Bob Mackin
Bob Mackin is an independent reporter and publisher whose work centres on the power and consequences of major events and public institutions in British Columbia, with a recurring focus on how they affect public services and health systems. He runs theBreaker.news as a platform for news, opinion and analysis about British Columbia issues, institutions and influencers, and extends that coverage through a Substack newsletter and podcast. His reporting combines exclusives, document-driven stories and on-the-ground interviews to map the links between politics, business, sport and public services.
World Cup, emergency planning and health services
A defining strand of Mackin’s current work is his attention to how global sporting events intersect with local emergency and health planning. In his exclusive coverage of emergency health arrangements for the FIFA World Cup in British Columbia, he digs into the operational details that sit behind major tournament branding, focusing on how emergency medical capacity, contingency plans and public safety protocols are structured and funded. He approaches the World Cup not just as a sports spectacle but as a stress test for local health infrastructure and public services, treating documents and planning briefs as core reporting material rather than background. That focus carries through his podcast coverage of FIFA, where he has highlighted, for example, the impact of FIFA’s commercial decisions on individual supporters and local communities in “thePodcast: FIFA greed ends World Cup fan’s streak.” Across these pieces, he distinguishes himself from generic sports or health reporters by combining event coverage with scrutiny of the institutions, contracts and emergency systems that surround them, making health preparedness and service capacity part of the core story rather than a sidebar.
Election 26 and provincial campaign dynamics
Mackin uses theElection 26 coverage to track how political decisions shape public institutions and services, including health, over the course of a campaign. In “b.c. snap: Election 26 Podcast,” he co-hosts daily analysis on the provincial snap election, breaking down party strategies, candidate moves and policy announcements with an emphasis on what they mean for governance and public accountability.
His podcast episode “thePodcast: B.C.’s third season is now Election” frames the campaign as a distinct season in provincial life, treating electioneering as a system that touches everything from public finances to service delivery. Rather than focusing solely on polls or horse-race coverage, he brings in context from his wider reporting on British Columbia institutions, connecting campaign rhetoric to the record and behaviour of agencies, crown corporations and other bodies that influence residents’ daily experience.
That lens includes the way health, safety and emergency preparedness are discussed or neglected in campaign platforms, positioning these topics as tests of political seriousness rather than niche policy detail.
Institutions, influencers and the business of public life
At the heart of theBreaker.news is Mackin’s sustained interest in how institutions and influential figures shape public life in British Columbia. The site and podcast explicitly bill themselves as a source for news, opinion and analysis about “British Columbia issues, institutions and influencers,” and his recent archive reflects that remit.
Episodes such as “thePodcast: A peek inside B.C.’s Artificial Intelligence ecosystem” explore how emerging technologies are being developed and governed in the province, including who is making decisions, who benefits and how risks are managed.
In “thePodcast: PNE Fair begins new era with amphitheatre,” he looks at a flagship entertainment venue, connecting infrastructure investment and cultural programming to wider questions about public and private roles in city life. Another episode, “thePodcast: The Canadian behind Ukraine’s global voice,” uses a profile of an individual communicator to illuminate how global conflicts intersect with Canadian institutions and media.
Across these subjects, Mackin treats “influencers” not as social media personalities but as people and organizations with structural power, and he reports on them with a mixture of investigative work, historical context and attention to contracts, governance structures and commercial interests. His earlier experience reporting on politics, government, crime, arts, travel, sports and business, and his long engagement with the politics and business of Olympic and other multi-sport games, feed this broad but institutionally focused perspective.
Formats: investigative site, newsletter and podcast
Mackin’s output is structured across a news site, a Substack newsletter and theBreaker.news Podcast, giving him multiple formats to follow complex stories over time. The site carries news and opinion pieces that emphasize documents, exclusive information and detailed timelines around British Columbia institutions and major events.
The Substack instance of theBreaker.news helps him push this reporting directly to subscribers, who follow his mix of investigations, event coverage and political analysis. TheBreaker.news Podcast, which he hosts, offers regular audio analysis and interviews, allowing him to revisit themes such as Election 26, FIFA and the provincial AI ecosystem in a conversational format that still foregrounds evidence and accountability.
Across all formats, he works as a news, sports, politics and business journalist, but the distinguishing thread is his focus on how decisions by institutions and major event organizers cascade into everyday systems, including health services and emergency preparedness.
4 more health journalists.
Alanna Smith
Alanna Smith is a national health reporter whose work links health policy and politics to real access to care, with a constant focus on health equity, infectious disease and the toxic drug crisis. She reports for The Globe and Mail on infectious diseases, hospitals and long-term care, mental health, drug policy and the pressures on health systems in Western Canada. Her stories connect big-picture decisions to patients, families, front-line workers and volunteers, showing how funding, privatization and federal standards shape public care. She has covered trauma care inequities, proposed public‑private models in Alberta, drug toxicity and overdose policy, respiratory virus surges, measles elimination, gene‑editing advances and gender‑affirming health care laws. Her work combines narrative reporting, data, legal and policy analysis, and has been recognized by national journalism and press freedom organizations.
Allan Levine
Allan Levine is a historian and author whose journalism uses the past to explain present-day issues. He writes for the Winnipeg Free Press, including the Now & Then column, which examines current events through history. His subjects include public health, disease, medical treatment, health systems, politics, social conflict, strikes, wars, antisemitism and Canadian public life. His polio reporting traces Manitoba epidemics, hospital pressures, treatment, mortality and the arrival of vaccines through archival data and medical history. He also writes about the Winnipeg General Strike and Jewish communities, including discrimination, rights and security. His work draws on books about Canadian political leaders, Jewish history and the wartime economy, including The Dollar A Year Men. He writes long-form, analytical pieces that combine dates, statistics, policy decisions and narrative storytelling to connect people and institutions with broader historical change.
Angela Amato
Angela Amato is a digital news producer with CTV News, and her coverage is distinct for linking health research and public safety concerns to legal and policy decisions that shape daily life. She reports on health, justice, politics, business, arts and culture, crime and public-interest stories. Her health work covers academic and clinical research, including studies on vaping and lung blood flow, exercise tolerance and early heart dysfunction in young adults. She also reports on motorcycle gang arrests, homicide and death investigations, Indigenous justice stories, wildfire evacuations, ambulance contracts, property taxes, labour negotiations and political advocacy rules. She explains complex findings in plain language and stays close to documents, data and expert sources. Her background includes investigative and daily newsrooms, and she has earned nominations for national journalism awards.
Apoorva Mandavilli
Apoorva Mandavilli covers the collision of infectious disease science, vaccine policy and public health agencies for The New York Times, following how research, regulation and politics shape outbreaks and access to vaccines. She reports on science and global health with a steady focus on infectious diseases and pandemics, including Covid-19, mpox, H.I.V., malaria and tuberculosis, treating them as ongoing global threats. Her work explains complex epidemiology and virology in clear narratives about risk, evidence and the consequences of scientific decisions. She repeatedly returns to vaccine policy, law and misinformation, tracing how court fights and agency disputes affect immunization schedules and public trust. She also reports on global health programs, funding cuts and inequity in care and technology. A longtime science journalist and former founding editor in chief of Spectrum, she has written widely on science and health and received major honors for medical science reporting and pandemic coverage.