Latest news with #DuncanMcCue
Canada News.Net
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Canada News.Net
Flawed notions of objectivity are hampering Canadian newsrooms when it comes to Gaza
The response of Canada's legacy news media to the Israeli government's military action in Gaza for more than 640 days points to a problem within major Canadian news organizations, according to a new Canadian book, When Genocide Wasn't News. In the book, journalists - some writing under pseudonyms - say their newsrooms have been severely hampered by a culture of fear and an adherence to a notion of objectivity that no longer serves the public. Israel's relentless military actions in the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and taking of 251 hostages by Hamas should be prominently featured news. The Israeli Defence Forces' illegal attacks on children, hospitals and aid workers should also be making constant headlines. But news coverage on these attacks is scarce or misleading. I research and teach media, monitor the news and edit an online publication about journalism in Canada. My PhD thesis focused on Latin America and examined how the mandate to be objective can be confusing in times of war. I also explored questions about how journalists understand and apply objectivity in different contexts. I found journalists who support peace efforts can easily be accused of being "biased" in favour of those promoting peace. Not all wars are covered the same. Noureddine Miladi, a media and communications professor at Qatar University, found Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 received far greater coverage in mainstream media than the war in Gaza. Part of this difference in coverage lies in the ability to send reporters to cover events first hand, which is impossible in the Gaza Strip, where outside journalists are banned from entry. Another major factor affecting coverage is how newsrooms understand and apply their norms, including objectivity. Journalism production is influenced and impacted by the dynamics of place and power that surround it. As Carleton University journalism professor Duncan McCue argues, an unexamined adherence to objectivity can perpetuate colonial points of view. University of British Columbia journalism professors Candis Callison and Mary Lynn Young, authors of a book about journalism's racial reckoning in Canada, also make this argument. Accusations of bias can have an outsized impact on reporting and be used to silence journalists. According to some journalists, there is an atmosphere of fear when it comes to reporting on the Middle East in mainstream newsrooms in Canada. Some have self-censored in response to threats. Not only do journalists say they are facing threats, they also face a context in which governments, such as the province of Ontario, are adhering to definitions of antisemitism that equate it to criticism of Israel. In Canada, news organizations and individual journalists attempting to report on the violence in the Gaza Strip are being accused of antisemitism by groups such as Honest Reporting, according to the Canada Press Freedom Project. This means almost anyone reporting on the Israeli government's actions in Gaza will receive hundreds of messages claiming the report is antisemitic. Since many scholars and the United Nations Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices have called the Israeli government's methods "consistent with genocide, including use of starvation as weapon of war," urgent reporting is needed - and it's not antisemitism to call out what experts have labelled global injustices. The culmination of decades of this type of criticism of news media has included a right-wing narrative that accuses media of a liberal bias. The trope of the liberal media as a threat has had a steady hold of the public imagination across North America since the Cold War. Reporters who focused on stories about human rights, questioned the tactics and budgets of the military industrial complex or challenged the mistreatment of socialist activists as being unpatriotic were accused of having a liberal, left-wing, even communist, slant. . Research shows that audiences value objective journalism, or reporting that they deem non-partisan and keeps opinions at bay. But consumers also increasingly value journalism that is empathetic and emotionally resonant. After United States President Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, journalism scholars recognized that a major failure of news coverage during the presidential campaign was not calling things what they were. For example, journalists used euphemisms such as "he misspoke" instead of reporting that Trump was lying, contributing to a crisis of relevance in journalism. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Israel-Gaza war has killed more journalists than in any other conflict it's documented. But the allegedly deliberate targeting of journalists in Gaza, of whom at least 225 have been killed, has garnered little attention in newsrooms, despite calls by dozens of independent journalists to make the issue more visible. This is another unprecedented set of events that should be reported on for Canadian audiences. How will Canadian newsrooms do better? One idea could be that newsrooms join forces to fend off accusations of bias and antisemitism. They could start with reclaiming objectivity as a practice of information-gathering and moving away from objectivity as an ideal of dispassionate reporting. They could also embrace, instead of fear, journalism's liberal roots and reclaim journalism from a standpoint of clarity where actions against the rule of law, abuses of power, war profiteering, crimes against humanity - any illiberal acts - clearly fall on the wrong side of the liberal-democratic balance and therefore demand to be denounced. As veteran CBC journalist Carol Off has said, we need to denounce illiberal acts as anti-democratic ideology. Every inhabitant of Gaza remains in imminent peril today, and the media have a responsibility to inform us about it.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Carleton University launches new program aimed at training Indigenous journalists
