A Visit to the Toronto Star

The Star showed off some memorable front page news

This weekend was Doors Open Toronto, where over 160 buildings and sites in the city are open for the public to check out. Unfortunately for us this year, the weather was atrocious, especially yesterday with rain pelting down all day and it was windy too.

Places like City Hall, Osgoode Hall, Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Toronto Archives, Bata Shoe Museum, as well as many churches, fire stations, and even Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport opened their doors for people to have a tour and learn a bit more about these places.

Rainy but nice views of downtown Toronto

Unfortunately the website doesn't organise the places alphabetically or geographically, so having to go through 17 web pages is tedious.

However, I was very interested in checking out the Toronto Star newspaper, which recently moved to its new location in an office/retail complex called The Wells near the harbour front.

When we arrived we saw two long lines, one to visit the Netflix corporate office, the other for the Toronto Star, and we began lining up for the latter literally braving the elements.

About 15 minutes later we were under a covered area, but in a wind tunnel, which made waiting in line feel even colder. About 40 minutes into our wait, a man asked us how long we were waiting and told us he'd just been to the Netflix office. We asked him how it was and he showed us pictures. It looked like any other corporate office.

Shared work desks with curved screens

Finally about the 60-minute mark we were finally inside the lobby area and started defrosting from the cold. We were each given a blue star stamp on the back of our hand and waited just a bit longer to get into the elevator.

Inside we saw important front page news, the open space shared desks with curved screens, as well as fantastic views of the city from 10 floors up (and rain). 

The newspaper was known as the Evening Star when was first published in 1892, and then changed to the Toronto Daily Star in 1900 under Joseph E. Atkinson, who was the publisher from 1899 to 1948.

He believed a progressive news organisation should contribute to the advancement of society through the pursuit of social, economic, and political reforms. The core principles, which the paper follows today are:

* A strong, united and independent Canada

* Social justice

* Individual and civil liberties

* Community and civic engagement

*The rights of working people

* The necessary role of government

A fun fact is that Ernest Hemingway had his first-ever byline in the Star in 1920 for a story about getting a free shave at a barber college. He later became a foreign correspondent for the Star.

Russell talking about news photography

Another interesting tidbit is that Joe Shuster, co-creator of the Superman comics, credited his time delivering papers for the Star as inspiration for Clark Kent and his day job as a journalist!

Back in the tour of the office, one of the photojournalists, Steve Russell showed several of his photographs and explained how he shot them or why he photographed them in a specific way, how having people in pictures is important to show emotion to draw people into the story. He said if there is are good photos to go with the story, there are studies that show people are more likely to read the story.

He showed pictures of his breaking news stories, spot news, where there are planned events, sports where you can see the emotion on people's faces if they won or lost, and features. Russell showed a portrait up close of an Asian man holding up his finger wrapped with red thread and three needles. It was to illustrate a story on influencers and this man in particular upcycled clothes.

Then Russell showed us his cameras, too technical for me, but he also admitted using his smartphone if he was not working but saw something interesting. One time he was in his car parked near the CN Tower and it was raining. He looked up and saw the raindrops on his window reflected the tower and it made for a fantastic image.

Many visitors took a copy of the paper home

He said he could have talked for hours about photography, but the next group of people were waiting.

I also met Jim Rankin, another photojournalist who also does investigative pieces into race, policing and crime. I asked a staffer what the print circulation was these days and he said about 90,000 copies. Rankin piped in to say at one point it was over 1 million, and how the paper was much thicker then as it was full of advertisements.

Meanwhile another staffer sat at a computer and asked people what specific day they wanted to pull up for the front page, and most people picked their birthdays to see what was the news that day.

Before we left we got a copy of the weekend paper, and the Toronto Star encouraged visitors to subscribe to the newspaper. It was a great way to use Open Doors Toronto to promote the paper and hopefully reel in some more subscribers. Hope they succeeded!

Explaining This Year's 50 Best Bars Ranking

Sleight has worked at 50 Best since 2023

After digesting the 2026 rankings of North America's 50 Best Bars, I still found it hard to believe that two new entries from New York, Bar Snack and Schmuck landed No. 3 and No. 4 respectively. What happened to climbing up the ranks?

I had to ask Emma Sleight, head of content for 50 Best Bars and Hotels at the after party, an afternoon session at The Botanist in the Fairmont Pacific Rim.

Sitting in the private room of the restaurant with three other PR representatives sitting in, Sleight at first said there are always new entries in every list they do.

The awards were held on Wednesday night

But is 15 considered high?

She didn't exactly give a clear answer. 

"It's about the same. It's quite a lot. I would say it's quite high, but it's not outrageously high. It's the nature of the game. The bars industry is so dynamic and it moves so quickly that new openings happen so frequently. And we always encourage people to think about the awards. It's a snapshot of that particular time where people are traveling, what people are identifying with and the way the voting works," Sleight says.

The voting. According to the 50 Best website, 300 voters are "trusted and well-traveled experts" who are bartenders, bar aficionados and drinks media.

