Toronto Star | Canada.com
Star investigations editor Kevin Donovan will lead mandatory training sessions for reporters following an embarrassing incident last week, Star Public Editor Kathy English writes. The Star published a story accusing provincial parliament member Margarett Best of vacationing in Mexico while she was on medical leave; reporter Richard Brennan misunderstood a tag on a photo on Best's Facebook page, English writes, and didn't tell her that was the subject of his story when he tried to get comment.

Now all the reporters are getting a brush-up.

“Everyone is entitled to give their side of the story. I preach that on a daily basis,” Donovan told me this week. “Telling a person or organization about an allegation gives them the opportunity at the start to tell you that you have it wrong, partly wrong, or mostly right.

“Calling last minute doesn’t cut it. I often inform people or organizations on Day 1 of my investigation,” Donovan said. “People need to be told precisely what it is you are calling about. (more...)

Globe and Mail
Canada's largest newspaper, the Toronto Star, is the latest to reduce costs by laying off copy editors and outsourcing their work for a fraction of the expense.

The Star will outsource page design and copy editing to Pagemasters North America, Globe and Mail media reporter Steve Ladurantaye reports. The cost savings come from efficient centralized production, but also lower pay for editors. "The top union rate for an editor at Pagemasters is $48,000," Ladurantaye reports, "while the same job at the Star comes with an annual salary closer to $85,000."

Pagemasters North America is owned by The Canadian Press news wire, of which the Star's parent company Torstar Corp. is a co-owner. News & Tech reported in 2009 that the Star was in discussions to begin a small amount of outsourcing to Pagemasters North America, but did not. Other major Canadian newspapers including The Globe and Mail, do the same. And other branches of Pagemasters serve newspapers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. (more...)

Toronto Star
Two plagiarism cases that occurred at the Toronto Star in the past week "demand serious action," Public Editor Kathy English writes. Star reporter Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew lifted from a Globe and Mail report, and now-former Toronto school board director Chris Spence plagiarized in an op-ed. Spence resigned after readers and reporters found his other published work, including his doctoral thesis, were filled with plagiarized material.

Acharya-Tom Yew, on the other hand, wasn't "deliberately dishonest," English says.

In reporting on the Entertainment One takeover of Alliance Films, she did not talk to any sources, as good reporting demands. Her 10-paragragh story was written entirely from information from the wires and the Star’s files, as well as a Globe and Mail online piece written earlier that day by its media writer, Steve Ladurantaye. (more...)

Toronto Star | National Post
Chris Spence lifted passages from The New York Times and other sources for an opinion piece published January 5 in the Toronto Star. Spence is the director of education for Toronto's school board.

“I was careless and sloppy and rushed, and I should have given credit to some of the work that I used,” Spence told Star education reporter Kristin Rushowy. The board's chair said Spence "sees this as an honest mistake, but something that needs to be corrected." (more...)

Torontoist | The Toronto Star | The Globe and Mail
A paywall is rising across the 49th parallel, Steve Kupferman writes. The Toronto Globe and Mail hoisted a metered paywall for domestic users last Monday.

The Globe's attempts to provide added value for subscribers are a little weak, and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to get around the limit, he writes, but readers who can afford it should pay because it's "the ethical thing to do, although nobody -- not even the Globe -- will really reward you for doing it." (more...)