‘I loved her to bits,’ Rosaleen Dickson knew how to tell a story
Rosaleen Dickson, who helped her son Ross Dickson start The Hill Times back in 1989 and was the editor of The Shawville Equity for more than 30 years, died last week at the age of 96 in Ottawa. I loved her to bits. She could be a tyrant but always had time for people who needed […]
The Post: a brilliant reminder of what democracy looks like
Of all the things the Steven Spielberg Pentagon Papers drama The Post is, a period piece isn’t one of them. Yes, it’s set in 1971. Yes, there are shots of hot metal typesetting and everyone’s smoking their heads off. Newsrooms were noisy and at Georgetown dinner parties, the women, including Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, peeled off in a […]
Hold the last rites, Scheer’s got a pulse
OTTAWA—Compared to our southern neighbours, we are blessed these days to have predictable patterns in our national politics. One of those familiar routines is to have columnists and others write the obituary of the opposition leader of the day. If the Conservatives lead the official Opposition, it is almost certain such pronouncements will appear not […]
Women on the Hill should band together as united front against sexual harassment
The Canadian Press last week reported on results from a survey it conducted last month with current female MPs from every party, in which it asked them anonymously to share their own experiences about sexual harassment, assault, and misconduct, including during their time in elected office. Of the 89 female MPs, 38 responded. The MPs […]
A sign of the times: press gallery members say constitutional changes ensure ‘people don’t fall through the cracks’
Hill journalists, freelancers, and online news organizations will have an easier time getting accredited with the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery if proposed changes pass, aimed at addressing the fractured media landscape and updating the gallery’s constitution which was written before the 24-hour news channels and before the internet. The press gallery’s updated constitution will also […]
Trump and TV: why we’re still amusing ourselves to death
The late Neil Postman, who was arguably the intellectual heir of Marshall McLuhan, was one of the most articulate critics of television. In his 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman wrote of the decline in the American thirst for knowledge and the written word, and laid it at the doorstep of television: “There is […]
Postmedia-Torstar’s deal to close 37 papers a big loss for communities, say MPs, Hill reporters
The Postmedia-Torstar deal announced last week to shut down 37 community newspapers, including nine in Ottawa, is another blow to the business and a loss for those communities, say MPs and Hill reporters. “The local papers present stories that the national papers don’t and honestly can’t. They are the reporters who submerge themselves in issues […]
The slow death of local news is bad for democracy
The week started with a thud Monday in newsrooms across the country, as journalists were hit with the news that Canadian media giants Torstar and Postmedia were swapping 37 community newspapers and four free commuter papers, only to shut down most of them. That means nearly 300 full-time and part-time jobs will be gone, mostly […]
Kudos to Green Party strategist
Re: “‘What do you think of CBC News’ new and totally revamped The National?’” (The Hill Times, Nov. 27, p. 34). Congratulations to Green strategist Debra Eindiguer for a succinct and forthright answer relevant to the new format of the program, while the other respondents muddled the issue with partisan gobbledygook. Kope Inokai Toronto, Ont.
Torstar-Postmedia deal drives home need for government support
OTTAWA—If the rise of Donald Trump proved anything worth knowing, it’s the risk to democracy posed by an uninformed electorate. The story of the 2016 United States election woke everyone up to the extent of the problems with social media in an election, whether it was to do with the widespread dissemination of false and […]
