Newsroom Insider

A black bear, bullets and Burlington. Now that's a news story

Bear squad. Halton police shot and killed wandering bruin in Burlington.

Spectator reporter Hilary Caton wrote a brief news story Tuesday detailing reports of a black bear in Milton. Story seemed incredulous. Bears normally don't live in these parts.

We posted the story on thespec.com and one of the comments submitted challenged the authenticity of the claim:

“Where are the pictures? Need some evidence otherwise this is just a Loch Ness...”

Today, the bear took a fatal jaunt south and made its way into Burlington. It’s a great place to visit, but not if you’re a bear. A police tactical team found the bear and shot it. Three times, maybe four.

The story is front page news – it’s not everyday a bear wanders into Burlington and then is shot. The story is news, it's unusual, it's a curiosity and it's a matter of public concern and safety. (an aside - a black bear was shot in Greensville, a Hamilton suburb, in July 2004. There was much controversy, not so much because of photos and video. We received letters debating the right to kill a bear and who should kill it. Some felt it should have been tranquilized.)

Now debate now over how to tell the story of Burlington's dead bruin. Is it offensive to show pictures of the dead bear? We have such photos and one of them is on the Spec's website. I don’t find it grisly or gruesome, but certainly some do and are offended. (Note: a small photo of the dead bear is at the end of this post).

Last week a young woman riding her horse collided with a truck. The woman and horse were killed. A freelance photographer arrived at the scene and captured a dramatic scene showing the dead horse. The photo gave context to the accident surroundings (photo is also below). Some people found the photo offensive.

This is reminiscent of a similar story in January when sharpshooters in Halton picked off an ornery coyote that bit a little girl. That post, What if this were a pitbull raised that same concerns and contained a number of photos.

There's a good debate here about what to show and what to hold back. But there's more to the debate: It's about animals and the emotions that fuel people when it somes to animal stories. News media, at times, show photos of dead people: famines, natural disaster, war, spot news. There's no agreement on when it's right and wrong, but there are times when showing such a photo is right and just and necessary. News media printed photos of Saddam Hussein being hanged. Media didn't have the choice when it came to Osama bin laden's death - the photos were not accessible.

There are no rules, only guidelines and taste. On this one, the story is truly an oddity and context is everything. I'm not looking at someone's big game trophy hunt scrapbook. Police shot a big bear in a densely populated part of the city near schools. Show me the bear.

Photos:

 

Black bear dead in Burlington. Shot by Halton tactical police officers.

 

Earlier this month, a young woman and her horse were killed after a collision with a truck. Some readers felt the spot news photo should not have made online or print news.

Beer, cheer and a newspaper. Or, stripping for the RNC

There are three essentials for a successful vacation (and maybe life in general but that’s a different debate): quality coffee, beer, and newspapers.

I’m not sure about the order; newspapers, coffee and beer. Newspapers, beer, then coffee? It changes daily depending on the mood and activities of the day, but there’s no mistaking, for me, the news always leads.

Good coffee will make or break a day. Beer is on the list, simply because it’s timeless, and, it’s beer. As for newspapers, there’s no guide, no t.v. or radio station, poster or pamphlet that can give you better navigation to the people and the place you’re in better than the daily journal. Five or six columns of ink, sentences and photos pounded out or crafted by artisans, masters and hacks alike. The daily has it all: time, place and context. Who did what to whom, when, where and how. The ads give you perspective. Births and deaths tell their own stories. Classifieds are little nuggets of gold and often contain a ton of stories in the margins. If all one did each day was read the daily paper, they’d be the most informed person around – and for about $1.25, I can’t think of better value.

So there I was on a Florida coastline, land of sun, fun and guns. I found the beer ($10.89 for 12 cans of Yuengling, who says Canadians aren’t tax whacked), scoped out Indian Shores Coffee (great service, inside hangs a Canadian flag, free music Saturday nights and they have great muffins and a fine selection of well-brewed coffee) and there I read this gem of a lead sentence in the Tampa Bay Times, a solid paper that’s one of my U.S. favs (it recently changed its name from The St. Petersburg Times to reflect a broader geography):

“Frustrated by a Florida law that blocks all local regulation of guns, Mayor Bob Buckhorn expects to reach out to Gov. Rick Scott for help keeping concealed firearms away from protests during the Republican National Convention.”

Yikes! A TSA agent thought I was from Mars when I tried to carry a sealed bottle of duty free hootch onto the airplane, yet apparently you can host a convention of political heavyweights and bring your six-shooter to the party.

Tampa hosts the Republican National Convention in August. The city plans to create a “Clean Zone” outside the political fun-fest. That zone will prohibit clubs, switchblades, Mace, chains, glass bottles and water pistols and other implements of destruction. But a state law passed last year strips cities and counties from passing laws controlling guns or ammunition.

A day later there was a follow up story that detailed efforts by some of the strip clubs in town to fancy up their places for the visiting RNC policy wonks. The headline said it all:  “Tampa strip clubs preparing for bonanza from Republican National Convention.”

Dancing apparently goes hand in hand with democracy and debate. While the city is repairing bridges, repaving streets and putting in park benches, peeler joints are installing private booths, upgrading lighting and hiring more dancers.

Want to know where you’ve landed, just read the paper.

NHL and the politics of Page One play

These groans and cheers around the table this morning were from newsroom editors salivating or dreading the start of the chase for Lord Stanley's mug.

It's a scene that will likely play out every morning for the next six to eight weeks. It's an important discussion for us - one we had last year, the year before that, and, next year I'm sure.

How much puck chasing do readers want? When it's 20C outside and the sun is hanging high at 7 p.m. are readers engaged in a sport that's billed as our national past-time, but one that is steadily ceding ground to soccer and other cultural events influenced by a broader and more diverse population.

Hockey playoffs can go until mid-June, depending on the length of each series. If each match goes seven games, that's a lot of hockey and a lot of ink.

When it comes to content decisions, hockey is what we call a deep vertical. It has a narrow band of followers, they tend to be male and they follow intensely and passionately.

In today's discussion we heard arguments like: Hockey playoffs on the front page? Again? It's been there all winter and now we have more of it?"

Or the chestnut: "I suppose you're going to say it's a pivotal game. How come all games are always pivotal?"

For me, it's time and place. It's the opening to a new playoff series and NHL warrants A1 play. It's hockey and in this part of the country, it's a game that is still part of everyday life. Our readers want their teams covered. Poolies depend on our coverage. Readers with decades-long newspaper reading habits rely on our words and photos of last night's game or games. Moms with little kids who wear their NHL sleepers to bed want to see coverage. It's part of their lives and people want a newspaper to affirm what is going on in their lives.

And of course, when the road leads to Hamilton, we need to be on it. Tonight's match up with the Pens versus flyers is shaping up to be a classic. The Flyers' tough guy left-winger Zac Rinaldo is a Hamilton kid who only a few years ago was walking the hallways of a high school on the Mountain.

See you on Page One.

Gods do not answer letters. The best of sportswriting.

Sports has some of the best storylines and writing in journalism. Ken Dryden’s The Game is top shelf. Mitch Albom, Rick Reilly, Ernest Hemingway all come to mind. If you haven’t read Pat Conroy, you should. (“I was born to be a point guard, but not a very good one.”)

I was thinking sportswriting today after my morning sports pages continued a groaner line in a story about PGA bomber Bubba Watson’s incredible win at the Masters.

“In the buttoned-up sport of golf…” the writer wrote.

It’s an easy throw away line that's lazy. Buttoned-up? Like Rickie Fowler wearing his favorite blaze orange deer-hunting outfit every Sunday. Buttoned-up? Like Tiger grabbing cocktail waitresses two at a time? Buttoned-up like Freddy Couples? He doesn’t even wear socks when he playing. Like John Daly driving golf balls off pop cans?

Too bad the line wasn’t deep-sixed. Waste of ink. The good thing, though, it sparked a conversation with Spec sports columnist Steve Milton (if you’re not reading Steve, check him out. Here's his blog.)

Steve is a real pro and our readers are blessed for having him in our market. He's pithy, subtle, and intelligent. He reminded me of one of the heavy hitters of sports prose: John Updike. Like a favorite song, Steve rhymed off a memorable closing line in Updike’s now classic narrative of Ted Williams final game with the Red Sox in 1960. Williams, in his final turn at bat smacks a homer, runs the bases and disappears into the dugout never returning to the field or fans: “But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he refused. Gods do not answer letters.”

Steve talked about one of his favorites and all-time greats, Red Smith. “He had a complete grasp. He had history, context, knowledge and he was funny,” says Steve.

