Rolling Stone, iconic magazine of pop culture, presents a shocking Special Report, The Kill Team. …While the officers of 3rd Platoon peeled off to talk to a village elder inside a compound, […]
Spreading democracy by atrocity
Not even a tawdry veil of objectivity
In October, Sun pundit Vaughn Palmer wrote that if Carole James were to resign as leader, the NDP would become involved in “a bitter, divisive contest” leading to selection of a leader […]
An alternative view of Vancouver
From Rail for the Valley: “. . . You don’t meet people of substance here. You meet flakes. The press is dominated by yellow journalism. Rarely if ever have I read a […]
One dirty secret of industrial food
Paul Kamon‘s foodie site Urban Diner is great for news about local dining. At the UD Forum, most participants are professionals, including owners, chefs, servers and other industry insiders and suppliers. There are […]
Bringing good things to life like no taxes
Rafe Mair likes to remind citizens that when preference for private power generation became BC Liberal policy, they talked about “Run-of-the-River” projects. The implication was that small, benign installations would be community […]
Sordid politics
An advisor to Stephen Harper left the PM’s office in 2008 to become executive director for the Canada School of Energy and Environment, a “think-tank” begun with $15 million in federal money. […]
Arch-conservative fox in BC henhouse
Province columnist Ethan Baron bluntly questions suitability of a BC Liberal insider acting as key advisor to Christy Clark. Online magazines and blogs including this one, have been warning about former Fraser Institute […]
New York town moves to protect water supply from fracking
Awareness builds elsewhere but the BC Government subsidizes hydraulic fracturing and enables the gas industry unprecedented access to fresh water, while ignoring the economic value of this precious resource. And they claim […]
"It would probably be appropriate for you to post an apology on your blog"
Mainstream media, through industry associations, promise to be accurate, unbiased and accountable to readers, viewers or listeners. However, in words of Hamlet, “. . . it is a custom more honour’d in […]
Efficiencies or surrender?
Cuts announced in Tuesday’s federal budget are “the result of identifying efficiencies in operation“, says DFO Minister Gail Shea. By 2014, almost $57 million will be trimmed from Fisheries and Oceans. Read […]
Watchdogs against evil, not
This is from the Statement of Principles of the Canadian Newspaper Association. “However, the operation of a newspaper is a public trust and its overriding responsibility is to the society it serves. […]
More woes in media
In addition to stenography, media damages the quality of information through misleading headlines. Here is an example sent to me by an In-Sights reader. It is a Kamloops Daily News article written for […]
"Are we missing something?"
I’ve discussed stenographic journalists who publish statements without appraisal, fact checking or balance, even when controversial or questionable allegations are repeated. The usual justification is that somebody said something and reporters merely […]
Mythbuilding through stenographic journalism
The Globe and Mail, courtesy of Justine Hunter and Ian Bailey, provides a fawning profile of Christy Clark, complete with this unchallenged quote, “There is a lot of appetite … for a […]
DFO ignores science to protect political interests
Alexandra Morton reports on testimony at the Cohen Inquiry that suggests a concerted effort by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to ignore and undermine science, even their own, if it points to fish […]
"Even if it means compromising democratic ideology"
Christy Clark‘s financial backer and key advisor Gwyn Morgan contemplates the difficulties faced by autocratic rulers in the Middle East: “Only a few weeks ago, instability in the House of Saud seemed […]
Socialism for big investors, capitalism for everyone else
Risk, Radiation and Regulation, by Nancy Folbre, Economics Professor, University of Massachusetts The New York Times, March 18, 2011 Early warnings about potential nuclear dangers in Japan and about Wall Street’s propensity […]
"Lowered the environmental bars . . ."
Extracts of testimony to the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, House of Commons, February 3, 2011 Will Koop (Coordinator, British Columbia Tap Water Alliance): . . . the rush to develop B.C.’s non-renewable deep […]
Politicians "too managed"
Simi Sara, speaking with John Horgan on CKNW, made a plea for politicians to speak clearly, from their own hearts: “I’ll tell you what I don’t like, having done this for a […]
Horgan questions Clark’s priorities
“In her first opportunity to raise issues of concern to British Columbia, did Premier Clark discuss the likely fallout from the June 24th referendum on the HST?” asked Horgan. “Did she raise […]
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If George Carlin was a scholar in Confucian China he’d fit nicely into a period of history when “The Rectification…