Erosion of press freedom threatens democracy: United Nations officials say

The United Nations marked World Press Freedom Day with a stark warning: Governments are increasingly trying to silence independent media. The erosion of press freedom threatens democracy itself, UNESCO Secretary General Khaled El-Enany said in a joint statement with leaders of other U.N. governing bodies on May 3. “We unequivocally condemn the killings of journalists […]

Frum urges news consumers and producers to aim higher

Consumers need to be more diligent in their news choices instead of relying on social media sources that are designed to enrage us, David Frum told the World Press Freedom Canada luncheon in Ottawa. Frum is a staff writer at The Atlantic who has championed rule of law and press freedom. The conservative commentator is […]

A Canadian on the world’s fault lines

For more than two decades, Mark MacKinnon has served as a foreign correspondent for The Globe and Mail, covering conflict in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Ukraine, often at great personal risk. He has said he does this work because he believes Canadians should see and understand the world through the eyes of Canadian journalists, […]

Montenegrin cartoonist wins WPFC’s international cartoon contest

Cartoonist Darko Drljevic won first prize in the 26th annual Editorial Cartoon Competition, which had as its theme “Times are Tough.” Like other journalists, editorial cartoonists are facing cutbacks and other economic pressure, as well as threats and intimidation from authoritarian governments around the world. Drljevic is a cartoonist and illustrator based in Podgorica, Montenegro. […]

B.C. Human Rights Commissioner: Police must respect the media’s right to report

B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner said police had no good reason to block media access during the April 2023 eviction of an encampment in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. A Feb. 4 report found that Vancouver police compromised transparency and press freedom by excluding reporters from the operation. “The rights to peaceful protest and freedom of the press […]

Canada’s J-schools face the ax

When the Board of Governors at Algonquin College announced in February it was ending the college’s journalism program, it joined a growing list of journalism program closures across the country. Both the news industry and post-secondary institutions are facing dire financial circumstances. Many colleges are responding by targeting their j-schools, but professors and students worry […]

Access to Information: Ottawa lacks the appetite for reform

A complete version of this column appeared in Dean’s newsletter. The Liberal government has finally got around to asking ordinary Canadians how to fix the country’s premier transparency law, the Access to Information Act. But it’s hard to have confidence that the government will embrace real reform. The Act requires a thorough “review” of the […]

Who decides what journalists can see?

When police arrested photojournalist Amber Bracken while she was documenting a protest in northern British Columbia, they didn’t just detain a reporter — they set the stage for a major test of press freedom in Canada. The Narwhal and photojournalist Amber Bracken were in court in January to press their suit against the RCMP over […]

A shrinking press; a changing media landscape

The newspaper industry should brace for more challenges in the coming year, as other media players rush to fill the void left by a shrinking industry. The warning came in November from Statistics Canada which reports on the financial health of the newspaper industry. A multi-decade decline in revenue has resulted in newsroom job losses, […]

Student reporters are stymied on access to information

Student journalists across Canada are increasingly facing delays, ghosting, and centralized message control from universities and student unions, raising concerns for the future of press freedom and the learned practices of the next generation of Canadian reporters. “Sometimes we’re waiting on emails for too long and then the story withers on the vine,” said Thai […]