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Articles by Peter Biesterfeld
Haitian Struggles for Freedom Misrepresented
The background and deep context news consumers require to fully understand what is going on in the world and Canada’s role in it are frequently left out of mainstream reporting. Case in point is establishment news media’s ongoing whitewash of Canada’s role in Haiti.
Canada’s legacy press smears Assange to deny the public’s right to know — The Canada Files
Written by: Peter Biesterfeld Note: This is part three of Peter Biesterfeld’s series for The Canada Files: Facts are Subversive, A Case for anti-war and anti-imperialist journalism. It focuses on how Canada’s mainstream media is failing Canadians with its foreign policy coverage. KILLING the MESSENGER “If wars can be started by lies, peace can be started by truth.” Julian Assange.
Les luttes haïtiennes pour la liberté déformées
« L’une des raisons pour lesquelles je pense que les gens sont passés de la lecture des journaux grand public à Internet, c’est parce qu’ils se rendent compte qu’on leur ment. »Robert Fisk Il s’agit de la deuxième partie de la série de Peter Biesterfeld pour The Canada Files : A Case for anti-war and anti-imperialist journalism. Il se concentre sur la façon dont les médias grand public du Canada laissent tomber les Canadiens avec leur couverture de la politique étrangère.
Haiti, Syria and beyond: How Canada’s Fourth Estate fails to serve the public’s right to know — The Canada Files
Written by: Peter Biesterfeld Note: This is part two of Peter Biesterfeld’s “Facts are Subversive” series for The Canada Files, focused on how Canada’s mainstream media is failing Canadians with its foreign policy coverage. What follows is a critical examination of the reliability of Canada’s Fourth Estate, also known as Canada’s mainstream media.
Where is Canadian Media on the Assange File?
After 10 years of restricted freedom, political exile and incarceration, Julian Assange finally came face-to-face with his accusers at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London. For three weeks in September, a team of English lawyers argued on behalf of their client, the U.S. Department of Justice, that the beleaguered WikiLeaks founder and publisher should be handed over to a U.S. national security court to face 17 counts under the 1917 Espionage Act.
Dinner With A View: Toronto's middle finger to the poor
NOW MagazineNewsDinner With A View: Toronto’s middle finger to the poor Anger and contempt: protest of chi-chi dining pop-up under the Gardiner exposes the ever-widening fault line between haves and have-nots Most of the 300 or so people who showed up to protest the swishy Dinner With A View dining pop-up under the Gardiner on April 5 are long gone.
Where is Canadian media on the Assange file?
'Canadian mainstream press have undermined the public’s right to know while ignoring the significance of WikiLeaks releases themselves. That needs to change’ After 10 years of restricted freedom, political exile and incarceration, Julian Assange finally came face-to-face with his accusers at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London.
Where is Canadian media on the Assange file?
After 10 years of restricted freedom, political exile and incarceration, Julian Assange finally came face-to-face with his accusers at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London. For three weeks in September, a team of English lawyers argued on behalf of their client, the U.S. Department of Justice, that the beleaguered WikiLeaks founder and publisher should be handed over to a U.S. national security court to face 17 counts under the 1917 Espionage Act.
Peter Biesterfeld, Author at NOW Magazine
City’s coronavirus response not fast enough, say shelter advocates Some 313 of 1,200 hotel rooms opened for the homeless have been filled, but the city is in discussions with hotel owners to acquire more space permanently "for longterm housing solutions"
City's coronavirus response not fast enough, say shelter advocates
Chrissy is a young Indigenous woman who uses the shelter system but can no longer access a bed because of COVID-19 physical distancing requirements. “I’ve been outside for three weeks now,” she says. “I’ve been walking around in circles and don’t know where to go.” The women’s shelter Chrissy frequents wouldn’t let her back in because “I switched floors without knowing you’re not allowed to switch floors anymore and they kicked me out.” Chrissy says she has been riding the subway to stay warm.
