Education

• B.A. Canadian Studies and French, Simon Fraser University
• M.A. Communication, Simon Fraser University
• Ph.D. Communication Studies, Concordia University

Journalism Background

Previously worked as a reporter, copy editor and editor for the Cobourg Star, Port Hope Evening Guide, Delta Optimist, Richmond Review, The Columbian and The Province.

Courses Taught

On sabbatical leave 2012-13

Areas of Research Interest

News geography, issues of media representation, health reporting, political economy, journalism education

The Geography of News Project

This on-going research project, which has received funding from Concordia University (2000-2003), le Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture (2002-2005) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2004-2007, 2008-2011, 2011-2014) treats journalism as a practice of cartography. The research is concerned with the regional, national and international circulation of news, and how the circulation of news is related to forms of audience address.  Its current research focus, in a collaboration with Dr. Greg Nielsen of Concordia's Centre for Broadcasting Studies, is on journalism as a medium of exclusion.  We are analyzing a range of news texts concerning poverty, immigration and natural disaster from daily newspapers in North America and Europe, guided by the following research questions: Who is the implied audience for these texts? Who is excluded from that implied audience? And, how is the implied audience situated vis-à-vis the subject matter of the news texts. The following have worked as student research assistants on the project: Craig Anderson, Karen Biskin, Pina Boggia, Melissa Boyd, Linda Charbonneau, Michael Craig, Haluk Dag, Zach Devereaux, Amayele Dia, Matthew Forsyth, Sandra Gabriele, James Gibbons, Philippe Gohier, Simon Halpin, Maya Johnson, Reisa Klein, Andreea Mandache, Mircea Mandache, Anna Meshcherova, Michelle Richardson, Gyde Shepherd, Tina Silverstein, Martin Stoch, Stephany Tlalka, Eric Weissman and Michael Willcock.

Recent Publications

Books

• Mike Gasher, David Skinner & Rowland Lorimer (2012). Mass Communication in Canada. Networks, Culture, Technology, Audiences. Seventh Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
• Gasher, Mike (2002). Hollywood North: The Feature-Film Industry in British Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Edited Collections

• Gasher, Mike (2009, March).  The Geography of Journalism. Special volume of Aether: the journal of media geography. http://geogdata.csun.edu/~aether/volume_04.html
• Elmer, Greg, & Mike Gasher (2005). Contracting Out Hollywood: Runaway Productions and Foreign Location Shooting. Boulder, Colo: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Skinner, David, James Compton & Mike Gasher (2005). Converging Media, Diverging Politics: Political Economy of News in the United States and Canada. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.

Book Chapter

• Gasher, Mike.  (2010).  From the Business of Journalism to Journalism as Business:  1990 to the Present.  The New Journalist (eds., Paul Benedetti, Kim Kierans & Tim Currie).  Toronto:  Emond Montgomery Publications, pp. 63-76.

Refereed Articles

• Gasher, Mike.  (2009, March).  Mapping the On-line News World:  A News-flow Study of Three U.S. Dailies.  Aether: The Journal of Media Geography, Vol. 4, pp. 102-116.http://geogdata.csun.edu/~aether/volume_04.html
• Gasher, Mike & Reisa Klein (2008).  Mapping the Geography of On-line News.  Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 193-211.
• Gasher, Mike. (2007, Fall). "Redefining Journalism Education in Canada." Our Schools/Our Selves, Vol 17, No. 2. Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, pp. 125-136.
• Gasher, Mike, Michael V. Hayes, Ian Ross, Robert A. Hackett, Donald Gutstein & James R. Dunn.  (2007). Spreading the News:  Social Determinants of Health Reportage in Canadian Daily Newspapers, Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 32, pp.557-574.
• Hayes, Michael V., Ian E. Ross, Mike Gasher, Donald Gutstein, James R. Dunn & Robert A. Hackett.  (2007). Telling Stories: News Media, Health Literacy and Public Policy in Canada.  Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 64, pp. 1842-1852.
• Gasher, Mike.  (2005). It’s Time to Redefine Journalism Education in Canada.  Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 665-672.
• Gasher, Mike, & Sandra Gabriele. (2004). Increasing Circulation? A Comparative News-Flow Study of the Montreal Gazette’s Hard-copy and On-line Editions. Journalism Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 311-323