax. “It was my view then and now that there is tion and CTV’s decision to air the full interview. Hurst said after the interview aired, Dion’s no way that the interview, in any form, could be Much of the debate focused on Murphy’s aides refused to talk to him when Dion fi lmed presented accurately and fairly without indicat- use of verbs—shifting from “would have done” another pre-election interview at CTV in Toronto. ing that there had been restarts,” Murphy said, to “now.” Dion told Murphy he misunderstood “I don’t know whether you’re blaming me, three weeks after the broadcast. the question and asked when he would have or blaming CTV, but you better get over it. Life Susan Newhook, who teachers television become prime minister in the hypothetical is short,” Hurst said, referring to the Liberal at the University of King’s College in Halifax, scenario, “today? Or since a week, or since three party’s reaction to the clip. interviewed Murphy, CTV Atlantic news direc- weeks?” Or, “back two-years-and-a-half ago?” tor Jay Witherbee, and CTV news president, Journalists across the country debated the How it all started Robert Hurst, for an article for j-source.ca. She political event and the quality of the question. The incident occurred on Oct. 10. Dion was says the trend in television news to pretend The Toronto Star’s former editor-in-chief, J. in Halifax campaigning. He sat down with segments are live is a problem. Fred Kuntz, argued that although Dion should Murphy. Both had places to be at 5 p.m. Dion Murphy did not act like there was a prob- have avoided answering hypothetical questions, needed to catch a fl ight and Murphy was fi lm- lem during the interview, said Newhook. She he was not to blame for the confusion. ing a live newsbreak. points out that CTV made a commitment to “In journalism, the story you get is often only “I granted him one re-start because I thought the Liberals when senior producer, Peter Mal- as good as the questions you ask…I’ve reviewed that he was in distress. I was not certain if the lette, told them not to worry. Murphy said he the video and, in my opinion, it was not Dion cause was that he didn’t understand the question was, and remains, confl icted about the decision who was confused, it was the CTV interviewer.” or he didn’t have an answer,” Murphy recalled. to air the entire clip. For this part, Murphy’s only clarifi cation “I’ve given that a lot of thought, in retrospect. Despite his defense of the decision to was, “if you were prime minister during this Should I have not agreed to a re-start? I suppose run the entire interview, Murphy says, upon time already.” I could’ve said no, actually Mr. Dion, I can’t re- refl ection: “I can see it from both sides. That Viewers fi led 12 complaints to the Canadian start the interview, and then the debate would’ve is the reason I was and am confl icted. I think Broadcast Standards Council. been why I didn’t allow him to re-start when there is a reason to do it and a case that could “We are taking a lot of heat,” Hurst said clearly he was in distress. I had a sense even then be made for not doing it.” while speaking to a roomful of journalism stu- that whatever happened was likely not going to

14 MEDIA be something that I was looking forward to.” “If I ever asked that question in an interview Jeff Sallot read Newhook’s j-source.ca piece In the two hours after the interview, debate for class, I would get marked down so much for with interest. The former Globe and Mail parlia- ensued at the CTV studio in Halifax. Murphy it,” added classmate, Lesley Pike. mentary bureau reporter found the clip newswor- discussed the re-starts with Atlantic news direc- Hurst called for a show of hands. First to fi nd thy, but for different reasons than Hurst did. tor Jay Witherbee and senior producer Peter out if French was anyone’s fi rst language; and “It was revealing of Dion in the sense that Mallette. They contacted Hurst at the network’s second, to see who misunderstood the question. he’s a meticulous individual and wants precision headquarters in Toronto. “How many people here, and English is your and obviously was looking for some kind of “There are systems and processes to make dif- mother tongue, generally understood the ques- precision in the question that was posed to him.” fi cult ethical decisions and that is the process we tion that was being asked,” he asked. Only a Sallot, who teaches journalism at Carleton followed,” Murphy said. The issue was whether handful of people indicated they understood. University in Ottawa, said CTV rushed the Dion’s inability to understand or answer the ques- During an interview following his presentation decision to air the clip and could have waited to tion was newsworthy and whether this merited to the class, Hurst characterized Murphy’s ques- air it the following day or as a sidebar story. breaking a verbal commitment to the Liberals. tion as speculative. “Stéphane Dion could have He thought CTV could have re-framed the Murphy went to air at 6 p.m. for the nightly answered the question, ‘Steve, that’s a hypothetical interview by acknowledging problems with the newscast. The two-and-a-half-minute clip aired question. If I were prime minister. I wasn’t prime question and explaining the terms of the com- at 6:40 with a brief preamble, which Murphy minister.’ Politicians answer that way all the time.” mitment to Dion. said he helped write during commercial breaks. “It’s not up to us to give excuses to the view- “CTV ended up coming off for the worse,” He told viewers, “Initially we indicated that ers about what we’ve captured.” he said, as Murphy’s introduction left viewers it would not be” broadcast, but, “we owe it to Hurst made the decision to air the clip with the impression that CTV was breaking a you to show everything that happened.” because he felt Dion’s actions and his response commitment by airing the full interview. Murphy wrote the question after hearing were “extraordinarily unusual.” Murphy disagrees. Although he was largely Dion’s speech to the Chamber of Commerce “A political leader who does not understand the subject of criticism, he said CTV did not earlier that day. a question that most English [-language] break a promise when they aired the clip. After the item ran, Stephen Harper, Canadians absolutely understood? And doesn’t Whatever Mallette told Dion’s aides, “was who up until that point had been avoiding understand a second time and a third time said in extraordinary haste without any discust- media interviews, attempted to gain political and is helped with the answer and a fourth sion or debate,” he argues. “What I can say with advantage by airing the entire encounter for time? In terms of what his problem was, that’s complete certainty is that at no time was any- reporters, and then pointing out that the newsworthy,” Hurst said. thing that went on in the room off the record. incident helped prove that Dion is incapable Hurst said he told his reporters to be ag- In fact, there was never any understanding that of managing the economy. gressive during the campaign. we were going to pretend somehow that what Dion addressed CTV’s decision at a cam- “We put it out there. Let the public decide if had happened had not happened.” paign stop in Brantford, Ontario, on Oct. 11. it’s an issue.” He added that the Liberal’s insistence that He told reporters that he didn’t understand What both Hurst and Murphy said was the re-starts not be made public affected his what Murphy’s meant and could not hear the most exceptional, was that Liberal aide Sarah view of the interview. question properly. Bain interrupted the interview to clarify the “When you are prevailed upon by political “I asked for clarifi cation. It was legitimate.” question for Dion. interests not to broadcast or not to report, that al- “I think it was entirely fair to ask what he Murphy called the interview “a situation to- most changes the context of the situation, simply would have done,” Murphy said, arguing that tally without any precedent whatsoever.” Most through the intervention. There was no promise “[Dion] said Prime Minister Harper had done of his interviews are live or live-to-tape, but made. There was no contract,” Murphy said. nothing about the economic crisis which, I re-takes may be done for technical or physical Hurst also compared CTV’s decision to air the thought, begged the question, what would you reasons, for instance, if someone coughed. Dion clip to the decision to report on Conserva- have done? There is no other way to ask that “Within recent memory…fewer than one per tive communications director Ryan Sparrow, question but in the past tense.” cent of interviews would ever have a re-take,” who said a dead soldier’s father criticized the Af- Murphy said. “We don’t do it.” ghanistan mission because he was Liberal, and to Getting reaction do a story on federal agriculture minister, Gerry When Robert Hurst spoke to students at The policy Ritz, who joked about the summer’s listeriosis King’s College, he played the Murphy/Dion The CTV news policy handbook states that outbreak in a taped conversation with staffers. interview, followed by a clip of Dion dismissing interviews must be “spontaneous and unre- “How many people have been killed by a CTV reporter on election night. Hurst asked hearsed…‘re-asks’ must be done in the presence Stéphane Dion’s inability to speak English?” students for their comments on the interview, of the interview subject or a delegate.” asked King’s student Peter Cudmore in response. but did not respond to questions about the “Not everyone has a copy of the newsroom’s In the future, Hurst said CTV’s policy on quality of the question. handbook,” said Newhook and added that Dion re-takes will remain the same. “That was a poorly structured question… was making an honest effort to answer the ques- “If the same thing happened again with What the devil were you trying to ask? ” que- tion. “The unfortunate part of it is that, had it Stephen Harper, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe, ried one third-year student. been live, Dion would have winged it.” we’d do the exact same thing.” M

WINTER 2009 15 CAJ Award Winners: Open Newspaper Category • Overall Winners The Agent Who Conned the Mounties

Greg McArthur explains how he and Gary Dimmock obtained the story of the informant who got away with murder.

