Possible arson in Pierrefonds resto
There was a fire in a Pierrefonds restaurant overnight which probably was set on purpose.
I’m curious. Neither of these items (La Presse, TVA) names the restaurant. Neither does the account in the Gazette, which is usually more assiduous in reporting West Island stories.
I occasionally skim back through old newspapers available online (the Gazette on Google, La Presse on BAnQ) and, back in the day, the papers were very specific about naming. Individuals were often even identified not just by name but by address (“John O’Malley, of 1232 Centre Street, was charged with drunken brawling this week…”) and any reporter covering a story involving a commercial enterprise would not have hesitated to include the name and address of the business.
In this story, at least TVA has some photos, tells you the street name and shows you the address, so you can google if you’re curious. Neither La Presse nor the Gazette has any photos, putting up boring placeholder shots of emergency vehicles.
I write “back in the day” because I don’t know when this practice ended, or why.
Is such vague news reporting useful to anybody? Or do these media groups simply have very cautious lawyers?
Blork 11:26 on 2020-12-31 Permalink
A couple of months ago there was a TV documentary playing on one of the French channels about Léopold Dion (child serial killer from Quebec city circa 1963, dubbed “Le monstre de Pont-Rouge”). I’m not sure if it was in the documentary or in some of the other media surrounding it, but at some point you see the newspaper articles from back in the day regarding the victims, and they would name the dead child, give his address, and list his siblings. This is while the killer is still on the loose. Seems absurd by today’s standards, but that’s what newspapers did back then.
I suppose at some point people complained enough and better standards were set in the industry when it comes to naming victims and giving address of both victims and perps.
I doubt that extends to the naming of restaurants that get fire-bombed, but perhaps the specific reporters or editors in this case simply take the rule a bit farther than they need to.
vasi 11:32 on 2020-12-31 Permalink
The vagueness isn’t just around names or addresses. There are regularly articles like “The National Association of Something issued its report…” or “New Leger poll suggests…” or “Government announces plan….”. Rarely do they link to the document in question, or even provide enough identifying information that I can find it of my own accord. I’m not really sure what the point of this is!
John 21:19 on 2021-01-02 Permalink
For what it’s worth, the restaurant is Pasha Lounge, which serves Turkish food. It’s a few streets away from my house.