News 1. Torstar shuts down StarMetro newspapers The Toronto Star is closing down all of the StarMetro newspapers across the country, including the The Star Halifax. Other papers affected include those in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. Seventy-three people, including journalists and those working in advertising and distribution, will lose their jobs. In Halifax, Star […]
Truly, no one much takes this supposed climate emergency seriously
Morning File, Monday, November 4, 2019
November subscription drive Through the Halifax Examiner’s first couple of years, I wrote Morning File every day. Then, the Examiner started hiring guest writers for Morning File when I was on vacation or out of town. More recently, other writers have become such a regular feature that we no longer call them “guests” — they’re […]
Back to the drawing board, Bill
Finance Minister Bill Morneau says his budget will provide support for journalism. It won't. It will only provide demise-delaying bailouts for badly managed media corporations. There are better ways.
Start with this from Page 173 of the federal budget Finance Minister Bill Morneau tabled in the House of Commons last week: “Support for Journalism.” No one — certainly not I — would argue “a strong and independent news media” isn’t “crucial to a well-functioning democracy,” or that the news media doesn’t play a “vitally important...
The Trudeau government’s tax subsidy for journalism puts the Halifax Examiner in an impossible situation
Morning File, Friday, March 22, 2019
News 1. Holly Bartlett Last night, I went to a special preview of the first episode of AMI TV’s six-part series on Holly Bartlett (I wrote about the series here). It’s as good as I expected. I like that we can see where Holly lived, and how the police theory of her death makes no sense […]
Assault on democracy: Stephen McNeil is ruling as an autocrat, answerable to no one and beyond question
Morning File, Thursday, September 27, 2018
News 1. Stephen McNeil’s assault on democracy Reports Jean Laroche for the CBC: The committee at Nova Scotia’s Province House that’s been most effective at holding governments to account and squeezing information out of high-ranking officials will no longer be as freewheeling or topical as it has traditionally been. The Liberal members on the powerful public accounts […]
Everything is an emergency: Morning File, Monday, December 12, 2016
News 1. El Jones On Saturday, The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission awarded Examiner contributor El Jones the Dr. Allan Burnley “Rocky” Jones Individual Award for her prisoner advocacy work. The full list of recipients is: Youth Award • Samuel Gregan, Halifax, Grade 9 student at Gorsebrook Junior High, honuored for his work as an LGBTQ advocate Dr. Allan […]