Greg McArthur

The CAJ winners of all the information on the document was in Victoria—and we knew his end—killing the open newspaper bogus: companies that didn’t exist; an someone under a new identity—but the tran- category, and overall address for a residence that was, in actual sition was still a mystery. winner of the Don fact, a parking lot. The phone numbers on It wasn’t until I got back to Ottawa that McGillivray Award the résumé were out of service, and when our eyes were opened. Using an Internet da- for Investigative we checked British Columbia’s registry of tabase, we found a British Columbia Supreme Journalism corporations, we learned that one of the Court decision that showed exactly who was Greg McArthur is construction firms he said he worked for responsible for turning Richard Young into a reporter with magine you were had never been registered. the man he is today—the Royal Canadian The Globe and Iasked to write a profi le Buried in all the lies, however, was a legiti- Mounted Police. Mail. of a murderer, except mate link to his past—the name of a Victoria, The decision showed that Young had been no one knew anything B.C., pub where the murderer claimed he a secret agent for the Mounties and had about him. No one knew where he went to used to work as an assistant manager. been admitted to their witness protection high school. No one could name any of his The pub had since closed, but we tracked program. Ever so slowly, we started to piece family members. Everything he had ever told down its former owner. When the owner together a complex fraud that had been per- anyone about his life appeared to be a lie. was shown a picture of the murderer, he said petrated on Canada’s national police force. It That’s what happened to us. The lack of he knew the man under a different name turned out Young had tricked the Mounties answers tipped us off to a dark secret that —Richard Young, a fast-talking con man into paying him hundreds of thousands of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police wanted who hadn’t been spotted in Victoria for years. dollars for manufactured evidence, only to desperately to keep from the public. be rewarded with his new life. Interestingly, there was no actual When he used that new life tip. Instead, the “lack of answers” Chasing his story was like to kill someone, the Mounties provided the tip. The fact that no pushed their secret even further one knew anything about him was chasing a phantom, but we under the rug—deciding not to the tip. disclose to anyone, not even the Under the Witness Protec- were undeterred. His empty victim’s family, about their his- tion Program Act, it is illegal for tory with this murderer. us to disclose the identity of the past was too intriguing to let go. We conducted more than 30 murderer or the circumstances interviews, cultivated key sources, behind his horrifi c slaying. All we and reviewed more than 1,000 are legally allowed to say is that the We fi nally had his real name. The fl oodgates pages of court transcripts to draft murder took place somewhere in Canada over opened. The name was key, because it pro- the 5,000-word narrative. the past eight years, and that we wanted to vided us with a slew of resources—newspaper The story should have ended with write about the man who committed it. archives, high school year books and Cana- our discovery, but in a classic example of But after months of knocking on doors and da411.ca —to help us fi gure out who Richard bureaucratic self preservation, the RCMP phoning his ex-colleagues, neighbours and Young really was. I fl ew to Victoria, while and the Justice Department decided it was friends, we were still empty handed; everyone Gary worked the phone from the Ottawa more important to fi ght the truth than own had a different story about where he grew up Citizen newsroom. We tracked down Young’s up to their mistake. When word trickled or where his parents were. Nothing checked family and old associates, who, at fi rst were back to the Mounties that we had fi gured out. About the only thing we knew for sure somewhat reluctant, but eventually pulled out who this murderer really was, govern- was his birthday. Chasing his story was like back the curtain on Young—or, as his brother ment lawyers quietly obtained a court order chasing a phantom, but we were undeterred. calls him, “the biggest liar in the world.” that barred publication of our fi ndings. This His empty past was too intriguing to let go. But we still didn’t know how Young order was obtained behind closed doors and We finally got a big break when a source became a murderer. We knew his beginning our lawyers were only notifi ed of its issuance gave us the murderer’s résumé. Almost —lying and cheating his way through life after it had been signed by a judge. The

16 MEDIA The story of the con: The front page of the Ottawa Citizen as it appeared on Friday, March 23, 2007. Image courtesy of the Ottawa Citizen. powerful forces who wanted this to stay a and used the evidence to convince a judge that could have alerted them to the eventual secret were now playing hardball. that the publication ban was unconstitutional murder that took place. The telling of the story was complicated and should be partially lifted. The public The story would not have been possible further when I was hired by The Globe and would be allowed to know at least part of if we had not lobbied for more and more Mail. Fortunately, the editors-in-chief of the the story but the judge’s decision, as well as time during those fi rst few months, and our Citizen and the Globe put their corporate the transcripts of the Mountie examinations, editors were kind enough, and had enough and competitive interests aside and teamed were ordered sealed. confi dence in us, to provide it. Given the up to fi ght the publication ban. A rare deal When the stories fi nally ran in both news- murderer’s vacant history, it was pretty obvi- was hatched between Globe editor Edward papers on March 23, 2007—more than two ous to both of us that something was fi shy, Greenspon and Citizen editor Scott Anderson: years after we fi rst starting asking questions and we knew that if we pushed hard enough They agreed that, if the judge ruled in favour about the murderer—reactions were swift. The we would fi gure it out. of the press, both publications would run the House of Commons public safety committee It is also a great example of trusting your same story on the same day—and the public voted unanimously to review the witness pro- gut. If an aspect of a story just doesn’t make interest would be served. tection program and the Mounties launched an sense—like a murderer without a past— Citizen lawyer Rick Deardon and Globe internal investigation. The RCMP continues to then there probably is something more to lawyer Peter Jacobsen grilled two senior defl ect questions about the case, arguing in its it. When you stumble across a situation like Mounties during an in-camera examination fi nal internal report that there was “nothing” that, jump on it. M

WINTER 2009 17 CAJ Award Winners: Open Television Category Justice in the Deep South

Filmmaker David Ridgen explains how a simple viewing of a 1964 CBC documentary led him on an intensely personal journey.

David Ridgen homas Moore and TI had been driving back and forth on the backwoods road in Mississippi for almost two hours. It was only 9:35 am, but our skin David Ridgen is a was steaming, our documentary fi lm- van’s air conditioner, maker. broken. It was a Sunday, July 9, 2006. And we’d just been approached by a local woman in a rusting car billowing Justice: James Ford Seale is escorted by police on the fi rst day of jury selection on May 30, 2007, Jackson, blue smoke from its exhaust. MS. Photo: David Ridgen. “You boys need some help?” she asked in The idea to practically every American. Books, movies, a white, southern twang. “We’re looking for a More than twenty-four months before and high school curricula have memorialized place to fi sh,” replied Thomas, pokerfaced in that sweltering day, deep in the frigid bowels their deaths into the star-spangled fabric of his own deep Mississippi drawl. of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s American history. As part of the modern-day I tried to block the woman’s view of the temperature controlled archival vaults, I CBC crew, the idea was that we’d return to two video cameras rolling eerily without would fi rst learn of the story that led me to Mississippi almost 40 years later to take the operators in the back of our rental van with Thomas Moore, and then, to the deacon’s temperature of the people and places that Louisiana plates. secret and beyond. haunted the killings of these three civil rights The woman in the chuffi ng rust bucket I’d been researching a fi lm that I had workers. But, as I’d soon discover, their brutal had seen us doggedly driving past her house, agreed to shoot and direct for the CBC in story was not unique at the time. and in that sweet southern way, she wanted to Mississippi in July of 2004. The idea was to As I watched Summer in Mississippi, be helpful, but at the same time, fi nd out who retrace and re-contextualize the steps of yet sequences fl ew by of the hundreds of frantic the strangers were. another CBC crew that shot an unrelated doc- searchers from the U.S. National Guard, the Though she was unaware, her house umentary in 1964 Mississippi. Their 16 mm Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and happened to be closest, on that quiet coun- black-and-white fi lm was called, Summer in local authorities who’d been ordered to scour try road, to our real target: an old steepled, Mississippi. Beautifully written, narrated and the entire state and surroundings for the brick building with tended lawn and a fi lmed by part of the crack team behind the missing civil rights workers, beating bushes, dilapidated sign that, if it had all its yel- now legendary CBC program, This Hour Has fl ying helicopters, dragging swamps and riv- lowed letters intact, was supposed to read, Seven Days, Summer in Mississippi recounts ers. The whole country was on edge. Would “Bunkley Baptist Church.” the days and months following the disappear- their bodies be found? The woman eventually nodded, and moved ance and subsequent murder of three civil Then, a curious silence descends in the on, but by the way she held her head and the rights workers as they registered black voters. 1964 documentary when cigar-smoking angle of her brow, I knew she remained suspi- Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and white men in shirt-sleeves fi sh decompos- cious. Rightly so. James Chaney had been killed by a particular- ing body parts out of the Mississippi River Minutes later, we’d confront the aging Bap- ly violent branch of the Ku Klux Klan, known with sticks and bare hands. We see ribs and tist deacon of that oddly charming church. A as the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. a femur, knotted loops of wire or twine, and white man with a terrible secret. A horrifying Eventually the case of the three miss- a transparent, body-size bag being emptied tale of terror that had begun for Thomas ing activists would become known by its out of the fetid water. The lazy, ever-present Moore more than 41 years before, in the town FBI codename of “Mississippi Burning” or Southern droning of katydids is silenced by of Meadville, only a few miles from where we MIBURN for short. The victims’ last names, the penetrating voice of the late, great CBC were sweating buckets, and trembling. Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney are known narrator John Drainie: “It was the wrong

