Virtual Lectures via Zoom Webinar

Weeks 1 to 4 – Presented by Jim Poling

March 27: You be the Editor

A show and tell of decisions about real-life newspaper stories, situations, photos and outcomes. These stories will not be gratuitous but they will contain sensitive material involving death, war, crime scenes and ethics. Jim has dealt with all these examples personally.

April 3: Sources Say

We’ve all heard the phrase “off the record.” An examination of unnamed sources, confidential sources and off the record. A look at newsroom practices and the realpolitik and legal system surrounding keeping or telling secrets.

April 10: The Thin Blue Line

A police officer caught up in a prostitution sting was charged with human trafficking. He pleaded with a fellow officer to let him go and his wish was granted. The paper learned of the case and got involved. What happened next is the subject of debate, anger and misery. We go deep inside the newsroom and the police department to look at one story, one case and the lives affected.

April 17: The Right to Know, the Right to be Forgotten

The line between privacy and the public’s right to know is always shifting. Recent legislation in Europe is influencing Canadian media and story archiving in a movement known as The Right to be Forgotten. When information is made public, who gets to see it and for how long? This session offers insight into contemporary news media in Canada, the current state of journalism and the shift to subscription models.

Weeks 5 to 8 – Presented by Steve Buist

April 24: Investigative Reporting 101

Steve’s introductory talk will explain the practice of investigative journalism from the standpoint of journalists. This tutorial will cover the goals and different types of investigative journalism, and how to identify a project that requires investigation. It will also look at specific tools needed for effective investigative journalism, such as interviewing techniques. Other topics will include the legal issues that can arise, as well as some of the ethical principles that should govern the behaviour of investigative journalists.

May 1: Code Red – A Case Study in Investigative Journalism

Code Red was a decade-long investigative project created by Steve Buist that examined the connections between health and wealth. Code Red was a ground-breaking piece of investigative journalism in Canada and one of the most important projects ever published by The Hamilton Spectator.

Working with two McMaster University researchers, the Spectator examined the data from hundreds of thousands of hospital and ER visits by Hamilton residents, broken down to the level of Hamilton’s neighbourhoods. They then compared the health outcomes with social and economic data collected by Statistics Canada. What they found were shocking connections between health and socioeconomic status: the poorer and less educated a neighbourhood, the worse the health of those people. The most shocking finding was a 23-year difference in life expectancy between the best and worst neighbourhoods in Hamilton.

May 8: A Career Retrospective

This talk will examine a number of other important investigative projects Steve published during his career with the Spectator (and a bit with the Toronto Star). One project was “Collision Course,” which used MRI and EEG imaging to look at the impact of concussions on retired Canadian professional football players. Others were the Spectator’s analysis of Ontario’s ill-fated Drive Clean program; “A Pig’s Tale,” which followed Steve’s brief career as the world’s smallest pig farmer; “Unchartered,” a look at the lack of consequences faced by police across Canada who violate people’s Charter rights; and “Blind Faith,” a series that looked at the connections between medical researchers at McMaster University and the pharmaceutical industry.

May 15: What’s Next for a Retired Investigative Reporter

A look at Steve’s new path of interest – helping train university journalism students as well as practising journalists in Kenya, Rwanda and Cameroon to improve the quality of investigative journalism in Africa. The  talk will conclude with some of the challenges journalists face in Africa that we don’t have to deal with here in Canada.

Jim Poling

Jim Poling is Editor-in-Chief of the Waterloo Region Record. Since 2018 he has overseen the print and digital editorial operations at the Record, a daily newspaper founded in 1878. He also manages several community newspapers under the Metroland banner.

Jim is a journalist with more than 40 years of daily newspaper experience. He started his career as a newspaper reporter at the Kenora Miner and News in northwestern Ontario and then The Globe and Mail. He was managing editor at The Hamilton Spectator for more than 12 years and has served in several other newsroom leadership roles. His reporting experience includes municipal politics, crime and the environment. He spent time as a parliamentary news reporter in Ottawa for Southam News and as a correspondent covering Queen’s Park in Toronto.

In 2008 Jim was awarded the Vox Libera award by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression for his commitment to freedom of the press.

Steve Buist

Steve Buist is a retired investigative journalist and feature writer at The Hamilton Spectator newspaper. He retired as one of Canada’s most decorated journalists, having won or been nominated for nearly 100 awards at the international, national and provincial levels during his career.

Steve was nominated 13 times in total for National Newspaper Awards, the top prize for newspaper journalism in Canada, and he won five times. He was named Canada’s Investigative Journalist of the Year three times and Ontario’s Journalist of the Year five times. He is a two-time winner of the prestigious Hillman Prize for social justice journalism and a two-time nominee for the Michener Award for public service journalism.

In 2019, Steve was named a Distinguished Fellow by Mohawk College in Hamilton and in 2022 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by McMaster University for his journalism contributions to the Hamilton community. He has a B.Sc. in human biology and a Master’s degree in journalism.