Journalism in a dangerous time

Toronto Star one-year interns share a table at the 14th annual gala hosted by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. Clockwise from front-left: Liam Casey, Jennifer Pagliaro, Anita Li, Alyshah Hasham, Niamh Scallan, Laura Stone, Michael Woods, Stephanie Findlay, Josh Tapper.

By Vidya Kauri

The recent assaults on Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy at the hands of Egyptian police brings home to all of us that journalism can be, and is, a dangerous profession. On November 24 at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression met for its 14th annual gala to honour journalists around the world facing repression and abuse for practicing their profession.

The event included a stirring presentation of Canadian photojournalists' coverage of the Arab Spring featuring photographs from Toronto Star journalists Michelle Shephard and Jim Rankin, and New York Times freelancer Ed Ou. We observed a minute's silence to honour fellow journalists killed for doing their job. During this minute, names of journalists who had been killed in various countries appeared on a screen. The list of journalists who had died in Mexico was particularly long and elicited a collective gasp from the hundreds of people in attendance.

The CJFE recognized Integrity Award winners, scientists Dr. Shiv Chopra, Dr. Margaret Haydon and Dr. Gerard Lambert who had been whistleblowers at Health Canada. Just like journalists, government whistleblowers need legal protection against reprisals.

The Vox Libera award was given posthumously to legendary Canadian journalist Ron Haggart (May 11, 1927 - Aug. 27, 2011). Haggart was a long-time champion of investigative journalism, press freedom, and government transparency, throughout his career at the Toronto Telegram and at the CBC where he collaborated on the Fifth Estate, Face Off and counterSpin. His award was picked up by his daughter, Kelly.

Finally, the CJFE honoured Mohamed Abdelfattah of Egypt for his heroic coverage of the historic events in Cairo's Tahrir Square and Khaled Al-Hammadi of Yemen who still continues to risk harassment and state kidnapping for his work covering the pro-democracy movement in his country.

Host Anna Maria Tremonti of CBC's The Current told the gathering that by recognizing the important work being done by Abdelfattah and Al-Hammadi, we are letting the world know we are watching these two journalists closely and that "we've got their backs." We were, in effect, giving "the despots and tyrants yet another bad day," said Tremonti. International awards and international recognition for heroic journalists make it difficult for authoritarian governments to suppress and disappear them.

At times, it seemed a little unreal sitting in the comfortable surroundings of the Fairmont Royal York, enjoying wine and conversation with fellow journalists while discussing the arrest, torture and execution of other journalists around the world. I recalled the experiences of the 'Free Press 4' group of journalists during the G20 summit in Toronto last year. Amy Miller, Daniel McIsaac, Jesse Rosenfeld and Lisa Walter filed complaints with the Office of Independent Police Review Director, Ontario’s police watchdog. The four reporters said, at the time, that they did not break any laws and that police knew they were journalists. 

I also remembered how journalists were trapped behind a razor wire fence erected by the Canadian Armed Forces during the Oka Crisis of 1990, a land dispute between the Mohawks and the town of Oka, Que. Not only did police bar the supply of notebooks, tapes and batteries into the perimeter, but they also limited the flow of food and other essential supplies thereby endangering the journalists’ health. The Canadian Association of Journalists described the censorship as “one of the worst attacks ever on the Canadian public’s right to know."

Tremonti brought up the case of Tara Singh Hayer, a journalist murdered in 1998 in his B.C. home for his work in connection with the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182. His killers have not yet been caught.

Working conditions for journalists in Canada are nowhere near as violent and dangerous as they are in many other parts of the world, but our country is not without its share of problems. Canadian journalists and whistleblowers have taken major personal and professional risks to expose truths. Just a few years before his death, Haggart said,

"It's not time to worry, but it is time to watch what is happening in this country to journalism. It's time to watch, and it's time to watch out.”

 

Vidya Kauri is an intern at the Toronto Star. She works in the Radio Room.

 

Michelle Lang's memory shines a light on women's prisons

By Zoe McKnight

When Toronto Star reporter Laura Stone first heard about Ashley Smith, the teen who in 2007 asphyxiated herself in a segregation cell in a Kitchener jail, she had no idea where that story would take her.

It turned out she would travel from her hometown Ottawa, where she was an intern at Postmedia, to Calgary and back many times as winner of the inaugural Michelle Lang Fellowship in journalism, trying to make sense of the hidden world, the untold story, of incarcerated women: one very different from the men's prisons that often appear in media reports.

"I hadn't really thought much about prisons before I heard about Ashley. The idea of a 19-year-old dying in a prison cell -- after being incarcerated in the youth system for throwing crab apples of all things -- was inconceivable," Stone says. "Maybe it resonated so much because it was so difficult to understand why it happened."