"You can never predict the list. It is really just where those people are finding their very best cocktail experiences. Makes it exciting," she says.

But that still doesn't explain Bar Snack and Schmuck's literal meteoric rise out of nowhere.

Circled in red are Vancouver bars

"There's no one thing that we can ever say that would explain why a bar has moved because everyone loves to think that they know who our voters are, and they don't. Voters are completely anonymous," Sleight adds.

Really? The academy chairs are listed on the 50 Best website. If an academy chair walks into a bar with a group of people, surely some of them are voters... and if someone makes a reservation, they will be researched to see who they are. In today's intensive social media landscape and the internet, there are ways to figure out who people are.

However Sleight begs to differ.

"Often if people are saying they're voters, they're not. And I appreciate that sounds like a trite response, but the thing we do is always encourage any bars where anyone has ever said they are a voter. We ask them to tell us, and we check and we do independent investigations, and we frequently contact that voter and we say, 'Hey, you're no longer a voter, and you never will be ever again, because you've reached your anonymity.'" 

She later added that 25 percent of the voting academy are "refreshed", and apparently "historic voters" are changed as well. "It's never a guarantee that you're a voter, which also helps disrupt that people knowing people are voters, we're trying to do everything we can."

At this point I should have asked if bars have ever called out so-called voters, and how about imposing term limits on academy chairs? They seem to keep these positions for years and years.

Sleight is a cocktail aficionado

Nevertheless, there seems to be a pattern of how bars get on the list, or better yet, leapfrog up the rankings, even though Sleight says there's no recipe, and that bars should just focus on giving customers the best experience.

By appearances it looks like a popularity contest, to which she said "possibly". 

Social media is a big way to get exposure, as well as collaborations with other bars in different cities and countries. The Keefer Bar owners Keenan Hood and Amber Bruce hinted this when they said they traveled a lot this year and would do so again this year, and give their staff more opportunities to travel as well. Perhaps that partially explains their massive jump from No. 28 to No. 7 to be Canada's Best Bar?

For the record Sleight went to The Keefer Bar last year and this year.

In 2025 she also went to Laowai, June on Cambie (it had just opened), Botanist Bar and Prophecy.

This year Sleight visited Lala (basement of June on Cambie), Meo, Bao Bei.

She doesn't have a vote, but there are people following her on Instagram, seeing where she's traveling, and what she's eating and drinking...

Landslide Change in Hungary

Magyar promises to undo Orban's changes in Hungary

Finally some good news -- there will be a change in government in Hungary following Viktor Orban's massive loss in elections today, ending 16 years of rule that led to extensive corruption, a stacked judiciary, and control over many media outlets.

What was a surprise was that Orban, 62, was quick to concede defeat, not waiting for the final results that later declared Peter Magyar, 45, the winner.

Orban quickly conceded defeat

"The responsibility and opportunity to govern were not given to us," Orban said, but he also made a vow: "We are not giving up. Never, never, never."

Over 79.5 percent of voters cast their ballots, and with 98 percent of the ballots counted, Magyar of the Tisza party won 138 seats, more than a two-thirds majority compared to Orban's Fidesz, that won 55.

Previously an Orban loyalist, Magyar promises to end corruption that lined the pockets of Orban allies, but he is also not very progressive when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. 

Will Magyar restore the checks and balances that Orban dismantled during his 16-year rule? That will be the big question. He has promised to reverse Orban's changes to education and healthcare, restore independence of the judiciary, and end the squandering of tax dollars.

"You performed a miracle today, Hungary made history today," Magyar told a jubilant crowd.

Magyar will move Hungary away from Russia

Besides Orban, the other big losers are his supporters, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The latter even sent Vice President JD Vance to Budapest to stump for Orban, but his appearance didn't move the needle at all.

The European Union is cautiously optimistic that things will change, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose pleas for help were always stymied by Orban.

Nevertheless, we'll celebrate Magyar's win, who said that love triumphs, and that this is a sign of things to come.

Maria Ressa Warns Democracy is Fragile

Ressa (left) shared the stage with CBC anchor Arsenault

Last night I had to opportunity to listen to journalist and Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa speak at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Held at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts, the almost sold-out audience gave her a standing ovation as she walked on stage, and she was so excited by the warm reception.

It's not easy to have Ressa come half way around the world, when she still has charges in court to fight; Ressa explained to CBC host Adrienne Arsenault that every time she wants to travel, she has to ask the courts for permission.

The talk was held at UBC in Vancouver

She didn't explain whether all her travel requests are granted or not, but we were thrilled to have the democracy activist and tech geek on stage.

The first time I heard Ressa speak was in 2018 at the SOPA or The Society of Publishers in Asia, where I received an Honourable Mention for my story. As the keynote speaker, she talked about her media company Rappler and how they use Facebook to disseminate their stories.

However, they found there were opposition voices on the social media site, proxies that would spread disinformation about their stories on Facebook, and those posts got more attention, thanks to algorithms. This created distrust in Rappler, and media in general. It was frightening to hear.

