Hey Gawker -- WTF -- Where's Your Drug Dealer Source?

Tabloid trash-talking website Gawker.com claimed they saw a video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking a crack pipe, and the mainstream anti-Ford newspaper The Toronto Star ran with the story a week ago today.

The problem with using drug dealers as sources, is sometimes they make sh*t up.

Okay, that's a bit extreme. Even drug dealers are honest, hard working contributing members of society, right?

Yeah, right.

So it should be no surprise that the scoundrels at Gawker.com haven't been able to reach the drug lords that showed them the blurry, poorly shot iPhone video -- but wouldn't let them make a copy, or verify it's source.

The Toronto Star has been unable to reach the video's owners to verify its authenticity as well.

All of this hits as all things come to their inevitable end. Today, Toronto City Council's executive committee is sending a letter to their boss -- Mayor Rob Ford -- asking him to address the issue publicly. There are also rumours that the city's executive committee is asking for the Mayor to step down, and let the deputy mayor and the executive committee run the city until all the pressure from the media blows over.

And, Gawker.com itself is about set to reach it's drug-money-funding goal on crowdfunding website Indiegogo, to pay off the owners of the video behind this enormous scandal to rock Toronto, Canada.

Oh wait -- exactly who are they paying off again? Their "sources" have fled, just as they are about to make it rich.

Maybe money can't really buy happiness after all?

Or maybe the video was faked, by a couple of slimy druggies that thought they could bribe some gullible wanna-be American journalists with a poorly shot mobile phone video about some politician in another country.

Seems odd that legitimate sources would suddenly disappear, regardless of their chosen occupation. Especially sources about to hit the money load -- literally -- and be paid for their info.

Maybe they had a change of heart, and decided to come clean, and instead of using any profits from the video to further their drug trade, they'd donate it to a worthy cause, like the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health?

What are you, high?

The real damage ultimately is to the citizens of Canada, the residents of Toronto, and the business of running Canada's largest city.

Once again, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's lack of tact has put more than his left-foot in his mouth, and caused all the above to be made the fool on the world stage.

All because some slimy druggies that wanted to make more money.

And because technology allows anyone these days to claim to be a journalist -- even if they don't have what it takes to really do the job.

Like common sense for one.

Dealing with drug dealers as sources that ask for money up front?

Come on now Gawker.com -- is that how the game is played in your f*cked up world?

Why Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Needs to Resign

Unless you've been living under a rock on a secluded island in the middle of nowhere, chances are you've heard about some crazy Canadian big city mayor caught on video smoking crack cocaine.

Late night comedians Jimmy Kimmel and John Stewart both poked fun at recently on their late night talk shows. 

Major global news outlets, including CNN and the BBC have covered the story internationally.

Yet the only one speaking publicly about this is the media -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, as of this writing, STILL has intentionally evaded the press, simply saying quickly when the story first broke that allegations of him smoking crack cocaine are "ridiculous" and simply untrue.

So, what is the story?

For those hiding under rocks on secluded islands, an American tabloid website called Gawker claimed to have been shown a video showing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine. Later that day, one of Canada's largest newspapers, The Toronto Star, claimed that two of it's reporters had also seen the video footage, and ran with the story.

Neither Gawker nor The Toronto Star have validated the video, because the shady characters that have the video want a million dollars for it's release.

Since The Toronto Star -- a newspaper that has had a long standing war with Rob Ford before he became mayor of Canada's largest city -- broke the story, the media has been on a feeding frenzy, trying to get the mayor to address the issue.

Gawker did what many tabloid organizations do -- try to build buzz using social media's crowdfunding. They created an Indiegogo campaign, to raise funds through donations to secure the video footage, from what the accused brother, fellow Toronto city councillor Doug Ford, calls "drug dealers."

Regardless of whether the video is legit, or simply a sham falsified by people that just want to make a dishonest buck, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford needs to step aside by resigning his post as Mayor for the good of the city and the country.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been embroiled in many wild and weird issues since taking over as Mayor of Canada's largest city.

