Bourque Newswatch

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Bourque Newswatch is a Canadian news aggregator website, run by journalist Pierre Bourque. The site publishes breaking news in a format similar to the American Drudge Report.

Bourque claims to have been the first media source to report a number of major stories, including Jean Charest's departure from federal politics to lead the Quebec Liberal Party, the retirement of Gilbert Parent as Speaker of the House of Commons and the 2000 election call. However, the Ryerson Review of Journalism found that Bourque's exclusive scoops have also been wrong on many occasions. For example, in 2000 he inaccurately reported that Canadian Alliance MP Keith Martin would cross the floor to the Progressive Conservatives after Stockwell Day won the Alliance leadership, that Elsie Wayne and Mac Harb would be appointed to the Senate, and that Mike Harris would retire as Premier of Ontario that year.^[1]

Finally, RRJ found it difficult to verify Bourque's claimed web traffic; in a random sample of 6,500 Canadian internet users in September of 2000, not a single one had visited Bourque Newswatch. RRJ also found that almost no major Canadian journalist used Bourque Newswatch as a source, although some admitted to using the site as an aggregator to quickly review the day's mainstream media headlines.

The Bourque Newswatch has been criticized for allegedly allowing advertisers to purchase headlines and to "tourque" them in order to highlight a positive news story about itself or a negative story about an opponent.^[2]

[edit] References

^ Heller, Joshua. "The Wrong Man", School of Journalism, Ryerson University, Summer 2001. Retrieved on January 15, 2007.
^ Cheadle, Bruce. "How much for a friendly headline?", Globe and Mail, January 15, 2007, p. A7. Retrieved on January 15, 2007.