18 MEDIA The sad memorial: Thomas Moore (left) joins David Ridgen at the site in Meadville, MS, where Thomas’s brother, Charles, and Henry Dee were hitchhiking and picked up by fi ve Klansmen on May 2, 1964. Photo: David Ridgen. body. The discovery of a Negro male was for Dee and Moore? Two of the MIBURN where the victims were not released alive, and noted and forgotten. The search was not for victims were white northerners from wealthy one charge of conspiracy. Two months after him. The search was for two white boys and families. A possible answer: Dee and Moore that, in August 2007, Seale received three life their Negro friend.” were poor, and black. sentences and was sent to the federal peni- I stopped the fi lm and wrote down fi ve tentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana. I completed words and a question, “wrong body”, “Negro Digging for the story the feature length version of Mississippi Cold male”, “forgotten”, and then simply, “who?” During fi lming, Thomas Moore and I lo- Case by the following December. cated and confronted several aging Klansmen, Evidence and information I gathered was Henry Hezekiah Dee including James Ford Seale and one of his six actively used by the prosecution at the Seale Fox and Leiterman’s fi lm led me to his shock- identifi ed partners in the crime, Charles Mar- trial. Photos, clippings, documents, and wit- ing story. The body was that of Henry Hezekiah cus Edwards. Soon after our sweaty confron- nesses I had found—all passed on by Thomas Dee. And the remains of Henry’s friend, Charles tation with him at Bunkley Baptist Church Moore—played a major role in their case. Moore, had been found the day before. in July 2006, the deacon confessed his role Actual clips of Mississippi Cold Case were And so my mission began. to U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton. Lampton played for the jury on one nerve-racking day. When Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles called a grand jury, an indictment was handed In the wake of Seale’s indictment in Moore disappeared on May 2, 1964, no na- up, and Seale was arrested. Edwards was January 2007, the U.S. Justice Department tional guardsmen were summoned. No extra granted immunity for his testimony. announced probes into more than 70 new detachments of FBI agents were sent. The At the trial, the same admitted Klansman, civil rights era cases. Their announcement newspapers ignored the deaths. And their Charles Marcus Edwards, asked the Moore cited the Dee/Moore case. In addition, the deaths would not immediately be inscribed and Dee families for forgiveness for his role in justice department and others continue to into the American historical lexicon. Yet the murders, standing up in front of a packed mobilize the Dee/Moore case in its push they’d been killed by the same Klan group and stunned courtroom to do so while the for the establishment of a Cold Case Bill to as Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney, two jury recessed. After much internal debate, help fund the re-investigation of civil rights months earlier, and in a far more brutal fash- both families forgave Edwards in front of my era hate crimes. ion. In fact, it could be said that the killing of camera, beginning an astonishing life-chang- The process of making Mississippi Cold Moore and Dee represented the fi rst bloody ing process of peace and reconciliation rarely Case solved this intractable civil rights era salvo the Klan fi red that spring, in anticipa- seen in the American south. hate crime and helped pave the way for others tion of the coming war on the civil rights Roughly thirty-six months from my discov- to be re-examined in its wake. workers of so-called ‘Freedom Summer’ just ery of the story, 71-year-old Klansman James Working with Thomas Moore, I discov- weeks later. Why was there a massive outcry Ford Seale was convicted in a Mississippi fed- ered new documents in archives spread for the MIBURN victims and almost none eral courthouse on two counts of kidnapping across the United States, found retired FBI

WINTER 2009 19 agents with important information, and of course, revealed James Ford Seale himself who had been reported as dead until we easily found him shortly after arriving in Mississippi for our fi rst shoot in early July 2005. Our constant presence on the scene and interactions with American authorities forced the case forward. And most impor- tantly, Thomas Moore and the Dee family were fi nally able to fi nd out the truth. Challenges making the fi lm It was an uphill, and at times rocky battle at the CBC attempting to make the fi lm. From convincing anybody that it was a good idea, to the CBC lock-out early in production, to executives who didn’t get it, to fundraising across many shows unaccus- tomed to a more ‘entrepreneurial’ approach to production, it was an all-consuming endeavor that at times felt more diffi cult than getting the Dee/Moore case through the American justice system. It was an iconic American story with myself and the CBC’s 1964 doc as the Canadian hook. A Canadian looking for certifi ed white terrorists in the U.S.A. while the so-called “war on terror” played out around the world. It was a documentary about Thomas Moore, Original FBI documents of the Dee/Moore case. Photo: David Ridgen. a man born on the fourth of July, who served tours in Vietnam and elsewhere, who had “no” to funding or even a co-production dur- funded in part by CBC’s old International never solved his guilt and the conviction that ing this period. Later, after the fi rst shoots, Sales department and the balance by the he’d not done enough to bring his brother’s Sundance Fund, ThinkFilm, ABC, and POV CBC Documentary Unit. It took me months killers to justice. Now, if people would just would also say “no.” For them it was a long to convince people that this was a story that agree to fund it. shot. For me, it was a certainty. had to be done. Eventually, Mironowicz saw From June 2004 to about April 2005, I Mississippi Cold Case fi rst got its offi cial the light, and she helped me to raise funds. had to piggyback the Dee/Moore story on legs as a 15-minute item for CBC Sunday via I was also helped along the way by Jerry to other budgets. It was a circuitous and Maria Mironowicz’s Archival Repurposing McIntosh, then of the documentary unit, Johanna Samuel, then of international sales, and fi nally Michael Claydon of the docu- Evidence and information I gathered mentary unit. Despite all the diffi culties, the fi lm could not have been made at any other was actively used by the prosecution broadcaster than the CBC. The fi lm has won several major awards to at the Seale trial. date: fi ve Yorkton Golden Sheafs including Best of Festival and Best Social Political, a Best Director Gemini, the IRE’s Top Medal, a Cine frustrating period during which I was also unit. Patsy Pehleman of Sunday and a hold- Golden Eagle, the CBC’s Wilderness Award, frantically looking for Thomas Moore. The out-the-hat conglomerate of other CBC a CAJ Award, and a Bronze Plaque from the main problem was that rather than tell the contributors (Slawko Klymkiew, Radio-Can- Columbus festival. Thomas Moore story, the CBC wanted me ada, Newsworld etc.,) added to a shoe-string Mississippi Cold Case was an intensely to cover the upcoming ‘Mississippi Burning’ budget pot that grew modestly in fi ts and personal journey of truth, reconciliation, and trial of Edgar Ray Killen. PBS Frontline, starts in relation to the story’s successes and redemption that created justice in a void. It New York Times TV, and Channel 4 were increasing international coverage. The pro- changed my life and all those associated with just a few of the outside venues who said cess ended with an 85-minute feature fi lm it forever. M

20 MEDIA Update Keeping Them Honest

Jeffrey Simpson’s reporting helped force Nova Scotia’s agriculture department to post its restaurant inspections online.

Jeffrey Simpson ova Scotians are Nfi nally able to make better-informed decisions about where they eat before sitting down at the table. The province re- Jeffrey Simpson cently launched a new is a reporter with online database that The Chronicle provides people with Herald. access to the food- safety inspections of all restaurants, supermarkets and other types of eateries. The changes came two years after I kicked off a series of investigative stories that delved into the secretive world of food-safety inspections and exposed defi ciencies with the system, including shoddy record keeping and few penalties for places fl outing the rules. (Please see Winter 2007 edition of Media magazine for Jeffrey’s write-up on how he got the story.) Other parts of Canada (such as Toronto) and the United States have posted their restaurant inspections online or in the eateries themselves for years. But in Nova Scotia the data was largely concealed. Government officials saw no need to provide better access to the information and even cited concerns about hurting businesses by releasing the inspection documents. “I’m convinced that certainly as a province we have the safest food in the country,” the minister responsible for food safety told me at the time. So if diners in Nova Scotia were curious about a restaurant’s food-safety record, they could contact the Department of Agricul- ture, which would over the course of several days mail them edited copies of only the most recent inspection report. That means the public could continue to eat unknowingly at a place with a history of What a difference two years makes: Headlines in the initial series decried the secrecy surrounding food health hazards. inspections. Two years later, the government created an online database for its food-safety records.

WINTER 2009 21 For more than three restaurants, or to go The initial series of eight articles ran in of the stories were published. “We do back further than the most recent report four-segments. Rodents, cross-contami- recognize that we can further improve all for an eatery, the department directed nation, storing food in a washroom and aspects.” people to the costly and time-consuming inadequate refrigeration were just some of Sure enough, a few months later as part Freedom of Information and Protection of the health risks inspectors had uncovered. of the next provincial budget, his depart- Privacy Act. But no restaurants were ﬁ ned or closed. ment announced it would spend $225,000 Nova Scotia’s Department of Agriculture And inspectors didn’t appear to always follow to create a new database for its food-safety wanted to charge me hefty fees, sometimes up on visits where they noted infractions. records and spend $130,000 to hire two hundreds or thousands of dollars, to release Upon publication, the series prompted new food-safety inspectors. With this new more information about food-safety records a huge public outcry. It provided read- electronic system, the province would even- in response to several requests for informa- ers with information that was relevant tually have the ability to provide the public tion filed over several months. and important—and largely unattainable. with online access to the records, although The province’s penchant for secrecy People weren’t prepared to put blind faith no such commitment was made. earned it the Canadian Association of Jour- in their government; they wanted to verify A department official told me the food- nalists’ Code of Silence Award in 2003 after for themselves they were being kept safe. safety division had wanted a new computer imposing the highest fees in the country In the following months, I continued system for years but never had the money for freedom-of-information queries, which to report on the matter. I uncovered more to make that happen—until my series of resulted in fewer requests. records that indicated dozens of diners had stories was published.

A department ofﬁcial told me the food-safety division had wanted a new computer system for years but never had the money to make that happen—until my series of stories was published.

It took me several frustrating months reported being ill after eating out. I learned Then, early in 2008, the province of wrangling with the government to get the auditor general had directed the depart- announced that it would put the database my hands on the inspection reports. The ment ﬁ ve years earlier to adopt stronger online. The launch was delayed by several province refused to provide the information enforcement tools, keep better records and months, but finally happened in October— in an electronic form despite storing much look into ways to make inspections public. A although the measures stop short of requir- of it in a database. I repeatedly modified department insider shed more light on the ing restaurants to post inspection reports in my requests and they repeatedly asked for lack of resources and leadership preventing their businesses. further clarification, delaying the release of inspectors from doing their jobs properly. Even the restaurant industry changed information. The restaurant industry spoke out against its tune and supported the new system, In the end, I settled for paper copies providing the public with a better look at although some members maintained the of the food-safety inspection records for what was happening behind their kitchen changes were media-driven and insisted restaurants in the Halifax Regional Mu- doors. The head of the Restaurant Associa- there would be little public interest. nicipality for 2005, paying $435.44 (which tion of Nova Scotia told me at the time that On the day the new system was made was refunded after I appealed to the review improving access to the inspection reports available to the public, I contacted the oﬃ cer for the Freedom of Information and wasn’t needed. manager of the only restaurant the Protection of Privacy Act. She agreed the fees “If people want to post them in the province had closed recently due to safety weren’t warranted for information gathered window, that’s fine,” he said. “That’s more concerns over her water supply. She denied on behalf of the public). of a knee-jerk reaction. I don’t think that’s the violation was serious. But making sense of the documents was necessary.” “I really don’t want this in the paper,” she another job in itself. Many of the reports But attitudes began to shift within said, declining to provide her name. “It’s were incomprehensible. They were sparsely government. “I believe in the system we nobody’s business but mine.” Not anymore. worded and there was no indication of the have, but we do recognize there’s some To view the inspection reports online, severity of the infractions. The provincial areas we should explore further, and that please visit: www.gov.ns.ca/agri/foodsafety/ manager of food safety was even unable to should lead to improvements,” the minister reports/Request.aspx. M decipher some of them. responsible for food safety said after many

22 MEDIA Inside the Numbers Meaning in a Crisis South of the Border

The subprime mortgage ﬁ asco is not only about American foolishness and greed. It is a Canadian story, too.

Kelly Toughill ournalists struggling A good place to start was a radio and online credit default swaps, the subprime market Jto make sense of the documentary titled “The Giant Pool of Money.” was driven by a huge new pool of money economic meltdown NPR and This American Life, a radio/television/ from the booming economies of India, China should study the work online program produced in Chicago, teamed up and Brazil. The global pool of investment of their colleagues to explain the mortgage crisis last May. doubled in four years to $70 trillion, and south of the border. The outline of the initial problem was there simply weren’t enough places to invest. This isn’t something clear by then. Millions of Americans were There are two versions of the show on the Kelly Toughill is an I ever thought I would losing their homes because of foreclosures net. The hour-long program can be heard at assistant professor advise. To indulge in that followed so-called “subprime” mortgages. www.thisamericanlife.org. It even has a full of journalism at broad generalizations, Subprime meant that banks gave loans to transcript you can download. A 12-minute ver- the University Canada tends to be people with no income, no down payment, sion broadcast on NPR’s All Things Consid- of King’s College more thoughtful and and bad credit. In other words, banks passed ered can be heard at www.npr.org. The show in Halifax, and policy-oriented than out money to people they didn’t actually was broadcast in May, when the Dow was still a former writer the U.S., where smart expect to pay them back. climbing, yet it clearly showed the looming and editor at The comedians like Jon My favorite quote of the hour-long pro- danger to the stock market and the economy. Toronto Star. Stewart have more gram is from Clarence Nathan, a guy with The subprime crisis has made Wall Street credibility than the three part-time jobs who borrowed $540,000. sage Warren Buffett look good—again. shallow news professionals they love to mock. Still, you take your lessons where you can, and anyone struggling to cover the economic Subprime meant that banks gave crisis with any depth should be following NPR’s Planet Money series and the work of Jesse Eisen- loans to people with no income, ger in Condé Nast’s new magazine, Portfolio Canadian reporters with a securities course on no down payment, and bad credit. their résumé had a distinct advantage in the quest to create meaning out of chaos this fall, but even In other words, banks passed out they lost their way sometimes. And many were thrown into the story with no background at all. money to people they didn’t actually Credit default swap? Short-selling? Derivatives? It wasn’t just a matter of learning the jargon of disas- expect to pay them back. ter, it was a matter of fi tting together the pieces in a way that made sense, of taking the story beyond the narrative of individual pain to see where it “I wouldn’t have loaned me the money,” In 2002, Buffett warned that “derivatives might head tomorrow, or next week. Nathan told journalist Alex Blumberg. “And are fi nancial weapons of mass destruction.” It is understandable that Canadian news or- nobody that I know would have loaned me The quote has been trotted out a lot, ganizations did not invest much time or money the money. I know guys who are criminals usually to show that Buffett was the lone probing the subprime mortgage fi asco. After who wouldn’t have loaned me that—and they seer able to discern trouble on the horizon. all, that was a U.S. phenomenon not duplicated break your knee caps.” The banking crisis and stock market crash in Canada and it was largely treated as an iso- So the big unanswered question became, has been treated as an unpredictable event. lated event even by American media. It wasn’t ‘Why?’ Why would any fi nancial institution Regulators were shocked, as were bank until September 29, when the TSX joined the lend out money it didn’t expect to get back? executives and almost all the reporters who Dow Jones Industrial Average in spectacular That’s where the NPR series goes beyond followed the drama. free fall that Canadian media really woke up to the work of other journalists. Not only were Except a few. the economic story unfolding on our side of the banks ducking the risk of bad loans through Jesse Eisenger’s editors rightly crowed in border. We had a lot of catching up to do. complicated unregulated transactions called the November 2008 issue of Portfolio that

