BJ (Carleton), MEd (MSVU)
Fred Vallance-Jones is an award-winning journalist and author who has taught at King’s since 2007. He teaches investigative and data journalism in the master of journalism program, journalism research in the four-year undergraduate program, and leads the King’s investigative workshop, in which fourth-year and one-year bachelor of journalism students pursue a significant investigative story as a team. The investigative workshop has been nominated for numerous awards, including a global data journalism award in 2012. The team won a 2010 CAJ investigative reporting award for its project on VLT gambling. Professor Vallance-Jones also leads an annual professional development workshop for working journalists, the King’s Summer School in Data Journalism.
Prior to joining King’s, Professor Vallance-Jones had a 23-year career as a journalist with the CBC and Hamilton Spectator, winning many reporting awards, including a National Newspaper Award and an IRE award. Professor Vallance-Jones was a finalist for Canada’s most prestigious journalism prize, the Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism.
Professor Vallance-Jones is one of Canada’s leading authorities on freedom of information, and is also a specialist in data journalism and investigative journalism. He leads the Newspapers Canada Freedom of Information Audit, which annually tests the performance of government bureaucracies in responding to open records requests. Selected King’s students assist with the audit process.
Selected Publications
- National Freedom of Information Audit, 2014. Toronto: Newspapers Canada, 2014.
- National Freedom of Information Audit, 2012. Toronto: Newspapers Canada, 2012.
- National Freedom of Information Audit, 2011. Toronto: Newspapers Canada, 2011.
- National Freedom of Information Audit, 2009-2010. Toronto: Canadian Newspapers Association, 2010.
- National Freedom of Information Audit, 2008. Toronto: Canadian Newspapers Association, 2008.
- “Access, Administration, and Democratic Intent”. In Brokering Access Power, Politics, and Freedom of Information Process in Canada, edited by Mike Larsen and Kevin Walby. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2012.
- Digging Deeper: A Canadian Reporters Research Guide, 3rd ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press, upcoming, 2015.
- Digging Deeper: A Canadian Reporters Research Guide, 2nd ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2011.
- Contributed partial chapter in The New Journalist: Roles, Skills, and Critical Thinking. Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2010.
- Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Comprehensive Primer, Oxford University Press, 2008
- Digging Deeper: A Canadian Reporter’s Research Guide, Oxford University Press, 2006.
- “Journalists’ Use of Freedom of Information: A Failed Promise,” paper presented to the annual meeting of the Canadian Communication Association, 2012, Waterloo.
- “When students become the investigators,” paper presented to the annual meeting of the Canadian Communication Association, 2010, Montreal, and published in the proceedings of the Journalism Interest Group.
- “Freedom of Information: How Administrative Hurdles Influence Reporter Acceptance”, paper presented at the Canadian Communication Association annual meeting, May 2009
INTERESTS: Data journalism, investigative journalism, freedom of information