Smith spilled a lot of ink and won a Pulitzer along the way. One of my favorite lines from Red: Someone once asked him if writing a daily column was difficult. No, he said, “You simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed.”

Old, elderly, aged. Don't mess with age.

Spec reporter Nicole O’Reilly has been working long and hard documenting and developing the details of a human trafficking ring centered in Hamilton. Nicole built a Rolodex full of contacts and tips and travelled to Hungary as part of her reporting.

Last week, she had a gem of a quote as part of an exclusive story that revealed a foiled assassination plot. Nicole learned a Hungarian hitman had been hired to kill the Crown attorney, two police officers and others associated with the case. The plan was leaked, police and Interpol interceded and the plot was spoiled. Here’s her quote from the Crown attorney when he told her details of the planned murder:

"I took it seriously, but I wasn't going to let it stop me from doing my work," said Skarica, who early on recognized the significance of the case, which has broken new legal ground in Canada. "I'd rather die that way than as an old man in a nursing home wearing a diaper."

Dastardly business. Here’s the kicker though and this is what creates some of the chatter around the bar for some us during downtime: Human trafficking, modern-day slavery, hitman, talk of murder. What really got some people’s goat? Don’t mess with someone's age or how you portray the elderly.

A few days after the line story, we ran this letter to the editor: “Is it just me or is anyone else offended by the remark by assistant Crown attorney Toni Skarica that, "I'd rather die that way than as an old man in a nursing home wearing a diaper?" I find the reference to the "old man" very demeaning.

I read it and recalled a long discussion in the newsroom that spilled into an email clogging fun-fest after one of the journo’s here sent out a newsroom-wide note telling scribes to use the word with caution. The reaction was predictable:

“Subject: RE: Elderly - a word we should use carefully

 I teach news writing ….I told my students not to use the word elderly and I dock them marks if they do.

It is subjective and inexact and one’s definition certainly changes with advancing years. I don’t think anyone in his or her 60s would appreciate being called elderly. Senior is a much better description if we don’t know age.”

That prompted a reply:

“Subject: RE: Elderly - a word we should use carefully

 “My mom is 86 and she certainly isn’t elderly. Elderly is a mindset not an age. By the way….AARP takes exception to the word senior. I don’t know what to use instead.”

Now, this syntax snafu started late in the afternoon. Dangerous since copy editors are in. Someone on the desk weighed in with the heavy stuff, citing the style guide:

“From the style guide …. written in the 1990s by someone who is still working in the newsroom despite his advanced years:

Elderly

Avoid using this word to describe specific individuals or people of a particular age. In our youth-obsessed society, elderly is derogatory. Active and healthy people of retirement age find it offensive.
One 65-year-old labelled with that word in The Spectator said, “Elderly to me is when you’re sitting in a chair and you can’t get out of it.”
Give the person’s age, or an age range, and let the reader decide what description is appropriate.
Aged, of course, is even worse.
The least offensive generic term is senior.”

Whew. We took it in. Then rest. There was calm in the newsroom. Another email rang out:

“Subject: RE: Elderly - a word we should use carefully:

“One generic term that can be used is “older adults.” It’s a term I’ve seen used quite a bit in health and fitness issues relating to people older than 50.”

I grow weary. But not old.

Ink in our veins

We buy ink by the barrel. And people are reading.

The latest test of news readers’ habits show people are staying with newspapers and news websites. Canadians love their news and a new survey shows more than half of Canadian adults who have access to a daily paper are reading. Print editions are the main choice. 73 per cent of adults surveyed said they read a newspaper every week. 46 per cent said they read a paper each day.

The numbers are laid out in a readership study conducted and released by NADbank (Newspaper Audience Databank Inc.) there’s a mountain of data and many ways to slice the numbers in the report. You can have a deeper look at the markets and methodology here.

The study measured newspaper reading habits for 72 per cent of Canadian adults. It looked at readership in 53 markets across Canada - 82 Canadian newspapers and two Detroit newspapers were measured. On the community newspaper side, readership info is available for 59 community papers in 34 markets.

  Some highlights:

-         Over 15 million adults read a daily newspaper or visited a newspaper website each week.

-         People love their newspaper in Winnipeg. They are followed by Vancouver and Ottawa-Gatineau.

