April 11 – May 30, 2024
April 11
Session recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpYz3GZ9iRU
What is investigative journalism?
Investigative journalism involves uncovering hidden truths. There are present-day examples. The Globe and Mail’s award-winning probe into the way Hockey Canada dealt with sexual assault allegations; The Toronto Star, The Narwhal and Canada’s National Observer produced exposés into Doug Ford government’s use of so-called municipal zoning orders in Ontario to green light development on environmentally sensitive lands, a precursor to the Greenbelt fiasco now the target of a police investigation.
Examples of investigative journalism projects
Muckrakers… or Investigative Journalists?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdiUMgavSak
UNDERCOVER IN TEMP NATION
https://bit.ly/3TPvObT
Undercover Temp Nation story was a year in the making
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVF1-NjDjB0
Nursing home hidden camera investigation: Understaffed and overworked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CppkSWRdVTo
Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/topics/hockey-canada/
Outrage over Hockey Canada’s fund to settle sexual assault claims
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFdZ7QWd5J4
The Michener Awards 2022 Finalists / Les finalistes des Michener Awards 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt6CN8f117g
2018 CAJ Awards
https://caj.ca/congratulations-to-the-2018-caj-awards-recipients/
2018 CAJ Awards – CATEGORY 106 – Data journalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6JJ7EDXu9M
Announcing the 2023 IRE Award winners & finalists
https://www.ire.org/announcing-the-2023-ire-award-winners-and-finalists/
https://www.ire.org/awards/
Secret Canada
https://www.secretcanada.com/
Canadian Association of Journalists
https://caj.ca/programs/awards/
National Newspaper Awards — 2023 finalists
https://nna-ccj.ca/2022-finalists/
Michener Award finalists
https://www.michenerawards.ca/the-michener-award/finalists-and-winners/
The Canadian Journalism Foundation
https://cjf-fjc.ca/cjf-awards/2024-cjf-awards-evening/
April 18, 2024
Session recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o1D1A39DFE
The history of investigative journalism and why it became connected to a distrust in government.
Contemporary examples of investigative journalism arguably took shape in the United States during the 1960s and the Vietnam War in the seventies with the Pentagon Papers, and Watergate, respectively. These two watershed moments gave rise to what some scholars dub the golden age of investigative journalism. Canada experienced its own heyday. The arrival of Conrad Black’s National Post in 1998, the paper’s subsequent investigations into the so-called Shawinigate, and The Globe and Mail’s probe into the sponsorship scandal helped to inspire a wave of investigative reporting that persists to this day.
Links
The Pentagon Papers
https://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers
Watergate Trial Tapes
https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/index.php/watergate-trial-tapes
Watergate: Inside the scandal that took down a presidency
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZSGMMUC7FQ
YouTube excerpt from the movie Spotlight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR8Z64v7-mU
Summary of the sponsorship program: to promote “visibility of Canada within Quebec” and not “about the Liberal Party” and “Liberal-friendly” ad agencies benefiting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpRSameiPo8
Twenty ways the National Post shaped Canada (whether Canada liked it or not)
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/twenty-ways-the-national-post-shaped-canada-whether-canada-liked-it-or-not
Sponsorship Scandal (Adscam)
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sponsorship-scandal-adscam
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sponsorship-scandal-adscam#:~:text=In%20an%20article%20published%20in%20the%20Globe%20and%20Mail%20on%2031%20December%201999%2C%20journalists%20Daniel
Are Political Scandals Shaking Our Faith?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHDTMUvIeLQ
Airbus Affair mulroney testifies in front of a MPs hearing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKN3JwIyfC4
Harvey Cashore on What it Takes to do investigative journalism – the fifth estate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gelggKlAWOU