From failing to acknowledge gay rights by being the first Toronto politician to not attend the annual city's annual Pride Parade (all local politicians usually attend the annual event), to almost making history by becoming the first Canadian mayor to be forced out of the job by court order over a conflict of interest charge (which he won, so he didn't lose his job).

Sometimes, sadly, Mayor Rob Ford attempts to do the right thing, but it ends up exploding in his face. Like the time he and his brother Doug held a weight loss challenge for themselves, to get Torontonians interested in fitness and health. Every week both would publicly weigh themselves, showing how much they had lost. As the pounds crept back on, they quickly and quietly stopped showing up for the weekly weigh-ins and the media had another field day trashing the mayor and his family, despite their good intentions.

The latest scandal to rock the municipal offices of the third largest city in North America, and the largest city in Canada, has disemboweled the office of Toronto's Mayor, Toronto City Council, the city, and even the country.

When you have late night talk show hosts poking fun at the mayor of Canada's largest city, it makes all Canadians look bad.

And it isn't just American talk shows which are shaping the minds of potential tourists to our great country -- the sordid story of Rob Ford and his legacy thus far have been trending on social networks worldwide, and told on legitimate news outfits from the BBC to NPR and beyond.

That's why, regardless of whether the allegations of alleged drug use are true or false, Rob Ford and his brother do the right thing, and resign for the good of the city and the country.

It's time to clean house, and have a new mayor in power in Toronto. Because the world has lost faith in Toronto, and to a degree in Canadian politics, and the only thing that will restore that faith is a change of the guard.

Why Won’t Print Just Die

Yesterday, Canada’s largest daily, The Toronto Star, sent out a memo to staff advising of layoffs, and outsourcing of various production and design work due to budget cuts.

The death bell has been ringing for years in the newspaper business, as digital on-demand media becomes the way most of the western world keeps connected.

SO how come print just won’t die?

Funny thing about technology – it makes it possible for even old things to be new once again.

Maybe we’re just waiting for the right genius kid to discover a new technological solution to re-ignite the newspaper business?

That kid better hurry up – there’s not much left at most newspaper offices these days except a few old curmudgeons and the blurry eyed interns that don’t see the proverbial forest for the trees.

When I was a kid, we got The Toronto Star delivered to our home every day. When it came, we’d take turns ripping through it, looking for our favourite sections.

We always fought over the "Star Week" the paper's TV Guide, this was back long before on-screen program guides which we all have now.

I really enjoyed the national, local and international news sections, along with “Wheels,” and I even liked some of what us old school reporters used to call “the woman’s section” known as “Life.”

I remembered enjoying the full-colour comics on Saturdays, and how they packed extra stuff into the weekend papers.

Thinking back, I feel sorry for the kid that was our newspaper carrier at the time, because the Saturday Star must have weighed as much as a Smartcar.

Those were the days before the Internet, social media, and on-demand digital media. People had more time – or so it seems now – to read through all the various sections, gloriously getting inked fingers from the constant page-turning.

Not so anymore – all broadsheet-width newspapers reduced their standard width years ago, simply because it was becoming too expensive to make such Bible-sized publications.

When that happened over 20-years ago, it was the start of the end for print. Newspapers, like most media sources, make their money by advertisers. The more advertisers, the more pages a paper can be, the more stories can be jammed in.

As people stopped reading papers, advertisers pulled out, meaning fewer pages for the already popular sections.

So newspaper moguls cut the size of the physical paper. They claimed at the time it was to make it easier for people to read, and in a way it was.

But truth be told, it was because newsprint costs went up, while ad revenues and readership went down.

Many major metropolitan daily newspapers including The New York Times, The Globe and Mail and others have attempted “pay walls” to bring in much needed cash flow.

A “pay wall” essentially lets you read part of a story, or a certain number of articles from the publication online, and then after that limit, you have to either pay for an online subscription, or pay a set price per article to continue reading.

Though when it comes to the end product – news – who’s going to pay for something you can get for free in a more timely manner via television, radio, or the social networks?

Pay walls aren’t going to save newspapers from their death.

And yesterday’s announcement of staff cuts and outsourcing labour by Canada’s largest daily certainly puts another knife in the back of an already dying media business.

