Journalism? Are you crazy?

What do you mean watchdog? I'm obviously a parrot! (Many thanks to my dog for modeling)

I recently began my job as a teaching assistant, and I’ve already had to clarify that I’m not a madwoman.

I’ll explain momentarily, but here’s some background: I’m assisting in the UBC School of Journalism’s only undergraduate course. The subject is New Media, and the class has proven to be a magnet for students who want to figure out if this field is right for them.

One such student interjected during the most recent lecture. We were looking at the Newspaper Death Watch website quite generally, but a specific poll caught the student’s eye.

“How would you answer that question?” she said to the instructor, Candis Callison.

The question: What would you tell a college student considering a journalism career?

The options:

1. What, are you nuts?
2. It’s a noble profession, but be prepared for a life of poverty
3. You can make a decent living, kid, but you’d better specialize
4. Go for it! This is a great time to get in on the ground floor.

Candis smiled and turned to me. (I am, after all, a student who decided to get into journalism despite the terror in my grandmother’s eyes.)

“What do you think, Fabiola?”

Well, I denied being “nuts” (though I did joke about embracing my status as a child of chaos) and wrote a follow-up forum post for the class. I started by saying that there is no short answer. Instead there’s a fascinating and ongoing debate. In fact, smart and experienced people hold a wide spectrum of views.

Although this is clearly dodging the question, I’m glad a student raised it so early in the semester. We’re going to revisit it often and, as we navigate the variables, I’d wager that opinions will change several times throughout the course.

In the meantime, I mentioned one point I’ve found interesting: CBC journalist Ira Basen believes that the “crisis in journalism” is not just economic but also existential. In fact, his two-part podcast on “News 2.0.” is a great entry point into the debate.

Part One

Part Two

I encouraged them (and you!) to take a break from the books and check it out. It’s a great overview of a complex landscape.

Some friends on twitter also weighed in:

@FierceFab Crazy in what way? The suspected crash of the industry and inability to absorb all the grads?—
Adrian MacNair (@unambig) January 08, 2011

@FierceFab This site may be of use for her: http://bit.ly/fq4CPE or she could ask that Q in #journchat Mon. nights on Twitter.—
Sarah Millar (@sarah_millar) January 08, 2011

@FierceFab Aliya S. King vs. Toure http://bit.ly/hmvZhz—
Jef (@Jeflee) January 08, 2011

@FierceFab We all accept the decline of the print medium, but it's merely an evolution in media. Just as with radio/TV.—
Adrian MacNair (@unambig) January 08, 2011

It’s too early to give away my thoughts on the matter, but clearly I was not deterred – even after attending many harrowing lectures and conferences, and reading tons of doomsday material.

Jesse Brown, for instance, started a speech for a room full of student journalists called “The Future of News.” He laughed at us as we leaned forward in our chairs and then told us the real title of his presentation, captured in the following photo:

Jesse Brown dashes dreams, but makes it damn funny.

(Spoiler alert!) Fabiola Carletti went to J-school anyway and, nearing graduation, still really wants to do this thing. She also thinks a lot of the journalists she admires are, well, just a little crazy — and she’s okay with that.

Note: Fabiola also lapses into the third person, from time to time.

Do you know where your e-waste goes?

Image from PBS FRONTLINE/World

Hey readers! Do you live in the Vancouver area? If so, I’d like to invite you to attend the following event that I’ve organized for Green College, the UBC residence at which I currently reside. The guest speaker is a friend and former resident who recently graduated from my J-school program at UBC.

If you can’t make it, you can watch the documentary on this blog. I’ve embedded it into an earlier post. Either way, please check it out! It’s 20 minutes extremely well spent.

Event Details:

Jodie Martinson holds her new Emmy. Photo courtesy JM.

Who: Jodie Martinson, former Green College resident and documentary filmmaker
What: Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground — screening, followed by Q&A
When: Nov. 7th, 2010 at 5:00 p.m.
Where: Green College coach house

Synopsis:

Jodie Martinson, a recent graduate from the UBC School of Journalism, has already earned an Emmy for her documentary film work.