Harvey Cashore of the fifth estate wrote a book about the Airbus Affair
https://cjf-fjc.ca/getting-truth-mulroney-schreiber-affair/
Brian Mulroney coverup allegations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSuzyhwAt_4
The Chess Master – Brian Mulroney CBC News: the fifth estate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlkEkyS3gOQ
The Big Story
https://thebigstorypodcast.ca/about/
Peter Mansbridge on how Canadians lost trust in media | The Big Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beBDGefVlPI
The Big Story – previous episodes
https://thebigstorypodcast.ca/archive/
Introducing the Pew-Knight Initiative
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/21/introducing-the-pew-knight-initiative/
PCO poll finds many do not trust the media and do not believe news outlets are closing
https://globalnews.ca/news/10191697/pco-poll-media-trust-news-outlets-closing/#:~:text=The%20polling%20on%20trust%20in%20media%20was%20part%20of%20a%20broader%20series%20of%20questions%20on%20the%20media%20in%20Canada
Think we’re nothing like Americans? Some troubling findings in Canada are emerging, poll suggests
https://www.thestar.com/politics/think-were-nothing-like-americans-some-troubling-findings-in-canada-are-emerging-poll-suggests/article_0b00a8dc-d27a-11ee-808f-67ebf39920cb.html
Think we are nothing like Americans_ Think again, poll shows.pdf
Trust in Traditional News Rebounds
https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/trust-traditional-news-rebounds
https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2021-06/RTDNA_Trust_in_News-Report-2021-06-03-v1_0.pdf
April 25, 2024
Session recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZCNFt3wC5c
What role does freedom-of-information and data play in investigative journalism?
Enacted on July 1, 1983, the federal Access to Information Act gives ALL citizens – not just journalists – the right to information, either for the asking, or paying a nominal fee. Similar rights exist under provincial and municipal freedom-of-information laws. Many journalists, including yours truly, have used access-to-information laws to tell stories about deadly prescription drugs maiming and killing Canadians; violence in nursing homes; the RCMP’s deadly use of Tasers and, more recently, the Ford government’s use of special zoning orders to gobble up environmentally sensitive land for development.
Question Period Notes
https://search.open.canada.ca/en/qp/
Completed Access to Information Requests
https://open.canada.ca/en/search/ati?_ga=2.69692565.406018153.1536604353-1818651053.1522773341
Access to information – general info, including filing formal and informal requests
https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/access-information-privacy.html
Access to Information Act: Plain Language Guide to Exemptions and Exclusions
https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/access-information-privacy/aia-plain-language-guide.html
Search Briefing Note Titles and Numbers
https://search.open.canada.ca/en/bn/
Open Government – Proactive disclosure and access to information
https://open.canada.ca/en
Sessional papers’ catalogue
https://bit.ly/3Fmk2yR
Handgun crime stats – sessional paper
https://parl-gc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/delivery/01CALP_INST:01CALP/12152289400002616?lang=en
Ottawa spent $2.2-million fighting emergencies act court challenge on convoy protest
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ottawa-emergencies-act-court-spending/
How Free is Canada’s Information System? | The Agenda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IabFJhuaIxY
Open By Default – Investigative Journalism Foundation
https://theijf.org/open-by-default
Secret Canada – The Globe and Mail’s access-to-information search tool
https://www.secretcanada.com/
CAIRS
http://www.davidmckie.com/coordination-of-access-to-information-requests-system-cairs/
Remembering CAIRS, the federal FOI database that was quietly shut down in 2008
https://www.secretcanada.com/news/cairs-foi-tracking-database
Ontario
https://www.ontario.ca/page/how-make-freedom-information-request
Completed requests: https://open.toronto.ca/dataset/freedom-of-information-requests-summary/
Statistics on the Access to Information and Privacy Acts
https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/access-information-privacy/statistics-atip.html