WINTER 2009 23 their readers were well warned about the like a virus through virtually every part of the the stock market, to fi gure out bailouts for Bay looming crisis. Eisenger wrote way back in North American banking system. Street and what the confusion means to the May 2007 that “derivatives could turn from One fi nancial journalist I know believes price of milk and bread. vaccine to contagion.” reporters remain ignorant about the swaps Editors might be forgiven for giving up on the Eisenger’s latest contribution in the No- because there is no one they can ask to crystal ball, particularly since the talking heads vember issue is to trace the roots of the crisis explain. She believes that many of the bankers they usually ask to read the future have been so to a conservative banker at J.P. Morgan who who signed the billion-dollar deals didn’t spectacularly wrong for the last year or so. took credit default swaps wholesale with a understand themselves how swaps worked. The lesson of Eisenger’s work in Portfolio $9-billion deal in 1998. Credit default swaps The subprime mortgage story is no longer a and NPR’s work on “The Global Pool of Mon- are at the heart of the economic crisis. Few re- story about American foolishness and greed. It is ey” is twofold. First, don’t give up on search- porters have tried to explain the instruments now a story about the global economy, about the ing for the deeper meaning even, when all is in detail to readers, settling instead for the collapse of Iceland, the potential nationalization confusion. The second is that journalists must broad-brush description that the swaps are a of banks in Britain, of commodity markets tank- sometimes pull back from the experts and form of insurance against bad loans. ing in the gloom. It is a Canadian story, too. the pundits and rely on their own analysis to But the swaps are much more than that; Most reporters on the business beat in fi gure out what’s going on. A little unbiased Eisinger explains in vivid prose how the un- Canada are struggling just to keep up with intelligence, armed with a few good questions, regulated swaps spread the risk of bad loans events, struggling to chart the roller coaster of still goes a long, long way. M

Alanna Mitchell has won the 2008 Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy for her project entitled The Possible School.

Mitchell explores how schools can become more effective if they implement research on teaching techniques, human behaviour and how the brain works. Mitchell will explore possible educational policies that allow all children access to excellent education, regardless of wealth or status.

She is the author of Seasick a book on the health of the global ocean, to be published internationally in 2008 and 2009, for which she received a Canada Council grant, and Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World’s Environmental Hotspots, published internationally in 2004 and 2005. The latter was named one of the ﬁve best non-ﬁction books in Canada in 2004 by Quill & Quire, the publishing industry’s trade magazine. It has enjoyed international critical acclaim.

As part of the terms of the Fellowship, Steed will receive a stipend of $75, 000 plus an expense budget of up to $25,000.

The Fellowship, sponsored by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation, the Toronto Star and the Honderich Family, is open to all senior Canadian print and broadcast journalists.

IMPORTANT CHANGE: Please note the simpliﬁed two-step application process for 2009.

1. To be considered, all that is required is a THREE PAGE maximum LETTER of INTENT, along with your curriculum vitae, that summarizes your topic, its importance, brief outline of proposed articles, and treatment/approach to be received by Monday, January 12, 2009

2. The Fellowship Committee will choose three to ﬁve Finalists who will be invited to submit a full application and proposal for consideration for the 2009 Fellowship award. Each ﬁnalist will receive an honorarium for submitting a proposal.

Send 4 copies of your Letter of Intent and CV to:

Elizabeth Chan Coordinator, Atkinson Fellowship Committee The Atkinson Charitable Foundation 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1508 Toronto, ON M5E 1E5

416 869 4034 telephone 416 865 3619 fax [email protected]

24 MEDIA Fine Print The Charter Collision Course

Where privacy rights and freedom of the press meet head-on. Dean Jobb remarkable series tion. Instead, the action alleges Wong and the of libel and slander,” he wrote, “should not Aof articles in The newspaper damaged their reputation through act to bludgeon other meritorious causes of Globe and Mail drew “deceit” and “invasion of property.” action where they can stand on their own.” readers into the gritty, This summer The Globe asked a judge of Nor was the judge prepared to dismiss the minimum-wage world Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice to dismiss action without convening a trial to review the of Toronto’s working the action. The claims were being used to evidence and decide whether the Canadian poor. “dress up” what was essentially a defamation Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects pri- Dean Jobb, an as- Reporter Jan Wong action, argued Globe lawyer Peter Jacobson. vacy as well as the media’s right to gather news. sistant professor of went undercover for a Since the family had missed the three-month “Charter values will take into account the journalism at the month in 2006 to work deadline for fi ling a libel suit, the claim privacy interests of the plaintiffs, but also University of King’s as a maid for a clean- should be dismissed, he said. the ability of investigative journalists to play College in Halifax, ing service, a job that But the family’s lawyer, Sam Hill, asserted their role in a free and democratic society,” the is author of Media opened doors to the his clients suffered distress and damage from judge concluded. “Where to draw the lines Law for Canadian homes of the service’s Wong’s intrusion into their lives, and not when charter values butt up against one an- Journalists (www. clients—and to details solely from the ensuing publicity. other ought to be decided after a full hearing, emp.ca) and edits of their personal lives. In ruling on the motion in September, Jus- not in motions court.” the law section of But this access, tice David Aston said it is not easy to dismiss The family’s lawyer, Sam Hill, claimed vic- J-Source (www.j- gained using her real an action before trial. “If the claim as pleaded tory and warned that “journalists and powerful source.ca). name but without has some chance of success, it must be permit- media companies can’t invade someone’s home revealing she was work- ted to proceed.” But Canada’s courts, he noted, under false pretenses and put their private lives ing as a journalist, has sparked a lawsuit that “have been reluctant to recognize” a distinct on display to sell newspapers.” The Globe must threatens to strengthen Canada’s privacy laws right to privacy under the common law—the pay the family $9,160 toward the cost of fi ght- and create new risks for those who imperson- body of law that fl ows from judges’ rulings. ing the motion to dismiss the suit. ate others in pursuit of a story. So have lawmakers. As of 2005, four The right to sue, of course, is no guarantee A Toronto couple and their young son provinces—British Columbia, Saskatchewan, the claim will succeed. The Charter right to are suing Wong, The Globe and the maid Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador press freedom will be a powerful weapon for service for $50,000 in damages over an article —had laws on the books to protect citizens the Globe at trial. in which Wong described cleaning their against unwarranted invasion of personal But journalists should draw some lessons “monster home.” Among other details, she privacy. The strongest prohibitions exist in from all this: Look for other ways to tell the story recounted how she “recoiled” at the sight of a Quebec, where the province’s Civil Code and before resorting to impersonation; tell as few lies fi lthy child’s bathroom and resented having to Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms as possible; and guard against describing people iron oversized clothes. The number of “use- shield the private lives of individuals. and places in so much detail that identities less” pillows on a bed was cited as evidence of These laws protect against eavesdropping, become obvious, even when no names are used. “21st-century conspicuous consumption.” the publicizing of diaries and other personal The courts are increasingly putting journal- The homeowners were not identifi ed by papers without consent, and the unauthorized ists’ motives, actions and methods under the name. But their suburb was, and the lawsuit use of someone’s name or image to promote microscope. The new libel defence of respon- claims “various persons known to them” a product. As a rule, a journalist’s legitimate sible journalism—which protects important recognized the family from Wong’s descrip- efforts to gather information for news stories news reports that were properly investigated, tion of the home and belongings. As a result, are exempt from such laws. even if some facts turn out to be false—is an ex- family members claim they suffered “signifi - Then along comes the Globe lawsuit, ample of how the law is increasingly concerned cant embarrassment and mental distress” as which has the potential to set a common-law with how journalists do their jobs. well as harm to their dignity and “personal precedent in Ontario and, if it makes it to the No matter who wins this battle, don’t and home security.” Supreme Court of Canada, for all of Canada. expect the courts to recognize an unlimited A claim against the media for compensa- The occupants of the home Wong de- right for journalists to probe the private lives tion for embarrassment, mental distress and scribed, Justice Aston ruled, had a right to of individuals—particularly people who are loss of dignity is usually rolled out as a libel claim compensation for damages not directly not newsmakers or otherwise in the public suit. But the family is not suing for defama- linked to publication of the article. “The law eye. A line will be drawn. M

WINTER 2009 25 Computer-Assisted Reporting The Liberal Party’s Collapse in Numbers

It is easy to forget that the devil truly is in the details.

