Gutstein, Donald

Donald Gutstein has studied the media and right-wing think tanks for two decades. His concerns are to understand how and why the Right is winning the war of ideas and to encourage the Left to get on the battlefield. Conservatives have successfully framed most issues. Progressives need to create their own frames, not just respond to conservative frames, which is a losing strategy.

Publications and teaching

Donald has written four books on a variety of subjects, the most recent being Not a Conspiracy Theory: How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy (Key Porter 2009). He has also written books about the commercialization of the Internet (e.con: How the Internet Undermines Democracy, Stoddart 1999), foreign investment in Canadian real estate (The New Landlords: Asian Investment in Canadian Real Estate, Press Porcepic 1991) and his first book, Vancouver Ltd, (Lorimer 1975), about Vancouver’s planning and politics.

In addition to these books, He has written dozens of articles, many of which you’ll find on his site www.donaldgutstein.com. Donald has also written chapters in academic texts, and has started a blog on media, propaganda, right-wing think tanks and framing.

Donald taught in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University for more than two decades and is now an adjunct professor at the school. He taught a course in documentary research, which gave students the skills and confidence to find out for themselves. He also taught an introduction to journalism in Canada course, as well as courses in information policy and propaganda analysis.

For about ten years he taught urban politics in the Department of Political Science at SFU, and taught several sessions on researching local stories for Langara College’s Journalism Program.