Info Matters podcast
https://www.ipc.on.ca/media-centre/info-matters-podcast/
Access-to-information driven stories
Trudeau won’t comment on future of TikTok in U.S., as Liberals tap app’s influencers
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/2024/04/24/trudeau-wont-comment-on-future-of-tiktok-in-u-s-says-canadian-safety-a-priority
Just a few big landlords come up, again and again, in analysis of Ontario rent hikes
https://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates/ontario-above-guideline-rent-increases-2022-data-1.7175254
https://www.instagram.com/p/C53fF_kgj6o/
Data set used for CBC story
ACORN
https://acorncanada.org/about/
Nuclear threat from Ukraine war prompts Ottawa to update plans for catastrophe
Secret UFO memo sent to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau over mystery object shot down over Yukon in February
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12500215/Secret-UFO-memo-sent-Canadian-PM-Justin-Trudeau-mystery-object-shot-Yukon-February.html
Read ‘Secret’ memo for Trudeau on unidentified object shot down over Yukon
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/read-secret-memo-for-trudeau-on-unidentified-object-shot-down-over-yukon-1.6548510
The Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS)
https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/publications/aviation-safety-letter/issue-2-2021/civil-aviation-daily-occurrence-reporting-system-cadors
CADORS main menu
https://wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/cadors-screaq/m.aspx
Ottawa warns LGBTQ travellers they could be hit by U.S. state laws
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/global-affairs-lgbt-unitedstates-warning-1.6950833
Travel and your sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics
https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/health-safety/lgbt-travel
LGBTQ access-to-information request
http://www.davidmckie.com/LGBTQ travel U.S. travel advisory_A-2023-01693.pdf
Example of an Ontario request:
http://www.davidmckie.com/Ontario%20Data%202018%20Request.pdf
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, automotive theft in Canada – briefing note uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24153101-innovation-science-and-economic-development-canada-oct-19-2023-formal-release-of-briefing-note-re-automotive-theft-in-canada-as-processed-on-a-2023-00346_a-2023-00395-ja
The Access to Information Act and Proposals for Reform
https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/ResearchPublications/200555E
Access to Information Act: Plain Language Guide to Exemptions and Exclusions
https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/access-information-privacy/aia-plain-language-guide.html
Open Government – Proactive disclosure and access to information
https://open.canada.ca/en
Completed Access to Information Requests
https://open.canada.ca/en/search/ati?_ga=2.69692565.406018153.1536604353-1818651053.1522773341
Secret Canada – The Globe and Mail’s access-to-information search tool
https://www.secretcanada.com/
CAIRS
http://www.davidmckie.com/coordination-of-access-to-information-requests-system-cairs/
Remembering CAIRS, the federal FOI database that was quietly shut down in 2008
https://www.secretcanada.com/news/cairs-foi-tracking-database
Secret Canada
https://www.secretcanada.com/
Open By Default
https://theijf.org/open-by-default
How Free is Canada’s Information System? | The Agenda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IabFJhuaIxY
Access to information – general information
http://www.davidmckie.com/access-to-information/
May 2, 2024
Session recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=527qtwEnJ88
Is investigative journalism the same as regular daily journalism?
No. If investigative journalism can force governments to act (The Globe and Mail’s stories on alleged Chinese interference, leading to the public inquiry being held as we speak), then surely regular journalism can – and should — do the same. While the sheer weight of regular, daily journalism focusing on a particular topic can lead to change (The Ford government’s decision to abandon its plans for portions of the Greenbelt), it does not enjoy the same status as investigative journalism, which takes longer, is costlier and involves difficult-to-obtain records from carefully cultivated sources.