City's shelter system deals with coronavirus overload
Last Thursday around noon, a man of about 40 who looked like he’d slept in his clothes was pacing restlessly up and down the subway platform at Castle Frank station, yelling at no one in particular. “He appeared to be homeless and was very distraught,” recalls Greg Cook, an outreach worker with Sanctuary, a drop-in for street-involved people on Charles east of Bloor. The man calmed down when Cook went over and talked to him. “He was hungry and just terrified, really,” Cook says.
Ground zero: time to get serious about Toronto's homelessness crisis
Bloomberg Businessweek would seem an unlikely place to find the latest trends in efforts to battle homelessness around the world. Last week, the U.S.-based weekly reported on Berlin’s efforts to tackle the problem. The city’s left-leaning government has ordered the freezing of rents for five years. And new cap rules that could mean slashing of rents by as much as 40 per cent.
Letter to the Editor: Journalism is not a crime
In what Canadian news room is what’s happening to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and to press freedom not worthy of the public’s right to know? This week Swedish prosecutors dropped their sexual misconduct investigation of Assange for lack of evidence. On CBC’s The National Ian Hanomansing took less than 10 seconds to update the nation on what is arguably the most important press freedom story of our time.
Journalism is Not a Crime
Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train ourselves to be passive in its presence. — Julian Assange In what Canadian news room is what’s happening to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and to press freedom not worthy of the public’s right to know? This week Swedish prosecutors dropped their sexual misconduct investigation of Assange for lack of evidence.
Journalism is not a crime
In what Canadian news room is what’s happening to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and to press freedom not worthy of the public’s right to know? This week Swedish prosecutors dropped their sexual misconduct investigation of Assange for lack of evidence. On CBC’s The National Ian Hanomansing took less than 10 seconds to update the nation on what is arguably the most important press freedom story of our time.
The six primary types of documentaries
In 2010’s “Introduction to Documentary,” film educator and documentary consultant Bill Nichols distilled the types of documentaries down to six styles. In this article, we will discuss the six styles or modes Nichols wrote able. However, lets first define what a documentary actually is before we get into the types of documentaries.
Foodora union drive a battle against the gig economy
“Foodora provides the best dishes from top restaurants within 30 minutes!” proclaims the app-based food delivery company in a Facebook ad. But according to couriers for the Berlin-based global food-delivery giant, that promise comes at a price to workers. And now they’re unionizing after complaints about lack of guaranteed shifts, inadequate compensation for workplace injuries and frozen wages, among other issues. Workers say their issues have gone unanswered by management.
In Smearing Julian Assange, Our Press Have Become Hypocrites
Journalists should focus on why Assange matters on the issue of press freedom instead of attacking his character Analysis By Peter Biesterfeld May 24, 2019 Now that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has finally been carted off to a high-security London prison, just as he said he would be, it’s been an eerie spectacle watching the fourth estate discredit and smear the man who once helped them set the table so they could partake, publish and profit.
Dinner With A View protest: Anger, contempt and middle fingers
Most of the 300 or so people who showed up to protest the swishy Dinner With A View dining pop-up under the Gardiner on April 5 are long gone. But the angry sound from the drums of Rhythms of Resistance, the samba-inspired collective that plays for social justice, continue to resound in the night, ricocheting off the concrete pillars soaring over the Bentway.
Mayor John Tory's response to Toronto’s homelessness crisis has been a disaster
Icy cold gusts of whipped-up snow are blowing city workers across Nathan Phillips Square. On the far corner at Queen and Bay, Blair Wall is snugly zipped into his thermal sleeping bag, eyeing pedestrian traffic going by in all directions. Next to Wall is a grinning Muppet holding up a cardboard sign that reads, “Please help out the puppet and the dummy.” Wall hitchhiked from Goose Bay, Labrador, a couple of years ago after having been promised work and housing in Toronto.
