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

Fall 2009

• JOUR 603 – Political Economy of Journalism

Winter 2010

• JOUR 444 – Critical Approaches to Journalism

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) examines the circulation of news on the World Wide Web. Treating journalism as a practice of cartography, its central research question asks whether globalization (i.e., international flows of people, capital, communication and commodities) and the emergence of the Internet as a global communications medium have had any impact on the flows of news around the world. This question is being addressed through news-flow studies of newspapers’ Web sites and through textual analyses of news reports. To date we have conducted news-flow studies of the Web sites of the following newspapers: The Montreal Gazette, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Le Devoir, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Libération (Paris), Ha’aretz (Tel Aviv) and The Times of London. The following have worked as student research assistants on the project: Craig Anderson, Karen Biskin, Pina Boggia, Melissa Boyd, Linda Charbonneau, Michael Craig, Zach Devereaux, Amayele Dia, Matthew Forsyth, Sandra Gabriele, Philippe Gohier, Simon Halpin, Maya Johnson, Reisa Klein, Andreea Mandache, Michelle Richardson, Gyde Shepherd, Tina Silverstein and Martin Stoch.

Recent Publications

Books

• Lorimer, Rowland, Mike Gasher, and David Skinner (2008). Mass Communication in Canada. Sixth 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.

Refereed Articles

• 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