There appears to be no end to the rocky road of broadcast news in Canada. Shrinking newsrooms have been a feature of the media landscape in Canada for the past two decades but the decline has accelerated in recent years. The trend leaves Canadians increasingly ill-served by major corporations that own broadcasting networks but see […]
Read MoreStrengthening communities and combating disinformation: The vital role of local news and public broadcasting World Press Freedom Canada president Heather Bakken appeared before the Senate Transport and Communications committee on Nov. 19 to contribute to its study on Local services provided by CBC/Radio-Canada. “The information space has changed dramatically since the CBC was created in […]
Read MoreUNESCO’s report marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists is both a somber reminder and a rallying cry for the need to protect press freedom globally. These biennial reports highlight the challenges journalists face in regions plagued by conflict and authoritarianism, but the 2024 report carries a particularly stark warning: the […]
Read MoreNational Defence has long been a rogue institution in complying with the Access to Information Act. Its secretive practices are especially concerning after DND officials issued a controversial statement on the Gaza War and then flouted the law by refusing to deal with a journalist’s request for information on how they reached their conclusions. The […]
Read MoreIn the three years since the fall of Kabul, the Taliban government has smothered Afghanistan’s once thriving media with censorship and intimidation.To mark the August 15 anniversary, Toronto-based Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) released a report by former Afghani journalist Mujtaba Haris that describes the crackdown on journalists and especially female ones. Haris’s report paints […]
Read MoreInstead of taking a summer vacation, many journalists were given a permanent break from their jobs as media executives blamed shrinking audiences for the downsizing. The ongoing decline in the industry leaves a shrinking pool of journalists to inform the public on public-interest issues and to hold powerful interests to account. Some small markets have […]
Read MoreChina attacks free media in Hong Kong as two journalists are sentenced in sedition trial Two journalists from the closed Hong Kong media outlet Stand News have been found guilty of conspiring to publish seditious materials – the first such convictions since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese control – after a trial that was closely […]
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Justice in September unsealed an indictment that identified two Canadians as being at the centre of an alleged Russian-led disinformation campaign, known as Doppelganger, that is targeting the U.S. Presidential elections in November. Tenet Media – owned by Canadian influencer Lauren Chen and her husband Ian Donovan – is accused in […]
Read MoreAs press freedom goes, so goes democracy. Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects freedom of the press. That’s because Press Freedom ensures citizens can be informed, empowered, and able to participate in the democratic process. But are they informed? In 2024, more than half of the world’s population will have gone to the polls […]
Read MoreOn the night of May 3, Niagara Falls was bathed in a spectacular multi-coloured light show to recognize World Press Freedom Day. The Falls Illumination Board was one of several landmarks and 29 municipalities that shone the colours, issued proclamations or raised the United Nations’ flag to recognize the importance of press freedom. The campaign […]
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