Award-winning journalist, author, and political activist Sally Armstrong visited Western University on Nov. 8 as the honorary speaker in the first “Gazette Talks” speaker event hosted by The Western Gazette newspaper.

Her talk “The Inside Scoop: Fake news, fake politicians, and how journalists get to the truth” shares her experiences as a journalist in global conflict zones, as well as her experiences in a world where journalists are so often discredited with the rise of the “fake news” phenomenon.

Armstrong, a celebrated Canadian journalist, focuses her work on women and girls in global conflict zones, such as Syria and Afghanistan. She has received the Amnesty International Media Award four times for her work as a journalist, and was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1998.

Armstrong began her career as a phys-ed teacher, with a focus on perceptual motor handicapped development, which is now known as learning disabilities.

She was approached by a man who was looking to start a magazine and wanted Armstrong to write about these topics. With absolutely no writing experience, Armstrong decided to try it out anyway. This magazine was Canadian Living. Armstrong fell in love with journalism immediately.

After leaving Canadian Living and taking the position of Editor- in-Chief at Homemakers magazine, a magazine that covered women's lifestyle, Armstrong became more interested in telling the stories of women and girls.

“I was a feminist myself, and those were pretty heady days, the [19]60's and [19]70's, for women. We were really the second wave of equality seekers. There was a lot that interested me as a young writer. I was doing fitness, and other softer subjects, but the more I did, the more I realized that women's stories needed to be told,” said Armstrong in an interview with Interrobang.

By this time, television news was broadcasting warzones into living rooms, but there was one thing missing: the stories of women and girls in these warzones.

Armstrong went on to travel all across the world to gain a better understanding of the living conditions of women and girls. Her stories range from the increasing amount of education for girls in Afghanistan to interviewing captured ISIS fighters in Iraq that used women and girls as sex slaves. She has dedicated her life to sharing the stories of women in global conflict zones, as she said she believes that “people that don't interfere, agree with the injustice”.

Even as someone who is often subjected to the sights of war-torn countries, Armstrong says her job is incredibly fulfilling, and encourages others who are interested in a career in journalism to pursue it.

“[Journalism] is a fantastic job, it's so fulfilling to me. It's very hard, it doesn't pay well, but you learn so much. You're in the front row of history all of the time. […] If you want to be a journalist, get out there and be a journalist. Learn how to do it, get all the skills and tools you can, and practise, practise, practise,” Armstrong said.

As discussed in her speech, journalism has been facing a lot of backlash due to the phenomenon of “fake news”, but Armstrong believes that in the current political climate, “our jobs are more important than ever”.

Michael Conley, the Editor- in-Chief for The Western Gazette, said he also believes in the importance of strong journalism.

“In today's climate, journalists are receiving a lot of criticism from various areas of society. A lot of the news that goes viral is more of an ‘info-tainment' variety than what I would call something that's purely journalistic,” Conley said in an interview with Interrobang.

Conley helped bring Armstrong to Western as a way of engaging with the community, but also to set a good example to those who are interested in a journalism career.

“In trying to create a larger direction for the Gazette, we thought of a speaker series as part of another number of initiatives we have been doing. We did some digging and we found Sally Armstrong, and I mean, Sally's track record speaks for itself so that was an easy sell. […] Bringing someone in that is at an elite level in terms of that which is purely journalistic is really motivating for people that want to pursue journalism or other media,” Conley said.

Conley says he hopes that the Gazette staff in the future will bring in more speakers in a variety of areas.