Lecture: In Defence of (Defence) Journalism with Murray Brewster

There was a time - not so very long ago - when being a defence correspondent was considered a career limiting move in Canadian journalism. All of the cool kids covered politics, the environment, health, the courts - even entertainment. Times have changed. Today, in the midst of enormous geopolitical instability and threats to Canada’s sovereignty, the number of journalists with an in-depth understanding of national power and responsibility - and policy choices and their consequences - can literally be counted on one hand. This at a time when governments are locked in message line mode and the online world is full of fakes, half-truths and blistering lies. We’ll set aside an evening to discuss defending defence journalism.

Murray Brewster is an Ottawa based correspondent for CBC News, where he is the senior Parliamentary defence and foreign policy writer. Previously, he was senior defence writer at The Canadian Press for over two decades. He has filed most recently from Ukraine and Iraq, but also spent 15 months in Afghanistan during the five-year Kandahar combat mission, travelling with troops and unilaterally throughout the country. His book, The Savage War: The Untold Battles of Afghanistan, was published in 2011 by John Wiley and Sons, and he was the lead writer on the documentary Kandahar Journals, which aired on CBC Documentary Channel and released in the U.S. in the fall of 2015. Additionally, he contributed a chapter to a book on former prime minister Stephen Harper’s policy legacy entitled The Harper Factor, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press. Murray has won a number of broadcast and print awards; was nominated twice for the Michener Awards for public service in journalism; and was honoured by the CDAI with the Ross Munro Award for war corresponding and defence coverage in 2010.

Doors open 6:00pm, lecture starts 6:30pm

No purchase necessary. Registration will close upon reaching capacity.

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The Highlander Lecture Series is presented by the University of Calgary Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies.