Regret named a “Blog That Matters” by Forbes
My media errors and corrections site, Regret the Error, has just been named one of the "Blogs That Matter" in Forbes magazine's regular Best of the Web awards. It was one of only eight media blogs selected. Here's what they said:
The concept behind this site is pretty basic: "Mistakes happen." With
that as his logo, Canadian journalist Craig Silverman tracks the
corrections (as in "we regret the error...") of newspapers, magazines
and television programs, from the BBC and Wall Street Journal to Salon.com and Rolling Stone.
A clean layout and industry-specific categories make it easy to browse.
Most frequently updated: the newspaper category. Most entertaining and
scary: the Major Errors feature. A front-page article in The Virginian-Pilot
told the story of a man who made a motorcycle ride to the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in honor of his father's service in the war. The
paper later found out the man's father never served in Vietnam, and
most of his story was fabricated. Oops.
This is a great honor that puts me in the hallowed company of Romenesko, PressThink, Gawker and Buzz Machine, all of which are great blogs. I'm hella pleased.
This week’s Explainer
My weekly Explainer column in Hour takes a look at homegrown search engine project Zenome.com. Can they grow to challenge Google? Read it here.
I also recommend my good friend Jamie O'Meara's funny column about straight guys with gay best friends. Though I have to say the line of the week goes to a reader who posted this comment below Jamie's piece: "This story was great to read knowing that people can be friends despite diversity."
Yes, we all must strive to combat diversity.
More Toro articles online
I have three more Toro articles available for your reading pleasure.
The Pits of Hell (May 2005)
This is a humorous, informative health feature about my personal experience with sweat. Hyperhidrosis, excessive sweating, is a condition that affects 3 percent of the population. One of the latest treatments is Botox. (Yes, that Botox.) I went to see one of Canada's leading sweat doctors to see if I am one of the lucky 3 percent.
In The Company of Men (September 2004)
One night I found myself sitting in a circle of men as we shared our feelings, problems, and a little bit of gas. In this piece I was one of three writers sent to visit male bonding groups across the country. I went to a Mankind meeting in Montreal. It was an overwhelming experience. You'll have to read it for yourself.
Sportscaster Showdown (November 2004)
This is what we in the biz call a "charticle" -- a quick, funny front of book piece with information contained in chart form. I compared TSN to its French language counterpart, RDS.
Just For Laughs cover in HOUR this week
I have three pieces in today's HOUR, including the cover story on The Daily Show. I got a chance to chat with both Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee from the show and you can read the story here. Stories like this are tough because Colbert and Bee know you expect them to be funny, and you also feel pressure to offer set ups that help bring out the laughs. In the end, both Bee and Colbert were funny, nice and very generous with their time. I only wish I had more space to give them.
I also did an article about Saturday Night Live's Finesse Mitchell, who is coming to this year's JFL for some stand up gigs.
As always, I have my weekly Explainer column in the paper. This week's topic: Harry Potter. Read it here.
Canadian peacekeepers in their own words
This is a feature article I did for The NewCanadian in its Fall 2004 issue. I spoke with three current and former Canadian peacekeepers and wrote their stories in their words. The tale from Major Ron MacEachern, of the Army Infantry, was particularly powerful.
Download the article here. (PDF)
Consumer behaviour: Cell etiquette
Spring 2004
Craig Silverman
At Montreal’s Spirite Lounge restaurant one is expected to eat all of the food on one’s plate. One is also served what the chef decides, and the chef does his best to ensure one never eats the same dish twice. One must accept these parameters if one seeks to dine at Spirite Lounge, a word-of-mouth eating experience on Ontario Street (East).
Rozman, the owner and chef of Spirite Lounge, also has another strict requirement that has been in place since he opened his doors five years ago.
“Cell phones are not allowed,” says Rozman. “People are asked to turn them off when they enter. My place is a theatre, so you have to enjoy the show.”
Though they are now a ubiquitous technology, cell phones are still comparatively new, and the laws of etiquette that govern their use are still being formed. Some of these laws are ending up on the books, while others manifest themselves as social decrees. Some transgressions will get you a fine; others will earn you dirty looks.
Talking on a cell phone while driving and not using a headset is quickly becoming illegal in cities, states, provinces and some countries. Hong Kong banned it years ago. New York has issued over 50,000 tickets since instituting its law in November of 2001. In Montreal, drivers can’t turn right on red, but are free to chat away with a phone held to their head. Montrealers are now also familiar with the “please turn off your cell phones and pagers “ spiel at the beginning of any movie. Common courtesy holds that one should turn off their phone (or at the very least set it to vibrate) before any performance.
Restaurants, though, appear to be another matter. Rozman believes the experience at his restaurant is akin to “theatre” and so he has enforced a rule similar to that held in conventional theatres. But few other Montreal eateries have enacted similarly strict policies, preferring to rely on the etiquette and courtesy of their patrons.
“If phone rings we take it away from them and make them bend over,” jokes Moishe’s Steak House owner Larry Lighter. “Generally, most people have been very polite about it. Years ago they would ring and ring because it was a novelty. But now they don’t ring much in the dining room.”
The Zagat Restaurant Guides, which are handy and definitive bibles on eating the world over, once commissioned a survey and found that cell-free dining was a top concern for both customers and proprietors. When asked about the importance of smoke-free and phone-free dining 95 per cent of respondents wanted a separate room for them.
"It's an issue that seems to be a hot button among dining patrons," Mike Sheinfield, vice president of corporate communications for Zagat told one publication. "The majority would prefer a cell phone-free section."
Yet that seems to be a far-off possibility.
