Browsing Tag

canadian journalism

156 posts
A cheese platter and champagne glasses with a 'The Walrus' tag on it

How to Survive a Publishing Apocalypse

The evening begins in a cheery reception room. Lined with appetizers and sparkling wine, and framed by tall ceilings, it seems much too formal and well-orchestrated for a magazine event. It’s December 2, 2024, and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is welcoming attendees to The Walrus Talks, a national event series hosted by The Walrus.
Stevie Cameron sits on a park bench with her dog at night

Sharp Pen, Soft Heart

In August 1999, Karlheinz Schreiber sat in a corner of a bustling Toronto hotel restaurant, gesturing enthusiastically to National Post reporter Philip Mathias about an instant spaghetti cooking machine he was promoting. It was a strange scene for the German-Canadian businessman, whose name was synonymous with high-stakes deals involving planes, tanks, and whispers of political intrigue. Mathias, who had initially broken the story that connected former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to the Airbus probe, listened carefully for the possibility that Schreiber might let something slip.
Four shadowed out figures are positioned around a brown-colored stage, with black curtains framing two sides of the image. A large golden trophy with a question mark is at the centre, and four headlights at the top of the image.

Behind the Curtain

Have you ever nominated yourself for a journalism award and started second-guessing whether you made a typo? What exactly goes into picking a winner, anyway? Who decides? What does the competition look like? When will I receive my cash prize?
A robot looms over a scared man and his keyboard

Paranoid of the Android

It’s early October 2024, and the Toronto Star’s conference room is abuzz with anticipation. Stephen Ghigliotty, a marketing strategist with expertise in artificial intelligence, is preparing to host a five-hour learning session on the impacts of AI on journalism. The space is warm and welcoming, but beneath the surface lurks an undeniable undercurrent of fear. Ghigliotty can feel it when he steps into the conference room.
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.
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.
An illustration of five Canadian media company logos sitting in a courtroom. The five companies are the Globe and Mail, CBC-Radio, Toronto Star, Postmedia, and The Canadian Press.

Big Tech, Big Lawsuit

“Big tech, again and again, shows itself to be an industry that moves with entitlement and lack of care,” wrote author Michael Melgaard in a contribution for The Walrus in 2023. Not long before the magazine’s interviews with Melgaard and other Canadian writers, The Atlantic’s Alex Reisner had exposed the contents of Books3, a text database used to train LLaMA, Meta’s large language model (LLM) for AI-generated text.
An Illustration of a person’s hand holding a newspaper, flipping through the pages.

In the Year 2025…

Journalism is facing a tough choice: evolve or die. Journalism has always thrived on asking tough questions, so here’s one for the industry itself: What should we do better this year?
Illustration of two friends standing close and smiling.

To My Mentor

Tears poured from Knežević’s eyes when the towers fell, recalls Wency Leung, now a reporter for the Toronto-based outlet The Local. On September 11, 2001, Leung was in her early twenties and working at Reuters, her first professional journalism job.
An illustration of a newspaper with the title “CanadaLand” being written across the top. One hand on the left side tugging the newspaper towards it, and three hands on the right tugging the opposite way, causing there to be a tier on the top middle.

Editor, Publisher, Founder

Over the past few years, Canadaland has been facing scrutiny over its coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, largely related to its founder, host, and publisher, Jesse Brown.