TV Guide-less

"No wonder listings magazines are going the way of the horse and buggy. Technology has made it far easier for viewers to set their own TV schedules. Today, viewers can pretty much watch what they want when they want (as well as where they want -- in their cars, on their computer screens, even on their phones). Digital set-top boxes allow viewers to store programs and watch them at their leisure.

Degen resigns from This

John Degen, the executive director of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC -- formerly the Periodical Writers etc.) has resigned from the board of This Magazine and its companion Red Maple Foundation Inc. Degen says his reason is simply too much to do, not least of which is his focus these days on trying to elect a New Democrat in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, the riding into which the

Peering into the year ahead (U.S. division)

“We’re in an environment of just-in-time buying, planning and decision making." -- Jack Griffin, Meredith Corp. publishing group president. If you'd like to see what some of the other big brains in the business think about what's going to happen in magazines in 2006 (at least in the U.S.), as reported in Mediaweek, you may do so here.

Tarnished Star

[Update: The item mentioned was in the Life section of the Star, not on the editorial page. Thanks to Antonia Zerbisias.]If there were ever a strong argument for fact-checking, this is it. The Toronto Star has apparently been caught red-handed (and, we hope, red-faced) lifting an item, failing to attribute it, on the editorial page no less, only to find out after the fact that, far from being

What? No singalong?

Magazines on the left coast are getting together for Camp BCAMP, under the auspices of the British Columbia Magazine Publishers Association. It's a weekend-long event January 27 to 29, at Dunsmuir Lodge in Sidney, B.C. There's a keynote speech by Deb Rosser, the President of Magazines Canada on Friday night and seminars both Saturday and Sunday. Most of the presenters are BC-based and the themes

Quote, unquote

"I do find it rather ironical that I came to India to explore spirituality and yoga and ended up working on a tits-and-ass magazine."-- Iona Ferguson, only woman on staff of the just-launched Indian edition of Maxim magazine

Johnston quits Maclean's

The departure of Ann Dowsett Johnston as editor-at-large of Maclean's is not a surprise. She is one of the last of the holdovers from the old regime (Executive Editor Peeter Kopvillem, mind your back).We assume that reasons for her departure after 28 years were complex. However, Martin Knelman in the Toronto Star says that one of those reasons was a provocative advertising decision in her beloved