Five things John Stackhouse can do to improve the Globe and Mail
I'm going to make five suggestions to the editor of the Globe and Mail on how to improve his newspaper. This may seem a tad presumptuous coming from someone who lives so far away from downtown Toronto. But hey, I've been reading the Globe for more than two decades, and I miss those days in the mid-1980s when the paper championed investigative reporting before William Thorsell became the editor.
In no particular order, here are my recommendations:
* Less Rex Murphy, please. Murphy relishes in being a contrarian, even when he's flat-out wrong. This is particularly true of his writings on climate change. We have enough Rex on CBC TV and CBC Radio. We don't need more of him on the opinion page of the Globe. It already has a conservative columnist by the name of Margaret Wente.
* More coverage of important nonfiction books. The Globe used to pay attention to this area, but I get the sense that major nonfiction books don't interest the editors as much anymore. It's too bad because nonfiction books fill a gap left by newspapers like the Globe that have trimmed their investigative reporting. It amazed me that Canada's self-described "national newspaper" ignored Paul Palango's recent book on the RCMP and the important questions it raised about Maher Arar.
* Less Ottawa gossip and more investigative journalism. Ottawa correspondent Jane Taber likes listing who's hot and who's not. I would prefer her to spend more time researching the lobbyist registry to find out who's influencing public policy.
* Pay attention to peak oil. Stackhouse should give all of his editors and reporters a choice of one of three books to read: The Empty Tank by Jeremy Leggett; The Party's Over by Richard Heinberg; or Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller by Jeff Rubin (which actually got covered in the Globe). Then Stackhouse should ask his reporters to investigate ways in which Canadians can prepare themselves for what will likely be the biggest transformation in their lives. The Globe could play a significant role in preparing the country for major changes in the global energy market, which will have ramifications on transportation, agriculture, and trade. Most federal politicians are asleep on this issue. They won't be if the Globe gives it more attention. Why not base a reporter in the oilsands? It's one of the biggest stories in the world.
* Hire a muckraking reporter for the business section. The Globe used to run lots of muckraking business stories in the 1980s. Then the pendulum swung to the right in response to the arrival of the National Post. The Globe no longer has to worry about this Canwest paper, which might not survive 2009. There's an opportunity for the Globe to dig up more dirt. The public loves this stuff, particularly in hard economic times.
Comments
12 Comments
Tony Eriksen
Jul 5, 2009 at 3:18am
Peak Oil will be getting more attention soon as oil prices continue rising.
The IEA 2009 MTOMR was just released and shows further downgrade in non OPEC and OPEC forecasts.
http://www.iea.org/w/bookshop/add.aspx?id=413
This presentation shows some critical slides from the IEA 2009 MTOMR.
http://www.businessinsider.com/iea-oil-report-2009-6#global-supply-and-d...
For more info on peak oil, please read the following article
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5395
These two charts of crude oil and all oil forecasts have been updated for the IEA MTOMR 2009 including the downgrade of future Iraq production.
World Crude Oil, Lease Condensate and Canada Oil Sands Production to Dec 2012
http://www.theoildrum.com/files/crudeIEAMTOMR2009.png
World Liquid Energy Supply, Demand and Oil Price to Dec 2012
http://www.theoildrum.com/files/oilIEAMTOMR2009.png
Subhadeep Chakrabarti
Jul 5, 2009 at 5:38pm
Agree with all of the above except the Rex Murphy part. Part of G&M's charm is it wide range of opinionated columnists instead of right-wing automatons at National (!) Post and their left-wing counterparts at the Star. Change whatever you need to, but please keep the bunch of great columnists you have. And by the way, Rex is hardly a typical right-winger.
gobstruck
Jul 6, 2009 at 10:48am
Of all the publications struggling to survive the shift to the information age, the Georgia Strait seems the most lost. No one plunks a penny down for it and the only reason anyone picks it up is to look at the bar listings and read Savage Love. And now here we have Charlie Smith telling his eight blog readers how to improve the Globe and Mail.
Travis Lupick
Jul 6, 2009 at 10:58am
It's "Straight", not "Strait". And no one plunks a penny down for the Georgia Straight because it is free.
For an anonymous user who speaks with such an authoritiative tone, I'm skeptical about how familiar you are with our publication. Or any in Vancouver, for that matter.
Charlie Smith
Jul 6, 2009 at 11:09am
Oh Travis,
You should know by now that when people take anonymous personal shots at me, there's a decent chance that they work for the competition. So Mr. Gobstruck is among my eight blog readers? I'm humbled by his attention to my work.
On a more serious note, when people attack the messenger, it usually means they are unable to respond to the message.
Jason Pate
Jul 10, 2009 at 9:58am
Uh, Charlie ...
I'd like to point out that your line about attacking the messenger applies to you too. You should be able to do better than accusing Mr. Gobsmack of "working for the competition." You, can do better than that, can't you? Or are you, as you say, unable to respond to the message?
