Candis Callison’s latest book, Reckoning: Journalism’s Limits and Possibilities, which she co-authored with Mary Lynn Young, is only the latest contribution in a career that has had a powerful impact on journalism and the wider community, both in Canada and beyond its borders.
“Candis is unique as a scholar and as a journalist, at the intersection of digital journalism, Indigenous rights, and climate change,” said Alfred Hermida, director and associate professor at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism, where Callison is an associate professor.
Callison began her career as a journalist, producing, writing and reporting for television, radio, including CBC and CTV, and digital media in the U.S.. She holds a Ph.D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society and a Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her first book, How Climate Change Comes to Matter: The Communal Life of Facts, was published in 2014. Callison is Tahltan, an Indigenous people whose territory is in northwestern British Columbia.
As an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, and in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies, Callison plays an important role in helping students learn to better serve communities that are “either ignored, marginalized or misrepresented,” said Hermida.
“Candis brings a unique lens, she brings a scholarly perspective rooted in journalistic experience, and as an Indigenous person brings a perspective white Canadians simply would not see,” he said.
“It is an honour to receive this award,” commented Callison. “When I think back to the late 1990s and the launch of Vancouver Television, there have been so many changes to the ways we think about and do journalism since then. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to play so many different roles over the last two and half decades – from the daily practice of journalism to thinking and writing about climate change, ethics, history, and new digital transformations as an academic and teaching a whole new era of young journalists. The things that remain the same are my commitments to asking who journalism serves, whose voices get heard, which stories matter and why.”