Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 1, 2017
As scheming jokesters across the globe prepare their April Fools’ pranks, Swedish and Norwegian newspapers have announced they won’t be taking part in the fun, over fears that silly stories might be spread as “fake news.”
January 24, 2017
Swedish newspapers Dalarnas Tidningar, Hallpressen, Vasterbottens-Kuriren, Smalandsposten, and Jonkopings-Posten are among the publications which say they’re going to suppress their inner trickster this year.
“Historically, we’ve had super successful April Fools jokes. But because of debates and discussions about the media’s credibility being connected to fake news, we didn’t want to do it this year,” Ingvar Naslund, editor-in-chief at Vasterbottens-Kuriren, told TT news agency.
Smalandsposten’s editor-in-chief, Magnus Karlsson, also said he doesn’t want the newspaper’s good name to be “spread with a potentially viral and erroneous story.”
“We work with real news. Even on April 1st,” he said.
March 1, 2017
Erik Berger, editor-in-chief at Jonkopings-Posten, said his paper will be publishing an article on April Fools’ Day as to why it isn’t participating in the international day of pranks.
Media outlets in neighboring Norway have expressed similar sentiments, including public broadcaster NRK, Aftenposten, VG, and Dagbladet.
NRK also reported that local newspapers would follow suit.
One of those local papers is Bergens Tidende, whose editor Oyulf Hjertenes told NRK that it would be a “mistake on our part” to publish jokes on April 1, considering the current climate in which “false news is spreading.”
Meanwhile, the publishing editor of local paper Drammens Tidende said that “what is written in Drammens Tidende must be true,” AFP reported.
“Fake news” has become a household term since gaining the spotlight in the 2016 US Presidential election, with some claiming it helped propel President Donald Trump to victory. (Source: RT)
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Tuesday November 13, 2012
Canadians are slowly losing trust in Parliament and political parties, and share some of the toughest views in the American hemisphere about their national leader, according to a new 26-country survey.
The survey by The Environics Institute, part of an investigation into political attitudes in 26 countries in the Americas, found that Canadians have been shedding some of their optimistic and positive views on politics and government
The survey found only 16 per cent of Canadians place “a lot of trust” in their Prime Minister, putting Stephen Harper near the bottom among all leaders in the Americas.
“In an international context, Harper has a lower level of trust than almost every other national leader in the hemisphere,” Mr. Neuman said.
The levels of trust are also low for the Canadian Parliament (17 per cent), political parties (10 per cent) and mass media (6 per cent). The findings come after Canada lived under a series of minority governments from 2004 to 2011, fuelling a sense of growing partisan bickering in Ottawa. (Source: Globe & Mail)
Meanwhile, less than two years after lovelorn fans were first forced to accept that young pop superstars Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were a romantic couple, their followers are reeling at news the pair are no more.
After weeks of rumours the couple was on the outs, E! News reported Friday that the teen pop stars broke up in recent days. The Associated Press confirmed the split on Saturday, citing an anonymous source not officially authorized to speak about the couple’s relationship status.(Source: CTV News)
By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator,
New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath is all smiles today after her party won one of two byelections that blocked the Liberals from a majority government.
Catherine Fife won the riding of Kitchener-Waterloo, which had previously been held by the Progressive Conservatives for 22 years.
Tory Leader Tim Hudak is complaining the unions “bought” the riding for the NDP, but Horwath dismissed it this morning as sour grapes.
Hudak says he takes responsibility for the loss, but says his party was beat by campaign muscle on the ground.
Horwath acknowledges that Fife got the “Cadillac of campaigns” with the party pulling in all their resources to get her elected, including 700 volunteers.
But Horwath says the voters of Kitchener-Waterloo voted for a strong woman who will listen to their concerns.
She suggested today that the win hasn’t emboldened her to try and topple the minority Liberals, who’ll need the help of one of the other parties to pass legislation.
McGuinty engineered the byelection by appointing veteran Tory Elizabeth Witmer to a $188,000-a-year post as head of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, convincing her to give up the seat she’d held for 22 years.
Backed by support from teachers and public sector workers angry with the Liberals for imposing a two-year wage freeze, Fife came from behind to take the riding about 170 kilometres southwest of Toronto for the first time in the party’s history. (Source: Global News)
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 21, 2003
On holiday in the Eastern Townships since Friday, French President Jacques Chirac is visiting Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in his home riding of Shawinigan.
The two will be touring an art exhibit in an old aluminium smelter that’s been converted into a museum.
Accompanied by his wife Bernadette, Chirac arrived at the airport in Trois-Rivières late Wednesday morning. The Chiracs will be visiting a sculpture exhibition at the Cité de l’Énergie museum.
The exhibition, The Body Transformed, features more than 60 sculptures by 16 celebrated artists, including Auguste Rodin and Pablo Picasso.
Following the tour of the museum, Chirac and his wife will visit Chrétien and his wife Aline at their cottage in Lac des Piles. (CP)