Links
What Is Investigative Journalism? – David E. Kaplan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCVU52T6Cbs
2023 National Newspaper Award winners and finalists
https://nna-ccj.ca/2022-finalists/
Canadian Association of Journalists 2023 finalists
https://caj.ca/canadian-association-of-journalists-announces-finalists-for-this-years-top-investigative-journalism-awards-competition/
2023 Finalists announced for CJF Jackman Excellence Award
https://cjf-fjc.ca/cjf-jackman-award-excellence-journalism/
Finalists for the 2023 Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism
https://www.michenerawards.ca/media-release/michener-awards-foundation-announces-finalists-for-the-2023-michener-award-for-meritorious-public-service-journalism/
2023 IRE Award winners and finalists
https://www.ire.org/announcing-the-2023-ire-award-winners-and-finalists/
Winners of the 2023 Philip Meyer Journalism Award
https://www.ire.org/2023-meyer-winners/
Old Montreal fire 2023: our story
https://globalnews.ca/video/10200502/old-montreal-fire-2023-our-story
At least seven missing after fire in Old Montreal building; father says daughter, 18, among the victims
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-at-least-six-missing-after-fire-that-destroyed-old-montreal-building/
At least seven missing after fire in Old Montreal building – PDF version
New details emerge about Montreal’s deadliest fire in decades
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LRGcfdHVxg
Montreal building that burned in deadly fire had repeated safety violations, documents show
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-montreal-building-that-burned-in-deadly-fire-had-repeated-safety/?login=true
Montreal building that burned in deadly fire had repeated safety violations – PDF version
Racism, prejudice contributed to Joyce Echaquan’s death in hospital, Quebec coroner’s inquiry concludes
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/joyce-echaquan-systemic-racism-quebec-government-1.6196038
Surviving Hate
https://www.nationalobserver.com/special-reports/surviving-hate
Finalists announced for CJF Jackman Excellence Award
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/finalists-announced-for-cjf-jackman-excellence-award-826248087.html#:~:text=published%20in%20Canada%27s%20National%20Observer
Additional resources:
What is Investigative Journalism?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roPyRTG9o60
Tips from Bob Woodward on Investigative Journalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVKGUctuoXE
May 9, 2024
Session recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHYj5hAix3A
Is investigative journalism the best way to counter disinformation?
Yes. Verification techniques employed by investigative journalists such as geolocation techniques and satellite imagery to authenticate videos and photos, expose disinformation and misinformation peddlers, be they individuals, institutions, or governments. Newsrooms have also created new workflows to ensure routine verification take place. The advent of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT heighten the need for verification. Journalism organizations and schools of journalism are teaching these techniques.
Why Ontario school boards are suing social media platforms for causing an attention crisis
https://theconversation.com/why-ontario-school-boards-are-suing-social-media-platforms-for-causing-an-attention-crisis-226887
‘Fake News’ explained: How disinformation spreads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fQdzVbQlaU
We need a law against lying in politics
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/05/09/opinion/we-need-law-against-lying-politics
Welsh Senedd members consider criminalising lying by politicians
https://bit.ly/44AVhdT
This Welsh lawmaker is trying to make it illegal for politicians to lie
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-2-as-it-happens/clip/16061642-this-welsh-lawmaker-trying-illegal-politicians-lie
Daniel Dale
https://www.cnn.com/profiles/daniel-dale
The Canadian Press’ “baloney meter”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/topic/Tag/Baloney%20Meter
Baloney Meter: Did the Liberals promise electoral reform only with broad support?https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/electoral-reform-liberals-monsef-1.3876002
Pierre Poilievre: Memo to corporate Canada – fire your lobbyist. Ignore politicians. Go to the people
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/pierre-poilievre-corporate-lobbyists-keep-sucking-up-to-high-tax-anti-resource-liberals
Mushroom growers, Shopify and real estate: Poilievre says lobbyists are ‘useless,’ but here’s who he meets with anyway
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/mushroom-growers-shopify-and-real-estate-poilievre-says-lobbyists-are-useless-but-heres-who-he-meets-with-anyway
Poilievre fundraisers attract business executives and lobbyists: analysis | Power & Politics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58ox5HlZWn8
Storyful
https://storyful.com/
‘Fake News’ explained: How disinformation spreads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fQdzVbQlaU
The new climate denial: How social media platforms and content producers profit by spreading new forms of climate denial
https://counterhate.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CCDH-The-New-Climate-Denial_FINAL.pdf
May 16, 2024
Session recording
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5w9ax5g9-g
What is the state of investigative journalism, and who is doing it?