She is among the first group of Canadian students to ever win the prestigious award, having beat out established heavyweights like 60 minutes, 48 Hours and Nightline. Under the leadership of Peter Klein, UBC associate professor and former 60 minutes producer, a ten-student troupe crafted an investigative news documentary called “Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground which aired on the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE/World in 2009.

The documentary follows the trail of discarded computers, or e-waste, to three communities in Ghana, China and India. Along the way, the investigative team uncovers serious threats to the environment, public health, human rights and information security.

On November 7th at 5:00 p.m., Martinson will return to Green College, her former home, and talk about the making of the film as well as the issues that inspired it. Please join us for a screening followed by a Q&A, and stay for dinner if you can!

So, you want to work at the Toronto Star radio room?

Today I combed my hair and sat on a panel of savvy second year students at the UBC School of Journalism. Our area of expertise: summer internships.

I’m not going to lie — it was pretty wonderful to see the look of muted terror on the first year students’ faces.

I’m not a sadist, folks. Let me explain: I remember sitting in their spot last year and wondering if I should just ditch J-school and run away with the circus. And, from unscientific polling, I know that most people in my class have felt the same way at some point.

This is how I felt about internships last year. Comic credit: Natalie Dee

(It’s also worth mentioning that Kathryn Gretsinger, our awesome prof and internship coordinator, noticed that a disproportionate amount of insecurity was coming from the ladies. “Why are all these brilliant women coming into my office with all of these doubts?!” she exclaimed. So, to my female colleagues: you got this!)

Not only were all the worrywarts in my year bright and capable, they can now tell stories about the interesting and variegated positions they secured in Canada and abroad. This year’s highly capable crew will do the same.

Ok, now to the goods.

After a summer at the Toronto Star, I feel like I’ve learned a thing or two about what the folks at 1 Yonge St. look for in a radio room intern. So, without further ado, I’m going to lay out some general advice for those interested in the particular position I obtained.

My only qualifier: this is my opinion based on my personal experience. Please take it for what it’s worth.

Landing a job at the Toronto Star Radio Room

My first day at the Star. Photo stealthily snapped by Roger Gillespie (iPhone enthusiast).

1. Read the Toronto Star in general, and the GTA section in particular. You should be aware of all the developing stories going on in the city, and be able to intelligently comment on the most prominent issues of the day. Don’t be afraid of the print edition. I’m sure they’ll find it heartening to hear about you literally flipping through their paper.
   
2. Understand the particulars of the job. I’ve written about it tons — just search “radio room” on this blog — and so has the guy that gives you the job, Roger Gillespie. His description of the position and the latest round of hires here.
   
3. Keep your finger on the pulse of the radio room. Follow their tweets on twitter (@starradiobox) and read the intern blog. Be able to pick out radio roomers that shine, and (if true) explain how your style resembles theirs. Also tell them about something new you can offer. Maybe a story was blowing up in the blogosphere far before the Star caught on and you would have been an early warning system.
   
4. Read up on and respect the Atkinson principles. The Star’s commitment to social justice, and the money they put into investigative work, is rooted in a set of principles named after the Star’s first publisher, Joseph Atkinson. In short: “a progressive newspaper should contribute to the advancement of society through pursuit of social, economic and political reforms.” He was particularly concerned about injustice, be it social, economic, political, legal or racial.
   
5. Acknowledge the uniqueness of the internship. The fact that the Star actually pays and nurtures its interns is not something to take for granted. Radio roomers participate in a series of workshops, start with shadow shifts under the watch of veteran interns and editors, receive information packages — like the famous box bible — and are encouraged to be as prepared as possible for a completely unpredictable job. Interns are also referred to as “Staff Reporters” in their bylines, but with great honour comes great responsibility. No hiding behind qualifiers like “student” this time.
   
6. Highlight moments in which the Star did great work and also offer constructive criticism. This shows that you didn’t start reading the paper the day before your interview. Reference good coverage that dates back a few months (ex: the G20 live blog) or any of the Star’s more recent awards. You should also politely point out a few areas in which you think the Star could improve.
   
