Associate Professor Ivor Shapiro teaches ethics and feature reporting and conducts research into aspects of ethics and excellence in journalism. He chairs the ethics advisory committee of the Canadian Association of Journalism, and is the founding editor and current ethics editor of the Canadian Journalism Project (J-Source.ca), a national website providing information, commentary and resources related to the achievement of, and challenges to, journalistic excellence.
Born and raised in South Africa, Shapiro immigrated to Canada in 1985. He is a former contributing editor of Saturday Night magazine and managing editor of Chatelaine magazine. He has written feature articles for those magazines as well as Toronto Life, The Walrus, Maclean’s, Today’s Parent and The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine, among others. Ivor has been honoured six times at the National Magazine Awards and has been a finalist for a Canadian Association of Journalists award for investigative journalism. His first book of literary journalism, What God Allows: The Crisis of Faith and Conscience in One Catholic Church (Doubleday, New York: 1996), was praised by critics in Canada as well as the U.S. Shapiro’s magazine writing has been chosen for several anthologies, and he is the editor of The The Bigger Picture: Elements of Feature Writing (Emond Montgomery Press, 2008). His academic research has been published in Journalism Practice, Canadian Journal of Communication, and Newspaper Research Journal.
Published
2018
Shapiro, Ivor. (2018, April 19). Mental illness on campus really is ‘a thing.’ The Conversation Canada. (Op-ed article). Read here.
2017
Shapiro, Ivor. (2017). “Use It or Lose It: Do Canadians Deserve Press Freedom?” The Unfulfilled Promise of Press Freedom in Canada. ed. Lisa Taylor and Cara-Marie O’Hagan. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Shapiro, Ivor and Brian MacLeod Rogers. (November 2016). “How the Right to Be Forgotten Challenges Journalistic Principles.” Digital Journalism. Available online pending print publication. Read here.
Shapiro, Ivor et al. (Jan. 31, 2017). “Quelle Différence? Language, culture and nationality as influences on francophone journalists’ identity.” Taylor & Francis. Read here.
2016
Shapiro, Ivor. (2016). “Use It or Lose It: Do Canadians Deserve Press Freedom?” The Unfulfilled Promise of Press Freedom in Canada. University of Toronto Press.
Shapiro, Ivor., Brin, Colette., Spoel, Philippa., & Marshall, Lee. (2016) “Images of Essence: Journalists’ Discourse on the Professional ‘Discipline of Verification.’” Canadian Journal of Communication 41.1 Read here.
2015
Shapiro, Ivor. (2015). “To Turn or to Burn: Shifting the Paradigm for Journalism Education.” In Toward 2020: New Directions in Journalism Education. Ryerson Journalism Research Centre. Available here.
Shapiro, Ivor, and Brian MacLeod Rogers. (Sept. 10, 2015). “How the ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ Challenges Journalistic Principles: Privacy, Freedom and the Durability of News.” Future of Journalism Conference, Cardiff University.
Shapiro, Ivor., Rollwagen, Heather., Bonin, Genevieve., and Fitzgerald, Lindsay. (May 2015) “The Professional Identity Of Anglophone Canadian Journalists: Hypotheses Suggested By A Pilot Study.” Canadian Communication Association Ottawa, Ontario.
Brethour, Patrick and Shapiro, Ivor. (December 2015). “Paying for Information. A report of the Ethics Advisory Committee of The Canadian Association of Journalists.” Canadian Association of Journalists Ethics Advisory Committee. Read here.
2014
Shapiro, Ivor. 2014. Why democracies need a functional definition of journalism now more than ever. Journalism Studies (15/5): 555-565.
Shapiro, Ivor. 2014. “Toward an international perspective on media accountability.” La regulation du travail journalistique dans dix pays, dont le Canada, ed. Daniel Giroux & Pierre Trudel (Centre d’études sur les media, Sainte-Foy, Québec), p. 361-370
Shapiro, Ivor. 2014. “The New Ethics of Journalism: Principles for the 21st Century” (book review). Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 91(2) p. 406-408
Shapiro, Ivor. 2014. “The Future of Journalism: Developments and Debates” (book review). Digital Journalism 2 (4), p. 619-621
Bernier, Marc-François; Shapiro, Ivor and Snow-Capparelli, Shauna. 2014.“How close is too close? Conflicts of interest in journalists’ relationships with sources. A report of the Ethics Advisory Committee of The Canadian Association of Journalists.” June, 2014. Read it here.
