UBC Graduate School of Journalism 2017

This year marks my tenth anniversary as a lecturer at UBC's Graduate School of Journalism, where I have delivered an annual presentation on the importance of diversity in news media. As the father of two young boys, I'm well aware of how bias in the stories we consume can affect the way we think. Taking advantage of my own firsthand experience working with CBC Television and heading Schema Magazine, my presentation explored the difficulty of creating truly inclusive journalism that creates a space for different experiences and viewpoints. Part of my mission has been to provide training on how to disrupt different types of bias (including personal bias, cultural bias, systems bias, media bias, and negativity bias), and make future journalists and media producers aware of their impact on news reporting.

As always, I was impressed by both the diversity of this year's students and their passion to drive social inclusion. It remains a huge honour to contribute to the learning of those that will be shaping the stories and public discourse in our immediate future.