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Media Myths Debunked: What the public doesn’t know and needs to know about journalism and why it matters

October 23 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

J-Talks Live: Media Myths Debunked. Oct. 23 2024

Distrust of media, often rooted in misunderstanding of  journalism’s purpose and how journalists do their jobs, is nothing new.

Public editors, news ombudsmen and standard editors are on the frontlines of understanding and responding to public misinformation about the media. For Media Literacy Week, a week to promote public understanding of  journalism and media, a  panel of frontline journalists working in these unique public roles in  Canada and the UK explored the most ubiquitous misconceptions about journalists, journalism and the media. 

 

This virtual event took place on Wednesday, October 23, 2024 at 1 p.m. EST

Speakers

Sandra Martin, Standards Editor, The Globe and Mail

Jack Nagler, Ombudsman, CBC

Elisabeth Ribbans, Global Readers’ Editor The Guardian  and Observer 

Donovan Vincent, Public Editor, the Toronto Star

Moderator

Kathy English, CJF Board Chair, former Public Editor, the Toronto Star

Sandra E. Martin

Sandra E. Martin is The Globe and Mail’s Standards Editor, a role that seeks to ensure The Globe’s journalism is of the highest quality and that the organization is accountable to readers.

Trust in media is under constant scrutiny, so the Standards Editor plays an important part in explaining The Globe’s policies and protocols to customers.

Sandra addresses complaints regarding accuracy or bias, as well as any questions arising from The Globe’s use of artificial intelligence, supporting The Globe’s commitment to transparency about how we see the benefits and risks.

Previously, she served as The Globe’s Head of Newsroom Development, as well as Editor-in-Chief of MoneySense. She has also been an instructor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism.

 

A former Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Living, Sandra also is a two-time National Magazine Awards finalist, a repeat NMA judge, and a two-time NMA host. She sits on the board of directors of Canada’s National History Society and SABEW Canada.

Jack Nagler

Jack Nagler has been the CBC Ombudsman since 2019. Before that, he spent three decades working in newsrooms, control rooms and boardrooms. Along the way he spent six years as a journalist on Parliament Hill, and several years as senior producer of programs such as The World at Six and The National. In 2018 he led the most recent revision of CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices. 

As Ombudsman, Jack reviews complaints from members of the public who are unhappy with the public broadcaster’s coverage. He determines whether CBC has lived up to the appropriate ethical standards. The subjects of that work have included pretty much all the thorniest topics of our era, such as the Middle East, the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump, human rights and climate change. 

Since 2021, Jack has also served as the Vice-President of ONO, The Organization of News Ombuds and Standards Editors (ONO). Among other contributions to the journalistic community, he spent five years on the CAJ’s Ethics Committee, and co-authored the current version of RTDNA Canada’s Code of Journalistic Ethics. For four years, he was actively involved in the CJF-CBC Indigenous Journalism Fellowship program, and he sits on the board of directors of the Gordon Sinclair Foundation.

A native of Calgary, Jack is now based in Toronto. He is married to a very patient woman, and they are parents to two incredible sons who tolerate his dad jokes – at least to a point. Earlier this year he surprised both himself and them by winning The New Yorker’s Cartoon Caption Contest. 

Elisabeth Ribbans

Elisabeth Ribbans has been the global readers’ editor for Guardian News and Media since January 2020. She is a former Guardian managing editor, and has previously held a number of regulatory roles in the press and other sectors. She also worked as a freelance journalist for several years. Elisabeth is a member of the board of the international Organization of News Ombuds.

Donovan Vincent

Donovan Vincent is the Star’s Public Editor. Formerly a reporter on the housing beat, Donovan has extensive experience covering municipal politics, having worked for several years out of the Toronto Star’s city hall bureau during then-mayor David Miller’s time in office. Donovan has also covered crime and justice issues for the paper as well as health and education and has written numerous long form features on a variety of topics. He studied journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University, earning a degree in the school’s graduate journalism program.

The public editor’s office handles readers’ queries about accuracy and the Star’s journalistic standards as set out in the Torstar Journalistic Standards Guide, and looks into claims of error in all content on all platforms on which the Star publishes. 

About Our Moderator

Kathy English

Kathy English is the current Chair of the Canadian Journalism Foundation. She is a former VP, Content Integrity & Editorial Standards for Dotdash Meredith, America’s largest digital and print publisher.
A veteran Canadian journalist, previously, she served for 13 years as public editor of the Toronto Star, responsible for adjudicating reader complaints and upholding transparency and accountability standards across Torstar Corp’s then 80-plus Canadian daily and community news organizations.

In 2020/21 she was a Journalism Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford,  completing a project on the potential of the public editor role to hold news organizations to account for trustworthy content that reflects diversity, equity, and inclusion imperatives.

Prior to this, Kathy reported and edited for six Canadian newspapers and launched websites for two Canadian media companies. She also led the Canadian launch of the San Francisco-based BabyCentre.ca. Kathy was a tenured faculty member at the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Journalism from 1989-1999. In 2018, she received Western University’s Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Asper Teaching Fellowship where she devised a graduate course on digital media literacy.

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Details

Date:
October 23
Time:
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
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