Covering reasonable accommodation
Media@McGill to host colloquium on media’s role in Quebec debate
On November 16, Media@McGill will host a daylong colloquium, Mediated cultures: stereotypes, perceptions and representations, to examine the role of the media in Quebec’s reasonable accommodation debate. The event will bring together academics and media representatives to address issues surrounding how the evolving, frequently controversial story of religious and cultural accommodation in Quebec is being covered and how that coverage affects the debate.
The colloquium will include a round-table discussion, from 3 to 5 p.m., titled Understanding the media machine: perceptions and constraints, with Jeff Heinrich, diversity reporter for the Montreal Gazette; Julie Miville-Dechêne, Radio-Canada ombudsman; Raymond Corriveau, director of Quebec’s Conseil de la Presse; Philippe Cantin, assistant editor at La Presse; Stéphanie Casimir, coordinator of Télé-Diversité 2008; and George Kalogerakis, managing editor of Le Journal de Montréal. The discussion will be moderated by Michael Goldbloom, McGill Vice-Principal (Public Affairs) and former publisher of the Montreal Gazette and the Toronto Star.
Visiting Beaverbrook Scholar Kevin Robins will deliver the morning keynote lecture, Transnational lives, on new media and their impact on transnational communities. Prof. William Straw, acting director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, will moderate the first afternoon panel, from 12:45 to 2:15 p.m., titled Local cultural transformations: perceptions and stereotypes.
The colloquium will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Thomson House Ballroom, 3650 McTavish. All sessions will be presented in English and French and will be followed by Q&A sessions.