Journalism

Chronicle Herald union offers major concessions to save newsroom staff

Robert DeVet — Thu, 27 Nov 2014 23:10:20 +0000

Concerns about paper's future remain, union says

(K'JIPUKTUK), HALIFAX - 13 unionized Chronicle Herald staff will soon walk away from the Herald newsroom with either early retirement or buy-out packages. Two unionized newsroom workers will be laid off.

Newsroom staff rally against Chronicle Herald job cuts

Robert DeVet — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 21:27:07 +0000

Layoffs should concern not just Herald readers, journalism professor warns

(K'JIPUKTUK), HALIFAX - Unionized newsroom staff and supporters staged a brief rally in front of the Chronicle Herald building on Joseph Howe Drive in Halifax today.

Weekly Halifax Media Co-op contributors meeting next Monday

Robert DeVet — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 11:04:23 +0000

If you’re a writer, thinker or story-teller, the Halifax Media Co-op wants to hear your voice.

We are dedicated to grassroots citizen journalism and are always on the lookout for new contributors — no matter what your experience level is.

Contribute to grassroots media! Get paid!

Robert DeVet — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:51:28 +0000

Halifax Media Co-op looking for writers

The Halifax Media Co-op is looking for writers. We pay $100 for longer, more complex pieces. Shorter, more newsworthy and time-sensitive stories can earn you $40.

Contribute to grassroots media! Get paid!

Robert DeVet — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 17:52:54 +0000

Halifax Media Co-op looking for writers

The Halifax Media Co-op is looking for writers. We pay $100 for longer, more complex pieces. Shorter, more newsworthy and time-sensitive stories can earn you $40.

Interns: trainees or coffee-fetchers?

Robert DeVet — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 14:33:34 +0000

Are internships taking advantage of a vulnerable generation or teaching skills necessary for success?

K'JIPUKTUK, HALIFAX - The newsroom is humming. Colin Chisholm is surrounded by reporters chowing down on pizza, watching the results of the 2009 provincial elections flow in.

Severe amnesia at CBC Radio?

Bruce Wark — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:19:56 +0000

It sure looks like CBC host Anna Maria Tremonte and her producers at The Current urgently need treatment for a nasty case of journalistic amnesia. Just last Wednesday, Tremonte introduced a one-minute clip of the Canadian rapper K'naan. The Somali-born musician talked about how the mainstream media are missing the real story about piracy off the coast of Somalia. According to K'naan, Somalis themselves see the pirates as a kind of Coast Guard trying to defend the country's territorial waters from illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic nuclear waste.

After the K'naan clip, listeners heard nothing more except the program theme. Maybe the CBC journalists thought K'naan was just joking. Today's program devoted its last half-hour to a discussion of the problems involved in prosecuting suspected Somali pirates. Illegal fishing and toxic dumping were barely mentioned.

If The Current's producers had checked into the story, they could easily have found evidence to support what K'naan had said. For one thing, the well-respected Pacifica Radio program Democracy Now carried a lengthy interview last Tuesday with the Kenyan journalist and consultant Mohamed Abshir Waldo who was born in Somalia.

He told host

CBC blind spots on Haiti

Bruce Wark — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:33:46 +0000

Poor Haiti. “It is a hard luck country with a glorious past,” host Anna Maria Tremonte declared on the Wednesday edition of The Current, CBC Radio’s national daily current affairs program. Yes, poor Haiti. Tremonte seemed oh so sympathetic as she delivered a rapid-fire history that began with Haiti’s “glorious past”.

“Haiti was born out of a successful slave rebellion that took place two centuries ago. It was the first, black-led republic in the western hemisphere.” But, according to the CBC host, things somehow turned sour for Haiti. “Today, it is one of the poorest countries in the world. Grinding poverty, hunger and violence fills its days and nights, corruption hampers development on the national level."

Except for her reference to “hard luck,” Tremonte gave no explanation for Haiti’s troubles. She did not mention the economic, political and military oppression visited on the tiny Caribbean country by the U.S and two of its allies, France and Canada. Yves Engler summarizes it in his recent article Haiti’s Harsh Realities on the website Counterpunch:

“Through isolation, economic asphyxiation, debt dependence, gunboat diplomacy, occupation, foreign supported dictatorships, structural adjustment programs and ‘democracy promotion’ Haiti is no stranger to the various forms of foreign political manipulation. Most recently, the elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide was destabilized and then overthrown on February 29 2004 by the US, France and Canada, which ushered in a terrible wave of political repression and an ongoing UN occupation.”

