CANADALAND

In the mid-2010s, BuzzFeed News seemed like the most exciting place in media: an almost cloyingly whimsical carnival of abundance where journalists were actually happy. At a time when everything else appeared to be crumbling, it burst with hope and possibility.

Last month, after just a few years of layoffs and withering, it shut down for good.

And if the quick life and death of BuzzFeed News represented the whole past, present, and future of media collapsed into a single decade, then BuzzFeed Canada was a micocosm of that, living fast and dying young in just a fraction of the time.

Today, BuzzFeed Canada founding editor Craig Silverman (now with ProPublica) and longtime writer Elamin Abdelmahmoud (now with CBC Radio) sit down with Canadaland news editor Jonathan Goldsbie to look at how this strange thing got built up so fast, and what it was like on the inside as it rapidly slipped away

Host: Jonathan Goldsbie

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Noor Azrieh (Associate Producer)

Further information:

• Definitive Oral History Of BuzzFeed News 2012–2023
• This Is The Definitive Oral History Of The Dead Toronto Raccoon That Went Viral
• 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists McGillivray Award-winning article
• The Drone And The Damage Done
• The Wreck Of HMS Erebus
• 16 Canadian Politicians Who Are Basically Pokémon
• I Hate Myself Because I Don't Work For BuzzFeed

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If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.  

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Avec France-Isabelle Langlois (directrice générale d’Amnistie internationale Canada francophone) et Maïka Sondarjee (professeure adjointe à l’Université d’Ottawa, cofondatrice de Femmes expertes et auteure), Emilie se penche sur la haine (en ligne) à laquelle les femmes s’exposent de plus en plus lorsqu’elles prennent la parole publiquement sur les enjeux qui leur tiennent à cœur. Pourquoi est-ce que l’arène publique devient de plus en plus violente ? Comment les femmes se sont-elles adaptées et comment résistent-elles ? Et qu’est-ce qui peut être fait pour venir à bout de cette violence ?

Cette conversation a été enregistrée au Centre PHI à Montréal, le 8 juin 2023. Merci à l’équipe du Centre PHI.

Emilie is joined by France-Isabelle Langlois (Executive Director of Amnesty International Canada Francophone) and Maïka Sondarjee (assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, co-founder of Femmes Expertes and author) to discuss (online) hatred women are increasingly exposed to when they speak out publicly on the issues that matter to them. Why is the public arena becoming increasingly violent? How have women been coping, and resisting? And what can be done to put an end to this violence?

This conversation was recorded live at the PHI Centre in Montreal on June 8, 2023. Thank you to the team at the PHI Centre for their help with this event.

Animation: Emilie Nicolas

Générique: Tristan Capacchione (Producteur)

Coanimation: France-Isabelle Langlois, Maïka Sondarjee

Pour en savoir plus :

• Étude, Amnesty International - Résumé, en français
• Étude, Amnesty International - Au complet, en anglais
• Femmes expertes

Commanditaire : Athletic Greens

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Wildfires are coming at us from all sides. How can local reporters get at the root issues? And the implementation of Quebec's language law municipalities making fun of the new rules. Tim Bousquet co-hosts. 

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)

Guest: Tim Bousquet

Further reading: 

• Officials have known for years about the wildfire risks in Tantallon - Halifax Examiner
• Letter from the editor: Why we won’t be covering Collision this year - The Logic
• Collision nears a one-year Toronto extension, efforts mount for a West Coast alternative - BetaKit 
• Côte-St-Luc, 20 other municipalities to launch lawsuit against Bill 96 - Montreal Gazette
• Access to English medical services threatened in Bill 15, anglo rights group warns - Montreal Gazette
• Chronique – Vinegar Sammy - Le Devoir

Sponsors: Ecojustice, oxio, Article, Athletic Greens

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If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.  

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

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There's no beat more likely to get you an audience and a paycheck. It's trend-proof and recession-proof. Yes, true crime is freakishly popular right now, but it was never unpopular. Audiences have been showing up for gangster stories and murder stories and heist stories and scam stories steadily, for at least a hundred years, and probably a lot longer. It's big business.

But it’s a business that can come with a personal cost for its practitioners. How can you dig into the darkest parts of the human psyche, the most notorious crimes, and not feel guilty?

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)

Further information:

• The Human Scale: Murder, Mischief and Other Selected Mayhems
• Michael Lista’s website

Additional music by Audio Network

Sponsors: Canva, Squarespace, Peloton

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.  

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite Danielle Smith’s involvement in numerous scandals, she won a majority in Alberta’s election. Albertan Dani Paradis helps us understand why. And senior citizen sex shows, sex toy exhibits and art by Bryan Adams - you may not like it, but you’ve been paying for them, taxpayer! Well, no more. 

