A panel discussion among Canada-based journalists writing for U.S. media news outlets

This event is free, but registration is required. Register by clicking here.

Talking to a U.S. audience, the Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once famously said: "Americans should never underestimate the constant pressure on Canada which the mere presence of the United States has produced. We're different people from you and we're different people because of you.”

While Canadians spend a lot of time thinking about the United States, most Americans seldom think about Canada, especially if they don't live in a border state. In this context, how do Canadian-based journalists working for U.S. media outlets pitch and tell stories about Canada for their readership in the U.S. and beyond? How do U.S. media outlets perceive Canada, and how has this perception changed over time? Has the image of Canada in the U.S. changed and, relatedly, how has the job of reporting about Canada for a U.S. and broader international audience evolved?

Join us for a panel discussion among Canadian journalists working for prominent U.S. media news outlets about their work and changing U.S. perceptions of Canada within and beyond the mass media.

Featuring:

Dan Bilefsky

Amanda Coletta

Emma Jacobs

Moderated by David Shribman

The lecture will be followed by a Q&A and reception. This event is co-organized by the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada and the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at the Max Bell School of Public Policy.

Bios:

Dan Bilefsky spent nearly 20 years as an international correspondent for The New York Times in Paris, London, New York, Brussels, Istanbul, Prague and Montreal. He was previously a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and FT and is author of the true crime thriller, The Last Job, which he’s adapting for a podcast.

Amanda Coletta is a Toronto-based correspondent who covers Canada and the Caribbean for The Washington Post. She previously worked in London (UK), first at the Economist and then the Wall Street Journal. Coletta began her career as a freelance journalist covering the business and governance of sport for publications including Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Emma Jacobs is a Montreal-based freelance journalist who has worked in radio and podcasts for over a decade. She has covered Canada for NPR since 2019 and produced podcasts for organizations ranging from National Geographic to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. Previously, she worked for NPR member-stations WHYY and WNYC.

David Shribman, executive editor of the Post-Gazette from 2003 to 2019, writes a nationally syndicated column in the United States; prepares a separate column on Americans affairs for The Globe and Mail; is scholar-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University; and teaches American politics at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. Shribman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for his writing on Washington and the American political scene. He led the coverage of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre that won the Pulitzer Prize a quarter-century later.