Wade Rowland (born 1944) is a Canadian writer, journalist, and Emeritus Professor of Media and Communication Studies at York University in Toronto. His nonfiction brings journalism, media studies, intellectual history, and moral philosophy into conversation, with sustained attention to the public consequences of technology, corporate power, and communications systems.
Rowland worked in print and television journalism before teaching at Ryerson, Trent, and York University. His books range from the history of information and science to public broadcasting and ethics. In Polar Passage, written with Jeff MacInnis, he helped recount MacInnis and photographer Mike Beedell’s sail-powered transit of the Northwest Passage. Other works include Ockham’s Razor, Galileo’s Mistake, Greed, Inc., Saving the CBC, and Canada Lives Here.
His later writing has focused explicitly on the ethical questions posed by technological change. Morality by Design examines moral realism in relation to political, economic, environmental, and technological problems. His 2024 book The Storm of Progress considers climate change, artificial intelligence, and the ethical assumptions that can accompany ideas of progress. Rowland continues to publish essays through his official website.
This profile is awaiting source review; collected books are already linked below.
