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Three things I dislike about today’s media establishment
TORONTO — Increasingly, there are three things I dislike about our modern mainstream news media. First, is the growing penchant to create scandal where none exists. Second, is the ubiquitous assumption that audiences are stupid. Third, is the mounting evidence that maybe we are.
Who needs a real scandal when we can make […]
Canada’s Olympic press Owns the Odium
TORONTO — Canada’s media are all aflutter over whether the country’s Own the Podium campaign was too… unCanadian. Some media pundits have suggested that:
a. the campaign failed because Canada is not going to score more medals than any other nation,
b. the campaign put undue pressure on Canadian athletes to excel, thus compromising […]
Why adultery shouldn’t matter in politics
TORONTO — Although this post comes hot on the heels of my earlier commentary on the sad saga of Adam Giambrone, who is currently campaigning to be Toronto’s next mayor, this column is not about him.
This post is, however, inspired by some of the inane commentary currently clogging the airwaves of Toronto’s talk radio shows […]
Giambrone scandal is just beginning
TORONTO – The sex scandal that exploded this morning around Toronto mayoral candidate Adam Giambrone could be more serious than it appears.
At first glance, the early days of a 10 month campaign may be the best time for a sex scandal to emerge. It will damage Giambrone’s candidacy somewhat, but it alone is not […]
Is it time to abolish Parliament?
TORONTO — Has the sun set on Canada’s Parliament? For years, Canadians have agreed the nation’s Senate was obsolete. Some want it overhauled, others want it abolished outright. That no one could agree on how to fix it has resulted in its languishing, unchanged, for decades. With the recent false furor […]
10 Tips Tiger can still teach you… no Mulligan required
TORONTO – The January issue of Golf Digest is on the newstands now and it is a fine illustration of the perils of magazine publishing and its long lead times. The cover story (illustrated above) is 10 tips Obama can take from Tiger. Ahem, as they say in the biz.
“Ahem,” […]
Finally, a credible version of events in Afghanistan
TORONTO – Friday’s Globe and Mail carries a front page story by Campbell Clark that presents what I believe is the most credible scenario explaining the disconnect in Canada’s Foreign Affairs ministry on the Afghan detainee issue.
While most other journalists have concentrated on titillating “he said, she said” stories playing up every minuscule difference of […]
Update: TTC condo “tax”
TORONTO – Was pleased to hear CFRB’s Bill Carroll raise the issue of the City’s new “TTC tax” on condo developers this morning.
Toronto Star asks readers to stop buying newspaper
TORONTO — Ah, yes. My Monday morning Java, fresh in hand, I sit down to look at the papers and… what? Could it be? Yes. The Toronto Star newspaper wants me to stop buying newspapers.
The entire front page of the Toronto Star today is devoted to a multinational editorial headlined: […]
Update: the future of TV “broadcasting”
TORONTO — Cable TV customers of Canada’s Rogers Communications Inc. will now be able to access their paid TV content through the Rogers web site and view it online. Rogers announced the new online service that further merges the TV and Internet worlds this week, and Coffee learned about it from ITBusiness.ca.
As an update to […]