Blog by John Miller

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Who's in charge?

August 6th, 2013
It could have happened something like this. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, was idly surfing the Internet one day when he clicked on the Washington Post. He didn't mean to. Even though he lives in Washinton, he never reads the paper. There wasn't anything interesting there, so he let his attention drift. A few days later, his American Express statement arrived and he noticed an unusual ...
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The real story

June 20th, 2013
Why do Canada's news media fall so easily for the political spin-doctoring being dispensed by the Prime Minister's Office? It's almost as if Stephen Harper can seize the news agenda these days by simply dragging a mildly odiforous and vaguely crimson herring across the path of reporters. Away they go. One of my previous research projects examined how easily the media lapped up a ...
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The fat cats

June 7th, 2013
No journalist should ever be appointed to the Senate.I could have told Stephen Harper that years ago, before he decided that Mike Duffy would make a dandy senator representing P.E.I. (which is only his home address when he's at the cottage) and Pamela Wallin would be just a peachy choice to represent her native Saskatchewan (which is actually even further away from her current home address in ...
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Go the distance

May 28th, 2013
There are many tools in a journalist's drawer, and the Rob Ford drug scandal certainly justifies pulling out the sharpest ones. Here you have the mayor of a large North American city, who was seen on a video apparently smoking crack cocaine, refusing to answer any questions from the media for more than a week and effectively calling the country's biggest newspaper a liar. "The ...
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Tell us the truth

May 24th, 2013
The people we used to trust to uncover truth in society haven't covered themselves in glory during the Rob Ford drug scandal.The central operating principle of journalism is supposed to be verification. So far, our news media haven't verified anything -- other than the fact that three people, including two Toronto Star reporters, say they've seen a video that appears to show Toronto's mayor s ...
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Pay for it, I say

May 21st, 2013
Of all the troublesome ethical dilemmas we have before us in the Rob Ford drug scandal, the least offensive one is for the Toronto Star to bite the bullet and purchase the videotape.The alternatives are not good enough: (a) the video never surfaces and we don`t get a chance to judge for ourselves whether the mayor is a druggie; (b) it is purchased by a wealthy supporter of Ford and destroyed a ...
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Gloves-off time

May 21st, 2013
Mike Duffy got in trouble when he stopped thinking of himself as a reporter and started thinking he was something else -- an entitled celebrity with powerful friends and an unlimited expense account.Now Mr. Duffy has been unmasked as Mr. Dummy, who professes not to know where he lives, who can't seem to understand plain English, and who has alienated most of the people who once adored him -- ...
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Rush to print?

May 17th, 2013
So this is what passes for "news judgment" in the age of instant information? Give us a break.Beneath an advertising wrap-around for President's Choice proclaiming "Get fired up for the weekend," the Toronto Star's front page today featured what it said was an "exclusive" -- Mayor Rob Ford in crack video scandal.Except it wasn't an exclusive. News of the video was posted earlier on Gawker, a ...
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Drown the kittens

April 25th, 2013
It's official: Working as a reporter is the worst job you can get -- if you can get one, that is, and if you are lucky enough to keep it.That's what the American-based career guidance website CareerCast.com says anyway. Thanks to shrinking newsrooms, dwindling budgets, the stress of deadlines, low pay and competition from online news organizations, newspaper reporter ranks last among 200 jobs ...
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Lopping off limbs

March 5th, 2013
As usual, Monty Python was way ahead of its time.In 1975, the British comedy troupe created a fictional character called the Black Knight for its movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The movie featured a hilarious sword fight between King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and the Black Knight (John Cleese). One by one, the Black Knight's limbs are hacked off, but the stubborn combatant refuses to ack ...
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