-         Readership tends to be higher in small markets. The highest weekly readership markets are Charlottetown (91%), Cape Breton (91%), Brandon (89%), Peterborough (88%), and Summerside (86%).

-         Readers will pay for content. Paid dailies continue to have more weekly punch than free dailies.

 There’s much more by going to the NADbank site. And there's more to come – this release looks at readership and demographic data. In May, NADbank will release product data.

 

Bright lights in our midst

The highway leading to Brock University cuts past vast Lake Ontario shoreline, row after row of tangled grapevine, an industrious shipping canal and over storied stretches of this country’s rich history.

I thought of this on a recent drive to the town and country feel campus of Brock University in St. Catharines to attend a career night organized by the Department of Communications, Popular Culture and Film.

I went to give advice and came out with a notebook filled with new insight. I was hesitant and thought long and hard about what advice I could offer about my chosen industry. I’m bullish about the newspaper industry – I believe it has a long and healthy and exciting future. There’s always a story to tell and many ways, more ways than we ever had, to share facts and photos and truths and narratives. It’s a great industry, but the job market in our field – any communications for that matter - isn’t what it used to be. Consolidation, new technology, cuts, mergers, the economy have drastically changed the media landscape.

The panel opened with vignettes and advice from recent Brock Comm grads and, looking back, I’m remiss I didn’t tape their talks to showcase to others. All twenty somethings who have a good story to tell. Somewhere along the way, someone opened the session with a maudlin joke something along the lines of: “What’s the difference between a person with an xxx degree and a large pizza? Well the pizza can feed a family of four.”

This was a not a night to be maudlin. Savanna Schaus talked about getting work with a marketing/communications firm that soon failed. She quickly learned from the hardship of job loss, believed what she had learned was true and started her own firm. She now successfully runs Savy Communications. Steve Sears collaborated with a group of Gen Y’ers and entered a national newspaper challenge to engage a young adult audience. His group won first place and his work directly influenced that paper’s digital strategy. He’s now working full-time in the media field. Timur Inceoglu runs indoorshoes.ca – the company doesn’t have anything to do with shoes, it’s just a catchy name for his business which scouts and books musical talent. Timur turned his love of music into a business. “We put on shows. We put out records.” is the company’s tagline. Adrian Thiessen’s work can be seen on national tv and websites. His love of film and communication knowledge led him and others to start fourgrounds media inc. They started shooting, editing and showing student videos and worked their way up. Now they deal with national brands and major agencies.

What struck me was not the success, but the drive. Each grad said over and over, they didn’t know they would end up where they are. I’m sensitive to that because I’m routinely asked what the correct path to journalism is. Here’s a hint: there isn’t a singular path. One of the best journalists I know doesn’t have a j-background. He’s a science major.

The best journalists are curious, sensitive, creative and dogged.

When the panel rolled around to me, I felt like handing out my resume to the other panelists – all bright, creative hardworking people who are and will continue to make a difference. I was pleased to share the stage with them. Here’s the advice I had to offer:

- Develop a mentor/advocate. Find someone who can help navigate the rabbit warrens of academic and workplace code. It’s also called engaging the fox – someone who knows their way around and is willing to share their knowledge and experience to get you to where you need to go.

 - Create your own personal board of governors. Surround yourself with a small group of trusted advisors, people who you trust to give you unvarnished advice – praise and sanction.

 - There’s no substitution for hard work. Time and place are important and luck does play a role. Work hard, gain experience. That gives you insight, street cred and ability to stretch your own goals and experiences.

 - Don’t look for a finish line. Time and time again I hear stories from people who started on one path and ended up happily and successfully somewhere else. A life and work well-lived is rarely linear.

Talking to ghosts

If a person jumps or threatens to jump from a public bridge and no one is there, is it a story? What if a section of highway under a bridge during the morning commute is blocked by police while they talk the jumper to safety?

The scanner in the newsroom crackles and murmurs unceasingly and sometimes the practiced ear will hear the tension in a dispatcher’s voice. That happened Wednesday morning and an editor determined it was a story. The location was a busy highway at 9 a.m. and police shut down highway lanes. People would rightly wonder what was going on and they’d want information.

Commuters didn’t know what was going on, nor did the broader public. We did because we have police-supplied scanners that monitor emergency channel frequencies.

