"Big News for Growing Minds"
Updated: Oct 21, 2025
“Big News for Growing Minds” is a podcast series that explores how, in an age of unregulated access to social media and declining media literacy skills among younger audiences, Canadian media are adapting to produce and deliver digestible news and educational content to keep kids engaged and informed.
Episode 1
Guest Bio: Lisa Fender is the Senior Producer at CBC Kids News, a digital news platform tailored towards children aged 9 to 13. Launched in September 2018, CBC Kids News aims to enhance media literacy among young audiences by providing age-appropriate news content and engaging tools to help kids navigate the digital world safely. With expertise in multiplatform storytelling, media production, and digital strategy, Lisa is no stranger to leading teams under high-pressure deadlines. Under her leadership, CBC Kids News has garnered several accolades, including a Canadian Screen Award and a Kidscreen Award.
Music Credits
Music by Mark Mothersbaugh – "Fox In The Field" from iMovie
Music by Freckleland – "Paper Ships" from iMovie
Episode 2
Guest Bio: Josanne Buchanan is a children's tech and media researcher, developmental psychology scholar, and children's rights enthusiast. Her research focuses on understanding how children's identities and experiences influence their well-being, particularly examining the links between media use habits of youth from racialized backgrounds and their mental health outcomes. She is also the founder of Screenspire, a digital wellness education platform that provides teens and young adults with research-informed resources to help them thrive in the digital age. In her consulting role, Josanne has collaborated with major media companies such as Disney Junior, Netflix Animation, Nickelodeon, and Corus Entertainment to develop content that authentically represents the experiences of young audiences.
Music Credits
Music by Mark Mothersbaugh – "Fox In The Field" from iMovie
Music by Freckleland – "Paper Ships" from iMovie
Episode 3
Guest Bio: Ryan Tuchow is a senior reporter for the Toronto-based news outlet Kidscreen which covers the global kids entertainment industry. Among his accomplishments at Kidscreen, he broke the news of YouTube shuttering its kids and family division, he spoke to Ukranian kids' content producers about doing business while surviving just days after the invasion broke out, and has written plenty of in-depth features about industry trends around interactive content, AI and gaming. He has also been cited in books like "Who's Raising The Kids?: Big Tech, Big Business and the Lives of Children" and "From Networks to Netflix: A Guide to Changing Channels”.
Music Credits
Music by Mark Mothersbaugh – "Fox In The Field" from iMovie
Music by Freckleland – "Paper Ships" from iMovie
Episode 4
Guest Bio: Kim Wilson is the co-founder of the Children’s Media Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University as well as director and co-founder of ‘One Fish, Two Fish consulting”, a consulting collective dedicated to supporting content creators, with a focus on education, strategy, user testing and cultural consultation. A veteran of children’s media, Wilson has worked in public television for over 25 years, leading the kids’ departments at TVO and CBC, before returning to her alma mater TMU (formerly Ryerson) to help establish the Media Lab and to teach “Children’s Media”, a course that first inspired her as a student.
Music Credits
Music by Mark Mothersbaugh – "Fox In The Field" from iMovie
Music by Freckleland – "Paper Ships" from iMovie
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