A Guide Goes Online

After 30 years in print, TV Guide Canada had to make a change.





(University of Wisconsin Photo)


In a world where consumers are increasingly internet-savvy, TV Guide Canada made the decision in 2006 to end its print magazine in favour of a web-only medium.

According to Anna-Christina Di Liberto, Assistant Listings Manager for TV Guide Canada, their subscriptions were fleeting and going web-based became a financial issue.

"From a cost perspective, it made sense to go online," says Di Liberto.
The online medium also gave the magazine flexibility to post late-breaking news and timely show reviews and previews.

TV Guide has been one of many magazines and newspapers that have had to pull out of the print world in favour of the online one.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Ann Arbor News and the Christian Science Monitor to name a few are former print dailies that have adapted to an online-only format.
But Di Liberto thinks there is room for print and online, and that people are still willing to pay for print.

“I think there are still people that will read print products,” says Di Liberto who adds that balance of both print and online mediums is necessary to keep both young and old readers happy.

“It’s kind of nice to balance the two generations,” says Di Liberto.

Locked Down in Toronto

Visible minorities are more likely to be held without bail in Ontario than their white counterparts.








Toronto Star reporter Jim Rankin (Photo by Emilie Bourque)


After two and half years, Jim Rankin finally got what he was after.


The Toronto Star reporter put in a freedom of information request for criminal records in Canada only to be told that it would cost him 1.6 million dollars to access this information.

Rankin didn’t pay a dime in the end but found what he had been suspecting all along; disproportionate numbers of those in lock down in Toronto and even the country.

An example of Rankin’s findings is the fact that aboriginals in Canada make up only 3.8 per cent of the population, yet they constitute 19 per cent of those in Canadian prisons.

The Canadian Police Information Centre, as cited by the Star, records race as either white or non-white.

Non-whites were 53 per cent more likely not to be convicted, only because they had credits for “time served” according to the Star’s analysis of conviction rates.

What that really means is those who are a visible minority are often held without bail, according to the 1995 Report of Systematic Racism. They are also more likely to have DNA taken than their white counterparts.

A couple of years and one website later, Rankin has recorded this information and more about the Canadian Justice System on the Toronto Star’s website, Crime & Punishment.

Go Fish!

GeoStock/Photodisc/Getty Images

Toronto may not be the first place that comes to mind when one thinks of ice- fishing. However, peace and quiet can be found within the bounds Canada’s largest city.

For those urbanites looking for a relief from the city’s hectic pace, the GTA offers two lakes for ice-fishing; Frenchman’s Bay in Pickering and Wilcox Lake in Richmond Hill.

Frenchman’s Bay is only 50 km from downtown Toronto. Ice begins to coat the lake’s surface in early December, making way for those hoping to carve out their own little hole of tranquility. The lake has some of the world’s best Carp waters and there are no season restrictions.

Another alternative for ice-fishing is Wilcox Lake. Fishermen here are likely to pull out large Northern Pikes in the wintertime. The season opened on New Year’s day for Northern Pike but Large Mouth Bass and Brown Bullheads also swim beneath the ice. The lake is well-suited to ice- fishing as almost all the shoreline is claimed by private residences.

The sport is not without its dangers. It is reccomended that the ice be 15 centemetres thick and according to comingbackalive.com, four or five ice fishing deaths occur each year in North America.

Ryerson

RyeHigh

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