Shortly before 9 a.m. the scanner told us a distraught woman used her cell phone and called a friend to say goodbye. Her friend called police by dialing 911.  Where to start? Hamilton is a city of bridges spanning crevices, a limestone escarpment, waterways and traffic and pedestrian bridges over one of the busiest stretches of highway in the country.

Police called the cell phone of the woman who was threatening to kill herself and in minutes they zeroed in on her location. Using GPS technology, we heard over the scanner, police knew where she was, within five metres.

The woman walked off the bridge into the arms of police and is now presumably receiving the help and medical attention she warrants.

What and how do we report the story? Is there a story? Police only confirm an incident, but would not elaborate. Operational, they say. We had details, or think we had details from what we heard on the scanner. Without independent verification and a hard source, we were quoting ghosts.

We published a brief story online during the search telling people that the highway was closed. We couldn’t give them many details. In addition to us, there was some minor Twitter traffic about the highway being closed for a police investigation.

Surely, there’s a rich story to be told here. A public incident and police used all their acumen and powers and saved a person’s life.

If we go with the story as it played out in the scanner, who and how do you quote and source the information. What is the threshold of transparency? If we believe something to be true and have responsibly sussed out the information do we need to document our source? As a matter of course, we don’t routinely footnote every fact. We often report with authority but don’t tell people the source of our information.

There is a good story that needs to be told, but not today. We need more facts and faces and behind the scenes drama. Still, a story and this is the report we published: Suicide call

Why it's called EDT. (Our last line of defence, part 2).

For those of you that think working in a newsroom involves drinking gallons litres of cold, black coffee and shouting at colleagues in the glorious race to deadline, you haven't watched the right movie.

The copy desk is our last line of defence (see post Feb. 17). That lineup features a number of stars, including Doug Haggo. He’s understated, deep like a well, and, serene. Scary serene. He reads dictionaries for fun. Thick, bound style guides are simply warm-up exercises. He's the guy who consumes a novel, a newspaper, a news story and can synthesize it in 25 words. Or fewer - all pithy, grammatically-perfect and meaningful.

Doug is the copy editor who will read reams of memos and news stories about the sun and moon and earth's rotation and why clocks need to spring forward or back. Then he pounces and offers this sage advice for the news room and ultimately the benefit of our readers:

"We are changing to eastern daylight time (EDT). It used to be daylight saving time. It has never been daylight savings time. Savings are for banks."

I offer this just in case you thought we were standing around comparing coffee blends. Thanks, Doug.

Beer and Twitter. What I learned in my race to 1,000

@Susanclairmont threw down the Twitter gauntlet Dec. 12, 2011 with a finish line set at 1,000 followers. The first of either @Susanclairmont or @Jimatthespec to cross would owe the other a beer.

At the time, I had somewhere around 650 followers. Susan had just over 700. I know I was 50 back, plus or minus a few.

The race was like a Seinfeld episode. #beerbetwithboss was really about nothing, but I used it as an opportunity to pay attention to audience, content, who uses Twitter and how.

We taunted, and jousted and pleaded and challenged. Beer is good. Free beer is better. I’m intrigued with Twitter as an information tool and started to pay attention to what people tweet and how followers are attracted. In the first week, I started to pick up steam and Susan felt the heat. She tweeted: “Still battling. In race to 1,000 followers. But while I’m out reporting original content, he’s retweeting.”

I retweeted: “Sharing is caring. Asking advice, sharing others thoughts & newstips is original content.”

Then I pulled out a nuke: Later that day I went live with Newsroom Insider, this media blog. I’d been populating it for over a year. It had content, original reporting and was live and linked to Twitter. Zoom, zoom. The blog isn’t busting fever charts, but with every new post, it attracts interest and audience. When it was launched, it was linked to The Spec’s account. That’s like an endorsement from a super user.

I followed others, retweeted, paid attention to breaking news and niche news, talked publicly about media and social media. I posted pictures, monitored, observed asked and answered questions. My numbers soared. By early February, I had a commanding lead – 10, then 30, then 50. Last week, on a Monday evening at about 6 p.m., I was within one follow of 1,000. Then I fell to 997. @Susanclairmont had followers who were also my followers. They bailed to support her. But people like a competition and others joined. At about 7 p.m., I crossed 1,000.

Then next morning, sitting at 1,003, I went through my followers and found several that were spam, porn or marketing. I dropped and blocked them. I fell below 1,000 again. A day later I crossed 1,000 for the second time. When you are brought up on journalist math like I was, that looks like 2 x 1,000 = 2 beer.

