On the surface, the Shafia murder case doesn’t look like a “political” issue at all. The horrifying killing of four innocent women by family members near Kingston nearly three years ago could easily be seen as simply the tragic drama of an individual family, not a matter for analysis and action in the broader Canadian socio-political context.
On reflection, however, that individualized assessment breaks down. In fact, the Shafia murders raise issues of a highly political nature which demand the attention of all progressive Canadians.
Media, media analysis
“The deformed human mind is the ultimate doomsday weapon.”
—British historian E.P. Thompson.
* * *
I was reminded of this stark warning while listening to one of Rex Murphy’s Cross-Country Checkups on CBC Radio last November.
Murphy was interviewing Terry Glavin, a B.C. journalist and writer for whom I have great respect, about Glavin’s latest book, on Canada’s so-called “mission” in Afghanistan.
"In thinking about this issue of Our Schools/Our Selves, I took an inspiration from Battleground Schools. It is an encyclopaedia of conflict in education, a project of two University of British Columbia education professors, Sandra Matheson and Wayne Ross. The idea was to have short articles that frame some of the many areas of conflict over education — conflicts that grow out of social, cultural, political and technological changes and differences.
The Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Canada protests seem to be occupying – and perhaps unhinging – the minds of media pundits – at least, those who are mired in the dogma of “free market” fundamentalism.
View all six clips on our youtube channel.
(Vancouver) A new study finds that BC’s third party advertising rules caused extensive problems for “small spenders” such as non-profits and charities during the 2009 provincial election. The rules – brought in through the controversial Bill 42 in 2008 – led to widespread confusion, wasted resources, anxiety and self-censorship among organizations that spent little or nothing at all on election advertising.
Faced with a corporate-dominated mediascape and perceived editorial indifference or hostility, trade unions and other progressive Canadian organizations have responded pragmatically when they need to influence public opinion. They have adopted media relations strategies, often run by specialized staff, to gain whatever space is available in the news media; they have used paid advertising in advocacy campaigns; and they have created their own media, from in-house newsletters to websites and social media.
It now seems a certainty that we will soon have our very own “Fox News North” cable channel as Quebecor is poised to launch “SUN TV News,” a 24-hour news channel aimed at “more conservative viewers.” While Quebecor has recently tried to deflect accusations that it will adopt a conservative point of view, its main architects are a bastion of Canadian conservatism, with Quebecor CEO and Tory supporter Pierre Karl Peladeau bankrolling the project and Kory Teneycke – a former chief spokesperson for Stephen Harper – slated to run the channel.
If there is any pandemic sweeping the globe, it’s one of fear and greed, not a deadly new strain of influenza.
The news media have filled their pages and newscasts with reports of deaths in Mexico, Texas, and even one in Canada, where a toddler was reported to have died on the east coast. Politicians debate a national vaccination program, while shares skyrocket in firms making germ-resistant medical masks. Airlines and tour operators suspend trips to Mexico. Airports increase screenings of vacationers returning from that country.
Why wasn't immigration an issue in the recent election campaign, Lawrence Martin asked rather peevishly in his Globe & Mail column a few weeks before the campaign ended.
Perhaps he answered his own question. Martin spent much of his column citing the former executive director of the Canadian Immigration Service, James Bissett, who, in the Ottawa Citizen, recently predicted the usual doom and gloom that some associate with “ethnic” immigration.