“We don’t have a problem,” says Jason Nelsons, the chef of Carmel, a fusion eatery in Outremont. “A lot of diners don’t seem to really use cell phones in the restaurant.”
“We don’t have any policy because I don’t think we have ever had to ask someone to be quiet or turn off their phone,” says one waitress at Mess Hall in Westmont. “You get one or two [who are rude], but the majority will go to the washroom or front entrance. I guess we just have good customers.”
Indeed, many restaurants contacted pointed out their lack of a policy as a sign that their clientele are polite and sophisticated. (Though McDonald’s also lacks any cell policy.) Stories of rude patrons do, however, abound. One person recounted a tale of a waitress trying to serve a gentleman who was speaking on his phone. When she began to speak to the table, he interrupted his call to demand that she return when “I don’t have someone better to talk to!”
Mark Shields, an assistant professor of technology,
culture and communications at the University of Virginia has studied the cell phone and its effect on humans and society. He says rude cell users are likely rude in other areas of life as well.
“One can assume that new technologies will alter our practices, but not the fundamental root of our human bio-social nature…chances are these people are rude anyway in their behavior,” says Shields. “Technology doesn’t cause behavior -- it enables us to alter or transform existing practices.”
Rozman takes a very simple view of the problem.
“If you want to talk someone else, go meet them,” he says. “In Los Angeles, maybe half of the restaurants ban phones. In some, they have a phone check along with the coat check, and if your phone rings, they will take a message for you. That’s class. I’m not there yet.”
Yet he’s still far ahead of the curve.
Montreal clothier incurs wrath of NY Post
'Page Six' assails Fidel line for its perceived link to the Cuban leader
CRAIG SILVERMAN
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
04/23/2003
MONTREAL -- A small but popular Montreal clothing label is engaged in a political fashion fight with one of the world's premiere gossip columns, The New York Post's Page Six.
Apparently a subscriber to the notion that the facts should never get in the way of a good story, Richard Johnson, the ubiquitous editor of Page Six, fired the first salvo after spotting a full-page ad for the Fidel clothing label in fashion bible Women's Wear Daily. "Some idiot on Seventh Avenue [the fashion district in New York], who doesn't realize that the dictator of Cuba is about as popular with his people as the dictator of Iraq was with his, has come out with a Fidel clothing line," read the April 11 edition of the popular column.
But according to Fidel president Andrew Raisman, Johnson is making up his story from whole cloth. First, he notes, the company draws its name from fidele, the French word meaning loyalty -- and not from El Presidente. Raisman adds that his company never took out an ad in Women's Wear Daily, which would have cost $80,000 (U.S.).
On April 14, Raisman fired off a letter to Page Six clarifying the label's name and asking for an immediate retraction. "Your remarks about our company are unfounded and . . . damaging to our reputation and to the good will of our brand," wrote Raisman. "Our brand reflects qualities of loyalty and integrity, which are literal translations of the word 'fidel' . . . We expect that The New York Post will act responsibly and will officially retract the statements made about our company in your next printing."
"Hogwash," declared Page Six the following day, effectively asserting that in the new world order, Fidel means what Americans think it means, so there. "Most customers assume Fidel refers to the Cuban dictator," it read. "If you didn't want the association, you'd change the name."
Reached by phone, Johnson says he chose to tell Raisman to "stick it in his ear" instead of proffering a retraction. "Any normal American would make the association," says Johnson, expressing what might be called an admirable fidelity to his fellow citizens. "But this guy writes me with some snarky explanation . . . I speak French and never heard that word before."
Johnson also happily shared his thoughts on Canada's unwillingness to join the war in Iraq.
"I think Canada has always been such a small appendix to the U.S. that it's not even worthy of weasel status," says Johnson. "You are below weasels, which makes you moles, or perhaps shrews."
Raisman's letter said the column was unfairly targeting his company because of "trying times for the U.S."
In any case, he notes, "We sent them a full-page response and they printed one line. Just because there's a similarity between our name and a controversial world leader doesn't mean we support him. Our stuff is feminine and girly. We do floral skirts and pretty T-shirts, so it's even more ironic they are picking on us."
Raisman sent out copies of his second letter to a company mailing list (subject: "The NY Post is on our ass") and called upon supporters to write in with comments. Many have, including some from New York and other parts of the U.S. The letter also offers a tongue-in-cheek suggestion for the paper: "In response to your remarks suggesting that we should change our name, we submit the following suggestion of our own: The [New York] Post should undertake an investigative weekly column exposing secret links between garment manufacturers and controversial historical figures, in an attempt to finally rid the world of subversive political messages woven into cloth and sold to unsuspecting fashion victims to support the Communist mandates of island-nation dictatorships. Now that would surely sell some papers!"
Prostitution in Canada
This Summer 2004 NewCanadian cover article takes a hard look at the reality of prostitution in Canada
Download the article here. (PDF)
New religion or cult?
In this NewCanadian feature (Spring 2004) I attend a meeting of the Raelians and look at new religions that are often branded as cults.
Download it here. (PDF)
Welcome
Hey there. Thanks for stopping by. I'm a freelance journalist and author in Montreal, Canada. I serve as an associate editor for PBS MediaShift, a website that reports on trends in new media and journalism. I edit RegretTheError.com and wrote a book of the same name. I'm also the co-author, with Michael Calce, of Mafiaboy: How I Cracked The Internet and Why It's Still Broken. Both books are listed to the right.
I write weekly columns for Hour and Columbia Journalism Review online, and am a former columnist and blogger for The Globe And Mail. Read my bio by clicking on the "About Me" link above, or check out the "Writing Samples" page to read some of my work. If you're interested in speaking with me about an assignment or project, email me at the address listed below.
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