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)

Guest: Dani Paradis

Further reading: 

• Alberta’s Vote Will Test American-Style Far-Right Politics - The New York Times
• Opinion: With Danielle Smith’s win, the Wildrose Party has firm control of Alberta - Globe and Mail
• FIRST READING: Danielle Smith isn't an 'American-style' fringe conservative - National Post
• The Mounties: 150 years of conflict with Indigenous Peoples - APTN
• Taxpayers group celebrates cancellation of wasteful Mission Cultural Fund - Western Standard
• Feds spent thousands funding on sex shows featuring seniors - Toronto Sun

Sponsors: Ecojustice, Peloton, Better Help, 

Canadaland is turning 10! From May 24 - June 2, sign up for our highest level of ongoing support for only $10 a month. PLUS the first 100 signups will receive a FREE limited edition 10th Anniversary tote bag. Head to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today.

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big tech critic Cory Doctorow lays out a four-part plan to save the news media from big tech’s stranglehold.

The plan: create a comprehensive new privacy law, open up the app stores to true competition, return to the internet’s founding principle of true end to end delivery, and finally, splinter Meta and Google into smaller independent competing companies.

Would it work? How close are we to any of this?

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)

Further information:

• Cory Doctorow - https://craphound.com/

Sponsors: Rotman, Atheltic Greens, Peloton

Canadaland is turning 10! From May 24 - June 2, sign up for our highest level of ongoing support for only $10 a month. PLUS the first 100 signups will receive a FREE limited edition 10th Anniversary tote bag. Head to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today.

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hockey is a hell of a lot of fun. But right now, the sport is going through a reckoning. Allegations of racism, corruption, sexual misconduct and so much more are rocking the game to its core.

But the truth is that in Canada, hockey is more than just a sport. It’s a civic religion, with a billion dollar business attached to it.

Over the next seven episodes, COMMONS will be digging into the cult of hockey, scrutinizing its doctrines and exposing its secrets.

Featured in this episode: Ian Kennedy (The Hockey News)

Editor’s Note: a different version of this episode was published on the subscriber-only feed of Commons. No inaccuracies were found in the original version, changes were made by the Editor in Chief for storytelling purposes.

To learn more:

“How a Toronto hockey league turns kids’ joy into an $8.8m cash cow” by Ian Kennedy and Nathan Kalman-Lamb in The Guardian

“Aliu says GTHL rejected organization that would have assured spots for BIPOC players” by Rick Westhead in TSN

“Prospective buyer says he was coached to skirt GTHL’s rules on organization sales” by Rick Westhead in TSN

“Rinks of dreams: The Little One had style” by Bruce Lowitt in The Tampa Bay Times

Credits: Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)

Additional music from Audio Network

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The Special Rapporteur is back with a hotly anticipated release - No Public Inquiry! David Johnston made his decision – rage and frustration ensued. And the Toronto Mayoral race heats up with Olivia Chow leading the polls. 

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)

Guest: Jan Wong

Further reading: 

• Matt Gurney: The Johnston report is one of the most depressing things I've ever read - The Line
• Canadians who say they were targeted by Beijing slam David Johnston: ‘Another day of being unheard’ - Toronto Star
• Trudeau Foundation spent less than required on charities through most of its existence, tax records suggest - Investigative Journalism Foundation
• Maid for a month: Goodbye to all that - The Globe and Mail
• Olivia Chow has ‘untouchable’ lead in final weeks of Toronto’s mayoral campaign, new poll finds - Toronto Star
• LILLEY: Polls show Chow set to win and that's not good for Toronto - Toronto Sun
• Inside the Toronto election campaign: #FreePaul, Presto on the Ferry and everything else you missed - Toronto Star

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Canadaland is turning 10! From May 24 - June 2, sign up for our highest level of ongoing support for only $10 a month. PLUS the first 100 signups will receive a FREE limited edition 10th Anniversary tote bag. Head to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today. 

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The odds were stacked against us, but here we are. This year Canadaland turns ten. To mark the occasion, Canadaland Founder and Publisher, Jesse Brown, shares why he started a podcast and how that morphed into a thriving media company. Jesse reflects on the impact our journalism has and continues to have, why the work the team does is more important than ever, and how our supporters have enabled it all.

Canadaland is turning 10! From May 24 - June 2, you can get all the benefits of our $15/month tier for only $10/month — and it's a deal you can keep for as long as you stay a supporter. PLUS the first 100 signups will receive a FREE limited edition 10th Anniversary tote bag.

Head to canadaland.com/join to become a supporter today.

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While the press of today might not be reporting on aliens with the same fervour, many of the tropes from those days are still alive and well in modern-day journalism. 

Stories about how no one wants to work anymore, or how technology is killing the art of conversation, have been told for over 130 years… and counting. 

What are the tropes that keep coming back again and again? And are we really so different from the hysterical, partisan press of yesteryear? 

Host: Jesse Brown

Credits: Tristan Capacchione (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Bruce Thorson (Senior Producer), Cherise Seucharan (Reporter), Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor)

Further information:

• Paul Fairie on Twitter 
• Think Like a Historian, Historica Canada
• Making National News: A History of the Canadian Press, Gene Allen
• Library of Congress: Chronicling America Archives
• Sharp Wits and Busy Pens: The role of the Parliamentary Press Gallery over the years, Video Series, Carleton University

Additional music by Audio Network

Sponsors: Oxio, Article, Better Help, Peloton

If you value this podcast, support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch at our store, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody.  

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.