While Ressa and her Rappler team have been able to systematically analyse how this all happened, things have gotten substantially worse in the virtual world, as she outlined in last night's lecture.

Through her powerpoint presentation, Ressa showed how the opposition created horrible memes of her -- putting her face on top of a scrotum -- and showed us the image -- though she joked that her skin wasn't that dry.

The intensity of the personal attacks have gotten worse, and her team has found that it is particularly bad for female journalists, and even worse for female journalists of colour.

Ressa's 2022 book

She also talked about how seeds of disinformation are planted years in advance in social media, and then constantly repeated; once a real event happens, those bogus seeds quickly sprout and spread online like wildfire and it's near impossible to rectify the situation.

Why is this all important? Ressa believes facts, truth and justice are crucial in a democracy. When you have the facts you have the truth, and when you have the truth, you can pursue justice.

However, why is it that over 70 percent of countries today have authoritarian governments? And just south of us, Ressa noted that Donald Trump has turned the United States into a dictatorship within his first 100 days in office. She said former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte did it in six months.

Sounds chillingly familiar to Hong Kong after the national security law was enacted in 2020.

In the case of Trump, he has managed to sideline the media, senate and judiciary, and use social media to promote his policies without any checks and balances. He signed 142 executive orders in 100 days; in his first term he signed 220 EOs.

Already in the first term Trump discredited the media, saying they were fake news. Now he just disseminates his thoughts on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

Ressa asks why Canada has not built its own social media platform! Why rely on tech bros like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk to spread journalistic stories online? They had prime time seats during the inauguration! 

Zuckerberg removed fact checkers from Facebook too, and refuses to allow people to post legitimate media stories online. What we are left with are opinions of people that are without integrity.

More people joining No Kings protests

But there is some optimism. Ressa says the No Kings protests are getting bigger each time. she cited Harvard political scientist Erica Chenoweth's research that it takes around 3.5 percent of the population actively participating in protests to ensure serious political change.

Last week some 8 million Americans took part in the latest No Kings protests in all 50 states; perhaps the next one will galvanise 12 million people, or 3.5 percent of the US population...

Ressa says we are lucky in Canada to still have democracy... do we? She warns us to be vigilant and to stand up to things we believe are wrong, otherwise it will be normalised.

Many in the audience bought a copy of her 2022 book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator, and they quickly lined up after the talk, waiting for her to sign their copies.

Review: Chinese Lessons

Pomfret's memoir about China from the 1980s

In 1981, 22-year-old John Pomfret was the in the first cohort of American students to study in China. He recounts his experiences living in a dorm with seven Chinese men at Nanjing University, trying to make up for lost time following the Cultural Revolution that upended their lives.

Pomfret chronicles his experiences, and those of his classmates over the decades in his memoir, Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China. He writes about the lives of his five classmates, four men and one woman in unflinching accounts about how dirt poor they were, or how their parents or grandparents were tortured or murdered by the Red Guards, and how they were sent down to the countryside, and the only way out was to get into university.

He studied in Nanjing University

Their early lives are so tragic and horrific, but Pomfret believes it's critical to explain this background to readers so that they understand why his classmates individually did what they did later in life. These students were the next generation post-Cultural Revolution who tried to ride China's economic boom in the 1990s and 2000s, with varying degrees of success depending on their idealism or pragmatism.

At the same time Pomfret weaves in his own personal experiences, most notably how people reacted around him as a foreigner; he honestly recalls his sexual desires to meet women, and these memories are endearing but also pretty funny.

Following graduation, Pomfret went back to the United States and began working as a journalist and because of his Mandarin skills he eventually returns to Beijing to work for the Associated Press in the late 1980s.

Pomfret (left) during the 1989 protests in Beijing

The pivotal moment in the book is his account of what he saw and experienced during the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square, followed by the shocking and bloody massacre on the evening of June 3. It's riveting reading, as he remembers so many details, from riding his bike down alleyways to avoid the tanks to witnessing live gunfire and wounded demonstrators.

Soon after he was accused of having alleged links with student leaders and soon after was expelled from China. As a result Pomfret situated himself in Hong Kong, but was covering all kinds of conflicts in Bosnia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Turkey.

A few years later in 1992 The Washington Post manages to get approval for Pomfret to return to Beijing as the bureau chief and he reunites with his classmates separately to see how they are doing as well as track how China has changed post-Tiananmen.

His Chinese press credentials in China

Throughout the book he touches on topics as family, marriage, the one-child policy, jobs that were attached to work units, the free market economy, buying apartments, and entrepreneurism through the experiences of his classmates. It really gives a good on-the-ground view of what it was like for locals navigating the system.

Towards the end of the book Pomfret writes about marrying and having a child born with health issues, but then soon after a mysterious virus begins to spread. It's SARS. Reading it now, a few years after the Covid-19 pandemic, one can see the similarities of how the virus spread almost exactly the same way, during the Spring Festival, and how the Chinese government dealt with it. We still don't know exactly how it started, let alone SARS.

