How to Talk the Talk: Speaking as Experts to the Popular Media (Skills Share)

On February 14, 2020, the Centre for Research in Cultural Studies (CRiCS) hosted "How to Talk the Talk: Speaking as Experts to the Popular Media (Skills Share)" as its second winter 2020 session in the Professional Development Series. Facilitated by Dr. Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land (Department of Criminal Justice), this session was an opportunity for faculty, students, and staff to learn from one another on how to talk to the popular media. Dr. Dobchuk-Land provided some personal background on working with the media and offered the group a number of tips to consider before, during, and after taking part in a media interview for print, radio, or television. As this session was a skills share, attendees then offered their own experiences and tips including the struggle to come up with "sound bites," and the value of a "message box."

Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land holds a PhD in Sociology from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. She studies the politics of imprisonment, policing, and settler colonialism through their local expressions in Winnipeg and Manitoba. She is particularly interested in understanding how left-wing and liberal social welfare programming and criminal justice reforms may inadvertently strengthen carceral and colonial infrastructure. In this context, she is pursuing research about the impacts of union activism on carceral expansion; the uses of “community policing” and School Resource Officers (SROs) to expand police power and influence; and the ongoing policing of poverty and securitization of public spaces.

(Image - Dr. Bronwyn Dobchuk-Land, Photo credit: Lauren Bosc)