Fred Vallance-Jones

o, here’s a question: X beside their Liberal candidate’s name was tives picked up from the Liberals, the Green vote SDid the Conser- actually down about 13 per cent. exceeded the Conservative margin of victory. vatives win the 2008 That’s already whopper of a drop, but All of this leads to some inescapable conclusions. federal election, or did Liberal party strategists have to be alarmed by First, the Liberals suffered a collapse of his- the Liberals lose? the change in the raw numbers of Canadians toric proportions in the election of 2008, while Of course, it would voting for the party. the Conservatives made modest gains in crucial be perfectly right to say While the Conservatives largely held their ridings. Much of the increase in the percent- Fred Vallance-Jones “all of the above.” own, slipping only slightly, about one-in-fi ve age of popular support for the Conservatives is assistant profes- But as some com- Liberal voters vanished between the 2006 and was clearly the result of Liberal voters staying sor of journalism mentators have noted, 2008 elections. In fact, when you net out the home, driving down the total vote. at the University the story of the 2008 vote gains and losses of the other parties, those Second, we have to be ever vigilant about num- of King’s College is really more about a disappearing Liberal votes account for most bers. In the haze of an election night, and simple in Halifax. You can Liberal collapse than any of the drop in voter turnout between the numbers such as the percentage of the popular contact him at huge surge of enthusiasm two elections. This leads to the reasonable vote, it is easy to forget that the devil truly is in the [email protected]. for the Conservatives conclusion that a lot of Liberals judged Dion’s details. The details often tell a much better story. under Stephen Harper. performance lacking, and stayed home, pre- Third, the next election could hold some sur- To see just how bad it really was for the Liber- cipitating the result we saw on election night. prises. If the Liberals under new leader Michael als under Stéphane Dion you have to get past The Conservatives, meantime, made some Ignatieff can recapture some of those voters who the popular vote fi gures that are most often used well-placed gains, allowing them to capitalize just stayed home, it could prove an interesting to explain the result. on the Liberal collapse. night indeed. And that’s where a little computer-assisted The Conservatives picked up 21 ridings The lesson learned is that taking a close reporting using a spreadsheet program helps from the Liberals. In most of them, Liberal look at those numbers using a spreadsheet can us dig deeper into the numbers. support plummeted while Conservative provide insights to write stories that give the Let’s start by looking at that popular vote tally. support rose modestly (see the second reader new value and new insight into who It shows the Conservative percentage inching up spreadsheet, which you can also download), won, and who lost. by a little more than a percentage point to nearly allowing that party’s candidates to overcome And now, for a shameless plug. Those 38 per cent (as I write this, I am using prelimi- what had sometimes been signifi cant electoral of you looking for a Canadian guide to nary numbers for 2008, so some of the numbers disadvantages on their way to victory. computer-assisted reporting should check out may change slightly), and the Liberals slipping These weren’t huge victories, for the most part, Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Compre- by four percentage points to about 26 per cent. but were the electoral equivalent of a low-scoring hensive Primer, from Oxford University Press. That’s the number you will have heard repeated hockey game. Two points into the win column. In the interests of full disclosure, I am one of time after time, and at fi rst blush it appears to tell In Kitchener-Waterloo, for example, the the authors, along with David McKie of CBC’s the tale. But a deeper look at the numbers using Liberals lost more than 9,000 votes, while the investigative unit (who of course, is the editor of our spreadsheet shows that the Liberal collapse was Conservatives added about 3,000, allowing Media). Until now there hasn’t been a book on much, much deeper than the percentage point tal- them to eke out a squeaker victory. CAR written from a Canadian perspective, be- lies would suggest (to download the spreadsheet go In 12 of the 21 seats the Conservatives gained sides the limited amount of material in Digging to www.carincanada.ca, click on Media Magazine from the Liberals, the Liberals lost more than Deeper: A Canadian Reporter’s Research Guide Columns, and then pick the column for Fall 2008). twice as many votes as the Conservatives gained. (more disclosure, McKie and I are co-authors of The fi rst problem with this often-quoted As predicted, the rise of the Greens also prob- that one, too). Computer-Assisted Reporting: A number is that we are dealing with percentage ably helped the Tories in these ridings. As you Comprehensive Primer covers everything from points change, not percentage change. To anyone can see from the fi rst of our two spreadsheets, advanced Internet research to mapping and except the most math-adept among us, that the Greens were the only mainstream party to social network analysis, with a healthy dose of makes the drop appear smaller than it really is. actually get more votes from Canadians, going spreadsheets and databases in between. Check While the Liberal loss was four percentage from about 664,000 in 2006 to about 941,000 in it out. We think it will be a valuable addition to points, the proportion of voters putting an 2008. In eight of the 21 seats that the Conserva- your bookshelf, and an excellent reference. M

26 MEDIA Computer-Assisted Reporting The joy of Parking

Halifax CBC radio reporter Jack Julian explains how he was able to put computer skills to use in his series on parking tickets. Jack Julian

y series ‘The Joy database forced me into the trickier world of Mi- Story lines Mof Parking’ ex- crosoft Access. Thankfully, I received my data just My stories rolled out the week of October amines parking tickets days before I attended the 2008 CAR Boot Camp 20th on CBC Radio One, CBC Television and in the Halifax Regional at the University of King’s College. There, I joined cbc.ca. You can see the Web versions of some Municipality. It was my reporters from Atlantic Canada and beyond as we of the stories at www.cbc.ca/ns/features/the- attempt to replicate the spent six days learning the basics of both Access joy-of-parking. Two stories generated the excellent computer- and Excel. The instructors David McKie (CBC greatest public response: Jack Julian is a assisted reporting work News I-Unit) and Fred Valance-Jones (University 1) Free Parking: It was curious to see how far reporter in CBC by the Ottawa Citizen of King’s College) provided real-life data sets for us people drive to park illegally on Halifax streets. Radio’s Halifax in its series ‘The Hor- to manipulate and comb for stories. Freeing me Parking tickets issued on Hawaii and Alaska newsroom. net’s Sting,’ produced up for a week to attend this course was a heavy plates are a curiosity. But the volume of out- by Glen McGregor. investment for my radio newsroom, which only of-province tickets was interesting: More than With such a detailed and successful model to contains fi ve reporters. However, my program 30-thousand issued in a year, with fi nes totaling work from, how could I go astray? manager, Janet Irwin, hoped it would all pay off more than 800-thousand dollars. Following up with a trimedial series in the fall. on these out-of-province tickets, I found that the Securing the Data computer enforcement system reaches a dead My goal was to troll for stories in the park- Data fun end. With no address to mail a court summons, ing ticket database maintained by the Halifax The database, when I received it, was the tickets sit in legal limbo. It gives drivers with Regional Municipality (HRM). Each park- messy. Parking enforcement offi cers enter out-of-province plates nearly diplomatic-style ing ticket issued in Halifax generates a single ticket information on little hand-held parking immunity. It’s particularly galling to electronic record. These records include the computers, so those tickets show some stan- some of our listeners that the greatest number time and date of the ticket, location, car make dardization. But a huge portion of tickets are of unenforceable tickets are issued to Ontario and model, an offence code, plus fi ne and court hand-written by private commissionaires, vehicles, many of them driven by university information. The database contains a wealth of and then keyed in by municipal clerks. students. I left notes on every ‘foreign’ plated car potential news. Municipal offi cials in Halifax Those tickets are often nonsensical. I could fi nd in the university neighbourhoods. had never received a data request like mine. I I spent an inordinate length of time writing The Georgia-plated driver I found generated a drew up an informal query to see if the database queries in Microsoft Access to clean things slew of outraged comments on the Web. would be released under ‘routine disclosure’. The up. I often ping-ponged smaller data sets 2) Hottest Meter: I wound up working with a city’s legal department said this was a job for a between Excel and Access, depending on what subset of data on this story, 54 thousand parking freedom-of information request, which would I was able to do with my emerging skill-sets. meter tickets from the most recent 11 months. clarify privacy exclusions and the fee structure. In the end, Fred Valance-Jones of King’s Col- It’s an odd number, but the biggest data set I The initial fee estimate was potentially pro- lege helped with some of the more advanced could fi t in good old Excel 2003 version (the 2007 hibitive: $830 dollars for an estimated 28 hours data scrubbing, including work that allowed version handles tables with up to one million of database extraction time to capture all tickets me to do my ‘hot parking meter’ stories. records), which is still my tool of choice. It turns from 2003 to June 2008. Eventually we agreed to It’s exciting to dream big CAR dreams, but out Halifax has a most-ticketed meter. (If you’re extract the data year-by-year, starting with 2008. the reality of the data cuts everything down to ever visiting downtown Halifax, stay away from The whole process wound up taking far less size. I’d hoped to reproduce an Ottawa Citizen Meter 8-A on Blowers Street, which was one time than anticipated. In the end, all fi ve-and-a- story on the most-zealous parking offi cer in of only four meters that broke the 100-ticket half years of data cost the CBC $210. I had my town. But municipal offi cials deemed that mark. You’ll recognize it by the snappy red top, mother lode of nearly a million parking tickets. offi cer names or even unique badge numbers signifying a 30-minute time limit, a fact that were privacy issues. I’d also hoped to track stumped most of the drivers I spoke to). The Training license plate numbers, so I could tally the most parking meter data allowed me to make my fi rst I’ve received basic CAR training through the egregious parking offenders. But license plates forays into the world of mapping. (You can see CBC, but my greatest successes (and experience) were also deemed potentially identifying, and the results on the Web site.) The Ottawa Citizen involved Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. This huge were stripped from the database. again was my inspiration here. I’d hoped to map continued on page 29

