Ellin Bessner's blog

New Centennial Journalism Magazine for International Students wins IPAO award

2012-01-24T10:38:00.000-05:00

Michael Brooke (Concrete Wave), Barry Finn (the Rider), Marcia Todd (FabricCare Canada), Mike Davis (Escarpment Views), Johanna Power (Lake Simcoe Living) and Ellin Bessner ( Centennial College Journalism), with the editors of InFuze Magazine.

InFuze Magazine, Toronto's first magazine directly specifically at the 20,000 international students who come to the city to attend university or college each year, won the 2011 Independent Publishers Association of Ontario's award for best new niche magazine, at a dinner last week in Toronto.

The publishers urged the journalism students to continue with their magazine as a viable business, and urged them to make the jump into independent publishing.

The students created InFuze for the Advanced Magazine publishing course which is part of their senior semester at the joint journalism program between Centennial College and the University of Toronto.

InFuze editors present their magazine to the IPAO publishers. (l to r) Natalie Sequeira, Aakanksha Tangri, Chantelle Henriques, Erica Tiangco and Janice Yeung.

Second place magazine was TastingSuccess, a magazine for restaurant entrepreneurs in the Toronto area.

Kaitlynn Ford and Jessica Lee of Tasting Success magazine at their launch Dec. 16 (missing Yamri Tadesse, Hina Jasim and Nadia Persaud) Managing Editor: Paul Grossinger.

The other two fabulous magazines were EJECT, for the Queen Street West crowd of hipsters, indies, post-modern youth and non-conformists in the Toronto area,

Mersiha Gadzo, Jessica Moy, Patrice America , Christina Cheng and Kayla Kreutzberg at the launch of Eject (absent: Maryam Shah)

and Toronto 2.0, a magazine with urban thinker Richard Florida on the masthead, a magazine that takes a look at the future of the city.

Alex Kozovski, Kyle Larkin, Andre Thurairatnam, and James Wattie at the launch of their magazine Dec 16.

Special thanks to instructors Martin Seto (Masthead magazine), Kelly Dirken (Ironstone Printing), Adrian Doran (Adrian Doran design), Doug Bennet (North Island Graphic publishing), Jack Tachdjian (Spectracolor), Ted Fairhurst and Philip Alves(Centennial Journalism).

Managing Editors for all four magazines were Ellin Bessner (Centennial Journalism), and Paul Grossinger (founder of KAP Media and group publisher Security magazines, Annex Business Media.)

Tour CP24 newsroom, learn data mining and more: Canadian Association of Journalism conference 2012 takes shape in Toronto

2012-01-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. It’s just under four months to go until the Canadian Association of Journalists’ 2012 national conference, which is being held this spring in Toronto. Why am I blogging about this? Because I am helping to plan the event as a co chair of the conference.

We are thrilled to announce some of the exciting panels, workshops and events already confirmed for you at the three-day event April 27-29, 2012.

Start planning your spring trip to Toronto now!

o Special portfolio/resume workshops for job seekers

o Private tour of CTV’s Queen Street campus - the home to Much Music, E Talk, CP24, Broadcast News Network and more.

o Advanced Google for journalists workshop

o Data mining seminar with Buzz Data

o Full-day Computer-Assisted Reporting course with David McKie, CBC Radio News, and Glen McGregor, Ottawa Citizen

o Professionalization of journalists debate: yes or no?

o The future of talk radio in a digital world

o Local TV news is back!

o Private tour of the Toronto Star’s newsroom

o Journalism education: entrepreneurial journalism is now on the curriculum

o How the iPAD and smart phones have changed magazine publishing

o Sports journalism: Olympics 2012 coverage preview

o Journalistic independence from advertisers: some solutions

o New CAJ ethics guidelines for online journalism, after the Arab Spring.

o Reporters and trauma: Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma

o State of the Industry Outlook for 2012

o CAJ Awards Dinner and Gala

o Advanced Twitter for journalists workshop

o Networking/“speed dating” sessions with human resources/hiring managers

o Who is standing up for Canadian journalists? panel

Speakers:

Jennifer McGuire, Chief News Editor, CBC

Ron Nurwisah, Huffington Post, Canada, News Editor

Lynn Chambers, Group Publisher, Transcontinental, Canadian Living magazine

Jeffrey Orridge, Executive director, CBC Sports

Ward Smith, Global News, Toronto, News Director

Tina Cortese, City News, Toronto, Executive Producer, VP News

Sarah Millar, Openfile.ca, Social Media and Community Editor

Bert Bruser, Media law and ethics lawyer, Toronto Star

Stephen J.A. Ward, Ethics chair, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism

Momoko Price, BuzzData.com, Communications Director

Kirk Lapointe, CBC Ombudsman, U.B.C Graduate Journalism School

Ann Cavoukian, Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner

Rob Washburn, Loyalist College

Leslie de Freitas, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression

Saul Hansell, Betaworks, former NY Times tech reporter, AOL

Tony Burman, Ryerson University, former CBC and Al-Jazeera news executive

Jeffrey Dvorkin, former Ombudsman NPR, University of Toronto Journalism director

Malcolm Kelly, CBCSports.ca, coordinator Centennial College Sports Journalism program

Martin Seto, Texterity Canada, and blogger, Masthead.ca

Steve Cassar, CTV Toronto News Director

Steve Kowch, Kowchmedia.com, former PD CFRB Newstalk 1010

Sophia Hadzipetros, Manager, CBC News Toronto

Brian Myles, le Devoir, president, Federation Professionelle des Journalistes du Quebec

Alan Bass, Thompson Rivers University

Early bird rates are in place for the conference until April 5, 2012.

Book your hotel now, too, and save! Details are online at:

http://www.caj.ca/?page_id=1910

For further information, or to volunteer, or to sponsor the CAJ conference, please contact conference chairs:

Ellin Bessner, Centennial College Journalism , ellin@caj.ca

Shauna Rempel, the Toronto Star srempel@thestar.ca

Hugo Rodrigues, CAJ President, hugo@caj.ca

www.caj.ca

The veteran journalists who advise Centennial's journalism program + Press Freedom winner

2011-12-12T19:21:00.000-05:00

We are very lucky at Centennial College's three journalism programs (Fast Track post graduate, undergraduate joint program with University of Toronto, and the three year diploma for post secondary students).

Why?

Because our Program Advisory Committee -- the folks who volunteer to make sure we are doing a good job delivering the right mix of training and opportunities for our students -- is made up of dedicated, committed professionals from the journalism industry.

I don't think many people realize how much time and thought the members of our PAC put in to keep Centennial Journalism on the cutting edge of journalism education, and combined with the energy and vision of the faculty and staff, and the talented students, it was a very rewarding opportunity for me to attend the most recent meeting, to share what we are doing, and ask them for advice and input.

Some of the discussions ranged around telling Centennial Journalism's story more effectively on the web, and about possible new courses or future speakers and panel discussions for the students, especially about the ethics of online corrections.

The members of the PAC are:

Eric Morrison, former head, The Canadian Press
Marci Ien, Canada AM host
Jennifer McGuire, editor in chief CBC News
Sam Donkoh, freelance journalist and p.r. professional
Michael Brooke, Concrete Wave magazine publisher
Bert Bruser, media lawyer
Georgia Balogiannis, the Etobicoke Guardian, (Centennial grad!)
Chris Boutet, deputy editor (digital) the Globe and Mail
Heather Evans, CBC National News Health Unit
Alexandra Ward, student
Jesse Mirsky, student
Sarah Taguiam, student
Jeffrey Dvorkin, former CBC Radio News chief, NPR ombudsman, now U of T Journalism director

Alex Ward (student), Lindy Oughtred (faculty) and Nate Horowitz (Dean) at the program advisory committee meeting for Journalism

Stephen Cogan, Centennial College Journalism Coordinator, and Marci Ien, CTV Canada AM

Eric Morrison, former head The Canadian Press, committee chair, and Bert Bruser, media lawyer Toronto Star

Jeffrey Dvorkin, U of T Journalism director

Marci Ien, CTV Canada AM

Georgia Balogiannis, The Etobicoke Guardian

Really bad and blurry photo of Heather Evans (sorry!) , CBC National News Health desk, executive producer (bottom right)

Jennifer McGuire, CBC News editor in chief

*****
Yemeni journalist Khaled al-Hammadi, with Al Jazeera, won the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression International Press Freedom award here in Toronto in November. We were lucky to have him visit journalism students at Centennial College during his whirlwind trip to the city for the ceremonies. Students asked him how he got interested in journalism, what dangers he has faced, how he gets stories when in Yemen only the government is permitted to speak on the record, and other aspects of his courageous career trying to cover the Arab Spring and its effects in Yemen.

Khaled Al Hammadi with Centennial/U of T joint journalism program coordinator Ted Fairhurst

Khaled Al Hammadi talks to Centennial Journalism students

****
Where are they now?

Jennifer Phillips at Toronto City Hall, December 2011

Jennifer Phillips' profile on Bleacher Report

Jennifer Phillips, Centennial Journalism grad from 2005 or 2006, now works in communications at Toronto City Hall in the office of Mayor Rob Ford, in the protocol section. She is also an avid sports fan, and has written for the Bleacher Report, covering the Leafs, Marlies and other local sports teams.

