Numbers 0, 1 are shown in green with outlines of people in shadows behind them.

Strength in Numbers

In 1994, Fred Vallance-Jones had been a journalist for 10 years, travelling across western Manitoba reporting stories for CBC Radio. Intrigued by a new and rapidly growing type of journalism called computer-assisted reporting, he flew to Ottawa to attend a training session organized by the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ). “They pulled out this mysterious database software called FoxPro, and I was amazed by what it could do,” he recalls.

Julian Sher looks at the camera in a portrait photo

When We Become the Story

As journalists we want to report the story, not become the story. Sometimes, though, it’s unavoidable. Back in December 1992, an investigation I did into drug trafficking and corruption with a team from CBC’s The Fifth Estate led to the shocking suicide of a senior RCMP inspector the day before we went to air. Then there are some famous cases when our own media companies become the story—like when Fifth Estate broadcast “The Unmaking of Jian Ghomeshi” in 2014, exposing how CBC mishandled sexual assault allegations against its former star radio host.