Housing advocates say shelter system failed woman who died in clothing donation box
Housing advocates and friends held a vigil Thursday, January 10, to remember Crystal Papineau just metres from where she perished two days earlier, trapped inside a steel clothing donation box behind a high-rise on Dovercourt. She was 35. A makeshift shrine of candles and personal messages on Bristol board takes up space by a fence where the bin once stood. It was removed after Mayor John Tory called for a review of locations and design of the city’s donation boxes. Papineau’s death has left a hole.
Year In Review 2018: A grim year for Toronto's poor
Inequality requires the greed of an “ordered by profit system,” and a “regime of sustained accumulation,” authors Brian D. Palmer and Gaétan Héroux explain in the conclusion of their 2016 book Toronto’s Poor – A Rebellious History. That would explain how Toronto, which ranks as one of the wealthiest cities in the world has kept residents who live on the economic margins trapped in daily struggles to get by. The statistics are mind-numbing.
Doug Ford government spins fake news to ditch minimum wage hike
Since Doug Ford made his campaign threat to dismantle Liberal labour reforms (Bill 148), there have been almost daily rallies and social media campaigns as part of a province-wide resistance movement on precarious employment. Last week, Ford followed through on his warning, killing plans for a $1 increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour, among other measures, in the name of “efficiencies.” The Bill also introduced changes to vacation entitlements, paid sick days and equal pay rules.
Warrior cry: the crisis of neglect of Indigenous children in foster care
Melanie Montour was only a year old in 1970 when Fort Frances Children’s Aid Society in northern Ontario took her from her parents. A survivor of the Sixties Scoop that placed an estimated 20,000 Indigenous children in foster homes or adoption, Montour is still struggling to put her life together. The First Nations artist and community advocate recently found herself on the street.
Hey Director, Hands Off The Camera!
They say you’re as good as your last job. This holds especially true for filmmaking. If you want somebody to fund your movie and you want to direct, the first thing your producer-backer will ask is, “Show me your reel.” And therein lies the rub. Most fledgling filmmakers don’t have a reel — yet — at least not a reel that contains the kind of quality and sizzle that inspires confidence in a prospective producer-investor. So, how do you get there?
How to Gain Access in Documentary Production
In documentary production we’re not talking about the hour of journalistic access it might take to shoot a quick interview and some ‘B-roll’ for a news item or a current affairs story. If subjects are not willing to let you into their lives in a meaningful way over a period of months or more, including repeated interviews, you won’t be able to capture the unfolding story of your main characters in a way that permits audiences to identify with them.
How to Ask Great Documentary Interview Questions
How do you string all that unscripted material together, actuality, interviews and visuals, to craft a story that brings insight and understanding — a story that takes the audience on a journey? My mentor’s advice was to start with the interviews. He would print out the interview transcripts and highlight the best clips then cut out the highlighted sections and tape them together into a logical order, an organization of extracts from the interviews that told a story.
One for the Archives: Accessing Archival Footage
Whether it be video, photos or sound, when used creatively, a well-placed audio or visual clip from another era can be the perfect commentary on the theme or point of view in your film. Take Errol Morris and his ironic placement of archive material throughout his academy award-winning Fog of War (2003), a film about American wars as seen through the eyes of former Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara.
How to Choose the Right Doc Format for Your Subject - Videomaker
We read a lot about the proliferation of documentary styles and forms—the many different ways a director can approach the telling of a nonfiction story. But here’s the question: how does a doc maker decide on the form or style for her next film? Which will it be — essay, verité, docu-drama, journalistic, performative, experimental, hybrid or mockumentary?
How to Choose the Right Doc Format for Your Subject
We read a lot about the proliferation of documentary styles and forms—the many different ways a director can approach the telling of a nonfiction story. But here’s the question: how does a doc maker decide on the form or style for her next film? Which will it be — essay, verité, docu-drama, journalistic, performative, experimental, hybrid or mockumentary?