7. Know and mention good bylines you follow. I mentioned Rob Cribb’s investigative pieces, Chris Hume’s incisive opinion pieces, and Cathal Kelly’s humour writing, but I also mentioned the work of other young interns doing great work (Jesse McLean, Madeleine White and Jennifer Yang, for instance). Yes, this means reading and reading and reading. You should know how the Star did on a few major stories and perhaps compare it to how the other major papers covered the same issues.
   
8. Be genuine. You know the Star often looks at uncomfortable topics (Do the police profile people of colour? Are seniors being well treated in nursing homes? How do young women express their feminism today?) So, figure out what you think of the Star’s slant and be self-reflexive about your role in all this. Why do you really want to write for this paper? If you believe in what it does, that’ll come through. If you don’t, that will too.
   
9. Dress to impress. Some people showed up on the first day of the job in t-shirts and jeans, while others wore suit jackets and collared shirts. In the words of my Prof. Joe Cutbirth, how you dress may be the difference between seeming like some kid who’s just doing a gig and an ambitious young professional. Look the part you want to play, not just for the interview but for every day you arrive at work.
   
10. Once in, make it count! Getting the job is just the beginning. You should really begin with the end in mind, imagining what it will take to have editors notice you and keep their eye on you even after your internship is over. Good luck, young ninjas. The fact that you read through this whole post and are actively seeking advice is a very good sign. When anxiety strikes, remember the motto from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Don’t Panic! 

Smarter Beach Books: a journalist’s shortlist

Photo by Gibson Claire McGuire Regester on Flickr

It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.  ~Oscar Wilde

When a journalist as smart as Kathryn Gretsinger lets you in on her summer reading short list, you pay attention.

As fellow student Jodie Martinson once said, Kathryn is a “professional human being.” She is  fantastic at what she does — both as a UBC professor and a CBC journalist — and, true to form, she recently took the time to share the source of some of her smarts with her students.

Here are her fifteen suggested  summer reads.

1. The New Journalist – Paul Benedetti, Tim Currie, Kim Kierans
2. The News about the News – Downey and Kaiser
3. A Little History of the World – E.M. Gombrich
4. The Chaos Scenario – Bob Garfield
5. We the Media – Dan Gillmor
6. Sound Reporting – Jonathan Kern
7. The Elements of Journalism – Kovach and Rosenstiel
8. Asking Questions – Paul McLaughlin (Hey! This is a former prof of mine. I can vouch for this one!)
9. Convergent Journalism – Quinn and Flak
10. REPORTING:  Writings from the New Yorker – David Remnick
11. Here Comes Everybody – Clay Shirky
12. The  Elements of Style - Strunk and White
13. On Writing Well - William Zinsser
14. What’s happening to News: The information explosion and the crisis in journalism – Jack Fuller
15. A History of Canadian Journalism - William Craick

From the breaking news desk: June 5-9

Photo by flickr user Tony Webster

• GTA will escape worst of severe rain warning
  Toronto to dodge significant rainfall and severe thunderstorm warnings issued for much of southern Ontario.
• Girl, 14, sexually assaulted in Etobicoke park
  Police are looking for a male suspect in his late teens following a sexual assault in Humber Bay Park West.
• Subway stations between St. George and Union close early this week
  Museum, Queen’s Park, St. Patrick, Osgoode and St. Andrew stations will close at 12 a.m., almost two hours earlier than normal, until June 11.
• Three female suspects involved in two violent muggings
  Police are searching for three women and two men in connection with separate early-morning muggings on Saturday.
• Phony cops rob men responding to sex ads
  A woman has been luring men to apartment buildings in the Bathurst St. and Finch Ave. W area, where they are mugged by men posing as police officers.
• Suspicious package closes 7 downtown subway stations
  Torontonians already seeing a higher level of security in the lead-up to the G20 summit

 

From the breaking news desk: May 29-June 1

One of the radio room scanners, displaying the code for 31 division

Today, for the first time, I called the mother of a victim who was shot–specifically, a 14-year-old boy who was sprayed with bullets through the window of his own home.

