Browsing Category

Stories

183 posts

All stories of the Review of Journalism.

Baseball, Birding, and Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Looking back, where did I get the audacity to do that?” asks Emma McIntosh, reflecting on her early days as a journalist in high school. “There was this quote that went along the lines of ‘Mr. V. declined to comment, stating a desire to keep his professional life and community work separate.’ I was crazy.”
Bar graph describing the gender and race identities of the Review of Journalism compared to Canadian Newsrooms. 65% of RoJ journalists identify as marginalized in their gender identity compared to 53% in Canadian Newsrooms. 48% of RoJ journalists identify as racialized compared to 25% in Canadian Newsrooms.

2025 Diversity Report

The Review of Journalism strives to create a workplace and publication that reflects the diversity of both our readers and the stories we tell. Every year, our masthead publishes an anonymous breakdown of the race, gender, sexuality, and disability representation of our staff. This annual summary allows us to track progress over time and compare our newsroom’s diversity with other Canadian journalism organizations, as tracked by the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ).
A newspaper with the word “Redacted” blocking out most of the letters.

Chill Out, Journalists

In Canadian newsrooms, a silent force is shaping which stories get published and which ones don’t. It’s not editorial standards, audience metrics, or a lack of reporting skill—it’s fear. “The legal risk in journalism has always been a cost of doing business,” says Josh Lynn, a public relations manager at Animal Justice and a former journalist.

Anchored in Community

Ginella Massa’s push into journalism began with her mother’s advice: “Just because it hasn’t been done before, doesn’t mean you can’t be the first to do it.”
Four panelists sitting at the front of a room, with an audience facing them.

ChatGPT, Are You After My Job?

“When we talk about generative AI,” says Cody Gault, “there is fear that it’s going to take newsroom jobs.” Gault, product manager at the Toronto Star, saying what was on everyone’s mind on a panel on the future of AI in newsrooms to an audience of working journalists, retired professionals, students, and professors.
Freelancer Matt Elliot sits on a bench with his laptop, outside a legacy newsroom building, which only has a few lights left on. In a thought bubble that appears to his right, we see that his laptop screen shows the “Substack” logo.

The Substack Dilemma

A longtime music journalist, Michael Barclay began writing on Substack during what he calls a “mid-career crisis.” After working for Exclaim!, Maclean’s, CBC, and other outlets, he launched That Night in Toronto, a newsletter focused on music and culture.
  • Jin Yu
  • March 28, 2025
  • 3 minute read
A person looks down at their laptop while icons circle around them, causing them stress.

Impassioned but Exhausted

When Twitter was first on the rise, Talia Ricci recalls how hectic it was to live tweet while filing on deadline.
An illustration three ex-broadcasters, Alan Carter, Amber Kanwar, and Graham Richardson, looking into a shutdown newsroom, with boxes laid around and an attention sign on the television screen on the left side.

The Last Showrunners

On February 10, fans of Breakfast Television were stunned when co-host Devo Brown announced on-air that Meredith Shaw and Sid Seixeiro were let go from the morning show. A Rogers sports and media representative told Postmedia that these latest moves were an “evolution” for the program and new plans would be announced in the coming weeks. Days later, Broadcast Dialogue reported that Corus Entertainment confirmed another round of staff cuts—part of the company’s plan to cut 10 percent of its workforce and streamline operations.
Illustration of Krishen Persad Brainstorming at his CBC desk

Connecting Kids to News

CBC launched its Kids News digital platform in 2018 to help Canadian children stay informed while developing their media literacy skills. However, when the pandemic hit in 2020, the platform became increasingly relevant to younger audiences due to the reliable, age-appropriate health information it provided them.