Paula Todd is a Canadian investigative journalist, author, and lawyer. She is a professor in the School of Media at Seneca College.[1]

Paula Todd
NationalityCanadian
Education
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • lawyer
  • professor

In 2012, Todd published a book about the Canadian serial killer Karla Homolka and since then, she has published several books including Extreme Mean: Trolls, Bullies and Predators Online (2014), and Extreme Mean: Ending Cyber Abuse at School, Work & Home (2015). The book was a shortlisted nominee for the 2014 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and the 2015 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Nonfiction respectively.

Education and career

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In 1982, Todd had her BA in English from York University and LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1988.[2] She was called to the bar of the Law Society of Upper Canada (now known as Law Society of Ontario) in 1990.[3] As of 2019, she is licensed, non-practicing lawyer in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario.[4] After graduating in 1982, Todd was hired by the Toronto Star, where she worked as a reporter, feature writer, and political correspondent.[5] She also served as an editorial writer and a member of the editorial board.[5]

In 1996, she was hired by TVOntario, where she along Steve Paikin, co-hosted the nightly Studio 2.[5] She also hosted and co-produced Person 2 Person with Paula Todd, an interview program which aired in 2000.[5] Todd has worked for many broadcasting services including the CTV News Channel, where she was an investigative reporter as well as hosted The Verdict with Paula Todd.[6] The debut episode of The Verdict was broadcast in Chicago on 15 March 2007,[7] and covered Black v. United States, the criminal fraud trial of Conrad Black.[2]

Todd has written for numerous publications, including The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Maclean's, Canadian Living and Law Times.[citation needed]

Todd served as a judge for the National Newspaper Awards, the Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) Awards, is a National Magazine Award nominee, and won the Paramedic Association's Media Award for public education. She is a literacy advocate, and served on the Board of Directors of Integra, an organization that assists children and teens with learning disabilities, a cause she supports.[8]

She served on the board of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and is the author of the book A Quiet Courage: Inspiring Stories from All of Us which was published in 2004. It was based on Person 2 Person.[9]

A frequent contributor to radio and television before joining TVO, Todd was a regular host on CBC Newsworld's Face Off, appeared as a frequent Global TV and CBC panelist, and also as a political analyst for CBC Radio in Toronto and Ottawa. Her contract with CTV News began on 1 March 2007.[10]

Writing

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In 2012, Todd wrote a book chronicling her search for and eventual discovery of Karla Homolka several years after Homolka had been released from prison.[11]

In 2014, Signal Books published Todd's third non-fiction book, Extreme Mean: Ending Cyberabuse at School, Work and Home. Her book was shortlisted by the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction in 2014[12] and the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Non-Fiction in 2015.[13]

Works

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  • A Quiet Courage: Inspiring Stories from All of Us. Midpoint Trade Books. 2004. ISBN 9780887621550.
  • Finding Karla: How I Tracked Down An Elusive Serial Child Killer. Canadian Writers Group/The Atavist. 2012.
  • Extreme Mean. Signal. 2014.

Notes

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References

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