Fortunately, the teen did not die as a result of his injuries.

Unfortunately, this didn’t make it any easier to call his worried parent, nor to convince her to speak with me.

The thing is, my personal impulse is to give people their space without any hesitation. If they don’t want to talk,  I don’t really want to make them.

Professionally, though, I know that very few people open up right away. Sometimes I know I’ll have to push a little, but I also need to make sure I don’t shove. I believe it’s counter-productive to work against my personality that way.

Her child was shot in the family home while more of her children were around. The boy had to be rushed to hospital. That’s deeply traumatic, and not a feeling I can fain to understand. Of course she was weary of a stranger on the phone.

Then again, she spoke with another reporter (likely in person) which means she did have something to say about the incident.

This is the best I could think of to do:

When I called, I told her I was happy her son is still alive (because I am!) and that I would really love to hear, in her words, what happened (because I do!).

The good thing is that, although she was initially resistant,  she told me I could try calling her back later.

This is heartening, not because I wanted to nail the story (as I suspected, a senior reporter ended up taking it on anyway) but because I never want to lose the empathy that would make someone want to speak with me in the first place.

My first thought was not (and I hope will never be) “how can I squeeze some exclusive information out of this woman?”

Maybe because I have 14-year-old sister, my first thought was personal: “how would I feel if this had happened to Bebe?”

Then professional: “If this were my life, what kind of a journalist would I want to speak with?”

Here are the latest batch of stories

14-year-old shot in downtown home
A teenage boy is in hospital after being shot in a home near Grange Park.
(This story was later updated by other reporters)

High-risk offender to live in Listowel
OPP issues rare public alert about the presence of a 46-year-old man who has many previous criminal convictions.
Some Yonge subway stations to close early for a week
The early closure will affect Wellesley, College, Dundas, Queen and King stations from May 29 to June 4.
Expect many Sunday road closures
Several groups will take to the streets this Sunday, closing off or restricting automobile traffic around the city.
President’s Choice garlic bread recalled
Loblaw Ltd. is recalling “Baked by You” Roasted Garlic Bread over fears that a loaf may contain a metal pin.
Man stabbed at Lawrence and Midland Aves.
Police have arrested a man after a victim was stabbed with a knife in the Lawrence Ave. E and Midland Ave. area on Sunday morning.
Man drowns in Brampton lake
A 22-year-old man is dead after drowning in a Brampton lake Saturday.

UBC J-school students win prestigious US award

Lewis Kelly, 1st year UBC j-school student, shoots footage for a story about UBC farm

It’s that other j-school in the west—at least, that’s how I used to refer to the UBC School of Journalism.

Call me a self-centered Torontonian, but when considering graduates programs in journalism last year, I had my sights set on reputable Ryerson.

Nevertheless, I applied to the Vancouver program as a kind of flight of fancy, mostly wanting to contemplate the thought of skipping back three time zones and settling into that rainy city on the Pacific coast. (Okay, and maybe I thought it’d be pretty cool to report during the Olympics. Slight influence.)

Long story short: I ended up nixing my acceptance (and paid deposit) to Ryerson and making the last-minute switch.

After a wonderful first year at the school, I should really give the program some much-deserved kudos—especially given their students’ most recent accomplishment.

Ten students from the school’s International Reporting class, which is taught by former 60 Minutes producer and UBC Associate Professor Peter Klein, have won the Society for Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award, a top U.S. award in journalism.

The international reporting team put together an impressive news documentary called “Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground” on the global crumb trail of electronic waste. It aired on the PBS documentary series FRONTLINE/World last year.

The documentary is also nominated for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in the International Category.

Our director and Associate Professor Mary Lynn Young has called the recognition “a tremendous honour for a new, innovative Canadian journalism program.”

And Peter Klein is proud of his students as well:

“People work their entire careers to get either of these awards,” he said, “so it’s pretty special that our students achieved this recognition for the great work they’ve done.”