The shrinking number of newsrooms mean fewer journalists. Fortunately, there is hope. The large outlets like The Globe and Mail, the CBC and the Toronto Star are more resolute than ever to deliver agenda-driving, investigative journalism. Digital outlets like the environmentally focused Narwhal, Canada’s National Observer (I’m the deputy managing editor), the U of T-based Investigative Journalism Bureau (I’m a board member) and countless others, are also getting in on the action and gaining more subscribers. Investigations can be good for business.
A front row to our funeral’: Canadian local news coverage erodes in 2023
https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/a-front-row-to-our-funeral-canadian-local-news-coverage-erodes-in-2023/article_03f106dd-3bc6-54e1-aa36-6f4514ce834f.html
Desmog about
https://www.desmog.com/about/
Andrew Coyne Helped Run Charity That Gave $6.4M to Climate Crisis Denial Groups
https://www.desmog.com/2024/05/07/andrew-coyne-helped-run-charity-that-gave-6-4m-to-climate-crisis-denial-groups/
2023 NNA Winners and Nominees
https://nna-ccj.ca/2022-finalists/
The Narwhal
https://thenarwhal.ca/
Canada’s National Observer
https://www.nationalobserver.com/
La Presse
https://www.lapresse.ca/
Changing Models for Journalism Reinventing the Newsroom
https://bit.ly/3UKfh9L
Robert Picard – New Media Models that succeed in Post-Truth Era
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RO3_ZXOCQk
Jane Mayer on Investigative Reporting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hif91RAWgQ
The Future of Investigative Journalism is Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcr6Ra5Ou9Q
What Is Substack and How Does It Work?
https://blog.hootsuite.com/what-is-substack/
Local News Research Project
https://localnewsresearchproject.ca/
The Tyee
https://thetyee.ca/
The Trillium
https://www.thetrillium.ca/contact/about-us
Le Devoir
https://www.ledevoir.com/
Global Investigative Journalism Network
https://gijn.org/
Institute for Nonprofit News
https://inn.org/
Local Independent Online News Publishers
https://www.lionpublishers.com/
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/
Investigative Journalism Bureau
https://ijb.utoronto.ca/
Investigative Journalism Foundation
https://theijf.org/
Banking on Climate Chaos – Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2023
https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/BOCC_2023_vF.pdf
InfluenceMap
https://influencemap.org/mission
https://influencemap.org/index.html
https://influencemap.org/briefing/The-Canadian-Oil-and-Gas-Industry-and-Climate-Policy-14696
May 23, 2024
How is investigative journalism used to dig into history?
Some critics call journalism history on the run, superficial snapshots of specific events, devoid of context. Take your pick from recent examples: the so-called Freedom Convoy that paralyzed Ottawa and border crossings in southern Ontario and Alberta during the first two months of 2022; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accusing India of being involved in the assassination of a B.C.-based Sikh separatist. These events share historical backstories. Some freedom-convoy advocates reflected anti-government sentiments dating back to the so-called Spanish flu that killed about 50,000 people in Canada between 1918 and 1920. Allegations against the Indian government can be linked to the 1985 Air India bombing, the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history that killed everyone on board. History still resonates
May 30, 2024
What is the emotional and ethical toll of investigative journalism?
Investigations can be time-consuming, expensive, and strewn with emotional toll and ethical questions seldom seen in daily journalism. For instance, Kim Bolan, the Vancouver Sun reporter who continues to follow and report on the fallout from the Air India bombing, has lived under the eye of police surveillance cameras to help protect her and her family from death threats too numerous to count. I know Bolan’s case intimately because I produced a documentary about her plight when I was a member of the CBC Radio’s investigative unit. While Bolan’s case may seem extreme, threats she faces can also be experienced by journalists digging for the truth, trying to uncover wrongdoing, attempting to hold suspected criminals, lawmakers, and bureaucrats to account.
Links