Doing the Needful: Defending the Hateful
Blitz Magazine, May 1999 Doug Collins just won’t go away. Collins is the (retired, thankfully) North Shore News columnist who is famous for his ridiculously right-wing positions—he’s a ‘new Canadian’...
View ArticleGretzky, Tylenol and the Real Spin City
Blitz Magazine, November 1999 Watching the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease riddle Michael J. Fox as he testified before the US Congress recently, I wondered if Wayne Gretzky was also watching, and...
View ArticleMinefield Culture: Dubya’s Re-Election Sparks a Rant
Blitz Magazine, January 2005 Shhhhhhhhh. Don’t tell anyone what you know. Don’t let anyone know what you think. Keep your opinions to yourself. Smile. Be nice. Don’t upset the apple cart. Your job...
View ArticleOn the Post-9/11 Plague
Blitz Magazine, November 2001 On September 9th, it was time to start another book. I randomly plucked one from a shelf and began to read. The book was The Plague, by Albert Camus. By September 12th, I...
View ArticleOn the Bad Business of Selling Editorial
Blitz Magazine, March 2002 We’re all familiar with the practice of selling editorial. It’s nauseatingly common. Blitz does not engage in this practice. Why? Because everyone can tell when editorial is...
View ArticlePublic Relations ‘Professionals’ : The Damage Done
Blitz Magazine, January 2004 Some of the PR people out there may have noticed that I’m not returning their calls. If they want to know why, they need only look at the recent issues of their favourite...
View ArticleFed Up With Hypocrisy : Bad Journalism Sparks a Rant
Blitz Magazine, March 2003 Winston Churchill, a man famous for his powers of recall, remarked that a good memory was often a sorrow and an inconvenience (to him and, I presume, many others). And the...
View ArticleTelevision & Another Summer of Discontent
Blitz Magazine, July 2003 It’s a hot, humid night—too hot to read, and the dog won’t be walked. So, there’s TV. The Miss Universe Pageant. This is so redundant and so insulting, it doesn’t bear...
View ArticleOn Citizen Journalism
Blitz Magazine, January 2008 Late-night host Craig Ferguson regularly stabs at tabloid stories when he says (wink) “If it’s written down, it must be true.” Which is funny, until you realize that...
View ArticleOn Politics, Religion, Sex & Shutting Up Already
Blitz Magazine, November 2003 Remember the rule of the dinner party? ‘In polite conversation, one does not discuss politics, religion and/or sex.’ Who canceled that rule? When? And why? Because now,...
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