2013
Shapiro, Ivor, Colette Brin, Isabelle Bédard-Brûlé, and Kasia Mychajlowycz. 2013. Verification as a Strategic Ritual. Journalism Practice. Available here.
Shapiro, Ivor. 2013. Opinion: Video, shmideo: reporting is about telling what you see and hear. J-Source. May 5, 2013. Available here.
Gladney, George Albert; Ivor Shapiro; Regan Ray. “Reasons for Veiled Sources Spike After 2004 Scandals.” Newspaper Research Journal 34/2 (Spring 2013): 36-49.
2012
Brethour, Patrick; Currie, Tim; Levine, Meredith; Monk, Connie; Shapiro, Ivor. 2012. What is Journalism? A report of the Ethics Advisory Committee of The Canadian Association of Journalists. Canadian Association of Journalists, June 5. Available here.
Shapiro, Ivor. 2012. Notes de clôture du Séminaire international sur l’autorégulation des médias. (Closing keynote for International Seminar on Press Accountability Centre d’études sur les medias, Montreal, November 2, 2012.) Published in CPQ Magazine by Press Council of Quebec, November 23.
Shapiro, Ivor, Kasia Mychajlowycz, Collette Brin and Isabelle Bédard-Brûlé. 2012. Is one source enough? Verification in Canadian Newspapers. Proceedings of the 2012 annual conference of the Canadian Communication Association. Available here.
Shapiro, Ivor and Lisa Taylor. 2012. Toward Press Council 2.0: An international review of models of, and alternatives to, the traditional press council. Proceedings of the 2012 annual conference of the Canadian Communication Association. Available here.
Shapiro, Ivor; Taylor, Lisa; Tubb, Edward. 2012. Press councils in Canada: Models of practice and prospects for alternatives. Preliminary Report. Ryerson Journalism Research Centre/Newspapers Canada, October 16. Available here.
Shapiro, Ivor. 2012. More on ‘we wuz robbed’ journalism and the examples that weren’t. J-Source: The Canadian Journalism Project. August 29. Available here.
Shapiro, Ivor. 2012. ‘We-wuz-robbed’ journalism not good enough after Olympic soccer drama. J-Source: The Canadian Journalism Project. August 6. Available here.
Shapiro, Ivor. 2012. Press freedom: Who gives a damn, anyway? J-Source: The Canadian Journalism Project. February 29. Available here.
2011
Shapiro, Ivor. 2011. A guide, not a cop: The CAJ’s new ethics “code” (and why it’s not called that). J-Source: The Canadian Journalism Project. September 20. Available here.
Shapiro, Ivor. 2011. Commenting on the dead: all in the timing? J-Source: The Canadian Journalism Project. August 24. Available here.
2010
Shapiro, Ivor. 2010. Evaluating Journalism: Towards an assessment framework for the practice of journalism. Journalism Practice 4(2): 143-162.
Shapiro, Ivor: “Synthesis Essay: The Ethical Textbook” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 87/2 (Summer 2010) p. 416-420.
In the News
2018
Toronto Star: May 10, 2018. “On the Canadian road to a national press council: Public Editor” sites a recent report on journalistic self-regulation overseen by Ivor Shapiro. Click to read.
The London Free Press: April 21, 2018. “LFP longform: Publication bans protect open secrets in digital era” quotes Ivor Shapiro publication bans covering sexual assault survivors. Click to read.
2017
Globe and Mail: Nov. 28, 2017. “Ottawa not to blame for newspaper closings: Joly” sites research by April Lindgren’s Local News Research Project and includes a video interview with Ivor Shapiro. Click to read.
Toronto Star: Oct. 7, 2017. “Dawn of a new hope for journalism” mentions April Lindgren‘s Local News Research Project and quotes Ivor Shapiro. Click to read.
Ryersonian: March 16, 2017
“Making sense when the world doesn’t” on the Ryerson School of Journalism’s teach-in includes interviews with Ivor Shapiro and Ann Rauhala. Click to read.