Charlie Smith
Jul 10, 2009 at 11:05am
Okay, Jason. I will respond to Mr. Gobstruck's message. I didn't do so earlier because I know it wasn't in response to the article. It was an attempt to convince people that nobody is reading this Web site. Who would have a motive for doing this? A competitor, that's who. Here's the reality:
* The Georgia Straight is enjoying outstanding circulation, unlike others in this business. It's hardly a case of being lost in the struggle to the shift to the information age.
* People read the Georgia Straight for many more reasons than Savage Love and listings. We have an exclusive interview with <a href="http://www.straight.com/article-238593/rock-steady-once-again">Gwen Stefani</a> in this week's paper for music lovers. We have compelling stories on <a href="http://www.straight.com/article-238653/neighbours-decry-oppenheimer-park... Park</a> and civil liberties during the <a href="http://www.straight.com/article-238655/civil-libertarians-wary-rcmp%3F%3... for people interested in these issues. We have a great article on the <a href="http://www.straight.com/article-238575/collective-unconscious">605 Collective</a> for dance fans. Carolyn Ali has written the best review in the city of <a href="http://www.straight.com/article-238219/maenam-brings-real-thai-food-vanc... An's</a> new Thai restaurant.
* Our news items at the start were all scoops not covered by other media.
* Our editorial cartoonist <a href="http://www.straight.com/content/current/cartoons/arnould">Graeme Arnould</a> is one of the most intelligent political observers around.
* Our <a href="http://www.straight.com/content/current/cartoons/straight-jab">sports cartoons</a> are great.
* We kill the competition on coverage of video games, and Stephen Hui is probably the sharpest technology editor in the country.
* We're pumping out tons of original web-only content on our site, which is generating a lot of discussion.
* We're providing an alternative voice in Vancouver for those who are sick of the right-wing pablum dished up by others.
I could go on and on, but it will sound self-serving. I didn't respond to Mr. Gobstruck's comment because it was patently ridiculous. It could only have come from a competitor.
Jeez, I was just offering up five bits of advice on how to improve the Globe and Mail. It was written from the perspective of someone who actually reads that paper. It wasn't groundbreaking journalism. It was just a few thoughts. And some competitor took advantage of this to trash our site. It tells you the state that they're in these days. I've never gone onto a competitor's site anonymously and written a disparaging comment because I have better things to do with my time. I have no doubt that this happens on our site, though. It doesn't happen often. I've only counted about five times where I was pretty convinced it was a competitor. Mr. Gobstruck was one of those comments. I don't think you're a competitor, Jason.
Jason Pate
Jul 11, 2009 at 2:07pm
Charlie ...
If you feel that the only motive that someone would have to criticize the Straight would be a competitor, you had best put on your best tin-foil hat now. One of the benefits of the web for newspapers (free or otherwise) is interactivity, and with it comes all sorts of opinions, from more sources than you can conveniently pigeon-hole. Whether you mean to or not, when you reject criticism by attacking the critic, you end a conversation that could have been fruitful (such as your list of what the Straight does well ... that would have been a constructive response).
Online or offline, the Straight should be big enough to include all the voices out there, including obnoxious critics, even those who you deem to be "the competition."
In my opinion, a competitor would have presented a better-crafted argument ... personally, I really appreciate the bar listings and always read Savage Love (gobsmack likely does the same). I imagine that's why they are there. And no, I wouldn't pay for the Straight, but, then again, I don't have too. That said, for a free paper, the Straight is as good as it gets, in terms of a good balance between bubblegum reading and editorial, and the web-content is great to have, a sign that the Straight is "doing it right" where the web is concerned (let's hope that web-based Advertising revenues pick up).
However, if I were you, I'd listen to what gobsmack has to say ... it is difficult to attract blog readers, and hard to keep them. you'll get more and keep more if you engage with your readership positively, regardless of what you think of their motivations. Conversations don't always start pretty, but they can end constructively and with great value if you approach them the right way.
Charlie Smith
Jul 11, 2009 at 2:18pm
Jason,
You make excellent points. I can take my lumps from readers. If you read my comment closely, you'll notice that I mentioned that only about five times have I sensed that competitors were using this site to trash us. There are thousands of comments, many of them critical. I don't mind being whacked, especially if I'm wrong.
Newshound
Jul 17, 2009 at 12:00pm
Hey Charlie !
I am the founding member of a Canadian Rock band from the 60's .
We did quite well ( had several # 2 hits ) and still have our material played all over the world . My one song , 1-2-5 , has been generating royalties ( from SOCAN ) every month since 1966 making it the longest played Canadian song ( receiving royalties ) yet it / we , are NEVER mentioned in your paper. Six albums, eight 45's , 3 CD's later , we have just released a new CD called " The Haunted reVisted " two months ago .
Disques Merite , Pierrefonds , Montreal .
We were featured on two seperate CBC documentories . The most recent " Shakin' All Over " is now releasing it's second DVD of this two hour documentation of Canadian Rock and Roll history .
I have read your paper for many years and know it was music oriented but WHAT does a guy have to do to be at least aknowledged as existing ?
Let me send you our latest CD and a load of recent news articles from accross Canada .
Great Paper ! No complaints , exept our obvious omission in your music section over the years.
Cheers. The Haunted ( Canadian )