By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor

Robert Picard has been named the North American representative at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. 

By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor

Robert Picard has been named the North American representative at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. 

Picard, a specialist in media economics, will start in the newly created role in January and will be based in Boston. He will help link the institute’s research with postsecondary institutions and media organizations in the U.S. and Canada.

“The reason that Canada is interesting to us is that it has highly professionalized journalism and … it has well-recognised media firms operating nationally, domestically, and locally and they are wrestling with issues that are emerging in the practice of journalism worldwide,” Picard told J-Source in an email. “We very much want to learn from Canadians because it helps our comparative research projects and will help inform others of better practices and ideas for addressing common issues.”

Picard said some of the issues the institute will explore are the future of journalistic work and identity in Canada, the influences of politics on media and media on politics and the effectiveness of paid digital news practices.

“We also hope to have opportunities to help bring our understanding from studies conducted elsewhere in the world to journalists and media organisations in Canada,” he added.

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