Fourth Reading was a weekly current events newsmagazine

Newsmagazine

A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published piece of paper, magazine or a radio or television program, usually weekly, featuring articles or segments on current events...

 series in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, airing on TVOntario

TVOntario

TVOntario, often referred to only as TVO , is a publicly funded, educational English-language television station and media organization in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario...

 from 1992 to 2006. It was hosted by Steve Paikin

Steve Paikin

Steve Paikin is a Canadian journalist, author, and documentary producer at TVOntario . He is currently anchor and senior editor of TVO's flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin, and previously hosted TVO's Studio 2 and Diplomatic Immunity.A native of Hamilton, Ontario,...

. The show covered provincial politics in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 and national political issues affecting the province.

Its name derived from the parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

ary convention that a bill receives three readings in a legislative house before becoming law; media coverage would therefore constitute a "fourth reading".

In 1997, Minister of Education

Ministry of Education (Ontario)

The Ministry of Education is the agency of the Ontario government in the Canadian province of Ontario responsible for government policy, funding, curriculum planning and direction in all levels of public education, including elementary and secondary schools.This Ministry is responsible for...

 John Snobelen

John Snobelen

John Snobelen is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Mike Harris....

 was being interviewed on a Thursday afternoon, for the show that would air the Friday night. During this interview, then-Premier Mike Harris

Mike Harris

Michael Deane "Mike" Harris was the 22nd Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his Progressive Conservative government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and cuts to government...

 announced a cabinet shuffle

Cabinet shuffle

In the parliamentary system a cabinet shuffle or reshuffle is an informal term for an event that occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet....

 in which Snobelen became the Minister of Natural Resources

Ministry of Natural Resources (Ontario)

The Ministry of Natural Resources is a government ministry of the Canadian province of Ontario that responsible for Ontario’s provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, mineral aggregates and the Crown lands and waters that make up 87 per cent of the province...

.