Soon, @Susanclairmont and I will have a beer. She’ll crack 1,000, no doubt. Our beer will taste great and we’ll rehash the race. Together we’ve built audience and together our news room has another 1,000 followers or so.

As of this writing, Susan has 912 followers and 2,578 tweets. I have 1,004 followers and broadcast 1,550 tweets. Through the race, I took notes. Here are my learnings:

1. Retweeting works. And Susan is right, so does original content. People value information. If you are interested in audience retweet information that is succinct and meaningful. Provide photos and links.
2. There’s no drug like breaking news. Susan breaks news and I thought she was going to win the race. When police arrested a man and accused him of being a serial stabber and murderer, Susan picked up instant followers. She had a front row seat to the vortex and was reporting on it. People were attracted. She followed that story up with a couple other blockbusters: a long investigative piece on a monster pedophile and a touching and tragic story about a couple long in love and separated by nursing homes (they’ve since been reunited). Bottom line is: news counts.
3. Follow those who follow you. People want their thoughts affirmed.
4. Follow others in circles of interest. I picked up a huge number of followers by reaching out to other journalists, media academia and student journalists. Build on your interests.
5. Pay attention to niche audiences. For example, when I tweeted breaking news about Sidney Crosby and the Ontario Hockey League, my count climbed. When Whitney Houston died, people retweeted. I have access to breaking news and was clearly quenching a thirst.
6. Be a brand. Look at who you are and what you represent. Build it, stoke it and tweet it. Content and credibility counts.

Three little pigs. A new(s) story

The Guardian newspaper in England has long been a journalistic class act. It's a reading staple for news, lifestyle and sport. I love its golf coverage and live blogging of events. The writing is lively, colorful, and, at the right times, respectfully outrageous.

The relationship between newspapers, frankly all media, and its readers and views continues to change. In response, the Guardian's embarked on a journalistic advertising campaign trumpeting the cause of "open" journalism. The paper's leadership believes there is so much access to information today that one journalist, one newsroom, one news organization, cannot decipher it all. They believe the more eyeballs, the more brains, the more mouths looking, sifting and adding value, the more informed we will all be. More gives us diversity of voices and approaches. A video advertisement is the centre piece of the campaign. It's brilliant, creative and thoughtful. I've posted it here: Guardian

As Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger says of open journalism "Journalists are not the only experts in the world."

Where hispters and danger lurk

 
                  Instagram photo of Spec courtesy Tim Munroe, Spec night news editor

I used to lug around a camera bag filled with black 35mm containers, flashes, cords, batteries and plastic filters that would shape, reflect and diffuse light and images. My favorite was the starburst.

I haven't seen those filters or that bag in a long, long time. They're buried deep in a closet with an 8-track player, square flash bulbs and an old turntable. These days, I do see plenty of photos taken with Instagram and Hipstamatic apps in The Spec and other mainstream newspapers.

These pix can be cool and colorful. And controversial. Spec photographer Barry Gray posted a piece on the Spec's photoblog defending the use of app generated photos. In his posting, It's a Hipsta kinda of world, Barry acknowledges the fun, liberty and danger of using the apps. "Make no mistake, there is a danger here," he warns. "The use of app generated photos could go from being an effective addition to an overdone gimmick. Wise photographers and newsrooms will pick their spots."

His thoughts follows a CNN opinion piece earlier this week that argues app-generated photos are doctored and cheat viewers. Nick Stern, in his cheating viewers piece, says there is no room for the doctored photos in news reporting.

On the print side, we often bring different writing devices to our stories: chunky numbers, narrative ledes, alternative story forms, graphic reporting, to name a few. Are the photo apps different? Weigh in, please.

"The steering wheel just looked like a pretzel..."

The quote of the week goes to newly-minted Spec reporter Molly Hayes after she spoke with a man, who hours earlier, witnessed a truck rollover on the QEW highway.

Molly got the guy on the phone and he described what he saw as he looked at the tractor-trailer and its driver: "He was in pain. He was in the middle of the cab and the steering wheel just looked like a pretzel and he was wrapped around the door.”

Vivid. The words are bombshell, but it's the photos that are pure titanium. As photos were submitted by onlookers and photographers (accredited and otherwise), the Twitter pace hastened. It was pix, not quotes that folks wanted and it reminded me of that old adage: "show me, don't tell me."

