J-Source.ca -- The Canadian Journalism Project

Rupert Murdoch announced his News Corp.-owned publications -- which in North America include the Wall Street Journal and The New York Post -- will charge for online news, within one year. It's not soon enough -- and the blogosphere is already screaming...

The public editor position was created at The New York Times after it was discovered that reporter Jayson Blair was making things up.

Is the role going to remain a permanent fixture at the company?

As CBC's 24-hour news channel, Newsworld, celebrated its twentieth anniversary, Toronto Star feature writer Oakland Ross examined the network's continued search for an identity, in a recent article called "Can Newsworld tune in?" Ross wrote...

After The New York Times published a story about Walter Cronkite that contained seven errors, the paper's public editor Clark Hoyt wrote a column assessing the situation.

The Cronkite story was written by Times television critic Alessandra Stanley who has a history of errors at the paper.

Regret the Error's Craig Silverman wrote a column for the Columbia Journalism Review about Stanley's history of making mistakes. As a follow-up to the column, Silverman distilled his ideas about error prevention into three pieces of advice: self-diagnose, create good habits and use a checklist (Silverman provides a PDF version of a sample checklist).

CTV Southwestern Ontario has experimented with a new YouTube offering that allows users to upload video shot simultaneously on two cameras and then makes it 3D. Here's the report about the experiment and how they did it as well as the completed 3D report...

It's a provocative question, and that's the whole point, according to Bilbo Poynter, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting (CCIR). The CCIR is presenting a panel discussion...

[Note: This post has been updated] The Telegraph-Journal in New Brunswick has published a front-page apology to Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a report that led to a national controversy, Craig Silverman at Regret the Error reports. Silverman explains...

As the newspaper industry continues to suffer, David Black, president and CEO of Black Press, is optimistic and keeping his eye out for more buying opportunities, a recent Globe and Mail feature on the Victoria-based media man concludes.

But, as the Globe's David Ebner points out, "The 63-year-old isn't so much a newspaper man as a businessman running newspapers...

"Lady mags are in trouble...Big surprise. Lady mags are dinosaurs," writes The Tyee's Vanessa Richmond in a recent column. She wrote...

Longtime CBC correspondent Brian Stewart recently spoke with Ken Bosveld, publisher of Ontario-based Christian magazine Beacon.

Bosveld interviewed Stewart after the after the recently retired CBC foreign correspondent gave a speech called "Faith on the Frontlines" at a dinner event held by the Bible League of Canada.

In the conversation, Stewart talked about his experiences covering the famine in Ethiopia in the 80s and conflicts in El Salvador, Beirut and Sudan.

American broadcast journalist Mike Walter has made a documentary short that has already garnered interest in both the US and Australia. Formerly with CBS Washington, Walter was on his way to work on 9/11 when he saw an American Airlines plane head towards the Pentagon -- a day that changed his life.  Breaking News, Breaking Down will be screened in Toronto on June 24 at the Reel HeART International Film Festival.  J-Source asked Mike to share some thoughts about his experiences and the impact his film has had so far.

It's awards time in the journalism world and as winter faded away journalists across the country began gathering at galas and ceremonies to celebrate work done in 2008.

From the Atlantic Journalism Awards last month to the Western Mag Awards this week in Vancouver, the honours abound. Despite tough times, new accolades cropped up this year. The Manitoba Magazine Publishers Association handed out its first round of Maggie Awards in May and national mag industry pub Masthead Online called for submissions to its new Online Publishing Awards.