Stone, 27, applied for the 2010 Postmedia-sponsored fellowship with women's incarceration in mind. Once accepted, and armed with a $10,000 travel grant, she spent a year at newspapers in Ottawa and Calgary, doing general assignment reporting (the Stampede, politics) and chipping away at her project.

The guidelines were clear: the fellowship was created "in honour of slain reporter Michelle Lang (to) inspire young writers to strive for the same excellence pursued by the award-winning Calgary Herald journalist." Lang was killed in Afghanistan in December 2009 by a roadside bomb.

Stone says she felt a duty to honour Lang and her journalism. "This was especially pronounced at the Herald, because I was working with Michelle's colleagues and best friends. I wanted to do good work," she says.

The series, Women Behind Bars , takes an in-depth, multi-faceted look at how female prisoners live in Canadian jails, a side of the prison system rarely reported since a government inquiry led to system changes more than a decade ago. A media rep told Stone that no tour had been organized in two years.

One story touches on women raising babies in jail; another, three generations –- grandmother, mother and baby -- living in the same U.S. prison cottage; another, violent gang members in women's jails; one on dangerous overcrowding; another on rehabilitation in an aboriginal healing lodge. Prison conditions vary, but in most cases the threat of violence is present. The series examines factors leading to women's incarceration: abuse, substance use, self-harm, and mental health problems, but also takes a hard look at women as offenders as well as victims in their own right.

Given extensive creative freedom from the Calgary Herald, Stone organized prison visits through Correctional Service of Canada and got valuable documents from FOI requests -- documents that were key to assessing the progress of the system since the closure of Kingston's Prison for Women in 2000.

"As my editor always said, you can't argue with numbers," Stone says. Working with a project advisor, she pitched the stories, organized the trips, found the sources and set up the interviews, including one with Renee Acoby, Canada’s only female dangerous offender.

Stone determined the topics and the angle, also working on photos, video, sidebars and graphics. The series is a large body of work, and a weighty contribution from a young journalist.

Stone joined the Toronto Star in September as one of 12 journalists in the Star's one-year intern program.

Her work has been published by the the Vancouver Province and Postmedia group. She has a B.A. from Dalhousie and an M.J. from Carleton.

Zoe McKnight is a Toronto Star reporting intern. She works in the radio room. You can find her on Twitter.

One cowbell and a lot of Newzapalooza soul

                                                                                                        Photos by Michael Gregory

Toronto Star reporter Robyn Doolittle (centre) and 'golden girls' perform at Newzapalooza.

By Michael Gregory

A cow bell solo, some hard-rocking classics, and a parliamentry duo who have a way with the guitar - the 7th annual Newzapalooza was the hottest ticket in town Friday night

The battle of the bands fundraiser puts Toronto media in competition to determine which musically talented newsroom reigns supreme. This year, more than $8,000 was raised or the Children's Aid Foundation through ticket and raffle sales.

A few interns happily volunteered to help at the front door for the night. Michelle Shephard and Jim Rankin graciously kept us stocked with beverages all night and insisted we take leave to see the entertainment at any time.

Steve Paikin (centre) was front row for a performance by MPs Andrew Cash and Charlie Angus (L-R).

After a homage to Celine Dion by judge Laura Landauer, the Globe and Mail-Canadian Press and Reuters bands opened the show with a few hard-hitting rock numbers.

I thought lead singer from CP, Joe Sintzel, was one of the show's highlights. With a stage presence that would have made the Blues Brothers proud, Sintzel bounced around the stage funked out in black shades.

Making my way back and forth from the stage to my duties at the front door, I missed a lot of the hilarious bantering by judges MP Tony Clement, CTV reporter Paul Bliss, musician Jacob Hiebert, and Lander, as they playfully critiqued each performance.

Clement had a few hilarious digs at us media throughout the evening.  After a great duet by former journalists,and current New Democratic Party MPs Charlie Angus and Andrew Cash, Clement had a cheeky suggestion.
"You guys would be better with John Baird as a front man."

Toronto Star reporter Brendan Kennedy centre stage during "Play That Funky Music."

There were eight bands including acts from the Toronto Sun, and CityTV.

The second to last act was the Star's Holy Joe & The Principles 2.0 -- an ensemble that included woodwinds, a polished dance routine, and a lot of soul.  

Reporter Robyn Doolittle, backed by 'golden girls' nailed a brilliant version of Tina Turner's 'Proud Mary.' The talents of Wendy Gillis, Michael Woods, and a suit snazzy Rob Cribb then threw down an untouchable Herbie Hancock number.

