what's it all become?

Maybe I’m behind the times? This morning, while pouring my first cup of tea and looking through the various treasures that people pile on the common workplace table, I flipped through an Avon makeup catalogue (don’t ask).

And there to my surprise, in an intro about a celebrity spokesperson, was the term “magalog.” Yet another blurring of the line between advertising and content, a magalog is a magazine that is blatantly out to sell things. Well, most magazines these days tend to tow that line. Rather than a catalog, magalogs probably run articles, features etc, just with advertising worked in.

Along with the new VogueTV, magazines are working hard to reinvent themselves in a dying print market. But I think they’re taking the wrong lead, and compromising when it comes to advertising is just sad.

VogueTV kind of gets it right with the inclusion of web and broadcast based media. But it’s advertising and selling, not added content. I could be because I’m a traditionalist when it comes to ethics, but I hate the blurring of lines between content and advertising. It gives me the proverbial shudder.

For one, advertising makes me feel like I’m being talked down to. “You’re an idiot. I’m feeding you what you want to hear so you’ll buy things.” The reason I love magazines is because I think they have the potential to be intelligent, fun, and informative all at the same time. Yes, magazines have ads, but magazines are not in themselves ads.

This idea of a magalog just kills me. It screams the idea: don’t read to be informed, don’t read to have fun, or learn, or even relax. Read to consume. Read to buy.

I respect the right to buy shit. I buy stuff! I have an iPod, I have a laptop. I also buy magazine subscriptions. I don’t want to be subtly coerced into buying new products. I want to choose when advertising sways me (and don’t get me wrong, it does. Why do you think I bought the iPod?), and not have to worry about what a particular article is trying to sell me.

always up for a cabinet shuffle

I’ll admit, I spent a fair amount of time checking cbc.ca and globeandmail.com waiting for Prime Minister Harper’s cabinet changes yesterday. I don’t know what I was waiting for, and I’m unsure if I got it, but one thing’s for sure: fare thee well, Bev Oda.

I’m anti-Oda, and I’m not afraid to say it, though unbiased journalism is smiting me right now. Oda cut funding and didn’t even believe in her own portfolio of women’s rights. Yes, I read Feministing everyday, so that might define me as one of those raging feminists who actually thinks that there is still progress to be made. But Oda didn’t work for any of that.

If you don’t believe in feminism, that’s fine with me. Oda can believe whatever she wants. But if your Cabinet position and responsibility includes working towards women’s rights, it’s probably best to put on a façade and do just that. This was probably Harper’s mistake in the first place (his way of at least ensuring that women’s rights takes a back burner instead of risking a Minister who actually cares about such trivial matters). Either way, I’m happy to see her go, and figure that Josee Verner can at least start with a fresh slate.

The rest of the shuffle was pretty quiet compared to the promotion of Peter McKay to Defence Minister. We’ve all McKay screw up many times before, so we’ll see where this goes. I wasn’t really surprised by this one, and I don’t have the time of day to worry about its consequences. McKay will be himself, to the detriment of us all.



Some visits from family and a trip to Montreal mean I haven’t been posting as much. Thoughts are a brewing and ideas spinning for school next year and this blog.

like father, unlike daughter

So according to Facebook, Rudy Giuliani's daughter supports Barak Obama.

It's interesting on its own that a news item has surfaced through Facebook, a testament to its importance in the lives of young people and its power to generate news beyond "Cindy James has added photos."

Aside from that, I like to think that we now live in a world where we can support whoever we want. Giuliani's daughter is free to form her own opinions and state them as such, that doesn't change when your father enters politics. It doesn't mean she loves her father less, or that she doesn't emotionally support him. It means that she is capable of making her own decisions about her political tendencies and beliefs.

I'm kind of embarrassed that this issue has made the news. We are free to believe what we believe, no matter who our parents are and without suffering repercussions due to our parents beliefs. At the end of this New York Times piece they mention the fact that Giuliani is not on Facebook, so his daughter cannot add him as a friend. Well amen, anyone who has to add their Dad on Facebook would be embarrassed, and I think Caroline Giuliani is embarrassed enough right now.

under african skies

Last summer I made a trip to Botswana to study HIV/AIDS and youth. I expected to come home brimming with stories that needed to be told, quotes buzzing in my mind. I've been left with writers block like none other.

But the itch to return to Africa is back. Though I suppose I could credit it to this superb example of online reporting. This is what online reporting should be. Personal, multi-faceted, moving, informative.