Canadian Association of Journalists 2012 Conference..Save the Date

2011-12-08T12:26:00.000-05:00

Save the date! The 2012 CAJ conference is coming to Toronto

OTTAWA, Dec. 7, 2011 /CNW/ - The Canadian Association of Journalists'
annual conference is coming to Toronto in 2012.

The conference is scheduled to run from Friday April 27 to Sunday
afternoon April 29, 2012 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

For the first time, the CAJ's three-day line up will kick off during
Newspapers Canada's annual Ink&Beyond conference, which starts April 26
at the same hotel. This partnership will allow those attending either
conference to attend a full day of sessions on the Friday April 27, a
day that's capped off by the annual galas for the National Newspaper
Awards and the Ontario Community Newspaper Association.

The CAJ events committee is currently finalizing the full conference
schedule, but some of the panels and speakers that are already confirmed
include:

   * Local TV news is back! Featuring Ward Smith of Global TV, Sophia
   Hadzipetros of the CBC, Tina Cortese of City TV and Steve Kassar of
   CTV Toronto
   * A kickoff panel on the state of our industry featuring CBC News'
   Jennifer McGuire and other industry leaders
   * Sports journalism before the summer Olympics: moderated by Malcolm
   Kelly, CBC Sports.ca and co-ordinator of Canada's only post-grad
   sports journalism program
   * The latest in training on using Buzz Data, Google, and Adobe CS.
   * Daylong data journalism / computer-assisted reporting courses led by
   David McKie, Investigations team, CBC Radio News and the Ottawa
   Citizen's Glen McGregor.
   * The CAJ Awards gala Saturday night, April 28.
   * Sessions on trauma, professionalization, privacy, ethics and more.

The conference fee for CAJ members in good standing has already been set
at an early bird rate of $229. Other rates for students, single day
attendance, and keynote luncheons, are also available. Delegates
attending the Newspapers Canada conference and those attending the
National Newspapers Awards will qualify for reduced rates to the CAJ
conference. A room rate is available at the Royal York starting on April
26 and is set at $185 a night.

The CAJ will continue releasing more information on the 2012 CAJ
conference as it's confirmed and scheduled. For the latest information,
visit the Events / 2012 conference page

http://www.caj.ca/?p=1921

The CAJ is Canada's largest national professional organization for
journalists from all media, representing almost 600 members across the
country. The CAJ's primary roles are to provide high-quality
professional development for its members and public-interest advocacy.

*For further information: *

Hugo Rodrigues, CAJ president - 519-756-2020 ext. 2226, 519-535-8680
cell, hugo@caj.ca

Ellin Bessner, 2012 conference committee - ellin@caj.ca

416 289 5000 ext 8826

Peter Mansbridge dissed my Iphone and other tales from a CBC tour with my senior journalism students

2011-10-26T23:09:00.003-04:00

Centennial Journalism students meet Peter Mansbridge, CBC's The National chief anchor, at CBC HQ in Toronto

It's not every day I get to show my students a real working newsroom, nor have them hob nob with Canada's most famous news anchor, Peter Mansbridge.

The encounter came at the end of a half day behind the scenes tour of CBC where my graduating journalism students got a close look at how local, national and international news is produced. For many platforms, including radio, online, and local and national television.

Although our host, Mark Mietkiewicz was a little reluctant to bother Mansbridge, I insisted we get a look at his new office on the fourth floor of the CBC building at 250 Front Street West. Mansbridge, always amenable to talking to journalism students, came out, and greeted our group.

After all, I reasoned: he'd already met them before, kind of, when he spoke at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus a few years ago. At least that's what I told him. I even named dropped, mentioning one of the students who had interned with him for a few days directly as a result of his visit there.

He asked us what we'd thought of the tour, and I told him we got to see the Toronto supper hour newscast be off the air for the first 10 minutes of the show. That was a really unusual occurance (you can actually call it a disaster in the tv news biz), which had the anchor reading an apology, and the control room staff coping with the unforseen.

After the quick Q and A session, I begged Mansbridge for a group photo, and he kindly agreed. So I whipped out my I phone and asked our host Mark to do the honours and take some pictures.

When my sluggish cell phone with the cheap flowered pink rubber case took its sweet time coming to life, that's when the ribbing from Canada's most trusted anchor started.