WINTER 2009 27 Ethics Déjà Vu All Over Again

Much of the news coverage was an insult to one’s intelligence and a disservice to democracy. Stephen J. A. Ward Having recently moved to the United States, I was asked what it was like to be in the middle of an American presidential election. Stephen J.A. Ward My fi rst response is Burgess Professor was: absorbing and of Journalism exciting. I have always Ethics at the been attracted to School of Journal- the hurly-burly of ism and Mass elections and the Communication candidates with their at the University strategies and gaffes. of Wisconsin- My second response Madison. was: it was profoundly troublesome. Watch- ing the news media cover this pivotal U.S. election was enough to make any reasonable citizen question where democracy is headed. Not to put too fi ne a point on it: much of History: Barack Obama on the campaign trail. Though he will become the fi rst biracial man ever elected President, his campaign endured coverage that was less than illuminating. AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian. the news coverage was an insult to one’s intelligence and a disservice to democracy. is expressed in one phrase: “Health care is a sought the views of a Democrat governor My disenchantment is not the fact that right, not a privilege.” The international com- and a Republican governor. Guess what? The some (or a lot) of the new coverage was inad- plexities of the dispute in Georgia are reduced Democratic concluded she bombed; the Re- equate. That was to be expected. It is a more to standing up for an ally. The Iraq war is publican loved her performance. This format vexing fact. These inadequacies are the same turned into a “victory.” The mind boggles. is not only predictable, it is polarizing and inadequacies that we have seen year after year; When Sarah Palin, Republican vice- unenlightening. election after election. As Yogi Berra opined, presidential candidate, did her fi rst sit-down In this campaign, millions of dollars were “It’s déjà vu all over again.” I am plagued by interview, how were her comments treated spent on psychological techniques that this thought: Why is journal- pushed emotional buttons and ism ethics—through criticism, avoided engaging the brain. Candi- analysis, and teaching—appar- Why is journalism ethics— dates told tear-jerking tales of how ently so ineffectual in improv- they met a poor farmer in Iowa, Joe ing journalism? through criticism, analysis, the Plumber, or a mother whose son Here is a list of some inad- was killed in Iraq. During their fi rst equacies committed by media and teaching—so ineffectual televised debate, McCain and Obama and politicians: treating the showed the audience that they were campaign as just a horse race; in improving journalism? wearing bracelets in memory of recycling rumor or personal meetings with “ordinary” people. I facts; reducing issues to a polar- have compassion for those who have ity between extremes and rival by the U.S. network? They hired a “body lan- suffered great loss. I have no patience slogans. Convention slogans ranged from “My guage” expert to analyze how Palin sat in her for those who turn painful experiences into Country First,” or “Change You Can Believe chair and how she used her hands. When a sentimental “life story” for political gain. in.” The discussion of how to ‘fi x’ health care the network did consider what she said, they Then there was the mind-numbing talk of

28 MEDIA media coverage of elections which included continued from page 27 the standard complaints against campaign reporting, noted above. The item even had all types of parking tickets by location across the the proverbial professor saying—once again— city. But Halifax’s parking ticket data was just too that such coverage wasn’t great for democracy. messy to paint an accurate picture. So the question is: what effect does criticism Instead, I concentrated on parking-meter have, even if criticism has expanded on-line? violations, because meter numbers are nice The reasons for these patterns in democra- and clean, and HRM had a computerized cy are complex. There are no simple answers. map layer that allowed us to place the meters It has to do with the way that democracy and on a street grid. its public sphere operate—the conditions Again, the mapping component far under which individuals act and interact. The exceeded my technical abilities. I’m indebted behavior of media, advertisers, journalists, and to Daniel Rainham of Dalhousie University campaign managers refl ects how the political for his help linking my ticket database with system works, who the main players are, and the location data, and for generating the how economic and political forces reinforce ‘temperature map’ of ticket density. certain types of behavior. The next generation of handheld ticket When Sarah Palin, Republican vice-presidential Moreover, the public is also on the hook. computers in Halifax will likely generate candidate, did her fi rst sit-down interview, the Let’s stop citing pieties about the need for U.S. network hired a “body language” expert to latitude and longitude information with analyze how Palin sat in her chair and how she serious journalism and ask some tough ques- every ticket. That will be a bonanza for used her hands. INFphoto.com/Michael Swarbrick. tions. Are rumors reported because we, the future mappers. leadership. Candidates indicated how tough public, openly or secretly, enjoy such content? 3) Other stories: Not all my parking stories they will be with Iran or Russia. Wasn’t it How large is the public’s appetite for in-depth were strictly computer-assisted reporting. But this macho, narrow patriotism that charac- discussions of economic or foreign policy? getting to know the parking powers in Hali- terized the disastrous presidency of George How can news organizations enlarge their fax gave me plenty of leads. And having the Bush? Candidates feel compelled to declare, offerings of serious journalism if audiences numbers to back up the stories strengthened repeatedly, that the USA is the best country would rather watch reality TV, or are quick to my reporting throughout. in the world and they really love it. Why get bored? Maybe we are so comfortable and can’t we just assume that anyone running for busy with our private lives that we prefer to Try it yourself president loves their country? leave politics to other people—the journalists, Wherever you live in Canada, parking How is it possible that that public politicians and lobby groups—and then blame tickets are bound to be a hot-button issue for discourse, in one of the most advanced coun- them for failing us. your readers, viewers and listeners. If your tries in the world, can be so, well, dumb, Democratic press theory assumes that province has a computerized court records intolerant and ideological? What does that the public sphere, with a responsible news system, then parking tickets will probably tell you about the democratic public sphere media, helps citizens govern themselves in become electronic records at some point. and the future of the United States? a rational manner. Is that ideal discredited? Approach your local municipality for a copy One solution, you might think, is more Maybe our expectations for a modern public of the database. E-mail them links to previous monitoring of media. But consider this: sphere are too high. But how far are you stories to let them know where you might About a third of the way into the campaign, willing to ratchet down those expectations? I be heading. The example from the Citizen I watched the Sunday political shows on U.S. don’t expect discussions in news media to be a certainly greased the wheels for my request. television. I tuned into CNN’s Reliable Sourc- logician’s model of rationality and objectivity. I was gratifi ed with the consistent, gener- es, hosted by media critic Howard Kurtz. The But there has to be some degree of rationality ous help I received from Halifax Regional show invited journalists to analyze the week’s and objectivity at the heart of our news media Municipality offi cials while working on these coverage of the presidential campaign. The system. Democracy is a messy process, but it stories. I’m not sure how grateful my contacts group complained about a focus on rumors, may not survive a large-scale debasing of the were when I publicized an $800,000 loophole and how the Republican campaign got the means of public communication. in their ticket collection system. However, a news media to report widely a false charge— Talk of ethics is important but it is not municipal offi cial told me that media atten- that Obama had called Palin a “pig.” These enough, if we wish to address these deep tion on parking tickets is a money-maker for faults are hardly new. Yet none of the journal- problems of democracy. Change will require the city. He said most parking ticket stories ists could say what might be done about these action through the engagement of relatively are followed by a spike in payments from problems. The attitude was, well, that’s the large portions of the population, citizens and guilty offenders. It’s a trend I hope to double- way reporters and newsrooms are. Period. journalists. People can make a difference, but check when I receive a fresh set of Halifax Meanwhile, I watched a CBC TV item on we must want to make a difference.M parking-ticket data next year. M

