Canadaland

https://twitter.com/...450920098607378

https://twitter.com/...546480134611065

When a Toronto Star journalist is concerned that a colleague has written something discriminatory, in the newspaper or on social media, they’ve been encouraged to take their concerns to Shree Paradkar, the newspaper’s first internal ombud on editorial-related discrimination and bias, a position created in 2020 to ensure that racialized journalists have a voice in the newsroom.

But what if the allegedly discriminatory words are written by Paradkar herself? 

That was the dilemma faced by several Toronto Star journalists until yesterday, say sources inside the Star who spoke to Canadaland on the condition of anonymity. On Tuesday, Toronto Star editor in chief Anne Marie Owens eliminated Paradkar’s ombud job entirely, a decision communicated in an internal newsroom email obtained by Canadaland.

According to a memo announcing the internal ombud position in 2020, Paradkar’s role was to  “provide a safe place for BIPOC journalists and all journalists to express editorial-related discrimination and bias concerns if they don’t feel comfortable bringing it to their manager directly.”

Specifically, she would handle “concerns over headline words or angle, photo choice or placement, social posts, cutline or other display writing, story wording or angle, or sometimes, assignment.” 

But now, “the role of internal ombud, which has proved to be untenable as a part-time management position, will not be continued,” wrote Owens. 

The move follows weeks of social media posts by Paradkar that appalled some of her Star colleagues, according to Canadaland’s sources. 

https://www.canadala...internal-ombud/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 December 2023 - 11:20 PM.

^ Doesn't Andrew Wilkinson own a good chunk of Canadaland?

^ Doesn't Andrew Wilkinson own a good chunk of Canadaland?

This week, Canadaland announced big news — it got a CAD$1 million investment from the Tiny Foundation, a new foundation run by tech entrepreneur Andrew Wilkinson and angel investor Holly Rohani Wilkinson.

It’s not just the amount of money involved, or the choice of organization, that makes this a transaction to examine. It’s that there was an investment like this at all.

https://indiegraf.co...nto-canadaland/

Canadaland, which started as a media criticism podcast but has since expanded to a podcast network as well as a website that publishes investigative work, is considered one of the success stories of independent media in Canada. It’s supported by its audience — it makes just under USD$30,000 a month from Patreon support, and makes money from its new subscription platform — and advertising. 

Jesse Brown, its founder and publisher, told me in an email that the company has always been able to turn a profit. “Micro-profitable, but profitable,” says Brown. But without support from their audience, the Canadaland team can’t pursue projects like a follow-up to their acclaimed Thunder Bay podcast. 

Enter Andrew Wilkinson and Holly Rohani Wilkinson.

Wilkinson has a long tech entrepreneur resume. He founded MetaLab, an interface design firm, and has since co-founded Tiny Capital, a company that is in the business of investing and starting other companies. Rohani Wilkinson is founder of 8-Bit Capital and Wilkinson’s wife.

For the past year, Wilkinson has been dipping his toe into journalism — he’s an investor in The Logic and the publisher of The Capital, a local site in Victoria, B.C. (The Capital’s founding editor, Tristin Hopper, was included in Canadaland’s annual review of best and worst tweets in 2017 and 2019, most recently for his infamous thread about allegedly stomping a racoon to death.)

Wilkinson and Brown got to know each other when Wilkinson called him to pick his brain about the media in Canada in general. “Eventually, I asked him what he would do if he had more resources, and I pitched him on this journalism fund idea,” says Wilkinson in an email. 

Here’s how it will work: Tiny Foundation is investing $1 million in Canadaland in monthly installments over three years. Brown says ultimately Tiny will own about 10 to 16 per cent of the company, depending on company performance. “If there is no return on investment, they own more of the company. If there is return on investment, they own less,” Brown says. 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 December 2023 - 09:39 AM.

Can someone explain what’s actually going on?

Nobody identifies the issue, they just talked in tongues and run circles around the actual problem.

Brown supports Israel.

& got the diversity ombudsman at the toronto star fired/cancelled for retweeting the wrong things

Edited by amor de cosmos, 16 December 2023 - 08:48 AM.

& got the diversity ombudsman at the toronto star fired/cancelled for retweeting the wrong things

She was not fired, she still works there, but lost the ombudsperson role.

You mean the "ombud" role.