[Image-1] When a newspaper starts to crumble—as seen recently with the Chronicle Herald—the burden falls squarely on the journalists on staff, who face apparently endless cuts and ever-increasing workloads. But the unravelling of traditional media has also affected those who aren’t even employees: that is, freelance journalists. According to an email obtained by the CBC, […]
Media
Posted inNews + Opinion
Chronicle Herald union votes to strike
[Image-1] Members of the Halifax Typographical Union overwhelmingly voted in favour of strike action this past weekend. The HTU said 98.3 percent of members voted in favour, with only one vote against and one not present. The union represents 61 newsroom employees at the Chronicle Herald. Two days have now been set aside this week […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
To my former bosses at the Chronicle Herald
[Image-1] Before I go any further, I’d like to take a moment and applaud husband and wife Mark Lever and Sarah Dennis. Clap. Clap. Clap. The owners of the Chronicle Herald have, over the past seven years, managed to cut the region’s largest newsroom almost in half, shedding years of journalistic experience and excellence, cutting […]
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How the Chronicle Herald is demolishing its newsroom
[Image-1] It really sucks being a journalist these days. That’s more true than ever at the Chronicle Herald. Beleaguered newsroom staff at the daily paper are facing another blow as management walked away from the conciliation table late last week after asking unionized employees for aggressive cuts. The paper’s latest offer to newsroom staff will […]
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Going surfing on donair sauce, from Montreal to Halifax
I don’t know how I ended up thinking that a 22-hour train ride could be fun, or even somehow humanly possible. I was blissfully ignorant when I boarded my train from Montreal to Halifax on June 21. My editor at Urbania magazine had sent me to the Maritimes to investigate this seemingly cool alternative newspaper, […]
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Journalism is going to be OK, says Seymour Hersh
[Image-1] Whether Seymour Hersh cares about his legendary status is neither here nor there. At age 78, the investigative reporter has a body of work most ambitious journalists would likely sell their souls to assemble. Hersh has produced material that’s been controversial, partly for mistakes he has admittedly made and for his use of unnamed […]
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FIFA holds tremendously awkward Canadian press conference
[Image-1] The Women’s World Cup is used to being marginalized. Despite playing a better game, the athletes aren’t lauded like their male counterparts. They’re instead used as guinea pigs for dangerous playing surfaces, and their (now disgraced) boss has said they’d attract more viewers by dressing in sexier outfits. But with the kick-off for the […]
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The casual sexism of being a female journalist
[Image-1] Once upon a time, I visited a government building with a couple female colleagues. Between us, we had six degrees and worked for almost every major print and broadcast chain in the country. We were all under 30. The security guard didn’t believe us when we identified as media. He laughed and said he […]
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Frank Magazine owner’s building target of “pipe bomb”
[Image-1] It might not have been a pipe bomb, but some sort of explosive device went off last week inside an apartment building in Sydney. The explosion is reported to have occurred around midnight last Thursday, in one of the apartments above Amedeo’s Italian Bistro on Townsend Street. No one was apparently home at the […]
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How is the Chronicle Herald still being printed?
[Image-1] Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed a series of articles in the Chronicle Herald about the Chronicle Herald’s ongoing labour lockout. Thirteen pressroom employees belonging to the daily paper of record have now been locked out of their jobs for close to a week. “So who’s printing the papers?” you might ask ironically while reading […]
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Herald: Where are they now?
[Image-1] It’s tough out there. That’s especially true for journalists facing a shrivelling job market. Right now, nobody knows that better than the dozens of newsroom employees cast-off from the Chronicle Herald last year. Back in December, president and CEO Mark Lever eagerly told the media there were only two “voluntary” layoffs, in contrast to […]
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What drives cartoonists
My first death threat came when I was 23 years old. I was a naive tyro cartoonist for the Vancouver Province—a morning daily. Several more threats of bodily harm were directed my way, ceasing on the west coast when I joined the Toronto Star. Still more threats came at me there (not all from the […]
