Tag Archives: Christopher Cheung

Inside Election Night’s Drama

By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As an atmospheric river settled over much of the Lower Mainland, the lights flickered off at six polling stations in Kamloops, Langley and some Gulf Islands. Water coursed down streets in Deep Cove and West Vancouver, and cars were submerged in Burnaby.

It was a fittingly dramatic end to the strangest and nastiest election in recent B.C. history. The campaign was marked with warnings about extremism, communism and climate change denial, leading to a uniquely polarizing election campaign.

At The Tyee, we braved the rain to head out to the parties’ headquarters and watch the results arrive. This is the first year electronic tabulators were used to count votes, meaning results — like the weather — flooded in.

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Manipulating the message: Public relations consultants outnumber journalists 14 – 1 in Canada

Editor’s note: This story is of interest because of the light it shines on the modern media.

Emmanuel Nwaneri,  New Canadian Media, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

If you’ve noticed a shift in the news over the last two decades, it’s likely caused by two things: A massive drop in the number of Canadian reporters and a correspondingly huge surge in the number of spin doctors.

According to journalist-author Cecil Rosner, the number of active reporters in Canada by 2021 has shrunk to about 11,000 from about 13,000 in 1991. In this 20-year period, the number of public relations consultants has increased from about 24,000, to about 160,000 – a ratio of 14 – 1 vis-à-vis publicists and reporters, Rosner says.

Continue reading Manipulating the message: Public relations consultants outnumber journalists 14 – 1 in Canada