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Hedonists of power
Chris Hedges wrote many words for the New York Times; some of them wrong. He participated in false reporting that helped orchestrate invasion of Iraq by the coalition of the dragged kicking […]
Comforted by false reality
A New York Times article, The Surprisingly Large Cost of Telling Small Lies, quotes a successful English business person about the need to confront truths, even uncomfortable ones, “…telling lies is the […]
Beat reporters left the building
In 2010, the small city of Bell, CA was front page news nationwide. Over 17 years, the city manager and other municipal officials bilked tax payers out of millions of dollars. The […]
The Explainer explains
Surveying corporate media coverage of the education dispute, I noted a column by Vaughn Palmer that displays his particular usefulness when BC Liberals want information distributed. Here is an excerpt from Palmer’s A […]
Redefinition of news – Updated
It is no secret that Postmedia, owner of daily newspapers from Montreal to Vancouver, accumulates losses at rates it cannot sustain. Raising prices and reducing expenses is not a solution. Despite higher […]
R.I.P. Paul St. Pierre, 1923-2014
In the summer of 1968, I was a naive minion of the Liberal Party, helping manage the coastal part of Paul St. Pierre’s campaign to become MP for Coast Chilcotin. It was […]
A system guaranteed to fail
I grumble about the quality of political journalism hereabouts and these complaints seem justified, even urgent, when an Ontario pundit demonstrates an example of powerful advocacy for the public interest. Andrew Coyne […]
Losing the news
Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Jones wrote the 2009 book Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds Democracy. In it, he examines “authentic journalistic objectivity” and finds “a crisis of […]
Good questions
Not-a-nincompoop blogger RossK at The Gazetteer mentioned difficulties faced by Bob Mackin, the province’s preeminent investigative journalist, when Bob digs, and pays, for information the government does not want us to know. […]
Let them die and decrease the surplus…
Paul Willcocks writes a blog with the perceptive eye of a skilled and experienced journalist and editor. I suspect Vaughn Palmer might even exclude Paul from his description. Nincompoops ranting in their […]
Shill, sham and flimflam
The Vancouver Sun added an experienced political reporter when it hired Rob Shaw from the Times Colonist. Now it is time for the Sun to assign Bob Mackin to the pundit’s role, enabling Vaughn Palmer to work for PR firm Hill+Knowlton, where he need make no pretense of objectivity.
Taxpayers, assume the position
Reader who goes by the name of Hawgwash left this comment at the earlier article, Subsidies for some, higher fees for others: I see Vaughn Palmer is actually touching this topic and even […]
Flimflam sham
When conducting hearings on Northern Gateway, the National Energy Board Joint Review Panel denied participation to many and held sessions behind closed doors to limit opposition voices. Its decision favoured multinational industry […]
No free lunches… ever
I published this article a year ago and repeat it because issues are little changed. Recently, our promedia friends learned that BC Liberal chief Laura Miller was refusing to speak with Ontario […]
Still ROTFL
An old item, published January 30, 2013 and updated in March with an audio clip from The Bill Good Show on CKNW. Brought to the top again in October 2013. This one […]
Dis·in·gen·u·ous — [dis-in-jen-yoo-uhs]
Vancouver Sun Editorial Board Considers the Issues Earlier this month, the Vancouver Sun published an editorial titled, BC Jobs Plan figures don’t signal success or failure yet. In case you fail to […]
Propaganda presented as credible news
Were I a new arrival in Canada who relied on major media, I would believe, as Canadian Press reported, Northern Gateway is a project that, “…will put billions of dollars into the […]
The decline of journalism…
…It’s a fundamental existential problem for every society on earth today. That was in the opening comments of Dr. Robert McChesney when he was interviewed by Ian Jessop of CFAX 1070 radio. […]
The real silence is that of victims
In the preceding article, I mentioned the assistance to John Furlong provided by “compliant media friends.” Bob Mackin gave an example in his J-Source article, Furlong drops suit against Georgia Straight for story […]
in-sights.ca 
This Just In https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/general/microsoft-to-use-2-8-million-gallons-of-lake-michigan-water-in-2026-for-mt-pleasant-project/ar-AA1ML7Mw Too bad about Lake Michigan. Where did you say hundred of thousands of gallons of data…