Rex Murphy has packed up his column at the Globe and Mail and hauled it uptown to the National Post. 

The long time Globe columnist, CBC commentator, host of Cross Country Checkup …and all round Newfoundland favourite son won’t be able to be read in print in Newfoundland any more because the National Post …a NATIONAL newspaper, does not distribute in the province.

No big announcements. Most people heard when Peter Mansbridge mentioned it in the extro to Rex’s piece on The National. Could it have been a part of the CBC – National Post content sharing agreement?  Is it a part of new Globe editor, John Stackhouse’s, new plan? Or were Stackhouse and crew less than impressed with his appearances in a rival paper after Murphy’s December 5 column in the Financial Post.

Some are saying he was starting to drift a little to far to starboard (the right side of the boat)  so could a senate appointment be next?  …NAW!

But can you imagine the blood bath in the senate chamber when Rex was turned loose?

Check out the discussion at Ian Capstick’s Media Style blog.

 

Happy New Year from the newsroom elves at NL PRESS. We are all headed down to George Street for an extended visit but before we go, we would like to thank our clients, friends, contributors, families, supporters, media colleagues, taxi drivers and tire repair company ...have you seen the state of the roads in St. John's? ...for a pretty good first full year in operation. It was small but productive and we have bigger plans for the new year. As we close out the year we have looked back on the top Newfoundland and Labrador news stories, best of the arts, the top players in the offshore oil industry which kept the provincial economy from completely tanking in 2009 and is on track to keep us afloat again in 2010 while the fishery, forestry and mining industry struggle to get back on top. So, check it out and be sure to visit our 2009 Photo Gallery for a selection of our best photos from the past year. See you in 2010!

Since the attack on the World Trade Centre in NYC that led to new anti-terrorism laws many democratic western nations have slipped in a War on Photographers with their heavily marketed War on Terrorism. Photographers, either tourists, hobbists and professionals are now stopped, harrased, detained or arrested for taking pictures in public places. It has been a major issue in the USA and UK with thousands of cases being reported.

A group of photographers in Great Britain have banded together to to fight back with I'm a Photographer, Not a Terrorist, and this week got some welcome news in The Independent newspaper with the story, Warning, Do Not Take This Picture by Mark Hughes and Jerome Taylor.

By PETER WHITTLE - There has been quite an explosive exchange in the local blogosphere over the past week which has seen one high profile blogger accuse of the province's brightest and best political reporters of suppressing news stories, of consciously making a decision to cover-up a story. To be fair the blogger, Geoff Meeker, of Meeker on the Media, apologized yesterday, but the form of the apology bothers me just as much as the original irresponsible charge.

It is perfectly logical ...and LEGAL! that the mayor of Paradise was elected by a recycling bin ...but it doesn't make it democratic. In democratic countries they have run off elections.
A tie in a municipal election was broken when the mayoral candidates names were put in a recycling bin and a "winner" was drawn. An old hack provincialpolitician was chosen by the sorting hat ...err, recycle bin.
The young challenger is talking to his lawyer.
The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Municipalities Act , passed by ALL the provincial MHA's, allows for such disregard of the democratic electoral process and the citizens right to choose their elected officials ...no matter how long it takes for a clear winner to emerge.