"What, is that a 3G?" he said, incredulously. "Why don't you have a 4G?"

I mumbled something about not being able to afford one, embarrassed.

Only later, when the tour was over, did one of the students confirm that, yes, my I-phone had been dissed.

Do you think that is a small price to pay for a photo op with one of our idols?

What would Steve Jobs do?

That was the highlight of the tour for me. But for my students, it might have been getting the chance to sit at Mansbridge's anchor desk in the main CBC studio where they do "The National" every night.

And oh, by the way, he was wearing a purple dress shirt, in case you watch tonight's show. Check it out, and see if he changed.

Of course, Mansbridge doesn't sit. He stands, as we all know, since they revamped the look of the studio. Only the anchors for the CBC News Toronto local supper hour show get to sit down when they use the same set between 5 and 6:30 p.m.

Kyle Larkin in the studio of "The National" at CBC Headquarters in Toronto

Jessica Lee sits at the anchor desk in "The National" tv studio.

Yamri Tadesse ready for prime time at CBC 'The National" studio

Speaking of the studio, we learned that it had been designed by a fellow who actually isn't a TV insider, but rather, runs and designs nightclubs. Including a couple on Queen Street in Toronto. That explains the cool, disco lights and non-traditional materials they used to give the studio its distinctive look.

And, we learned you could transform the studio into a nightclub in no time at all.

Good to know in case we need to book a graduation party, or our next corporate function from Centennial Journalism.

Sophia Hadzipetros, Managing Editor of CBC News Toronto explains the lineup for tonight's Toronto local supper hour show with Mark Mietkiewicz, Staff development, and David Downey, compliance, our tour guides for the CBC Tour.

Alexandra Sienkiewicz, Centennial Journalism/U of T joint program grad from 2007, now show producer of the CBC Toronto supper hour newscast.

Do you think she looks a bit stressed? Alexandra Sienkiewicz was typing in an apology for the anchor Dwight Drummond to read on air, after it was discovered that the first 10 minutes or so of the 5 o'clock newscast weren't seen by viewers due to mix ups in some master control room somewhere (we're not quite sure what happened).

She was in the first class of joint journalism students who took the combined U of T/ Centennial four year program at the college's Morningside campus when I began teaching the core News Reporting class there in 2006.

We also visited with the CBC Radio program "The World this Hour" and watched host Bernie McNamee read the 4 o'clock news, and perhaps we brought bad luck everywhere we went today, because at about 3 minutes into the broadcast, we started hearing him have trouble breathing. Then he would turn the mic off for a second, resume the newscast, and read like he was choking.

I was worried he was sick. The students in the control room looked at each other and wondered what was going on.

My old friend, producer Peter Leo, didn't appear too worried, though. And eventually, McNamee made it through the 9 and a half minutes, without any further trouble.

Kyle Larkin and Bernie McNamee with Mersiha Gadzo

Afterwords, he told the students the audience is usually very forgiving of stumbles. What they hate, he told us, is when you pronounce a place name incorrectly. Then, watch out!

Melanie Schawill at the CBC Weather Centre

Do you like ad libbing without a teleprompter, do you like gesturing to a monitor on the side of the studio, and pretending you can actually see the cities, their temperatures, and the cold fronts moving in from the west?

Then presenting the weather is for you.

Our students got to try their hand at being weather forecasters at the CBC weather centre. And, oh yeah, when we arrived, the anchor, Michelle Leslie was stressing out because her weather computers weren't working.

It seems to have been a theme today. Bad luck everywhere we went. Eventually, Nick Czernkovich, her colleague and national weather anchor, was able to get the weather computers working.

Octavian Lacatusu learning how to do the weather

Mersiha Gadzo shows us showers in Buffalo

Mersiha Gadzo with Ellin Bessner behind the lines at the CBC Weather Centre

A special special thanks to our tour guides extraordinaire Mark Mietkiewicz and David Downey of CBC News, who also showed us the "Here and Now" radio program, the High Risk deployment desk which takes care of reporters and crews in dangerous places like Afghanistan and Libya, and took us through the maze of corridors and control rooms that make up the 4th-5th-6th floors of the amazing CBC building.

Takeaways?

Cool CBC Weather thermometers, and some Online News handbooks, and some great contacts for future internships.

Ontario Election 2011 live coverage by Centennial Journalism students

2011-10-07T00:18:00.001-04:00

Our students did themselves proud tonight fanning out across the city to bring our viewers and readers the latest results from the Ontario provincial election 2011.

