Print Price: $19.95

Format:
Paperback
280 pp.
15 b/w photographs, 6" x 9"

ISBN-13:
9780195429947

Publication date:
August 2011

Imprint: OUP Canada

Behind the Headlines

A History of Investigative Journalism in Canada

Cecil Rosner

Canadian investigative journalism has brought down governments, held powerful interests to account, infiltrated criminal networks, and exonerated the wrongly accused. Behind the Headlines presents the exciting history of investigative journalism in Canada in an account spanning from the nation's earliest newspapers through to the present day. Drawing on numerous case studies and examples, Cecil Rosner, a journalist with more than 30 years of experience, analyzes the evolution of investigative journalism in Canada and explores the development of specific practices within the context of changing social and historical forces. Rather than working through a straightforward chronology, Rosner uses a topic-based approach exploring wide-ranging and thought-provoking issues such as public broadcasting, commercialization of the press, alternative media, ethics, and the impact of technology. Highlighting key players and stories such as the sponsorship scandal and the Mulroney "Airbus Affair," Behind the Headlines provides fresh insight into this previously undocumented history.

A new Introduction to the paperback edition brings the book up to date, offering a current perspective on the shift from old to new media and ongoing efforts for media outlets to find financially sustainable revenue models. After the collapse of the CanWest empire and the rise of ProPulica and WikiLeaks, the turbulent media landscape is taking on a new form. What implications does this have for investigative journalism, not just in Canada, but around the world?

Readership : Engaging and readable, Behind the Headlines will appeal to anyone intrigued by the field of journalism and, more specifically, the power of investigative journalism. Students of any level and practicing journalists will take interest in the author's attention to investigative methodology.

Reviews

• Praise for Behind the Headlines:
  
  "Cecil Rosner has authored a much-needed history of investigative reporting in Canada. ... The work is an excellent reminder of what such reporting has meant in this country since before the country was born."
  
  --Literary Review of Canada
• "Rosner's examples demonstrate what works: detailed research and revealing interviews, governed by scrupulous adherence to the facts."
  
  --Winnipeg Free Press
  
• "An ambitious survey."
  
  --Canadian Historical Review
  
• "A rollicking good read."
  
  --Christopher Dornan, Carleton University
  
• "... a comprehensive exploration of the historical and philosophical foundations of journalism enlivened by colourful anecdotes from the struggles to report some of the hard stories of our time. It is a rich blend of scholarship and anecdote, a rare insight into the minds and motivations of people who report - and sometimes make - the commodity we call news."
  
  --Linden MacIntyre, award-winning author and host of CBC's the fifth estate
  
• "In an era of superficial, celebrity-driven media, Cecil Rosner reminds us of what journalism can and should be. In this insightful and important book, Rosner alerts us to the crucial role journalism can play in challenging the powerful."
  
  --Linda McQuaig, author of Shooting the Hippo and It's the Crude, Dude
  
• "A fascinating and largely untold story of a generation of rebels and reformers. Not only the definitive work on the subject but an exciting read."
  
  --Mark Starowicz, CBC Television