But before this all seems way too self-congratulating, I really have to encourage you all to see for yourselves:

Not only did the international reporting team make me rethink all the e-waste I’ve created in my time, they’ve also challenged me to see the word “student” as a mere modifier–and not a blight–on the word “journalist.”

UBC journalism students help map digital dumping grounds

The many macs of the UBC School of Journalism. Let's try to hold on to them for a long time!

“Waste is shipped here because nobody–meaning nobody in Europe or the United States–wants it in their own backyard”
~Mike Anane, Ghana-based environmental journalist

Do you ever think about e-waste? Do you wonder where your discarded cameras, cell phones, and computers go when you decide you want something spiffier?

In 2009, A team of UBC grad students tracked the trails of e-waste to three countries: Ghana, India and China. They did this as a part of the school of journalism’s international reporting course.

The students probably had no idea that they would end up discovering serious instances of cybercrime (which even put sensitive US government documents at risk) as well as exploring extreme human health risks in underprivileged communities.

Rather than re-hash their findings, I encourage you to watch their compelling documentary, which was created under the leadership of our professor, Peter Klein.

Click here to watch “Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground”

So what’s the big deal about UBC campus?

All images in this post are originals

The short answer: I’ll be responsible for finding that out. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have a beat. For the next while I’ll be learning all there is to know about the sprawling expanses formally known as the University of British Columbia.

With this daunting task in mind, I went on a very long walk today. But it wasn’t just any ol’ stroll—I touched furry plants and sniffed funny-looking flowers, I spoke to strangers and collected pamphlets, I snapped pictures and poked my head in offices. Essentially, I combed over a good deal of this campus with all five of my senses.

Although I’m exhausted, I am very very far from done.

I still have many questions lodged in my brain (it’s quite painful, really, so I have to get them out!). You see, the thing about talking to people is that they’re not always so sure that what they’re telling you is true.  Is there really going to be a giant whale skeleton up for display soon? Can young women (16-26) really test a new HPV vaccination and then put it on their resume as”volunteering”? (And should such recruitment be done on campus?) Are there really three hidden labyrinths at UBC?

Stay tuned as I discover the answers to these questions and more!

HEY UBC! If you know of an under-reported story on campus which you’d like to see covered, why not comment on this post and let me know what’s on your mind?

Two Roads Diverged. . .

irregular flow from 4khz on Vimeo.

It would be nice if I was contemplative sylph, like the one featured in the video above. The reality is that I’m a tad more frantic when it comes to making life-changing decisions.

The soundtrack to my stream of consciousness is more like the erratic parts of Stravinsky’s Right of Spring (3:50 onward in this clip, for instance). There is, however, one part of the above video that I relate to: Every time I put my finger on a new fact that I should consider, it spirals out in a spasmodic stream.

Until a few days ago, I had no doubts that Ryerson University would be my future home. RU has offered me a much-appreciated acceptance to their competitive Master of Journalism program and much-needed renewable scholarship that would cover about 90% of my academic expenses. I’ve since delivered my confirmation and paid my deposit.

Recently, however, the University of British Columbia has personally contacted me and offered me an extremely prestigious fellowship (that would cover my tuition and a significant portion of my living expenses), an opportunity to TA for a New Media course (that would also be an income stream) and the possibility of doing some international work. Not to mention the stunning degree of personal care and attention that UBC has given me.

As you may understand, the news leaves me feeling quite conflicted.

Ryerson had initially been my first choice but now I have to think through all the personal, professional and practical considerations that enshroud me. I want to make sure I understand and appreciate everything that both schools have to offer before making this difficult decision. At the same time, I realize how blessed I am…and to be honest I still can’t quite believe this is all happening.

Both schools are incredible, so my mind spins with thoughts of Toronto or Vancouver. Support network or independence. Being close to my loved ones or creating brand new relationships. Media hub of Canada or burgeoning city of Olympic potential.

I have a migraine.

I guess I just have to accept that every choice is half chance.