Gene Allen is an adjunct professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, and the author of "Mr. Associated Press: Kent Cooper and the Twentieth-Century World of News". His research areas include: media history; the history of journalism; the evolution of news; news agencies; news and national identity; the popularization of history in film and television
He had an extensive and varied career as a television news and documentary producer and as a newspaper editor and reporter before joining TMU's Journalism faculty in 2001.