Big names headline lecture series for lifelong learners
(from left) Kevin Donovan, chief investigative reporter for the Toronto Star, Litsa Sourtzis, executive producer at the CBC, and Dan Dunsky, creator and former executive producer of "The Agenda with Steve Paikin" will be some of the speakers at Third Age Learning Lakehead (TALL) second, five-part lecture series.
February 25, 2019 – Orillia, ON
The Toronto Star’s Kevin Donovan, the CBC’s Litsa Sourtzis, and former executive producer Dan Dunsky are just a few of the speakers set to present during Third Age Learning Lakehead’s (TALL) second five-part lecture series,Uncovering the Truth: Investigative Journalism in the Age of 'Fake News'.
Participants will enjoy lectures that discuss how the impact of social media and technology has changed how we consume and what we consume as ‘news’, including the proliferation of ‘fake’ news.
Dr. Michael Hoechsmann, associate professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University, will kick off the series with “Remix, Rhetoric and ‘Reality’ in the Era of ‘Fake News’” on February 27. Hoechsmann will delve into how Web 2.0 and algorithmic Web 3.0 has changed how we produce, circulate and consume knowledge, information and ‘news’, and what has fueled the rise of fake news.
On March 6, creator and former executive producer of “The Agenda with Steve Paikin”, Dan Dunsky, will discuss how powerful digital technologies have profound implications for journalism and its role of providing the ‘first, rough draft of history’ in “Algorithms, Tribalism and Journalism”.
Kevin Donovan, chief investigative reporter with the Toronto Star, will speak about the process of asking tough questions and listening to all sides in “Making a Difference: How Investigative Reporting Changes the World One Story at a Time” on March 13. Drawing from his experience with such stories as ORNGE Air Ambulance, and the Rob Ford story, Donovan will explain how he and others like him seek the truth.
CBC executive producer, Litsa Sourtzis, will explore the role of television and documentaries in particular, but also the role of the producer in accessing and framing the ‘truth’ in Canada today in “The Role of the “Watchdog”: The (re)Production of News in Canada” on March 20.
Dr. Sandra Jeppesen, Lakehead University Research Chair in Transformative Media and Social Movements, and Nathan Taylor, reporter for OrilliaMatters, will close out the series on March 27 with a look at “Global and Local Intersections: Digital Movements in the Age of Fake News”. Jeppesen and Taylor will explore how global and local media can address some of the successes and challenges of transformative media and social movements in the era of fake news.
The TALL five-part lecture series runs every Wednesday from February 27 to March 27 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at St. Paul’s Centre in Orillia. There is a registration fee of $59 (plus HST) per person. For more information, or to purchase tickets, head to lakeheadu.ca/tal.
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Media contact: Jaclyn Bucik, Marketing & Communications Associate, 705-330-4008 ext. 2014, orjbucik@lakeheadu.ca
Lakehead University has approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and 2,000 faculty and staff in 10 faculties at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead is a fully comprehensive university: home to Ontario’s newest Faculty of Law in 44 years, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and faculties of Engineering, Business Administration, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities, Science & Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management, Education, and Graduate Studies. Maclean’s 2019 University Rankings place Lakehead University among Canada's Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities and in 2018 Research Infosource named Lakehead Research University of the Year in its category for the fourth consecutive year. Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.
