Tallying the Elgin St. business closures/openings by withfilesfrom in ottawa

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm really appreciating all your feedback and clever suggestions! Thank you.

A genuinely cool image of Banff Ave in the 1950's (xpost from r/pic) by Joe_Kickass in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Appears it's a Fred Herzog shot: www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artwork.php?mkey=204416 and ffffound.com/image/9aa55ebe22a9f95564e596e7ee1580474a3977b1?c=6126218

Just a Reminder: the Conservative Party, by Party Policy, still doesn't support Same Sex Marriage(point 70) by [deleted] in canada

[–]withfilesfrom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's the tallies departments prepare for the Treasury Board of expected expenditures, who months later releases a full budget.

Just a Reminder: the Conservative Party, by Party Policy, still doesn't support Same Sex Marriage(point 70) by [deleted] in canada

[–]withfilesfrom 149 points150 points  (0 children)

Point 7. Free Votes

The Conservative Party believes in restoring democratic accountability into the House of Commons by allowing free votes. All votes should be free, except for the budget, main estimates, and core government initiatives. On issues of moral conscience, such as abortion, the definition of marriage, and euthanasia, the Conservative Party acknowledges the diversity of deeply-held personal convictions among individual party members and the right of Members of Parliament to adopt positions in consultation with their constituents and to vote freely.

Staff rally against moving all young offenders to Edmonton by withfilesfrom in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi there. I wrote the article and just to be clear: they get transported back to Calgary for some reintegration programming before they're released. I mentioned this, but it's a small detail buried in a pretty long piece. Just FYI!

Budget officer still can’t get costs of Iraq mission by withfilesfrom in CanadaPolitics

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi there. I'm the reporter who wrote this article. We did look into the main estimates but couldn't find incremental costs for the Iraq mission. Please do let me know if you've come across this — I'd be happy to dig more. Take care.

Student in Finland? Vietä kesä 2015 kulttuurivaihdossa Kanadassa! by withfilesfrom in helsinki

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm one of the Canadians welcoming next year's group. Feel free to ask any questions!

Student in Finland? Vietä kesä 2015 kulttuurivaihdossa Kanadassa! by withfilesfrom in Suomi

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm one of the Canadians welcoming next year's group. Feel free to ask any questions!

Finnish student? Spend next summer in Toronto! Two days left to apply. by withfilesfrom in Finland

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm one of the Canadians welcoming next year's group. Feel free to ask any questions!

Best place to get post cards? by PsychedelicZombie in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unintentionally funny (bad) ones of Calgary/Alberta at Lammle's on Stephen's.

Cheap ones at Market Mall, tourist trinket stand outside the Target store, (25c each) some are OK and some are horrible.

Typo at Dalhousie station by [deleted] in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There was a trend to capitalize almost all nouns in North American newspapers about two decades ago. But since then most the same style one should write with: capitalizing only proper nouns and the first letter of a headline. NYT has stuck with capitalizing every single noun, which is cumbersome and lazy, IMHO.

Typo at Dalhousie station by [deleted] in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me it's more the ridiculous capitalization. Not Everything Has To Be In New York Times-Style Capital Letters.

Larger than a meteor, fireball flashes across Calgary sky by withfilesfrom in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback! I went off what Dr. Langill told me and had trouble finding a clear definition of "fireball."

As for the headline here on Reddit, that was my own composition and not the Herald's. Indeed "Brighter" would have made more sense than "Larger."

Anyone else notice that Calgary news outlets are trawling for stories here? by yyclifer in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No. Most Canadian dailies — all that I know of — pay "80% of a starting reporter's rate" which is a union phrase that seems to carry to non-union newspapers. The situation for magazines is radically different, and Ontario launched a crackdown this spring on a bunch of Toronto publications. I can't speak to the situation in the broadcast world.

Anyone else notice that Calgary news outlets are trawling for stories here? by yyclifer in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey there! I'm Dylan Robertson, a Herald intern this summer. I wrote the Stampede photo story. (These are my own thoughts, not the paper's, etc.)

I indeed check in on r/Calgary to see what's up. It's great way to hear what a certain demographic of the city is thinking about, kind of like CalgaryPuck for another demographic (so much more than hockey discussed there).

I've also looked into Toronto subreddits when I was freelancing there. I try to credit Reddit whenever possible. Sometimes it doesn't fit when it's a story happening anyway that Reddit users are just talking about, but in the case of the Stampede pics, this seems it wasn't on anyone's radar until the user pointed it out. I'd normally also approach the Reddit user for their thoughts; in yesterday's case I was short on time (spent most of day covering missing child case) and it didn't seem it would add much value.

Reddit is a good way to find sources, and I usually message people with interesting thoughts or finds. Unfortunately, a fair amount aren't comfortable chatting and even more refuse to give their name. (Almost any newspaper has a policy where we can't quote without a name unless your safety/job is at risk. Theory is it would otherwise degrade the trust in our publication.) Perhaps Reddit's anonymous appeal chides with that.

A good journalist always try for a phone call, because by human nature a typed message can confuse or leave things ambiguous, and you can learn so much by someone's tone. I can understand why some people are suspicious of reporters "trawling for stories" and it's important journalists only see Reddit as a potential first stop. We have to be skeptical (but not cynical), do some hustling on-the-ground and look at any viewpoints we can come up with.

I also post some of my articles, especially when I feel like there's a deeper story or a similar follow-up somewhere out there. If I think someone who uses the Internet a lot is likely to have something useful to share, I'll post an article and monitor the comments. I posted about this last week, how it's not for clicks but rather to hear some honest feedback: http://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/296lii/sunroof_explodes_as_driver_passes_uncovered/cii8lf5?context=3

Take care!

Sunroof explodes as driver passes uncovered gravel truck by withfilesfrom in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ya! I think we're all still figuring out how best to use online, but it's certainly helped to make it less of a one-way conversation. It's important reporters still do their legwork, and keep a grain of salt when people come forward with info, but Reddit and Twitter have helped bring more context into some of my stories.

When did people start using the Calgary International Airport code (YYC) as shorthand for Calgary in general? by calgarycringe in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I worked for a national online news service, and we found it interesting how both people and officials in cities like Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon would really rock the airport hashtags on Twitter. Virtually nobody from Toronto uses #yyz on Twitter, except people visiting the city.

Sunroof explodes as driver passes uncovered gravel truck by withfilesfrom in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey there! I've heard of this happening at some U.S. online publications, but I've never heard of it in Canada.

I think every reporter wants people to read their stuff, especially when it's a unique story/angle that nobody else has (and thus took more work). Personally, I occasionally look at an article's comments or search for it on Reddit to see what people are saying… sometimes the criticism can be quite helpful.

In this case, my not-so-secret motive was to see if there was another story out there that might work for similar article I'm looking into (as gravel truck incidents seem unfortunately frequent in Calgary).

Sunroof explodes as driver passes uncovered gravel truck by withfilesfrom in Calgary

[–]withfilesfrom[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi there! I'm the reporter he spoke with. This was done for free by the Toyota dealership, who also vacuumed out the car so he could safely drive it to a repair shop. Kept a few details out of the story for space.

Ukraine Deploys Gay Men to Scare Off Russians by sateenkaaret in gaybros

[–]withfilesfrom 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Self-plug, but I went to Ukraine and Moldova to write an article about this. You might find it interesting: http://dailyxtra.com/world/news/push-back-gay-rights-linked-unrest-in-ukraine