WINTER 2009 29 The Last Word Do Foreign Correspondents Matter? Canadian journalists reporting from abroad improve the international news Canadians receive at home. Kimberley Brown he past few years international news available to Canadians. Canadian media should be sending journalists Tthere’s been By and large, newswire stories are shorter abroad, not cutting back. a common theme and generalized pieces created to sell to Geoffrey York with the Globe and Mail is amongst Cana- a mass world media market. This differs one example of a journalist who frequently dian mainstream news however, compared to individual stories by reports on Canada’s political actions in China. media and how they Canadian correspondents who research and In November of 2007 for example, York wrote report international report specifi cally for one news outlet and an article entitled “Arrested Development” in news, that being that one nation’s audience. which CIDA is criticized for giving aid money Kimberley Brown is they don’t actually Additionally, the newswires tend to be to a nature reserve in Inner Mongolia that in a recent graduate report it, they buy it. American (AP) or European (Reuters and fact turned into a high-end tourist museum of the School of Severe budget cuts in AFP), and limit the perspectives in the news that the locals can’t afford to access. Not your Communications the newsroom have to a select few origins. It does matter where typical big headliner news story that would be at Simon Fraser been seen largely in the journalists come from, because they are more reported by Reuters or AP, but rather a story University in area of foreign report- apt to relate a story back to their country geared toward the Canadian public to ques- British Columbia. ing as it has resulted in of origin, under their unique cultural and tion CIDA’s actions abroad and hold them the closing of foreign historical lens. accountable for bad decisions, and bad use of news bureaus, decreasing the number of For example, Canada has a large number taxpayer dollars. foreign correspondents based abroad, and of people from Asia, including, China, The disturbed state of foreign reporting in becoming increasingly dependent on a select India, the Philippines and Pakistan. Foreign Canada is not new, as both the Davey Com- few newswires to supply foreign news reports. newswires can’t be expected to represent mittee and the Kent Commission criticized As it stands, Canada’s major news or acknowledge the Asian minorities of the coverage of international news in Cana- organizations are hardly employing enough Canada, or their interests in their news dian news media in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. But journalists to paint an accurate picture of reports, as these wouldn’t sell to news now, when we live the world of media plenty, the world for Canadians. At one point in the companies worldwide. Consequently, the with increased access to travel, and faster and 1980’s, the CBC had an impressive 28 foreign interests of Asian minority groups are easier ways to send and receive information, bureaus. Now the corporation only employs under-represented while they are segregated why is the number of foreign correspondents nine correspondents, CTV six foreign from mainstream Canadian culture. With a so low? Why are Canadians actually receiving correspondents, and the Globe and Mail a growing Asian population in Canada, news less variety of information from abroad? more impressive 13. The National Post and from the Asian region should be an area of Politicians, the media, and Canadians Global receive their international news from civilian concern and interest, and this should themselves boast about multiculturalism and Canwest News Services (CNS) with its fi ve be represented in the news from this region. making further inroads into minority cultures correspondents abroad. At least, Canwest Asia is also an area of high policy concern and communities. But how can this be so has representation abroad. That CNS is for the Canadian government. Included in when the media can’t even provide the news responsible for the international coverage of some of DFAIT’s key priorities are seizing op- from a Canadian perspective or accurately two of Canada’s major news organizations portunities in the emerging markets of India represent the multicultural population of (not to mention its other TV and city news- and China, while CIDA has boasted of many Canada, and its role abroad. This could point paper holdings), shows a lack of diversity of bilateral aid agreements with less fortunate in the direction of the general Canadian pub- stories and opinions across the country. So nations in the Asian region. Yet, how often do lic becoming less informed and developing the question is, in light of this situation, can Canadians read or hear news of these impor- one stereotypical view of the world. newswires accurately represent and serve the tant government priorities and investments? What Canada needs is to establish a Canadian public at home and abroad? The lack of foreign reporting by Canadians culture of international reporting. Canadian The problem with forming a dependency creates a strong disconnect between Canada’s news organizations need to become players on select newswires for international news is actions abroad and the information dissemi- in international reporting rather than mere that they all defi ne what is and is not news- nated to the public, as Canadians are absent, consumers of international news. To use the worthy in the same way, including areas of and international newswires care little about words of one Canadian foreign correspondent, the world considered to be worth covering. Canadian foreign affairs. In a time when what we need is “less gloss and polish from This leads to a gross homogenization of the Canada is trying to extend its activities abroad, the studio, and much more mud on boots.” M

30 MEDIA THE MICHENER AWARD: Recognition for journalism that makes an impact

The 2007 Michener Award went to The Globe and Mail and La Presse for reporting on the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan.

Call for Entries: Michener Award 2008 The Michener Award is presented annually for journalism A senior editor or executive must submit the entry on that makes a significant impact on the public good. To be behalf of a news organization. selected as a finalist, a news organization must be able to demonstrate that its entry achieved identifiable results. The All candidates must include five (5) copies of a full written results may include improvements in public policy, ethical explanation of the entry, including a description of the standards, corporate governance or the lives of Canadians. public service performed and the results that the entry generated. It is helpful to describe the resources that were Winning subjects have ranged from reporting on logging available to the entry. truck safety to misuse of public or private funds and irregularities in the justice and police systems. All entries must include a registration fee of $50. Payment may be by cheque or money order (no GST required). The award is presented to an organization rather than an Credit cards are not accepted. individual. It is open to print, radio and television stations and online journalism. Size is no barrier to success. Previous Entries should be submitted during January 2009 and up winners have ranged from national networks and daily to the February 27 deadline. For full details on entry rules newspapers to weeklies and periodicals. The judges are please visit our website: www.michenerawards.ca required to take into account the resources available to support the entry. Entries should be sent to:

The contributions of individual journalists to the entries Michener Awards Foundation selected as ﬁnalists are recognized by invitations to, and The Ottawa Citizen, participation in, the prestigious annual Awards Ceremony 1101 Baxter Road, Box 5020 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M4

THE MICHENER-DEACON FELLOWSHIP

The Michener-Deacon Fellowship is Canada’s premier award to encourage excellence in investigative print, broadcast, and online journalism that serves the public interest.

The Fellowship is granted annually to a mature journalist must accompany applications whose projects include such for four months’ leave. It provides $30,000 and accountable study. expenses of up to $5,000 to allow the winner time to complete a project that serves the public interest and Fellowship projects have included inquiries into the enhances the journalist’s competence. relationship between pharmaceutical companies and research funding at universities, the future of public Canadian citizens or residents of Canada who are active broadcasting, threats to privacy, and issues arising from in Canadian journalism are eligible to apply. Proposals of Canada’s diversiﬁed racial mix. direct Canadian interest are preferred. Applications must include an expression of interest or, Applicants are expected to submit ﬁve copies of a written preferably, a commitment to publish or air the completed outline with supporting documentation for a proposed project. The project or a summary must be made available project. The judges will take into consideration the candidate’s for posting on the website of the Michener Awards enthusiasm for the project and the quality of the presentation. Foundation.

Applicants must provide copies of academic records Entries for the 2009 Michener-Deacon Fellowship (ﬁve and relevant work history. They should include a written copies) should be sent to: authorization for leave and disclose any additional means of ﬁnancial support that may be available such as continuing Michener Awards Foundation salary and travel expenses. 130 Albert Street, Suite 1620 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G4 Study at a Canadian university may be part of a successful application but it is not a requirement. University approval Deadline for receipt of entries: Friday, February 27, 2009