Breaking news is about doing both and we showed with words and photos using a combination of staff journalists, citizen submissions and aggregating other media. See for yourself at thespec.com

The tweeting truthseeker

 Truth posse: Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin and staff in the Spec boardroom for Editorial board meeting Feb. 22, 2012.

Interviewing Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin is a lot like going to your mother's house for dinner: You know the food will be good and the conversation comforable.

He's a truth-seeker who tweets and is not afraid to use his 140 characters to fire shots across and at the bow of our government institutions who hide, shroud and dodge the truth. Keeping governments and police in Ontario transparent and accountable is his priority.

Marin visited The Spec this week at our request to meet with the Editorial board to discuss his role, his style and the work of his office.

                                 See Spec Article: 5 questions with Andre Marin

He is direct and bold and confident and often accused of being arrogant. There are provincial and municipal politicians and police officials who regard him as an unwanted stone in a shoe. They say he has too much power for an unelected rep. He says while he has the power to conduct investigations, his findings and recommendations are not binding. In that regards, he is like a good newspaper - asking the right questions, righting wrongs and finding ways to build a better and more transparent society. It's curious that the politicians who skewer him are the same ones who are quick to go behind closed doors and discuss and hatch plans with other people's money.

Marin is information savvy and he knows how government works. He's a fighter for accountablity and his bible is worth bookmarking: Little dose of sunshine.

I'm glad Andre Marin is out there, but then again why wouldn't I? Our goals are aligned. As Spec columnist Susan Clairmont tweeted after the meeting: "I'm pretty sure @Ont_Ombudsman was a journalist in a former life."

The Ombud law governing transparency and open meetings is 150 years old. It'd be nice, after that length of time, if public officials remembered their campaign promises (don't they always promise change and a fresh start?) who they represent and ditch the whispers and in camera meetings.

Surgite, Marin. Surgite.

Our last line of defence

                                    _{Don't take him for granted: Gary Curtis, Spec copy editor. "Read your story,  read it again. Read it 70                                     more times. Then file it."}

Copy editors are the unsung heroes and heroines of any newsroom. They come to work when the rest of us head home in the dark. They head home in the light, when the presses are rumbling and we are waking.

They're the ones making the beeline for the coffee counter in the evening to stock up on caffeine and carbs and other desktop dining fodder that passes as supper.

They fight linguistic evolution and sweat the small stuff. They are rarely invited to dinner parties - except by fellow copy editors.

Overheard in the newsroom: "Hello, reporter? Copy editor here."

"Ah, yeah. I filed my story."

"Yes. You didn't conjugate a verb."

"Oh."

"I changed the capitalization on the places you mentioned. We go with National Geographic Society spelling for place names outside of Canada.

"Oh."

"But if the places are in Canada, we go by the Canadian Almanac."

"Oh."

"But there are exceptions. It's in CP's Caps and Spelling. It says, the exceptions are 'notably Saint in French names.'

"And one other thing. You missed a period."

"Are you a doctor or a copy editor?"

"Well again, it's right here in Caps and Spelling: 'Use periods in lower-case or mixed abbreviations (No., Ont., Co., Ltd., lb., c.i.f., f.o.b. m.p.h., B.Comm., C. of C) except for abbreviations that begin and end with a capital such as PhD, PoW, MiG. Metric symbols are not abbreviations and take period only at the end of sentence.'"

"Phew."

Copy editors are the experts who tell you where to find the missing "g" (going huntin and fishin), where to stick an apostrophe and when to be possessive without getting arrested. They'll tell you the difference between MPs' pensions and an MP's pension and they can tell you that MiG, as in jet, is for the Russian designers Mikoyan and Gurevich.

I was thinking of this today when I read a memo from a sharp-eyed copy-editor who'd wrote a note to CP earlier this week. The copy editor was perplexed why the abbreviation for the United States was appearing as US instead of U.S.

I could explain, but thought I'd quote the source: "I thought I'd let you know that in updating the Caps and Spelling for the upcoming 20th edition, I came across the AP's policy on handling certain geographic acronyms in their headlines, and it turns out that it has been their policy for some time to drop the periods in headlines in certain cases, including "U.S." They do continue to require the periods in the body copy."

Who knew? Body copy you get a period. If it's a headline, it's out.

It's Friday. Have you thanked a copy editor lately?