Pomfret is a journalist I followed during the 2019 protests in Hong Kong; he is a rare old China hand who managed to adapt and understand the city and how it differs from the mainland. Many China journalists who were parachuted into Hong Kong during the protests did not have a firm grasp of how the city and its people are not the same as those in China and so their stories were not as nuanced as Pomfret's.

He writes passionately about China

His writing in Chinese Lessons is straight-forward and at times stark, but also sprinkled with wry humour -- the reader is constantly on this rollercoaster ride of emotions that range from depressingly bleak to suddenly light and hilarious. But one can see his love for the country and its people, as well as the funny quirks of the place.

It's a fantastic first-hand look at the rapid changes in China through not only Pomfret's eyes, but also those of his classmates who were willing to tell their stories not only to him, but to the world.

Ming Pao Closes in Canada

Ming Pao will print its last edition on January 17

The media landscape in Canada continues to shrink with Ming Pao announcing it was winding down operations in Vancouver and Toronto due to financial reasons, with the last day of publication on January 17.

My dad was very upset to see the headline stating this on the front page of the Ming Pao paper on January 12.

Sing Tao (below) is available online

That was the same day employees based in the two cities were given termination letters that were sent by the parent company in Hong Kong.

"Staff in Canada were informed by management that the decision to cease operations and halt publication was made by the Hong Kong headquarters," the notice said. Sixty employees are affected.

Ming Pao was the only Chinese-language print newspaper after Sing Tao ceased printing its Canadian edition in August 2022, though a digital version still continues. 

Started in 1993, Ming Pao also published a weekly magazine that covered Hong Kong's entertainment scene, and a food publication featuring recipes from the city's well-known Chinese and western chefs.

For many Chinese immigrants, Ming Pao and Sing Tao were papers they depended on for news from a Hong Kong and China point of view. They also covered stories that were focused on Asia that would rarely make it in western media, and gave practical advice on settling down to newcomers to Canada.

Ming Pao's food magazine

People like my dad are newspaper readers, so used to touching newsprint, and in his case, likes to cut out articles in the paper, and sometimes shares them with friends. 

We used to subscribe to both papers and when Sing Tao stopped its print edition, he was encouraged to read it online, but that it is not something he is comfortable doing. 

It's a pity to see fewer media outlets operating, which means less information being disseminated and fewer opportunities for the media to hold others, particularly governments to account. And with Ming Pao closing, that means only Sing Tao is left to be the voice of the Chinese community in Canada.

Review: Cover-Up

Hersh talked to a lot of people to get tips that led to stories

Journalism students idolise people like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate scandal in 1972. 

But there's another journalist they should look up to too -- Seymour Hersh.

Poitras and Obenhaus who directed Cover-Up

His life and career is covered in the fascinating 117-minute documentary, Cover-Up, by directors Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus. She is best known for her documentaries on Edward Snowden and the Sackler family.

In 2005 Poitras approached Hersh about doing a documentary about him, but it took him 20 years to finally agree.

He's a prickly character, and Hersh is filmed in his office, with piles of files all around him, files filled with faded yellow note pads filled with illegible handwriting, and a Rolodex on his desk. But hey, he uses an iPhone and Macbook to keep reporting.

During the Vietnam War Hersh was a freelancer -- a freelancer(!) when he uncovered American soldiers had shot and killed up to 500 civilian men, women, children and babies in a remote Vietnamese village.

Hersh says the US military officials were angry their soldiers were being killed and to up the numbers of Vietnamese deaths, they randomly killed innocent people. He managed to get a tip on the soldier charged with killing 109 people, tracked him down and spoke to him.

He then managed to interview other soldiers who were eyewitnesses or participated in the massacre. 

Hersh's reporting gave more ammunition to those opposed to the war.

Hersh is still his prickly self, trusting no one

It was his ability to track down and talk to people that made Hersh either praised or feared. US President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were caught on tape calling the journalist "a son of a bitch", angered that he was able to find out so much information.

Is it no wonder Hersh was either praised or feared.

After Woodward and Bernstein broke the Watergate story, Hersh, who was then at the New York Times, was told to go find stories, and he managed to find out the burglars who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters were still being paid hush money. 

This story helped keep the story alive and bring more information to the public about the scandal, that eventually led to Nixon's resignation. Hersh wrote over 40 stories about Watergate, that were mostly published on the front page.

Hersh also reported on how the CIA spent millions to destabilise the socialist government of Chilean President Salvador Allende and after a coup d'etat, installed a military dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet.

The documentary also gets Hersh to talk about his father, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania who played the violin. He says his family was very short on words and he never knew his father had escaped the horrors of the Nazis and wished he had known before so he could ask.

He still has lots of files all over his office

His family had two sets of twins -- Hersh had two twin older sisters, and he and his brother were twins too. His father had a dry cleaning business, and expected Hersh to take over. He didn't like the work but did what was expected of him. He had to quit school to look after his ailing father and on the side Hersh read a lot of books. But when his father died of cancer, this gives Hersh the opportunity to get a college education and the instructor felt he was more qualified for university and got him enrolled into the University of Chicago.

