Media Beat: February 14, 2020

By David Farrell

Dead at 68: Christie Blatchford was a tenacious voice for victims, a thorn to the smug

In the early days of the Post, newly hired reporters gathered in a restaurant to eat and drink and get to know each other. At the end, as everyone regretfully tallied what they owed, Blatchford pulled out her newly issued corporate credit card. “Let’s break this f—er in,” she declared, grabbing everyone’s bill. “Let’s see what the bastards are made of,” she said of the editors. – Adrian Humphreys, National Post

Navdeep Bains: Canada will lead the world in fast, affordable wireless networks

In 2020, mobile and wireless access is no longer a luxury, but a necessary part of how we work, socialize and stay connected to the world around us. Many of us would be hard-pressed to imagine day-to-day life without using our devices. We’d have a harder time working, learning, travelling, banking and engaging with modern society. While Canadians have access to reliable networks in Canada, they still need more affordable plans; that’s why Canadians elected a government that committed to lowering their cellphone bills by 25 percent. – Financial Post

Noms open for Allan Waters Young Broadcaster of the Year Award

 Don’t you just love the new crop of broadcasters: young and fresh with something to say, and the tools to say it. Twelve years ago, CMW first awarded the Steve Young Broadcaster of the Year award to salute Canada’s top broadcasters under the age of 30. The search is back on. Everything you need to know about the award criteria and how to make a nomination can be found through the link here.

We’ve already got wireless competition – we don’t need regulatory intervention

Mandated wholesale access offers no consumer benefits, distorts competition, stalls innovation and disproportionately harms rural consumers – Christian Dippon, Financial Post

Google expands Canadian presence with offices in Waterloo, Montreal and Toronto

Google is upping its Canadian presence with a plan to open three new offices, giving it enough space to accommodate 5,000 employees by 2022. – CP

How should media respond when an artist limits reviews to critics who are Indigenous, black and people of colour?

It’s a basic principle of mainstream cultural journalism that artists should not pick which critics review them. But should artists be allowed to choose which colour of critic reviews them?

That is the hot potato thrown to all the Toronto newspapers, magazines and online outlets that cover theatre this week by Yolanda Bonnell, an up-and-coming Anishinaabe and South Asian playwright and performer.

On Tuesday night, her play bug – which had a short run at the 2018 Luminato festival, resulting in a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for outstanding new play – opened for a two-week run at Theatre Passe Muraille, and only certain critics have been invited. – J. Kelly Nestruck, Globe and Mail