In the 1880s, Joseph Pulitzer hung a sign in the newsroom of his paper, the New York World, which read: “The World has no friends.” It is an historic example of journalistic independence, a value …
The Law and Confidential Sources: A Cautionary Tale
Confidential sources have been of enormous value to journalists and the public at large. The information they have brought to light has helped expose truths such as the corruption of a U.S. president, unethical business …
Protecting Sources in America
This article explores how the U.S. legal system protects journalists’ confidential sources and the threats that reporters face. In particular, this article highlights recent trends in judgments by the U.S federal court to limit the …
A Right to Protect? The confidential source controversy in journalism
The right of journalists to use and protect confidential sources is being hotly debated in Canadian newsrooms and courthouses. Many journalists say that confidential sources are an essential tool in the search to uncover information …
Offensive Journalism Fuels Facebook Advocacy
So you’ve been offended by a journalist. Maybe it was Mark Steyn’s assertion that Islam is taking over the world that got to you. Or Ezra Levant’s reprinting of the Muhammad cartoons. Or perhaps you …
Who’s to say what you can say?
Two groups, both representing core democratic ideals, are at complete loggerheads with each other over the issue of freedom of expression in Canada. Civil libertarians are on one side and human rights advocates on the …
International perspectives on offensive journalism
What offends you? The dead body of an Iraqi child? The irreverent use of a religious symbol? The boiling down of modern geopolitics into a simple formula of ‘us’ versus ‘them’? Or how about the …
Journalists who retell violence relive trauma, too
When he was sent to cover the war ravaging Sierra Leone, reporter Ian Stewart had little knowledge or interest in the conflict – until he saw it unfold before his eyes. On November 10, 1999 …
Investigative journalist says Canadians kept in dark by their leaders
Award-winning Toronto Star investigative journalist Rob Cribb called on the Canadian public to demand greater government transparency at a lecture at UBC’s Robson Square campus last week. “The public must demand greater openness and transparency …
Communication Breakdown at a University Lockdown
An RCMP Emergency Response Teams swarmed the University of B.C. campus on Wednesday, January 31. With bulletproof vests and dogs, they spent the better part of the afternoon in the biological sciences building. Neither the …