He randomly met a reporter and thought the job was so exciting that he started as a copyboy and a month later became a crime reporter.

Cover-Up also recounts the torture in the prisoners in Abu Ghraib in Iraq from 2004-2007. When he was able to get the photographs of prisoners tortured by US soldiers, and obtained a report by a general that listed all the things that were done to prisoners, Hersh was able to write the story that put Secretary for Defense Donald Rumsfeld in the hot seat.

Rumsfeld even tried to explain the difference between abuse and torture in a bid to disclaim the article.

But Hersh didn't get everything right. When he was researching into US President John F Kennedy's alleged romance with Marilyn Monroe, he claimed to have letters between the two, but they turned out to be fabricated by a known forger. That put a big dent into Hersh's reputation, but he looks back at it as dodging a bullet, as those so-called letters did not make it into his book, The Dark Side of Camelot.

Strangely he also felt Syrian President Bashir al-Assad couldn't have used chemical warfare on his own people...

Nevertheless, Hersh is still kicking and writing on his Substack account. During the filming he is shown talking to a source on the phone, getting information about Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Cover-Up was intense to watch, with a few sarcastic moments sprinkled throughout, but also eye-opening for someone like myself who is not familiar with Hersh's work. It's people like him who inspire younger journalists to try to find the truth. What he did was just talk to people and you never know -- they might just slip some information that could lead to something big.

Cover-Up

Directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus

117 minutes

Review: Under The White Gaze

Cheung examines how people of colour are portrayed in media

I just finished reading a thought-provoking book, especially for journalists and media outlets. Called Under The White Gaze, it's written by former Tyee reporter Christopher Cheung, who previously worked at Metro and the Vancouver Courier.

He grew up in a multicultural neighbourhood, went to school with classmates with different backgrounds, and then wondered why people who were not white were not covered in mainstream media in Vancouver. 

As a journalist Cheung tried to rectify the situation, only to encounter many issues. When he tried to specifically do stories about Chinese people, they would downplay their achievements and not think they should be covered in the media, or found mainstream media would only cover different cultures through their holidays, such as Chinese New Year, Nowruz, Diwali, and so on.

It reminds me of the years when I worked at CBC Radio and I was tasked with producing the programming for the Chinese New Year show. There were expectations of what my managers wanted, and what the Chinese community was hoping would be covered in the show. And how do you make it sound fresh the following year, when the same topics are covered, like the symbolism of the food eaten, the tradition of wearing red and the meaning behind "Gung Hei Fat Choy!"

In Under The White Gaze, Cheung explains that even though he as a person of colour may report on a topic through a cultural lens, ultimately it's white editors who decide how people of ethnic backgrounds are portrayed in the media, which can verge on being racist. Hence the white gaze...

Cheung uses a lot of examples in the media, from the CBC, to Maclean's, to the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and community papers to illustrate his points. Why are ethnic restaurants usually described as "hole-in-the wall", or "hidden gem", or when interviewing someone for whom English is not their first language, why is their broken English literally written out?

In one early chapter he talks about "darlings" and "deviants". Darlings are model minorities, immigrants who come to Canada and work extremely hard to succeed. The polar opposite are deviants, people of colour who give their community a bad name, such as those arrested for trafficking drugs, or convicted for murder.

Another situation is when words in a culture are equated to an English or western word. My father likes to describe jellyfish as "rubber bands", or baked char siu buns as "Chinese hamburgers". Other examples are banh mi is called described as a "Vietnamese sandwich", but then they are sometimes called banh mi sandwiches which is redundant, or dim sum being equated to Chinese tapas, which it definitely is not!

The book makes the reader think about stories they have read on people of colour and how they were portrayed; it also forces journalists to think carefully about how they should cover cultural topics in the future.

In Hong Kong, non-Chinese communities, particularly Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos and Indonesians should be covered more in the media, and with more sensitivity. For the most part, it's as if they don't exist, unless an employer severely mistreats their domestic helper and is dragged to court. There are many successful professional Filipinos in the city, while many Indian families have long roots in Hong Kong.

Under The White Gaze leaves a lot for the reader to consider, and in particular journalists who want to do a better job of covering their communities, which are becoming even more multicultural. In general we need more understanding of others, giving people the opportunity to speak in their own words with context, and report on them in a sensitive way. That will help all of us understand and appreciate each other even more.

Hong Kong's Challenging Times

Hong Kong is facing challenging times these days

Last year when I visited Hong Kong, it was eerily quiet as a lot of people had left the city for Easter break. 

This time around it looked busier, but looking at the shopping malls it is sad to see how empty they are, as the shops are empty. Not a single customer inside. The shop staff are looking at their phones or looking very bored. This is the state of retail these days.

Times Square mall was quiet just after 6pm

Case in point: this afternoon I wandered around Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui, steps away from the Star Ferry. It used to be the place mainlanders shopped in, with queues in front of Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Dior. While there were people wandering around window shopping, hardly anyone was buying anything, even mainland visitors.