Toronto Star: March 11, 2017
“What defines journalism” features a video interview with Ivor Shapiro. Click to watch.
Toronto Star: March 11, 2017
“Museums as newsrooms, university profs as journalists” includes an interview with Ivor Shapiro. Click to read.
J-Source, Masthead: Jan. 26, 2016
Quotes Tim Falconer and Ivor Shapiro in “Ryerson Review of Journalism to continue as print magazine.” Click to read.
2016
rabble.ca: Jan. 20, 2016
“Postmedia layoffs condemn Canada’s largest cities to ‘news poverty,’ say critics” quotes Ivor Shapiro.
Click to read.
2015
CBC News: May 19, 2015
Quotes Ivor Shapiro on media coverage of election debates. Click here to read.
Global News, Apr. 6, 2015
Interview with Ivor Shapiro on the review of Rolling Stone Magazine’s now discredited story on an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia. Click here to watch.
Global News, January 15, 2015
Interview with Ivor Shapiro on why media coverage of Paris shooting overshadowed Nigeria massacre. Click here to watch.
CTV News: Canada AM, January 15, 2015
Discussion on where to draw the line on free speech, featuring journalism chair Ivor Shapiro. Click here to watch.
CHCH, January 13, 2015
Interview with journalism chair Ivor Shapiro on what separates journalism from PR or lobbying. Click here to watch.
2014
Globe and Mail, October 8, 2014
Quotes Chair Ivor Shapiro on Postmedia purchasing Quebecor publications. Click here to watch.
Bloomberg, October 8, 2014
Quotes Chair Ivor Shapiro on Postmedia purchasing Quebecor publications. Click here to read.
CBC News, October 6, 2014
Interview with Chair Prof. Ivor Shapiro on Postmedia purchase of Sun papers. Click here to read.
Hamilton Spectator: February 11, 2014
Interview with Chair Ivor Shapiro and a group of Master of Journalism students regarding studying Rob Ford and the School of Journalism’s law and ethics class. Listen here.
2013
The Grid, May 29, 2013
Ivor Shapiro: Journalism guru Q&A with Chair Ivor Shapiro on responsible reporting regarding Rob Ford’s media coverage. Click here to read.
Toronto Star, May 10, 2013
On the Canadian road to a national press council: Public Editor highlights report developed by the Ryerson Journalism Research Centre, written by Chair Ivor Shapiro, instructor Lisa Taylor and Edward Tubb. Click here to read.
Le Devoir, March 4, 2013
Mea culpa… Mea maxima culpa discusses study by Chair Ivor Shapiro, Colette Brin, Isabelle Bédard-Brûlé and Kasia Mychajlowycz.
Poynter, February 27, 2013
New research details how journalists verify information discusses study by Chair Ivor Shapiro, Colette Brin, Isabelle Bédard-Brûlé and Kasia Mychajlowycz. Click here to read.
Journalism Practice, February 4, 2013
Verification as a strategic ritual by Chair Ivor Shapiro, Colette Brin, Isabelle Bédard-Brûlé and Kasia Mychajlowycz.
CBC News: The National, January 9, 2013
Interview with Prof. Ivor Shapiro on TDSB director Chris Spence admitting to plagiarism.
2012
National Post, September 27, 2012
Terence Corcoran on Margaret Wente: Why we dont need public editors
Profiles Prof. Ivor Shapiro, chair, Ryerson School of Journalism. Click here to read article.
CBC Radio: The Current, September 26, 2012
Discussion on Globe columnist Margaret Wente plagiarism case includes Professor Ivor Shapiro. Listen here.
Toronto Star, April 13, 2012
Readers asked about role of press councils in digital age
Story about press council research by Ivor Shapiro and Lisa Taylor
Public Editor Kathy English quotes Professor Ivor Shapiro in this piece about Ryerson’s conference marking the 30th anniversary of the Charter Click here
2012
J-Source: The Canadian Journalism Project, February 29, 2012
Press Freedom: Who gives a damn, anyway?
Article by Ivor Shapiro discussing the apathy surrounding press freedom in Canada Click here