Ryerson Review of Journalism

Professors Maggie Jones Patterson and Romayne Smith Fullerton, co-authors of Murder in our Midst: Comparing Crime Coverage Ethics in an Age of Globalized News, join us to discuss regional approaches to crime reporting, and how they’re changing in the age of mass communication. We also discuss the recent sentencing decision in the trial of Toronto van-attacker Alek Minassian, and why it’s making waves in the Canadian journalism community. “Just focusing on this man’s name, does not equip the citizenry to make decisions, and help influence the people they elect to create policy.” – Romayne Smith Fullerton.

This episode we’re using our audio platform to discuss the power of photography in highlighting humanity’s role in the degradation of the natural world. Documentary photographer Ian Willms joins us to discuss a picture he took in 2019 in an indigenous community in northern Alberta called Fort Chipewyan. Ian took several trips to the area between 2010 and 2020 to document the environmental and human toll of oil sands pollution in the region. He provides insight into how he came to be in position to capture the photograph, and why it stands out among the thousands of images he’s captured during his career.