We Met U When… Season 4

Attending Toronto’s first Africentric Alternative School was a powerful experience for Sekou, who was quoted in a 2015 news story when he was in grade 7. As an adult, he remembers a lot of coverage that missed the mark. His mom doesn’t remember providing informed consent. This episode explores their experiences with journalists, consent and how Black stories are told.

This story about graffiti artist Moises Frank, aka Luvsumone or Luvs, took a turn our producers didn’t see coming. While learning about Moises mentoring young people, they realized he was teaching them something too. A deep dive into this artist’s life revealed a journey through grief and healing that was transformative for him – and the three guys producing this episode. 

In 2015 many women journalists suddenly became part of the story while simply trying to do their jobs. Around the world, strangers were interrupting live news reports, shouting a vulgar and sexist phrase. As one We Met U When… producer started learning about this gender-based harassment, past and present, she too found herself becoming part of the story.

As a DJ – and a competitive athlete – George Quarcoo, aka GQ Soundz, has been interviewed by multiple journalists. Many of them make the same mistake. We Met U When… producer Ariel Tozman set out to break that pattern. She introduces us to George and connects with another artist experiencing the same frustration, while also confronting her own assumptions.

After interviewing a former high school student who was quoted in a 2015 article on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, three non-Indigenous journalism students set out to produce this episode with care but nothing went as planned. In this episode, these student producers share the mistakes they made and lessons they learned in hopes of helping other journalists recognize how some journalistic practices can cause harm.