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Canwest launches redesigned websitesToday

Amid all the cutbacks and financial woes, Canwest launched new websites for its ten daily newspapers across the country...

New NMA category: best single issueToday

A new category has been added to the National Magazine Awards for 2009: best single issue of a magazine. Starting December 1, the NMA will accept online submissions for the awards in 40 different categories. The awards will be presented on June 5 in Toronto.

CAJ-CIDA fellowship application deadline December 8Today

The fellowship, sponsored by the Canadian Association of Journalists and the Canadian International Development Agency, seeks to encourage more in-depth and informed reporting on international development issues. Recipients will be offered a unique "first-person" experience through visits to development projects and interaction with the people of developing countries anywhere in the world. This year the fellowship is not limited exclusively to Africa.

AJAs deadline Jan. 30, 2009Today

The deadline for submissions to the Atlantic Journalism Awards is Friday, January 30, 2009. Entries must be by journalists in Atlantic Canada and must
have been published or broadcast in the region's newspapers, magazines, radio
or television stations during 2008. Three finalists will be selected in each category by panels of judges from coast to coast and they will be announced in early April 2009. All of the finalists will be honoured at a gala dinner and awards ceremony on Saturday, May 2, 2009 at the Delta Beauséjour Hotel in Moncton NB.

Conflicts of interestToday

The New York Times has a massive piece, One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex, about Barry R. McCaffrey, a retired American four-star Army general, military analyst for NBC News, paid lobbyist for American defence contractors, and early enthusiastic supporter for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

McCaffrey, said the Times, "reveals the myriad and often undisclosed connections between the business of war and the business of covering it."

Noted the Times: "On NBC and in other public forums, General McCaffrey has consistently advocated wartime policies and spending priorities that are in line with his corporate interests. But those interests are not described to NBC’s viewers. He is held out as a dispassionate expert, not someone who helps companies win contracts related to the wars he discusses on television."

How does a supposedly credible news organization use as a commentator a military lobbyist without someone raising flags about conflict of interest? The Times quoted NBC News president Steve Capus calling the general a man of honor and achievement who would never let business obligations color his analysis for NBC. Capus also said that as a consultant, not an employee, McCaffrey is not required to abide by NBC’s formal conflict-of-interest rules.

I expect there will be many more such stories as America re-evaluates the past ei