CBC Regional Cuts: Open Letter to Members of Parliament

Bruce Wark — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:22:13 +0000

Dear Members of Parliament,

Your help is urgently needed to defend our region from devastating cuts to CBC English-language programming. As you know, CBC is planning to eliminate at least 31 full-time positions in the Maritime provinces. These cuts would reduce original reporting on CBC morning radio programs in Cape Breton and southern New Brunswick. They would wipe out the stories, interviews and documentaries from all three Maritime provinces that we hear daily on CBC Radio’s Maritime Noon. Moreover, further cuts are pending which could weaken CBC Television’s already-understaffed, regional supper-hour programs.

These cuts are especially serious at a time when privately owned media outlets in our region are being forced to slash costs and lay off staff because of dwindling advertising revenues associated with the current economic recession. The most dramatic example is in Nova Scotia where one of two Halifax papers has been shut down, while the other, a provincial daily, has laid off about a quarter of its journalists. Journalistic staff has also been cut to the bone in the regional newsrooms of Canwest Global Television. CTV Atlantic news and information programming too is under severe budget restraints because of financial problems facing its parent company, CTVglobemedia.

As Members of Parliament, there may not be much you can do in the immediate future to prevent layoffs and cutbacks at private media outlets, but you do have the power to oppose regional cuts at CBC, a federal Crown Corporation. As you know, the federal government is spending billions on a stimulus plan to offset the worst effects of the current recession. A small portion of that money could be allocated to support CBC operations, especially in regions like ours that need a strong CBC presence most.

CBC pulling out of smaller centres

Bruce Wark — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:14:45 +0000

CBC Radio journalist Kathleen Petty made a penetrating observation this morning during her on-air interview with James Moore, the federal cabinet minister responsible for broadcasting: "I went through the [local TV] stations that Global and CTV are closing or selling," Petty said, "and then the CBC has reduced operations in places like Windsor, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Quebec City, Moncton, Saint John, Sydney, Cornerbrook, Labrador --- Gander and Grand Falls." Petty paused to let that long list sink in, then made her point: "We're turning into a country of big city broadcasting."

"It's a concern of Canadians and it's true," Moore responded. "But I think you have to look at the entire spectrum because if you're just looking at television and radio, which is what that list describes, but I think if you're looking at media content, you have to add in the Internet." Moore's answer was a diversionary tactic designed to shift the focus away from the fact that local news sources are quickly disappearing. He went on to spout even more nonsense about the promise of new technologies. "I'm an optimist. I think this is actually an incredible opportunity for Canada who has always led the way, if you look at BlackBerry and RIM and LIONSGATE productions and new media. We have the capacity to lead the way in this country with new technologies that will allow people more choice, more freedom and how they want to live their lives and how they want to consume their media."

CBC's Maritime Noon fades away quietly

Bruce Wark — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:23:09 +0000

Costas Halavrezos, the veteran host of CBC Radio's Maritime Noon, read a 33 second message at the start of the Friday March 27 program thanking listeners for their support. He noted that many listeners wrote and called with "many kind words" after hearing that CBC will soon be axing the program's current affairs hour and cutting the jobs of four full-time journalists. When the change takes effect, Maritime Noon will become a one-hour phone-in.

"It's gratifying to hear that you regard the stories and interviews and documentaries we present every day as a worthwhile service," Halavrezos told listeners. His announcement was followed by 28 seconds of upbeat guitar music and that was it. No further coverage of a story that affects every one of the program's many loyal listeners. No investigation, no analysis, no nothing.

Unfortunately, that's how most mainstream journalists act when the axe falls. They stick rigidly to the unwritten rule that journalists should not "cover themselves." No matter that the CBC layoffs and program cuts will seriously weaken journalism in the Maritimes --- especially in New Brunswick where journalists at the three CBC morning radio shows are also being cut. As a result, New Brunswickers will be forced to rely even more heavily on the Irving family's English-language newspaper monopoly for coverage of local and provincial issues.

At least the Maritime Noon Web page supplies e-mail addresses in case listeners wish to voice their complaints to the CBC managers who made this disastrous decision. I'll paste them in here: President Hubert T Lacroix (ht.lacroix@cbc.ca ), Executive Vice President of English Services Richard Stursberg (richard.stursberg@cbc.ca ), the head of CBC Radio in the Maritimes Andrew Cochran (andrew.cochran@cbc.ca ), Executive Director of CBC Radio, Denise Donlon (denise.donlon@cbc.ca ) and the Senior Manager of News and Current Affairs in the Maritimes, Janet Irwin (janet.irwin@cbc.ca)