Although I’m a digital media guy, I’ve always enjoyed newspapers, and hope that someone, somehow figures out a way to save them.

But time is not on their side, as they continue to slash staff, outsource production, and lose money, in our on-demand digital media world.

In the 24-Hour News Cycle Nothing Matters

I remember when I was a kid, and I’d be watching my favourite shows on television, when all of a sudden, the screen would dip to black. You’d swear you could hear mumbled voices, and then a still image of the network logo would appear on the screen, followed by the news anchors voice saying: “We interrupt regular programming to bring you a special breaking news broadcast.”

My parents would often gather around the TV when this happened, because back then, when breaking news was happening, it really was breaking news.

Think about the millions of dollars major television networks lost as they cut from their regular paid programming, to go to a live unsponsored telecast.

This is how the world learned of things that really did matter before the Internet and the always on news channels of CNN, BBC News and CBCnewsworld.

However, thanks to our vast information society, the term “breaking news” just doesn’t carry the same weight. Occasionally there is something really urgent going on which captures the attention of the world.

But because of the Internet and the 24-hour news networks, television and radio stations don’t feel the need to interrupt their regular programming anymore, and so “breaking news” has become a cliché used by these 24-hour news networks to keep people watching.

Breaking news isn’t really important anymore.

Most of the world watched in awe, as man walked on the moon – that was breaking news. Or when US President John Kennedy was shot dead, and the attempted assignation of another American leader, Ronald Reagan – these were breaking news events, as the world rallied around the success, mourned the loss, and feared for the future.

When NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia fell from the sky (in separate, but equally tragic incidents) those were breaking news events because we were reminded as advanced as our tech makes us, we are all still mortal.

Today’s “breaking news” was about Queen Elizabeth’s release from a weekend hospital stay, after a bout of indigestion.

Really?

Yes, the Queen is an internationally recognized figure head, considered a leader of the British people –but because she ate something which didn’t agree with her, we’re supposed to be glued to our “tellies” cheering her recovery?

For all we know, she spent the weekend in and out of the bathroom doing what most of us do when we have a bad tummy – and I certainly don’t want to know about that!

Our information in an instant world is a wondrous thing. But sadly, it has changed our culture and society for the worse.

We no longer all gather ‘round the television when the words: “we interrupt our regular broadcast to bring you this special breaking news event,” are uttered in a rushed state.

Because “breaking news” these days isn’t really as the name implies, we no longer share in the important life lessons learned by our society, as truly globally important events shape humanity.

And that’s perhaps the saddest thing of all about our information age – although we all know what’s going on in the world, we don’t experience it anymore.

America Isn’t the Great Country Everyone Thinks it Is

On the day when the first black American President is sworn in for his second term in office, all you have to do is re-read this sentence to see what is wrong with America.

When Barack Obama was first sworn in, he was jettisoned to instant rock star celebrity status. He made the history books, by becoming the first non-white man to lead the most powerful nation on our planet.

Today, he’s being sworn in for his second term in office, and although he has lost much of that rock star appeal, the most powerful country on the planet still can’t get over the fact that he’s not white.

Or at least that’s the image the rest of the world sees, when America makes more of a deal about their leader’s skin colour, than what he has accomplished.

Usually, when an American President is sworn into office – especially for the second time – the focus is on his past accomplishments, and possible future plans.

Although these are being discussed in Washington, DC, the media focus is once again on the colour of the re-elected leader.

Other countries may have rioting in the streets, extreme poverty where innocent children don’t get more than a stale piece of rock hard bread if they are lucky, for the whole day. There are other countries around the globe with brutal wars being fought, so the very thought of stepping outside for fresh air is a dangerous one.

Yet these places don’t make a big deal about the colour of their leader’s skin.

Perhaps the once thought of greatest country in the world, really isn’t so great after all?

There aren’t riots in the streets, extreme poverty, famine, disease, or brutal wars raging across America.

Well, there is one.

It’s that silent but deadly war called racism.

Because when the most powerful country in the world is more concerned with the colour of their leader’s skin, than what that person has done for their country, that brings to light the unspoken truth about America.

Despite all that American’s have achieved, they still are struggling with one of humanity’s most insidious traits.

Racism.

It’s a brutal battle in of itself. And it’s being played out on the world stage, by the very fact that despite having the same person in the White House for another four years, Americans can’t get over the fact that he’s not white.

Sad. 

Passing the Canadian Crown Royal

Canada is known far and wide for many things. We are a hockey-loving nation, with great beer, always friendly people, and we have kept the peace globally in many United Nation’s war-torn regions.

Some even know that our ultimate ruler is the Queen of England.

What? You didn't know?

Canada is officially a constitutional monarchy, which means Queen Elizabeth can overrule our parliament any time she wants too.

So far, we've been lucky that the Royals haven’t interfered with the Canadian political system – so far.

Actually, like many political figures, the Queen’s presence in Canada is mostly just that, a figure head roll. All pomp and no circumstance.

Every year, there is talk in Canada and many other countries where the Queen, or other Royally ruled nations, about the relevancy of a royal leader.

And we’re sure to hear about it again soon in this country, as one of the greatest Royal representatives Canada has had passed away today.

Former Lt. Governor Lincoln Alexander, passed away today at the age of 90. Alexander was the first black person to serve as a Member of Parliament (MP) and was Lt. Governor for Canada’s largest province, Ontario, from 1985 to 1991.

The Lt. Governor represents the Queen’s interests for the province he represents.

I remember Lincoln Alexander as being one of the last people in that post, that didn't use it to forward his own political causes and beliefs.

Others have since used the title to push forward their own political ideologies, and pet projects.

Regardless of who or what was represented in a provincial Lt. Governor role, they ultimately represent the British Royal family, and their interests.

Before the industrial revolution of the 1900’s, royalty really did rule. Kings and Queens sent their knights and soldiers out to raid other lands, to expand their territory.

It was the era of wooden sailing ships, horse-drawn carriages, and loyalty to one’s King or Queen above self.

Times have changed – yet many countries around the world still have a royal as their official head of state. These Royals – as with the British – are really more political eye candy than constructive contributors to the governance of a nation. 

They make the usual public appearances, do charity work, and announcements of good will and world peace around the end of the year.

But they don’t really serve any substantive purpose that greatly influences a nation’s growth or prosperity.

Back when Royal families ruled, they really were the leaders of a country. Making the decisions which affected how their citizens lived their lives.

These days, it’s usually the tabloid press capturing royals in uncompromising positions, which causes them to lose public faith, trust and respectability.

The Queen may have the final legal say in many countries, but she lacks the will of the people to achieve greatness for any nation she “governs.”

That’s because over the years, we've gone from dictator-like royals, which unilaterally made decisions for the whole nation, to democratically elected political systems where politicians are voted in – and out – of office based on the public’s perceptions of who should rule.

Former Lt. Governor Lincoln Alexander was a wonderful representative for the Queen. But as we remember him, maybe we should think towards the future, and remember that although Kings and Queens were important to our becoming the democratic states we live in today, they are outdated, archaic political structures that need to be eliminated.

It’s time we moved on from Kings and Queens, because today’s world leaders aren't any more or less royal than you or me.

When Society and Social Media Go Bang Bang

When gunfire erupted at one of Canada’s most popular shopping malls, the social networks were a flurry of activity, showing the power and the danger of social media.

Last Saturday evening around the dinner hour, one person was killed and seven others seriously injured, after being shot in the Urban Eatery food court at Toronto’s Eaton Centre. The Toronto Eaton Centre is one of the busiest shopping malls in Canada’s largest city.

People were tweeting pictures of the chaos as a stampede of people rushed up the escalators to escape. Others were uploading videos to YouTube, of scared shoppers huddled under tables trying to avoid being shot. 

Wait a sec – don’t you have to stick your arm up to shoot those videos on your Smartphone? How can you avoid being trampled in a crowd if you are busy typing out a tweet?

The immediacy of social media allows us to share what is happening right now. But that immediacy also can put us in danger.

