#135 It's Important To Kick These People When They're Down

Short Cuts

#135 It’s Important To Kick These People When They’re Down

Some unsolicited advice for This American Life. And the Globe and Mail launches a project to teach kids about media manipulation... through media manipulation.

September 27, 2017

This American Life’s lead story this week was about the Proud Boys, a group started by VICE co-founder and former Rebel personality Gavin McInnes. They ponder whether McInness is actually racist. We help them find the answer. Read more about that here.

The Globe and Mail has teamed up with the We organisation to teach media literacy to kids. They could begin by unpacking their relationship with the Kielburgers, the powerful family who they not only partnered with, but also publish and cover.

Freelancer David Berry co-hosts.

CLARIFICATION: in this episode Jesse describes Gavin McInnes’ comments regarding the Holodomor genocide as false and inaccurate. He was referring specifically to McInnes’ assertion that Jews were responsible for the Holodomor, and was in no way was contesting or denying the existence of the Holodomor itself.

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#819 Shocking Revelations On The Saskatchewan Stabbings

There have been major developments in the Saskatchewan stabbing story, but most journalists have moved on - except for Global reporter Ashleigh Stewart. And why do reporters try to elicit emotional responses from victims of natural disasters? Ashleigh Stewart co-hosts.

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#817 Bots Have Feelings Too

A recent encounter between Pierre Poilievre and David Akin of Global News demonstrates the tactics politicians have been using to avoid accountability. And how the popular #TrudeauMustGo campaign is being dismissed as bots and treated as if it doesn't exist. Nora Loreto co-hosts.

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#815 Our Royals, Our Elves

Canadians have greeted the death of Elizabeth II with a mix of sadness and ambivalence, hostility and indifference. Film writer Will Sloan joins Jonathan Goldsbie to look at how media has grappled with evolving attitudes toward the monarchy, and how it’s covered the rare sort of development that’s both wholly inevitable and the biggest breaking news in the world. They also go deep on a cartoon elf.

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#813 A Manhunt in the Prairies

An on-the-ground account of what it has been like to cover the Saskatchewan stabbing spree.

September 8, 2022

#811 LaFlamme Wars

The Lisa LaFlamme story continues to smolder in the headlines. And Canada turns into a denunciation nation when it comes to weighing in on Chrystia Freeland's verbal attack. Priya Sam co-hosts.

September 1, 2022

#809 The End Of NOW

The remaining staff at Toronto’s NOW Magazine haven’t gotten a regular paycheque in months. But as the beloved alt-weekly disintegrated around them, they kept on putting out issues. Norm Wilner, who spent 14 years as NOW’s film writer, joins former colleague Jonathan Goldsbie on Short Cuts to consider the slow decay of a publication that served as the city’s internet, before the internet was a thing. They also look at the Toronto Star’s successful battle to overturn a strange publication ban masking the identity of an upper-crust private school.

August 25, 2022

#807 Keeping LaFlamme Alive

What's really behind Lisa LaFlamme's abrupt departure from CTV National News? And John Derringer's years of alleged workplace abuse at Toronto's Q107 and the straw that broke the camel's back for ending his show. Teri Hart co-hosts.

August 18, 2022

#805 Healthcare In Crisis

How many ways must healthcare break down before you can call it “collapsed”? And how can journalists be better supported when they receive threatening hate mail? Moira Wyton co-hosts with Jonathan Goldsbie.

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