A trio of state senators are calling on SUNY to investigate its $2.7 million contract with a powerhouse publishing company accused of acquiescing to the Chinese government by censoring articles. Springer Nature, the dominant publisher of academic journals which has a five-year contract with the State University of New York system, allegedly blocked access to thousands … Read more
In August 2018, Taiwanese writer Lung Ying-tai’s collection of essays – mostly about her love for her mother – was published in mainland China. It became a bestseller. Lung, who served as Taiwan’s minister of culture from 2012 to 2014, sold nearly 300,000 copies of her book in mainland China – an astonishing figure for … Read more
Postmedia has started the process of taking over those parts of the insolvent SaltWire Network that it plans to keep running. Atlantic Canada’s largest newspaper chain has been under court protection since March, when its largest creditor forced the company into insolvency. SaltWire publishes newspapers in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, including the Halifax … Read more
A Canadian journalist is defending his decision to travel the U.S. in blackface and write a book about racism, after facing a storm of criticism online. “Last summer, I disguised myself as a Black man and traveled throughout the United States to document how racism persists in American society,” Sam Forster, who is white, posted Tuesday on … Read more
Quebec wants to boost transparency around gas prices. The province will force gas stations to report their prices to the government, and it’s going to publish them online. Pierre Fitzgibbon, Quebec’s economy minister, made the announcement on Thursday as he revealed a government-commissioned study that recommended making some changes to how Quebec regulates gas stations. The … Read more
Sports Illustrated will resume publishing after its owner reached a new rights deal with digital media company Minute Media, which will reportedly operate the magazine for at least 10 years. Monday’s announcement comes nearly two months after owner Authentic Brands terminated its publishing deal with The Arena Group, which led to mass layoffs at the venerable sports … Read more
A Quebec-based electronic music artist hopes to get his career and life back on track after triumphing in an Alberta defamation lawsuit tied to social media posts accusing him of being a sexual predator. “It was terrible. The whole thing was like pure nightmare and hell,” Frederik Durand said in an interview from Montreal. “I … Read more
The head of Vice Media Group has informed employees that the company will stop publishing content on Vice.com and will be cutting “several hundred” positions. A memo from Vice CEO Bruce Dixon, which was sent to staff on Thursday, explains that restructuring changes are being made “to adapt and best align our strategies to be more competitive in the long … Read more
Cost of Living8:55The return of the bookstore When e-readers like the Amazon Kindle burst onto the scene, showing up next to menorahs and under Christmas trees in the early 2000s, they were predicted to bring about the death of the print book — and maybe the independent bookstore too. But publishing sales data and on the … Read more