No locals are buying because they are worried about their financial situation. A few days ago a friend told me that his manager and mid-level managers were let go -- immediately. His immediately boss had no idea she would be sacked and after seeing the human resources manager, went to her desk to pack up her stuff and left.

Another who had an inkling of what was going to happen, said farewell to colleagues, took their purse with them and they didn't see them again. People at work purposely keep only a few items in the office just in case they will be axed.

Meanwhile those left behind must pick up the pieces and take on even more work, for the same amount of pay, or a pay cut even, as times are tough. 

Sunset light reflects on ICC building

The media industry is rapidly unravelling thanks to artificial intelligence. The Hong Kong Standard sacked all of their sub editors, people who check stories for grammar and make sure it is factually correct. They have all been replaced by AI. Currently AI can rewrite stories, but not necessarily with the information intact and must be looked over to ensure the facts are still there...

Editors are even using AI to rewrite stories for them -- the job they are supposed to be doing! Do they want to be out of a job themselves? It's so bizarre and crazy that this is happening so fast. My friends joked they will have to turn to basket weaving to sustain themselves financially.

Meanwhile millennials are challenging to work with, unable to follow instructions or have the passion to work hard. Two friends told me they are literally babysitting the staff they work with, following up to make sure they finish their assignments, and they do so at odd hours -- like 3am or 5pm, or don't consider how their work will be perceived outside of the company. But they can't be fired otherwise my friends will have to do even more work.

It feels like schools are downsizing by the month, as teachers continue to quit and leave, and about the same proportion of students; this has resulted in lowering qualifications for teachers, in particular NET or native English teachers, while the same goes for the police, who have pretty much done away with stringent physical tests.

How can Hong Kong survive like this? It's hard to be optimistic for the city when you see the difficulties and no light at the end of the tunnel. 

But when looked at another way, a friend who moved with her two daughters from Beijing to Hong Kong a year ago, they love being here, despite the challenges of having to learn Cantonese and English. They enjoy eating different kinds of cuisines, like the fact there are hardly any queues for rides at Hong Kong Disneyland, and they are exposed to different kinds of opinions.

Nevertheless does the government have ideas on how to navigate the city through these challenging times? It's time to think outside the box to stimulate the economy and bring back visitors who splurge, not ones who follow advice on Xiaohongshu to spend the least amount of money...

 

Three Metro Vancouver Papers to Shutter

Three Metro Vancouver papers to close in a few months

Moving back to Vancouver it was gut-wrenching to see local media being decimated because of a lack of money. 

The Georgia Straight was taken over by a company that immediately fired the existing staff, which made it difficult for the new bosses to hire; the Vancouver Courier became Vancouver is Awesome with an online presence only; CTV regional stations in British Columbia were shuttered and TV anchors gave tearful goodbyes on air.

And suddenly News 1130 was taken off the air, and it was a shock to many listeners as the radio station that had given crucial traffic reports "on the ones", every 10 minutes.

Burnaby Now to close by April 21

Now three more community papers can be added to the list of the dead. Parent company Glacier Media has announced Burnaby Now and the New Westminster Record will close no later than April 21, and Tri-City News will close its doors by May 21.

In a statement, Glacier Media said in part that it "explored all possible options to maintain operations" but the industry's "ongoing financial challenges have made it unsustainable."

The three publications had been serving their respective communities for more than 40 years and transitioned to online only in August 2023.

"We're incredibly proud of the work we've done and we're so grateful to our hardworking staff who have made these publications so special, and to our loyal readers and advertisers who have supported us over the years," said publisher Lara Graham.

The news worries New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone.

"I don't know what it means when a community can't tell its stories anymore, when there's no record of our day-to-day, never mind the history of our city," he said.

Johnstone concerned about lack of local media

Johnstone wondered how New Westminster could some how continue to disseminate information through traditional media.

"I don't know what the solution is here, but we have to rethink what media means to us and what journalism means to us as a country and as a community, because this is not sustainable," he said.

"We have to be able to talk to each other through traditional media, or through every media that works that includes an aspect of journalism to it and separates the truth from what the algorithms do to us, which is push us towards division and push us towards mistruth."

Thirty years ago when I went into this industry, never did it ever cross my mind that so many news outlets would literally fall off a cliff into the abyss. But now it is the reality, because hardly any news companies has managed to figure out how to make money from good journalism.

Community papers are what keeps neighbourhoods informed, and that's how these stories get regional and even national attention.

Who else is going to keep city councils and government officials in check, expose corruption or wrongdoing, or tell good news stories that make communities proud?

It's a sad day when news outlets close, and three community papers shuttering is three too many.

Discussing Being Under the White Gaze

There were a lot of people waiting for Cheung to sign books

This evening I went to a book talk at the Vancouver Public Library featuring journalist Christopher Cheung with his new book, Under the White Gaze, which talks about how people of colour are represented in the media and how we can do better when reporting about them.

