The founder of one of the preeminent television production companies in Canada, David Paperny, is joining the UBC journalism school as the Canwest Visiting Professor.
Paperny is an award-winning television journalist whose documentary about Dr. Peter, a Vancouver man dying of AIDS, raised global awareness of the disease.
His appointment to UBC comes as many Canadians prepare to commemorate the 20th anniversary (Sept. 10) of the video diaries of Peter Jepson-Young, better known as “Dr. Peter.”
In 1994, Paperny received an Academy Award nomination for The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter (CBC/HBO), which documented the final two years of Jepson-Young’s life.
Paperny will teach Advanced Television Journalism at UBC for one term, starting September.
“This year’s Canwest Visiting Professor brings an expertise in award- winning broadcast journalism and documentary,” says Mary Lynn Young, director of UBC’s Graduate School of Journalism.
“This is a terrific opportunity for students to gain the most relevant professional best practices. The school is proud to have attracted a journalist of his calibre.”
Paperny was a founding Board Member of the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation. The Foundation established the Dr. Peter Centre in Vancouver, which provides a globally recognized integrated model of healthcare for people with HIV/AIDS.
Numerous honours
After receiving his Oscar nomination, Paperny and his wife Audrey Mehler formed Paperny Films, which has been named one of the top non-fiction production companies in the world. Paperny Films has produced more than 30 original documentary specials and 20 long-running series.
In 2008, Paperny received the top honour in the Canadian television industry by winning a Gemini Award for Best Biography Documentary for the feature film Confessions of an Innocent Man, which he directed. He also received the City of Vancouver Arts Award in 2008 and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2009.
Paperny received his BA from the University of Toronto and his MA from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. He began his career in broadcast journalism in 1983 at the CBC in Toronto where he worked as a field producer on national current affairs programs.
A high-resolution photo of Paperny is from UBC Public Affairs.
View a video clip of “The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter.”
Learn more about the The UBC Graduate School of Journalism.