Perhaps my first trip was meant for me to see through my eyes, not the eyes of a reporter. Perhaps my next trip will really let me see the stories that could be told. And perhaps I'll be able to do it that well.

undercover shame

The New York Times cut its page size today, but does anyone really care?

The paper also ran a long apology citing the number of times they misspelled Alberto Gonzales’s name. Third year journalism ethics says this is the only way to go—newspapers should declare all mistakes they make so the public can judge them accordingly.

So here’s another ethical dilemma—NBC’s Dateline sent in an undercover reporter to secretly cover DEF CON and BlackHat gatherings.

Some background: DEF CON is a convention for underground hackers that took place in early August in Las Vegas. Hackers met for seminars, speakers, and to bond over their hobby of computer hacking.

BlackHat is another such convention, discussing computer and digital screening. Their website claims to combine the best of government, hackers, and researchers at forums across the world. They provide education, briefings, and training.

Essentially, these conventions are a breeding ground for communication and security breakthrough, and Dateline’s curiosity was too strong.

Michelle Madigan of Dateline attempted to secretly film these professional security mongers—no surprise she didn’t get away with it then. She even told organizers and made it pretty obvious that she was secretly taping and recording.

If she made it obvious, it must be ethical, right? They must have known what she was doing. Dateline uses tactics like this all the time (most famously to help break down an internet porn ring), but are they really ethical, and should we care if they are helping?

Yes, we should care, and no, they aren’t ethical. Dateline did help shut down that internet porn ring, but in doing so they took a side and threw impartiality out the window. They worked alongside police, and in the end we probably got more of their side of the story than any other.

At DEF CON, organizers turned the tables on the Dateline reporter and played a game called “spot the undercover reporter”. I’m not sure if hacking conventions are really doing much harm, so this reporter deserved to be ridiculed for her bad ethics.

It’s stuff like this that gives journalism a sensationalist, bad name.

Tor Star

Money aside, I've grown quite attached to the Toronto Star website. There are, of course, the heavy-weights in online reporting, but Tor Star is an emerging talent that I plan on reading long after I leave my summer city behind...

The Rory Effect

Rory Gilmore. One half of the fast-talking, caffeine-guzzling, sarcastic duo that was CW’s Gilmore Girls. A fictional character.

From the beginning, Rory was an over-achiever who you couldn’t bring yourself to hate. She was kind, sweet, extremely smart, and beautiful. You probably would have tried damn hard to dig up some dirt on her during high school. And Rory was a journalist, perhaps one of the only young figures in pop culture to go the journalism route.

And so it was in their perfect little world of Stars Hollow. Small mini-dramas, Rory went to Yale (of course), became Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Daily News (how convenient), and graduated with a nice little reporting job all lined up. In the end she got to meet Christiane Amanpour too, who just so happened to be hanging out in the idyllic town’s Inn.

I’m one to be jealous of fictional characters. I love Bridget Jones and her snarky ways. I’d rather be touring with famous rock stars like Penny Lane. My first real role-model came when I was 10 years old after I read Little Women and decided to become Jo…

But I’m torn with Rory Gilmore. She had everything laid out for her journalism career, and she didn’t even have to go to J-School. Covering the Obama campaign for a website? Perfect. Yes, in the end, she didn’t get the Reston Fellowship at the New York Times like she dreamed. It was nice of the writers to finally make Rory a bit more believable and *gasp* deny her something.

All this thought over a fictional character, you ask? The only explanation must be my impending tip of the graduation cap. So sue me for being sceptical and jealous of Rory Gilmore, but she’s the only fictional character I had to look at in the journalism field (Ray Romano from Everybody Loves Raymond aside…). And as much as I loved the show, I’m disappointed in their portrayal of Rory’s career.

Most journalism grads will tell you that the going is tough. There are way too many of us coming out with journalism degrees and way too many papers with dying budgets and readerships. After four years of working my ass off at school, on the campus paper, and with three internships under my belt, I shouldn’t expect any more than months of job searching to maybe settle for a small circulation daily where I’ll cover the County Fair.

Yes my friends, it’s peanuts for us. Of course, everyone should pay their dues, and there will always be SOME sort of job. I just wish that Gilmore Girls writers would have portrayed a more accurate media market. Its fiction, but millions of youngsters watched Rory and are probably thinking that a glamorous journalism career is just that easy. I’m hoping it will be that easy for me, but I’m too disillusioned to hold on.