Awards have been presented for investigative work, better newspapers, lifetime achievement, editor of the year, students, work in magazines, press freedom, broadcast work, humour and much more. Check out J-Source's Awards News section for all the honours bestowed. 0){var splitList = str.split('|');var strCompare = str;if (splitList.length == splitSize)strCompare = splitList[splitSize-1];var pluginList = document.plugins;for (var count = 0; count < pluginList.length; count++){var sSrc = '';if (pluginList[count] && pluginList[count].src)sSrc = pluginList[count].src;if (strCompare.length >= sSrc.length){if (strCompare.indexOf(sSrc) != -1){func(str, count, pluginList, splitList);break;}}}}if (strCallbackEvent)document.body.dispatchEvent(event);}function __RP_Coord_Callback(str){var func = function(str, index, pluginList, splitList){pluginList[index].__RP_Coord_Callback = str;pluginList[index].__RP_Coord_Callback_Left = splitList[0];pluginList[index].__RP_Coord_Callback_Top = splitList[1];pluginList[index].__RP_Coord_Callback_Right = splitList[2];pluginList[index].__RP_Coord_Callback_Bottom = splitList[3];};__RP_Callback_Helper(str, 'rp-js-coord-callback', 5, func);}function __RP_Url_Callback(str){var func = function(str, index, pluginList, splitList){pluginList[index].__RP_Url_Callback = str;pluginList[index].__RP_Url_Callback_Vid = splitList[0];pluginList[index].__RP_Url_Callback_Parent = splitList[1];};__RP_Callback_Helper(str, 'rp-js-url-callback', 3, func);}function __RP_TotalBytes_Callback(str){var func = function(str, index, pluginList, splitList){pluginList[index].__RP_TotalBytes_Callback = str;pluginList[index].__RP_TotalBytes_Callback_Bytes = splitList[0];};__RP_Callback_Helper(str, null, 2, func);}function __RP_Connection_Callback(str){var func = function(str, index, pluginList, splitList){pluginList[index].__RP_Connection_Callback = str;pluginList[index].__RP_Connection_Callback_Url = splitList[0];};__RP_Callback_Helper(str, null, 2, func);} //

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada Local 87-M Southern Ontario Newsmedia Guild (SONG) has scheduled a strike vote for its Globe and Mail members on Saturday, June 20.

According to a notice sent to Globe members, the vote will be held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre at 11 a.m. and arrangements will be made for Globe employees who work outside of Toronto.

Moses Znaimer, founder of CityTV and MuchMusic, is jumping back into television with an agreement to buy Vision TV, a collection of multicultural and religious channels. Znaimer's ZoomerMedia Ltd., along with backing from Fairfax Financial Holdings, is set to acquire Vision TV for $25 million. Znaimer said...

If no other profession can credibly police itself, why should journalists be able to? Stephen J.A. Ward says journalists must reject the “we know better” attitude and start involving the public in discussions about ethics.

Rod McQueen made the pilgrimage from newsrooms to bestseller lists 12 books ago. The former Maclean's business editor offers his advice to would-be fellow travellers.

Computer-Assisted Reporting was a big part of this year's winning Michener Award entry. The CBC and the Canadian Press teamed up to analyze Taser use by police officers across Canada, building a unique database from use-of-force reports obtained from police forces across the country. Read the press release from Government House here.
The reporters analyzed the data and found that between 2002 and 2008, RCMP members fired their tasers more than 3,200 times and administered multiple shocks in more than 40 per cent of those cases. The CBC and Radio Canada also conducted tests that showed older models sometimes produce a stronger zap than the maker advertised.
Congratulations to the whole CBC/Radio Canada/Canadian Press team.

Reporters from across Canada are headed to Halifax for the second annual University of King's College Summer School in Computer-Assisted Reporting.
The school is sponsored by the Canadian Newspaper Association and is the only "boot camp" style CAR training available in Canada. CAR skills give you a leg up in today's brutal journalism job market by helping you get big stories everyone else will miss. To sign up for the CAR school contact Kelly Goldenberg at 902-422-1271. You can pay using VISA, Mastercard or Amex.

Have we hit bottom yet? Two recent media business developments suggest not.

La Presse will no longer publish on Sundays, effective June 28, reported the Globe and Mail.

Standard and Poor Poor's deleted Torstar Corp. from its Canadian composite index, effective Monday June 15. (The rating agency deleted Canwest earlier.)
 

Associated Press will distribute stories produced by four non-profit news organizations that specialize in investigative reporting - ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity, the Investigative Reporting Workshop and the Center for Investigative Reporting. It's a six-month experiment sparked in part by a desire to stem the growing void of investigative reporting resulting from financial cuts among AP's member news organizations. Hmmm, a legacy media powerhouse joining forces with non-traditional media organizations - it might even give you a reason to be a little more hopeful about journalism's future.