Book launch – Julian Walker on Wires Crossed: Memoir of a Citizen and Reporter in the Irving Press

From Friesen Press: “Over several years and through careful study, Julian Walker has written a memoir with numerous examples from the public record of what has gone wrong with our press. At one time in the Golden Age of the province’s free press there were upwards of 40 feisty small newspapers all seeking to shape the public debate, and when Saint John had five independent and competing daily newspapers. We can never go back to those heady days, but Julian Walker’s book delves into new alternatives for seeing a lively, independent  press, one that may rely on modern digital approaches, but is not afraid to call out the powers that be when things are going wrong. Wires Crossed examines a continuing role for a federal government in adopting new ways of supporting this key part of our provincial life, without getting involved in press content.”

About the author

Julian H. Walker’s career spans 50 years as a reporter, editor, columnist, political aide, deputy minister, and university professor. He holds four university degrees in journalism, politics, and French Studies, including a master’s degree in politics with distinction from that hotbed of free expression, the London School of Economics. Under his leadership as editor of the feisty Saint Croix Courier—publishing independently since 1865 in St. Stephen, NB—the newspaper did investigative journalism on corruption in construction of the province’s nuclear generating station. In the process, the newspaper’s small, hard-digging staff received honours as the best weekly in Atlantic Canada, and recognition for something unheard of, churning out stories among the top 10 pieces of investigative journalism in Canada for 1981.

For more information, contact: info@nbmediacoop.org.