This insightful, eloquent and entertaining anthology paints a compelling portrait of Canada and Canadian journalism in a rapidly changing world. It brings together thirty years of the prestigious James M. Minifie Lecture, at the University of Regina's School of Journalism. Touching on a wide range of topics from war to climate change to our ongoing constitutional crisis, these lectures have been delivered by some of Canada's leading journalists. They stand as a tribute to press freedom and the journalistic imagination in Canada.
Required reading for journalists and everyone concerned about the state of the democratic process journalism informs and animates---or should ---this is a timely intervention. With media industries in crisis and the democratic craft of journalism in peril, this is also the chronicle of the reinvention of Canada, and of Canadian journalism, over the last three decades. It is an intriguing glimpse into the inner life of the press corps and an essential guide to some of the issues that must be addressed by journalists and media reform movements alike in the years ahead.
is the signature for the end of a story in traditional news practice. It is believed the practice of closing with "-30-" had its roots in the age of the telegraph. In the age of typewritten copy, it indicated the last page of news copy.
We designate it here as the title for our collection to acknowledge the importance of tradition, particularly the democratic tradition so deeply rooted in the profession's history. We use it also to recognize thirty years of the Minifie Lectures, the views of thirty leading journalists and a central paradox of journalism: that there is no such thing as the `final word' but that every end, every piece of filed copy provides our public dialogue with a new beginning.
This insightful and entertaining anthology paints a compelling portrait of Canada and Canadian journalism in a rapidly changing world. It brings together thirty years of the prestigious James M. Minifie Lecture at the University of Regina's School of Journalism.
Minifie's career as a journalist began in 1929 when he joined the staff of the New York Herald Tribune becoming their Paris correspondent. He covered the Spanish Civil War and Mussolini's rise to power, and during wwn he reported on the Battle of Britain from London. Transferred to Washington, Minifie joined the Office of Strategic Services and at war's end was awarded the American Medal of Freedom for his contributions to the Allied cause. Then began Minifie's long association with the CBC as their Washington correspondent, first on radio, then on television. Throughout his career he also wrote several highly regarded books. James M. Minifie died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1974.