The set finished with "Play That Funky Music" with Brendan Kennedy -- who took no style tips from Will Farrell - ripping into the cow bell at centre stage.  

Toronto Star one-year interns Wendy Gillis and Michael Woods.

Maclean's tried to retain its title of Toronto's best media band by capping off the show with hits by The Killers and Ce Lo Green, but in the end it wasn't enough.

But the Star won over the crowd and judges, and good news, we may have found this year's Christmas party entertainment.

 

Holy Joe & The Principles 2.0 are all smiles after winning the 7th Annual Newzapalooza.

Michael Gregory is a Toronto Star intern who works in the radio room. You can find him on Twitter.

 

 

 

How to get warm and fuzzy on International radio

By Josh Tapper

One of the beauties of journalism is that even the most innocuous story can catch a wave and resonate with people hundreds of kilometres away from the city newspaper in which it was first published. And so when another media outlet asks you to talk about one of those stories, you can't help but get a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Thursday morning I received a call from a producer at Public Radio International’s news program “The World” – it’s jointly produced with the BBC World Service and receives airplay on most American public radio stations and CBC Radio One. They wanted to interview me about a story I wrote for the Star's Living section earlier in the week: the Occupy Toronto movement was recently donated three Mongolian gers, which are now sitting among hundreds of tents in St. James Park.

                                                                                                (Photo by Josh Tapper/Toronto Star)

The gers, wood-and-canvas huts used by nomads on the Mongolian steppe, are an unusual sight in downtown Toronto. And at a cost of over $20,000, they don’t seem to jive with the protesters MO. But hey, the temperature is dropping and these gers have felt insulation.

My interview was slotted between a segment on the relationship between the size of your social network and the size of your brain and a report on Peru’s new minister of culture, near the end of the hour-long program. Lisa Mullins, longtime anchor of “The World,” asked the questions. What are the gers used for? Library, medical tent, general meeting place. What do they look like? Circular, colourful, ornate. How do they differ from yurts, a Central Asian cousin? Don't get me started.

                                                                                                (Photo by Josh Tapper/Toronto Star)

The interview happened at St. James Park, inside one of the gers, and captured a really on-the-ground vibe. I tend to run my mouth when I'm given an outlet, so it was a relief to hear I was reasonably coherent and professional.

Still, my tape starts out with a laid-back "Yeah ... hey!"

Listen to the interview here. But read the article first.

 

Josh Tapper is a reporter in the Star's one-year program and has occupied yurts in Kyrgyzstan and Russia's Buryatia province. You can find him on Twitter.

 

How to talk to grieving families

 

By Dylan C. Roberston

If you look at the northeast corner of Spadina Ave. and King St. W., a longboard’s been mounted on one of the lampposts. It’s a tribute to a 25-year-old musician who was killed last week in a tragic accident.

I pass this lamppost on the streetcar to work. It reminds me of speaking with the victim’s bandmates for our article about him.

We write a lot about crime and tragedy in the radio room. An inevitable part of the job is reaching out to family and friends of those who have died.

It’s not easy. In our training manual, a single paragraph gives general instructions on  how to speak with those in mourning. It’s intimidating to bother people at a sensitive time. If I was grieving, the last thing I would want to do is speak to some nosy reporter.

A few things help. I close the door so nothing distracts me. I introduce myself as a Star reporter and tell them that I will be writing an article – not thinking, writing – about their loved one. I tell them I want to know about their friend as a person, not just their death. Two questions I find open people up are “How do you want your friend to be remembered?” and “What are you most proud of?”

I speak in a calm but removed voice. Over-sympathizing makes people break down and become too emotional to talk. But I allow for a slow conversation; there’s often a lot of long silences. Even if I’m on a tight deadline and see my editor walking over, I give the person I’m speaking with time to open up. We often leave a number if people want to speak with us at a later time.

Good journalism means getting more than basic facts; it’s about capturing someone’s character and how they touch others. As a colleague put it, we want to create as real and thorough of a memory as possible.

Besides, those who suffer or die in our city often speak to broader issues in our society.

Journalists cover a lot of tragedy and injustice, whether its fatal accidents at home or war and genocide abroad. Working in the radio room is not a glamorous job, but it teaches you a lot, including how to get the story from people at their most vulnerable moments.

It's by reaching out to people in grief that we keep an accurate, meaningful record of lives touched by tragedy, in the same way that longboard captures a victim's memory. It’s one of the most valuable things journalists do.

Dylan C. Robertson is a Toronto Star intern. He works in the radio room. You can find him on Twitter.