How to Tell Compelling Stories about Mundane Subjects - Videomaker
In our information-crammed lives, how many of us have been made to sit through coma-inducing fact-films or interminably tedious educational documentaries? Whether in school, at work or in community halls, chances are that while you were fighting off the sandman in the middle of a boring explainer film, your inner filmmaker was screaming that there had to be a better way to present this mind-numbing content.
How to Tell Compelling Stories about Mundane Subjects
In our information-crammed lives, how many of us have been made to sit through coma-inducing fact-films or interminably tedious educational documentaries? Whether in school, at work or in community halls, chances are that while you were fighting off the sandman in the middle of a boring explainer film, your inner filmmaker was screaming that there had to be a better way to present this mind-numbing content.
Fight For $15 And Fairness rally sends message to Doug Ford: We are the people
One anti-poverty group scored last Saturday’s Fight For $15 And Fairness rally as “a vital first blow in the struggle against the Ford government.” And an impressive showing it was in front of the Ministry of Labour building on University, led by the sounds of Brazilian percussion group Baque de Bamba.
Ontario Election 2018: Drive-by jeers greet protestors in Ford country
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty bused about 60 activists from downtown to Doug Ford’s headquarters in Etobicoke on Sunday. Falafel, chicken wraps and water bottles are going ‘round on the bus as it barrels down the 401 headed deep into the heart of Ford Nation. Carl Wlasenko, a 68-year-old former toolmaker, took part in a similar action in front of Ford's campaign office in Hamilton last week.
In Doug Ford, anti-poverty activists see another Mike Harris - only worse
In the dining hall of the Regent Park Community Food Centre at 40 Oak, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty hosts its free speaker series every third Thursday of the month. Last Thursday’s topic of conversation: defeating Doug Ford. Pollsters tell us a PC government could be in charge of provincial affairs with Doug Ford as premier come June 7. “If that happens, attacks on poor and working class people will escalate sharply,” warns OCAP’s invite to tonight’s event.
Coast to Coast to Coast: The Production Behind Canada's C3 Expedition Event
The Metro Toronto Convention Centre is buzzing with visitors eagerly crowding around product booths, where exhibitors are demonstrating the latest gear at Profusion 2017–the highly anticipated imaging technology show held here in November. On the main stage of the Sony booth, three adventure filmmakers Peter Wall, Garry Tutte and Ryan Rizzo are presenting a show and tell.
Yonge Street store settles complaint over sale of racist Native Halloween costumes
Yonge Street retailer Spirit Halloween has quietly settled a complaint filed with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario alleging some of its Aboriginal-themed costumes promote hyper-sexualized and racist views of Indigenous women. The terms of the settlement over the complaint filed by Cathy Calfchild, Sigrid Kneve and Carrie Lester in 2016 against Spirit Halloween and its parent company, Spencer Gifts, are being kept confidential.
John Tory's fairy tale budget shortchanges the homeless
It was a fairy tale budget day at City Hall last Monday (February 12), but not for anti-poverty activists looking for more funds to help take the pressure off Toronto's overburdened shelter system.
How to Build a Video Budget
If you’re doing video production because it’s a wonderful hobby and you’re okay with spending your own money to make your video creations, you probably don’t need to read any further. But if you’re more than a video enthusiast and your plans include marketing the videos you produce, providing video production services or to at least recover the costs of your next indy movie, please read on.
In memoriam: Shiv Chopra, former Health Canada scientist and whistleblower
Growing up in India during the Second World War, Shiv Chopra was shaped by two of Mahatma Gandhi’s guiding principles: “Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless or corrupt,” and “the first step in fighting injustice is to make it visible.” On January 7, the former Health Canada scientist and whistle-blower who believed “we should take food out of the economic equation” quietly succumbed to cancer in a Kanata hospice, surrounded by family. He was 84.