The room was packed out tonight, many of them Cheung's friends, and many Asians who felt the topic resonated with them.

Author Kevin Chong was tasked with asking Cheung some questions about himself and his book before the Q&A session.

Cheung's first book

Cheung explained he grew up in Oakridge and as a child his classmates were multicultural, as illustrated by the snacks they shared during recess, from Japanese dried seaweed to Iranian fruit leather. He feels this informed him of the Vancouver he lived in and felt there were stories to tell.

That's what led him to become a journalist, working for the Vancouver Courier and then Metro Daily, both of which he notes no longer exist. He has been at the Tyee for many years now and went from writing 500-word news articles in the Courier to now 2,000 words in the Tyee.

A good example of how minorities are not represented was when Cheung saw how developers prided themselves on creating tax-free spaces for residents to create community gardens and share the fruits of their labour.

He found this quite odd considering his grandfather and his neighbours have been growing vegetables for decades and sharing their harvests. Cheung used this as a way to get other mainstream media to realise they are not observing what is happening around them and just following a press release.

Chong noted a chapter in the book focuses on the four Ds: Darlings, Deviance, Delicious, and Damage.

When asked to explain, Cheung said it was inspired by CBC broadcaster Duncan McCue, who asked an Indigenous elder how they were covered in the media. He replied: drumming, dancing, drunk and dead.

He is very passionate about Vancouver

Cheung came up with his own four Ds when it came to ethnic minorities:

Darlings are model minorities, extreme examples of people who work very long hours and that is considered success despite the heavy toll;

Deviance is criminalising people of colour. One example is complaining about Chinese signs in Richmond;

Delicious is about ethnic food stories, and "calendar journalism" where Chinese food is covered during Chinese New Year;

Damage is about refugees, victims of colour who have terrible things that happen to them.

As a result, Cheung wants to push beyond these tropes and have minorities better represented in the media.

During the Q&A section there were some good questions, but there was a bizarre first question from a Caucasian woman in front, wondering why there were so many Asians in the audience tonight and complaining that there isn't multiculturalism in Canada, and how we live in silos. 

Many of us were taken aback by what she said, so much so that an elderly second-generation Chinese-Canadian woman wanted to engage with her, but after the event was over, the Caucasian woman said she didn't want to talk to her and fled the room!

Meanwhile the Chinese-Canadian asked if the book was for her, as she had repressed her Chinese-ness for most of her life and only in the last 20 years has begun embracing her heritage. But Cheung believes she can still read the book...

A man in the audience asked Cheung and Chong about being "bananas", an outdated term to describe Canadian-born Chinese who are "yellow on the outside, white on the inside". I hadn't heard that term being used for so long and particularly now when people try so hard to be politically correct.

In any event it was a good discussion and has inspired me to read the book!

HK Media Facing Harassment, Threats

Dozens of journalists have been intimidated and harassed

In what the Hong Kong Journalists Association describes as a 'systematic attack against media workers", the group says dozens of journalists in the city are being harassed, as well as their family members, employers, neighbours and landlords.

Reporters from at least 13 outlets, such as Hong Kong Free Press, InMedia, and HK Feature have been targeted through emails and letters containing defamatory content sent to their home addresses, workplaces and other venues.

Cheng said threats interfered with press freedom

HKJA's chair Selina Cheng condemned the harassment as "a serious interference with press freedom", and said the matter had been reported to the police.

"Since June, self-proclaimed 'patriots' have sent anonymous complaints by email or letter to at least 15 journalists' family members and their family members' employers, landlords and related organisations, including charities, schools and private businesses," she said.

"The format of each email or letter is similar but tailored to the different identities and characteristics of a given organisation or individual."

Cheng said many of the letters and emails warned recipients that if they continued to associate with the journalists in question or their family members, they could be violating the domestic national security law.

"Since at least August, users of several private Facebook groups have also posted hateful content against certain media outlets and journalists, portraying legitimate reporting as problematic or illegal, and baselessly accusing articles of being inflammatory," Cheng said.

"According to HKJA's investigation, at least 36 journalists were identified in these Facebook posts, from multiple different outlets, education institutions and the HKJA itself."

Cheuk was unaware of harassment

Some of the messages included threats of violence and death threats.

It is unclear how the journalists' private contact information was found, though the HKJA suspects personal data had been leaked from "government or other private databases" and urged law enforcement agencies to launch and investigation.

Cheng said she too was a victim, with employers of her family members receiving letters containing accusations and false claims about her in late July.

Undersecretary for Security Michael Cheuk Hau-yip said he had not heard about the harassment and doxxing raised by the HKJA, but stated Hong Kong was a city that followed the rule of law.

"Any individual should be free from threats, free from fear and free from harassment," he said. "So if any individual, irrespective of who you are, if you are receiving such threats and harassment, please come out and report [it]."

He did not believe the association's claim that personal data had been leaked, or that the city's press freedom had further eroded.

Meanwhile the police force spokesman said: "Hong Kong is a society underpinned by the rule of law. If members of the public suspect that they are being intimidated or harassed, they should report the case to the Police. Police will handle each case in accordance with the law and actual circumstances."

