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 SimpsonSimpson, 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.