The emotional struggles of teaching journalism and diversity : a case study of professors' responses at one journalism school

This thesis offers a partial historiography of a cross-cultural reporting course taught in a Canadian journalism school, the Ryerson School of Journalism. At its initiation, this course was the first of its kind in Canada to address a pressing need for journalists to challenge the stereotyping of racialized minorities in mainstream media within the backdrop of changing demographics in Canada and a globalized media landscape. Drawing from interviews with the creator of the course and subsequent instructors, this study will detail the emotional and political challenges that instructors faced in developing and implementing the course, and the curriculum changes they made to overcome these challenges. This thesis then examines what journalism schools can learn from Ryerson about the obstacles that instructors face when teaching students about race in the media.Arts, Faculty ofJournalism, School ofGraduat