HK Journalist Sacked for Advocating Press Freedom

Journalist Cheng suddenly became the story when she was fired

The voices of international press groups are increasing in volume in condemning The Wall Street Journal for sacking Selina Cheng after she was voted as the new chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

Groups such as the Asian chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association, Reporters Without Borders, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club, Canada-based Media Action Plan and Women Press Freedom voiced their support for Cheng, that journalists should be allowed to advocate for press freedom.

"Journalists must be able to join and lead press organisations that are committed to defending media freedom without facing intimidation or retaliation," said the AAJA in a statement shared on social media.

Cheng read out her statement on Wednesday

"As pressure grows against foreign and domestic media in #HongKong, the need for international support to independent journalists still working in the territory is more important than ever," said Reporters Without Borders on X, formerly Twitter.

Cheng told reporters she was sacked on Wednesday after a senior editor flew in from the UK to tell her in person that her job had been eliminated due to restructuring. But she believed the real reason was related to her supervisor's request three weeks ago for her to withdraw from the election for the chair of the HKJA, a trade union for journalists that advocates for press freedom.

She said in a statement that her supervisor asked her to quit the association's board, which she has served since 2021. After she refused, she was told "it will be incompatible" with her job.

"The editor said employees of the Journal should not be seen as advocating for press freedom in a place like Hong Kong, even though they can in Western countries, where it is already established," said Cheng, who was elected the new chair in June.

"I am disappointed if these editors abroad have come to think press freedom is a controversial issue, as those who wish to intimidate reporters might like us to believe," she said. "It is not."

WSJ is still supporting Evan Gershkovich

While Dow Jones, which publishes the Journal confirmed restructuring had taken place, it claimed to still advocate for press freedom in Hong Kong and around the world.

Cheng pointed out the company was still pushing for the release of one of her colleagues, Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained for over a year in Russia accused of spying for the CIA.

"This is why I am deeply shocked that senior editors at the paper would actively violate their employees' human rights, by preventing them from advocating for freedoms the Journal's reporters rely on to work, in a place where journalists and their rights are under threat," wrote Cheng.

Indeed -- why this double standard? And why is WSJ and Dow Jones aiding the government's agenda of shutting down voices of opposition and dissent? It just puts not only the WSJ but also Hong Kong journalists in general in an even weaker position. 

What a bizarre way to start her new position -- being fired days later by her day job, but Cheng has already shown her courage and determination to fight. If anything she makes her former employer look like a coward.

Press Freedom Under Attack

Palestinian journalists were recognised for their work this year

Today is World Press Freedom Day and Palestinians were awarded the UNESCO press freedom prize for covering the Israeli war on Gaza. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists, more than 100 journalists and media workers, mostly Palestinian, have been killed in the first seven months of the conflict in Gaza since October 7 last year.

However, Gaza's Government Media Office says the toll is more than 140.

"In these times of darkness and hopelessness, we wish to share a strong message of solidarity and recognition to those Palestinian journalists who are covering this crisis in such dramatic circumstances," said Mauricio Weibel, chair of the international jury of media professionals during the announcement.

RSF released its annual press freedom index

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders released its annual press freedom ranking and Hong Kong continues to rank low on the list, though five spots higher than last year at #135.

Sandwiched in between the Philippines and Sudan, Hong Kong still ranks poorly due to the changing situation of other countries.

"Hong Kong is +5 places [up], but only due to the movement of other countries in the Index. Hong Kong's score actually has fallen -1.8 points, which is a significant change," explained Aleksandra Beilakowska, the NGO's Asia-Pacific Bureau Adovcacy Officer.

Last month she was denied entry into Hong Kong and was searched and questioned for six hours at the airport before she was deported back to Taiwan where she is based.

Interestingly Canada ranks #14, while the United States is #55. China is #172 and Eritrea is at the bottom of the list at #180.

Yesterday the Nikkei reported that Chinese-owned media are distancing themselves from Asia's highest profile journalism prize in a bid to avoid being seen as "colluding with foreign forces."

Fewer outlets are participating in this award

The Society of Publishers in Asia gives out awards annually to regional and international media outlets ranging from breaking news to photojournalism, features and video stories.

However, media outlets like Beijing-based Caixin Media, Shanghai-based Sixth Tone, state-owned The World of Chinese, and even the Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post have dropped their SOPA membership or have not submitted entries for the awards.

Luwei Rose Luqiu, an associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, said these outlets distancing themselves from SOPA shows a further tightening of press freedom in China, to the point where even the space for Chinese English media, which used to be relatively lenient and aimed to align with international peers is narrowing.

"However, for Chinese media, whether to participate in SOPA has little impact because such awards do not affect their readership," she said.

It's a pity this is happening, resulting in journalists having fewer opportunities to have their work judged against peers and recognised in the industry. It may come to a point where SOPA becomes irrelevant which would definitely indicate a further decline in press freedom not only in Hong Kong, but the region...