Institutional Misbehaviour, Redux - UPDATED

While I have written several posts in the past about the seemingly endless capacity of organizations and institutions to behave in ways that best protect themselves rather than serve the interests of their constituencies, each new instance continues to appall me.

Today's print edition of The Star (nothing online yet) details an investigation by the paper into the failure of a Belleville police officer to take note of the license plate of a suspicious vehicle spotted outside of the home of Jessica Lloyd on the night he went on to rape and kill her. This information might have prevented her death

While mistakes happen all the time, and I am hardly in a position to judge the officer involved, what is interesting about this story from my perspective is the fact that it took 20 months for The Star's request for information under The Freedom of Information Act to be fulfilled, largely, it would seem, because both the police and the Ministry of Community Safety were busy trying to conceal what had happened in this major oversight to protect their own interests.

Could this perhaps also be the real reason the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services earlier refused The Star's request for the dates Williams’ DNA was submitted for testing, stating that the release of the information would be an “unjustified invasion of personal privacy”?

Should this article appear online, I will provide further details in an update.

UPDATE: Here is the link to the story on The Star website. As noted in my original post, you will see that the biggest priority of both the Belleville police and the Ministry of Community Safety seems to have been how to best spin shortcomings of the investigation. As well, there still is no protocol in place to avoid such mistakes in the future.

Just Another Day's Work At The Star

Yesterday I wrote a post expressing real pleasure that The Toronto Star is enjoying such a wide readership and profitability, given the important work that it does on a number of levels.

Although evidence of that work is found in pretty much every edition of the paper, today's seems particularly noteworthy for its potential impact.

First, as a result of an investigation by the paper into the harmful effects, including strokes, convulsions, depression and suicide on children being treated with drugs for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, today we learn the following:

Health Canada has detailed records of probes into ADHD drug safety, including fatalities, that it is keeping secret from the public.

Every six months to a year, drug companies submit summaries of side effects suspected to have been caused by their drugs worldwide, information Health Canada says it evaluates.

These summaries, called periodic safety update reports, are not available to the public.

Because these reports contain “proprietary information,”, the public is denied potentially life-saving information. It would seem that government does not want to deny any opportunity for big-pharma profits, even if it leads to disability or death.

Expect more to come from The Star's efforts on this file.

Next, again as a result of publicity generated by The Star, an Iranian woman facing deportation to her home country is being allowed to present new evidence of the peril she faces if sent back. This new chance comes to Fatemeh Derakhshandeh Tosarvandan despite the new law passed by the Harper regime prohibiting failed asylum claimants from obtaining a risk assessment within a year after their claim is rejected.

This seems appropriate, since in severing ties with Iran, the Canadian government cited its abuse of human rights.

And finally, there is the ongoing saga at Toronto City hall, where The Star, persona non grata to the Ford administration, reports how that administration interfered with the process for citizen appointments to 120 city boards and agencies [which] included an attempt to stop staff from targeting “diverse” candidates in recruitment ads.

All in all, not a bad day's work at Canada's largest-circulation newspaper.

Stephen Harper's Worldview

For those seeking insight into how Stephen Harper and his regime views the world, The Star's Tim Harper offers some interesting insights.

In New York snubbing the U.N. while accepting his reward award as World Statesman of the Year from the Appeal of Conscience Appeal, the Prime Minister offered the following justification, which is patently emblematic of his Manichean view of the world:

He said Canadians expect their governments to act with international partners for the “wider interests of humanity . . . that is, of course, not the same thing as trying to court every dictator with a vote at the United Nations . . .

... Harper said the world must not shrink from recognizing the evil that is Iran, and called on the international community to do more to further pressure and isolate the regime.

It is this Iranian evil that compels Canada to speak out in support of Israel, Harper said, because those who would target Israel threaten all free and democratic societies.

“We should never consider others evil merely because they disagree with us,’’ he said, “or because they compete with us.’’

But when evil dominates, one will find irreconcilable disagreements with Canada, he said.

And now to the 'good':

It is this Iranian evil that compels Canada to speak out in support of Israel, Harper said, because those who would target Israel threaten all free and democratic societies.

“Our government does refuse to use international (forums) to single out Israel for criticism.”

Sorry for the lengthy excerpts, but I find the repetition of the word evil quite revealing of Harper's unsophisticated and simplistic worldview.

No word on what adjective the Prime Minister would use to describe Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories, or the fact that the military attack against Iran that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is advocating would cost countless lives.

Stephen Harper's Sins

On the day that Stephen Harper is to receive his World Statesman of the Year award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, presumably for his unstinting and uncritical support of Israel, the Huffington Post has a timely piece reminding us of some of the Prime Minister's myriad failings on both the international and domestic front.

Those who prefer to think critically rather than simply absorb propaganda will find the article of some interest.

News That Gladdens My Heart

Despite its oft-proclaimed demised, print journalism seems to be alive and well, at least in the GTA. As reported in today's edition, The Toronto Star is enjoying record readership:

The Toronto Star retains its title as the most-read newspaper in the Greater Toronto Area, with more than 1 million readers a day, according to the latest survey by the Newspaper Audience Databank, known as NADbank.

The Star’s weekday readership stands at 1,005,300 in the Greater Toronto Area. That is an increase of 4.1 per cent from the same period a year ago, the NADbank 2011/12 Mid-Year Study shows.

The survey also shows that combined print and online readership of the Star in the GTA stands at 2.3 million adults. That’s up 0.8 per cent from a year earlier.

This is especially good news, as it is without doubt an affirmation of the public's appetite for quality journalism, journalism that combines a social mission (The Atkinson Principles) with excellent writing, investigative journalism that results in societal improvement, and real integrity.

Unlike The Globe and Mail, now collapsing under the weight of inept management, a plagiarism scandal, and a narrow political agenda, The Star continues to make its way in the world with the intention of improving it, amply demonstrating that it can inform, entertain, and better our world without resorting to sanctimonious self-promotion, posturing, or propaganda.

It is one of the reasons I look forward to getting up each day.

Words Fail Me

This, from our enlightened cousins to the south.

H/t Let Freedom Rain

Social Media and Margaret Wente

About two years ago, I wrote a blog post explaining why we cancelled our subscription to The Globe and Mail. At the same time, I sent an email with a link to the post to Globe editor-in-chief John Stackhouse, suggesting that if he wanted to know why he had lost a long-term subscriber, he should read my post.

Later that evening, I received a response from Stackhouse which I have never discussed in this blog, simply because I regarded it as private communication. While I am not prepared to reveal the content of the letter, I will tell you his closing observation, which was something along the lines of, "You seem to prefer the smaller world of the blogosphere. Sad."

Well, it would seem that the world of bloggers is not so small after all, given it was Medi Culpa's analysis of Margaret Wente's plagiarism that has created something of a firestorm within the world of journalism, shaking to its foundations the once proud Globe. In his column today, The Star's Tim Harper addresses the role it plays in journalists' lives, and how it forces everyone to be very careful in how they write.

Of additional interest is a brief profile of Professor Carol Wainio, the blogger behind Media Culpa.

Oh, and Torontoist has some thoughts worth perusal as well.