TORONTO, September 9, 2021 -- Two prominent Canadian journalists, David Frum and Mark Starowicz, will share their views on media convergence, ownership and the future of public broadcasting during a free public lecture, The Future of Journalism: Two Perspectives, to be held on Wednesday, September 18. The lecture is the inaugural event of the Canadian Media Research Consortium (CMRC), a partnership of three university-based organizations dedicated to research and public discussion on the Canadian media. The annual lecture and CMRC are funded by Bell Globemedia as part of a benefits package created from BCE's acquisition of CTV. "We are grateful to Bell Globemedia and the CRTC for supporting this initiative," said York University Prof. Fred Fletcher, a CMRC director and head of the York/Ryerson Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture. "These lectures will help promote - made-in-Canada - responses to current and emerging media issues." David Frum served as special assistant/economic speech writer to U.S. President George W. Bush from January 2001 to February 2002. He has worked as a National Post columnist and a Senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute (a U.S. economic think tank). His books include: How We Got There (2000), What's Right (1996) and Dead Right (1994). Mark Starowicz is the creator and executive producer of CBC Television's highly acclaimed Canada: A People's History, the largest documentary production in Canadian history. As head of CBC's documentary programming, he is responsible for the flagship prime-time series Witness and Life and Times. He created As It Happens and Sunday Morning, programs which redefined CBC Radio. In 1982, he led a national CBC task force to revamp information programming. The result was the most successful television project of the time, The Journal. The CMRC is a partnership of Le Centre d'études sur les médias (Université Laval and L'école des Hautes études commerciales) the School of Journalism at the University of British Columbia, and the Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture (Ryerson University and York University).