I note this in the mini-bio of Globe and Mail politics contributor Andrew Steele:

Described by the National Post as a "hard-nosed political veteran," ...

I'm left wondering if the N-P cites flattering descriptions of its political commentators by the Globe and Mail in its mini-bios.

Log-rolling, anyone? :^)

Globeandmail.com's Mathew Ingram offers some morsels on The Daily Show's Adam Chodikoff, who was recently profiled in Women's Wear Daily:

Explaining why he prefers print over the Web, (Chodikoff) cites a scene from the movie Back to School, when Rodney Dangerfield asks his son why he's buying used books. "He says, 'Because they're already underlined, see?' And Rodney says, 'But that guy could have been a maniac.' And that's the problem with the Internet."

Instead of relying on Web sources, Chodikoff watches C-SPAN, reads the transcripts from White House press conferences and briefings, calls the Joint Committee on Taxation when he has a question and otherwise engages in hard-nosed, reporterly research. He just happens to do it in the service of humour rather than outright journalism - which is a good thing, given how large a proportion of young TV viewers say they rely on The Daily Show for their news.

From Globe and Mail Update (posted Oct. 20):

With advertising down at its newspapers and contributions from its Australian television holdings fading, TD Newcrest says CanWest Global Communications Inc.'s shares aren't worth the risk.

From Reuters:

Afghanistan's appeal court sentenced an Afghan journalist to 20 years in jail, commuting an earlier death sentence, for distributing an Internet article that said the Prophet Mohammad had ignored the rights of women.

Perwiz Kambakhsh, 23, a reporter with the Jahan-e Now daily, was sentenced to death in January by a court in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

The arrest and sentencing of Kambakhsh, also a university student, drew criticism from a number of Western nations, the Afghan media and rights groups. Kambakhsh downloaded an Iranian article from the Internet and distributed it to friends.

"The court has sentenced Mr. Perwiz Kambakhsh to 20 years jail for the crime he has committed. But this is not the final hearing, he has the right to appeal," judge Abdul Salaam Qazizada told the court.

Another shot at the media and its role in the political process, this time by the Globe and Mail's Adam Radwanski as part of a wider column on why Canadian politics have become so viciously partisan:

A confluence of factors has helped turn our election races into schoolyard tussles. The anything-goes nature of online debate — on blogs and even on parties' official websites — has spilled over into mainstream discourse much the way talk radio infected it south of the border. The media's obsession with "war rooms" has left their occupants trying to outdo one another with gratuitous attacks. And the clutter of five parties competing in a 24-hour news cycle has left them making increasingly shrill noises in the hope of being heard.