John Tory's dangerous shelter shell game
On December 6, about 200 anti-poverty activists and members of the community turned up for council’s vote on opening up more shelter spaces after the Community Development and Recreation Committee voted to ask Mayor John Tory to declare an emergency in the shelter system and open up the Moss Park and Fort York armouries. The committee’s recommendations to council included adding 1,000 new shelter spaces.
Joe Mihevc plots war on poverty
Two years into Mayor John Tory’s TO Prosperity: Toronto Poverty Reduction Strategy, a 20-year “opportunities for all” plan passed by council in November 2015, newly minted poverty reduction advocate Joe Mihevc admits that all the city’s indicators “are going in the wrong direction.” The strategy focuses on six key areas: housing stability, service access, transit equity, food access, quality jobs and livable incomes, and systemic change.
Why Trust is the Most Important Factor in Documentary Production
Typically, when we watch a documentary we can only imagine what went into creating the story unfolding on the screen – the hours of research, deciding on what story to tell, the challenges of location shooting, and agonizing over what to leave in and what to cut in editing. And sometimes, especially after an emotionally raw doc, we wonder what the director had to do to get her subjects, total strangers, to open up in front of the camera about the most intimate aspects of their lives.
Why Trust is the Most Important Factor in Documentary Production
Typically, when we watch a documentary we can only imagine what went into creating the story unfolding on the screen – the hours of research, deciding on what story to tell, the challenges of location shooting, and agonizing over what to leave in and what to cut in editing. And sometimes, especially after an emotionally raw doc, we wonder what the director had to do to get her subjects, total strangers, to open up in front of the camera about the most intimate aspects of their lives.
How mockumentary highlights documentary tropes
You could argue that the first films ever made were documentaries. As early as the late 1800’s, motion picture pioneers tinkered with continuously-running photographic equipment in order to study natural phenomenon and how the world worked. Actuality films of birds in flight, bodies in motion, cityscapes and historic ceremonies were the first cinematic attempts to document and better understand the world.
Artists say city staff tried to censor Nuit Blanche Revolutions exhibit
Dmitry Vilensky is an artist with St. Petersburg’s Chto Delat (What’s to be done?), a “political theory, art and activism collective” responsible for much of the design and many of the Monument To The Century Of Revolutions installations featured as part of Nuit Blanche at Nathan Phillips Square this year.
How to not screw up your first documentary
If you’re about to make your first documentary, chances are you’ll be screwing a few things up. But that’s okay; how else are you going to learn? And making mistakes doesn’t mean your film will be unwatchable. Here are some pitfalls you can avoid before, during and after launching into your inaugural doc project. The idea It all begins with the story idea. Deciding what story to tell is the most important decision you will make on your doc adventure.
How To Not Screw Up Your First Documentary
If you’re about to make your first documentary, chances are you’ll be screwing a few things up. But that’s okay; how else are you going to learn? And making mistakes doesn’t mean your film will be unwatchable. Here are some pitfalls you can avoid before, during and after launching into your inaugural doc project. It all begins with the story idea. Deciding what story to tell is the most important decision you will make on your doc adventure.
Vigil over First Nations youth suicides enters fourth week
Carrie Lester is trying to stop a leak between the two gazebo tents which she and fellow activists Sigrid Kneve and Sue Lynn Manone Cornfoot have been occupying just steps from the offices of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) at 25 St. Clair East. The three women, who have been holding vigil on the site since July 20, are calling on federal and provincial governments to release allocated mental health monies and address Indigenous youth suicide issues after a rash of recent deaths.
Hunger strike over Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples proves valuable education for Queen's Park visitors
Under the nose of Edward VII’s horse at Queen’s Park, an array of colourful First Nations flags ripple in the morning breeze. Swaying among the banners is an upside-down Canada 150 flag and trademark Hudson’s Bay sweater. Neatly printed in thick marker between the trademark horizontal stripes: #Shame150. On Wednesday, June 14, hereditary Blackfoot Chief Davyn Calfchild lets the ceremonial fire in front of his encampment burn out, ending his 13-day fast.
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