Three educational institutions in Ontario have teamed up to offer journalism training to Indigenous learners in remote communities who may have faced roadblocks to education in the past. Carleton University in Ottawa, in partnership with Kenjgewin Teg in M'Chigeeng First Nation on Mnidoo Mnising/Manitoulin Island and the First Nations Technical Institute based in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, announced in January the launch of the Certificate in Journalism in Indigenous Communities, funded by $3.2 million from the Mastercard Foundation. "I hope that not only will we be producing a new crop of Indigenous journalists, but also that we will be sending a message to other journalism schools… to start patterning programs that suit Indigenous learners' needs," said Duncan McCue, the director of the program. McCue and several of the program's administrators and instructors are either current or former employees of CBC News. The nine-month, eight-course program will begin in September, with four of the courses offered completely online. The courses will be led by Indigenous instructors working in the field and an advisory committee including elders and industry experts will oversee the program. McCue said he hopes allowing students to study from home will address some of the social, cultural and financial barriers Indigenous learners have when they have to move away from their communities for school. According to 2016 Census data from Statistics Canada, First Nations students living on reserve are 20 per cent less likely to complete post-secondary education than those living off reserve. "We know that one of the major barriers for all Indigenous learners in many different fields is leaving home," said McCue. "It's hard leaving family. They may be leaving behind ceremony or language or being out on the land. All those kinds of things make it difficult for Indigenous students to come down to the cities." Three of the courses will be offered as in-person intensives — one in Ottawa, one on Manitoulin Island and the third yet to be determined — to foster community within the program and train hands-on skills, said McCue. The cost of travel, accommodation and food for these will be covered. The tuition fee structure will follow that of Carleton's Bachelor of Journalism program. "We can take back the mic," McCue said. "People have been telling our stories for a really long time… what we're offering is just a little bit of training and kind of the foundations of media work." The program will also have a student success facilitator to support students that may need help with funding applications or liaising with teachers, as well as a dedicated cultural advisor to help support students along their learning journey. Francine Compton, head of the Indigenous Journalists Association and the program's internship co-ordinator, said the use of Indigenous pedagogy — a holistic approach to learning that takes into account Indigenous world views — will make the program one of a kind. "I think it's going to change the game," Compton said. "Storytelling in our cultures and our communities is not anything new. We've been sharing our stories since time immemorial. Our oral histories have been passed down through generations. So that's the importance of the craft, which is storytelling and journalism." McCue said the program also includes a $3,000 graduation incentive award upon certificate completion to assist with financial barriers. Graduates of the program would be able to enter the second year of Carleton's Bachelor of Journalism or Bachelor of Arts programs. A spokesperson for The Mastercard Foundation said in a written statement to CBC Indigenous that it is proud to partner on a program that will help all Canadians better understand Indigenous peoples' perspectives, priorities and realities.
CBC
23-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Carleton University launches new program aimed at training Indigenous journalists
Three educational institutions in Ontario have teamed up to offer journalism training to Indigenous learners in remote communities who may have faced roadblocks to education in the past. Carleton University in Ottawa, in partnership with Kenjgewin Teg in M'Chigeeng First Nation on Mnidoo Mnising/Manitoulin Island and the First Nations Technical Institute based in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, announced in January the launch of the Certificate in Journalism in Indigenous Communities, funded by $3.2 million from the Mastercard Foundation to develop and "I hope that not only will we be producing a new crop of Indigenous journalists, but also that we will be sending a message to other journalism schools… to start patterning programs that suit Indigenous learners' needs," said Duncan McCue, the director of the program. McCue and several of the program's administrators and instructors are either current or former employees of CBC News. The nine-month, eight-course program will begin in September, with four of the courses offered completely online. The courses will be led by Indigenous instructors working in the field and an advisory committee including elders and industry experts will oversee the program. McCue said he hopes allowing students to study from home will address some of the social, cultural and financial barriers Indigenous learners have when they have to move away from their communities for school. According to 2016 Census data from Statistics Canada, First Nations students living on reserve are 20 per cent less likely to complete post-secondary education than those living off reserve. "We know that one of the major barriers for all Indigenous learners in many different fields is leaving home," said McCue. "It's hard leaving family. They may be leaving behind ceremony or language or being out on the land. All those kinds of things make it difficult for Indigenous students to come down to the cities." Three of the courses will be offered as in-person intensives — one in Ottawa, one on Manitoulin Island and the third yet to be determined — to foster community within the program and train hands-on skills, said McCue. The cost of travel, accommodation and food for these will be covered. The tuition fee structure will follow that of Carleton's Bachelor of Journalism program. "We can take back the mic," McCue said. "People have been telling our stories for a really long time… what we're offering is just a little bit of training and kind of the foundations of media work." The program will also have a student success facilitator to support students that may need help with funding applications or liaising with teachers, as well as a dedicated cultural advisor to help support students along their learning journey. Sharing stories nothing new Francine Compton, head of the Indigenous Journalists Association and the program's internship co-ordinator, said the use of Indigenous pedagogy — a holistic approach to learning that takes into account Indigenous world views — will make the program one of a kind. "I think it's going to change the game," Compton said. "Storytelling in our cultures and our communities is not anything new. We've been sharing our stories since time immemorial. Our oral histories have been passed down through generations. So that's the importance of the craft, which is storytelling and journalism." McCue said the program also includes a $3,000 graduation incentive award upon certificate completion to assist with financial barriers. Graduates of the program would be able to enter the second year of Carleton's Bachelor of Journalism or Bachelor of Arts programs. A spokesperson for The Mastercard Foundation said in a written statement to CBC Indigenous that it is proud to partner on a program that will help all Canadians better understand Indigenous peoples' perspectives, priorities and realities.