Many local and regional governments have created laws against texting and driving – and rightly so. Studies show that distractions like texting and talking on your mobile device are just as likely to cause a deadly crash as drinking and driving.

But isn’t tweeting while being shot at an obviously dangerous—if not a foolish -- thing to do?

If I was being shot at, the last thing I would think of would be to pause, whip out my iPhone, and start shooting video. My first instinct would be to duck and run for cover.

We know that attention spans have dramatically become all the shorter in our modern age of 140 character tweets – but has common sense also become even less common?

The images and videos uploaded to the social networks began to “trend” as many started watching and re-posting the action as it unfolded. Major news networks here in Canada and around the world showed some of these videos and images too, giving instant fame to those who uploaded the content.

And hey – admit it – you want to have at least one thing you post on the social networks become so popular that it goes “viral” – right?

 

Though, if you get killed in the process of uploading that tweet, YouTube video, or “pic” to the other social networks, you may never know your post went viral because you’d be dead.

I admit I was glued to my seat, watching these images and videos appear live from the scene – it made for good TV.

However, I was watching all of this from the safety of my couch at home. 

Maybe I scare easily. Or maybe I just have enough common sense not to sacrifice my life for the chance to have ten-seconds of video shown on the nightly news?

All The News, But Not The News You See

How come in this fine city of mine, with no less than five twenty-four-hour news channels, when you see something going on which is really big, and you rush to one of these channels, they have nothing on it?

This has happened twice in the past week to me. I saw them close down a whole stretch of highway, and there were red, white, blue and orange flashing lights as far as the eye could see. Clearly something big was going on – but I couldn’t see it all. So I turned on the local twenty-four-hour news channels, watched and listened for at least 45-minutes – but nothing was ever said.

 

When a blackout occurred at a friend’s place, we noticed the whole street was dark, and there were fire trucks, police cars, and hydro crews everywhere. An ambulance left the scene with lights and siren – clearly taking away someone involved in a horrible accident.

When I got home, what did I do?

I ran to the tube, turned on the local twenty-four-hour news channels and watched to see what was going on.

Again, NOTHING! ZIP! Not even a little blurb in those really annoying scrollers that practically yell out at you as you’re trying to watch the cluttered screen.

What good is a twenty-four-hour news channel, if you can’t get news off of the thing?

Now I know a lot happens in a day, but back when I was working at a paper, news was stuff that actually mattered to people. News was happening too people in your local community. News was about the people, places and things which affected you.

These days, whenever Justin Beiber sneezes, that’s news.

WHY?

Will it actually ever affect YOU?

If Britney Spears doesn’t wear panties and decides to spread her legs showing herself to the world – how on earth will that affect you?

But when something happens that causes all the offices, including yours, to send you and all the employees home – that does affect you. Aside from getting to go home early, all those companies – including the one ya work for – lost business that day. There will be missed meetings, projects that need to get extended, angry customers to deal with – these things appear to have more of an impact on us than whether or not Britney Spears is wearing panties.

Still, the news media and their never ending quest for content to fill their twenty-four-hour news stations seems to find lots of stuff to put on there.

Problem is, most of it is irrelevant crap that really has no impact on those forced to watch it.

We tune into these channels for insight into the world around us, but instead we are fed puff pieces that just don’t deserve the oxygen used to voice them.

It’s a sad day, when you see news with your own two eyes, yet all the local stations cover some slutty celebrity and her decision to wear or not to wear underwear.

I think the broadcast regulators are the real villains behind all of this – they regulate and license the twenty-four-hour news stations.

As a requirement of having a broadcast license, each television station must provide the types of content described in its licensing agreement.

I don’t know what the lawyers in the television news business are smoking, but it must be pretty good stuff if their licenses provide for content which is meaningless, pointless, sexually charged, and potentially offensive.

I would hope that the regulators have clauses which tell the twenty-four-hour news channels to carry interesting, informative journalistically sound pieces, which have meaning and worth to the viewer.

But who am I kidding – the regulators probably get off watching clips of Britney Spears imitating Sharon Stone’s infamous leg uncross.