Rowland was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1944. He was married in 1978 to Christine Collie, with whom he has two children, Hilary and Simon.

Rowland has worked as a journalist for the Winnipeg Free Press, the Toronto Telegram, and Canadian television networks CBC and CTV. He holds a Ph.D. from Toronto's York University. He has lectured at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, and is a former Maclean Hunter Chair of Ethics in Communication at Ryerson University, Toronto. He is currently a professor of communications at York University. He has resided in Port Hope, Ontario since 1982.