Take an unusual and wry look at the mass media with an industry insider who recalls a nearly forty-year career. A media professional and academic, Yates dissects the media business as a consumer, practitioner and theorist. He observes that we tend to be literate when it comes to information technology but often illiterate regarding media process and impact. The physical nature and infrastructure of the media are in ferment and, as technology becomes faster, smaller and handier, the media can have pervasive and insidious influences and he cautions, with illustrations from a varied career, about the importance of knowing what to guard against in this fast-changing world.

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, Alan J. Yates moved to Canada in his late teens, where he pursued a career in journalism and broadcasting, much of it with the CBC. He also pursued an academic path on the side, with graduate degrees in Communications from McGill University in Montreal and taught Communications at the University of Ottawa. Now retired, he lives in Ottawa.

Alan J. Yates' profile page