Media
A discussion of the book Sharp Wits and Busy Pens
From its modest beginnings in 1866, to its evolution over the last century and a half, to an examination of what journalists covering Parliament Hill have to do to stay relevant, Josh Wingrove, Jennifer Ditchburn and Janice Tibbetts discuss their upcoming book about the Parliamentary Press Gallery with moderator Chris Waddell.
At Issue Panel
CBC The National, June 22, 2017Television
Canada's Postcentennial Generation
Policy Options, June 30, 2017Print
URL: http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/june-2017/canadas-postcentennial-generation/
Canadians born in the afterglow of 1967 are becoming our political, media and corporate leaders. How will they approach the country’s future?
Sharp Wits and Busy Pens: 150 years of Canada's Parliamentary Press Gallery
by Jennifer Ditchburn (5 Chapters); book edited by Hélène Buzzetti and Josh Wingrove.
Hill Times Publishing
May 20, 2016
9780995032309
It’s been 150 years since journalists arrived on Parliament Hill, covering Canada’s budding confederation. Sharp Wits & Busy Pens, written by current and former Parliamentary Press Gallery reporters, tracks the evolution from the days when political journalism was little more than a written transcript of debates. Close ties turned to clashes with government, booze flowed, scandal brewed, women broke down the door to membership and TV cameras arrived and reshaped how Canadians saw Parliament.
Il y a 150 ans cette année, les premiers journalistes arrivaient sur la colline parlementaire à Ottawa pour couvrir la Confédération naissante. Les coulisses de la Tribune, un ouvrage rédigé par d’actuels et anciens membres de la Tribune de la presse parlementaire, retrace l’histoire de cette institution depuis ses débuts, lorsque le journalisme politique n’aspirait guère plus qu’à retranscrire fidèlement les débats parlementaires. Avec force témoignages et anecdotes, Les coulisses plonge dans le récit d’amitiés et de conflits, d’abus d’alcool et de scandales éventés, de l’acceptation difficile des femmes et de l’arrivée de ces caméras de télévision ayant transformé la façon dont les Canadiens voient leur Parlement.
The Harper Factor: Assessing a Prime Minister's Policy Legacy
by Jennifer Ditchburn and Graham Fox (editors)
McGill-Queen's University Press
October 4, 2016
9780773548701
Political legacy is a concept that is often tossed around casually, hastily defined by commentators long before a prime minister leaves office. In the case of the polarizing Stephen Harper, clear-eyed analysis of his tenure is hard to come by. The Harper Factor offers a refreshingly balanced look at the Conservative decade under his leadership.
What impact did Harper have on the nation’s finances, on law and order, and on immigration? Did he accomplish what he promised to do in areas such as energy and intergovernmental affairs? How did he change the conduct of politics, the workings of the media, and Parliament? A diverse group of contributors, including veteran economists David Dodge and Richard Dion, immigration advocate Senator Ratna Omidvar, Stephen Harper’s former policy director Paul Wilson, award-winning journalists such as Susan Delacourt, and vice-provost of Aboriginal Initiatives at Lakehead University Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, make reasoned cases for how Harper succeeded and how he fell short in different policy domains between 2006 and 2015.
Stephen Harper’s record is decidedly more nuanced than both his admirers and detractors will concede. The Harper Factor provides an authoritative reference for Canadians on the twenty-second prime minister’s imprint on public policy while in office, and his political legacy for generations to come.
Biography
Jennifer Ditchburn is the editor-in-chief of Policy Options, the award-winning online magazine of the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP). A longtime journalist, she spent more than two decades covering national and parliamentary affairs for The Canadian Press and for CBC Television. She is a three-time winner of a National Newspaper Award, and the recipient of the prestigious Charles Lynch Award for outstanding coverage of national issues. Ditchburn is a frequent contributor to television and radio public affairs programs, including CBC’s At Issue panel on The National. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia University, and a Master of Journalism from Carleton University, where she is a fellow with the Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management. She has been inducted into the Hall of Distinction at CEGEP John Abbott College. Ditchburn is the co-editor with Graham Fox of the 2016 book The Harper Factor: Assessing a Prime Minister’s Policy Legacy (McGill-Queen’s University Press). Her research on the history of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery appeared in the 2016 book Sharp Wits & Busy Pens (Hill-Times Publishing).