From Scarborough to East York, they covered the ridings and the close races, in print, online, radio and television for TorontoObserver.ca, the print editions of the Scarborough Observer and the East York Observer, Centennial Journalism's website, and Observer TV News.

Nicole Pulsinelli works the camera for Observer TV News

Ani Hajderaj checks the camera

Yamri Tadesse and Aneta Tasheva for the 10:30 p.m. show

Yamri Tadesse and Deeanna Charrion on air with Ani Hajderaj on camera

Lindy Oughtred watches as Alex Ward and Shannon Keller cover the East York races

They did two live television shows from the newsroom of the Toronto Observer in East York. With hosts Deeanna Charrion and Aneta Tasheva, and analyst Yamri Tadesse, with sports updates provided by Mike Woodrow of Centennial Sports TV, and by Kyle Larkin and James Wattie of the joint journalism program with the University of Toronto.

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Students from the first semester of Fast Track journalism sent in stories from their ridings and instructor Ted Barris was still marking copy at 3 a.m. And students in first semester of the Centennial Joint Journalism program with UTSC were out across the GTA last night, from Brampton to Ajax interviewing the candidates they'd profiled earlier in the semester. Rebecca Raveendran sent this snapshot from the victory party of Kathleen Wynne, former Minister of Transportation, who was re elected in Don Valley West.

Kathleen Wynne, photo Rebecca Raveendran

And Teona Baetu sent this one in from Mike Colle's too-close-for-comfort 5th re election in Eglinton-Lawrence.

Mike Colle celebrates victory, photo by Teona Baetu

Toronto Observer redesign unveiled + newsroom tv studio new look

2011-09-24T11:13:00.000-04:00

TORONTO OBSERVER REDESIGN

One of Toronto's award-winning community newspapers, the Toronto Observer brand, has been given a spiffy new look, and the first edition rolled off the presses Friday for distribution in the Scarborough area.

First edition of Scarborough Observer, new design

The newspaper, with its online companion TorontoObserver.ca, is produced by journalism students at Centennial College in Toronto. It has two readership catchment areas: East York, and Scarborough. This is due to our dual campus locations for the past half dozen years: East York's students at 951 Carlaw Avenue, near Danforth and Pape, and the UTSC/Centennial Joint Program students working from 755 Morningside, at Morningside and Ellesmere.

This fall, all the journalism programs are now located in Centennial Journalism's revamped newsroom in East York, where students from both the U of T/Centennial Joint Program and the East York fast-track and three-year programs work side by side with the Sports Journalism students.

The redesign, by Observer instructor Andrew Mair, who also works at the Toronto Sun, was unveiled earlier this week, after extensive consultations with outside experts and academics. Stories will be shorter, they will be focused on how they impact the readers, and layout and colour has been updated as well.

Andrew Mair with redesigned Observer template

Journalism students get a sneak peak of the new Observer

What do you think? Click here to see the old Observer and the new one, side by side.

NEW TV STUDIO for JOURNALISM

As part of the overall renovations to Centennial Journalism, the broadcast studio has also been given a new look: a new lighting grid installed by technicians from Videoscope, under the leadership of Ken Thasan. The anchor desk was donated by Earl Helland of Up Workshop, who's company has also built sets for Sportsnet, Maple Leafs TV, CTV and many more. It's still not done yet, but plans are to have everything ready for the live broadcast October 6, when students will cover the Ontario Provincial Election.

CAMPUS LIFE

Digital Imaging class gets clicking in the courtyard with Instructor Neil Ward.

Neil Ward gives photo pointers to Fast Track journalism students

RADIO NATION

Radio host Nicholas Pescod has been busy with his popular online music show "Radio Nation" which is broadcast from the lobby of Centennial Journalism's East York Campus.

In June Radio Nation was mentioned in the Brantford Expositor:

read article here

(Page 25 middle column at the bottom.)

Pescod says, "It's a small blurb but none the less it was pretty exciting."

In July he was interviewed on a Florida online radio show called, Friends Music Life (FML Radio) on www.W4CY.com

Listen for an interview with Sarah Lenore in late September. She was featured on America's Got Talent in 2008.

Centennial Journalism, Anderson Cooper, and Harry Potter

2011-09-14T00:07:00.000-04:00

How I spent My Summer Vacation: Centennial Journalism student visits Anderson Cooper's new show in New York.

Anderson Cooper and Aakanksha Tangri

Anderson Cooper's new day time talk show hit your televisions this week in North America. It's a departure from his usual disaster-coverage reporting seen on his other show "Anderson Cooper 360" every night on CNN.

This lifestyle show, available at 5 p.m. on CTV Toronto, is called "Anderson". It will feature folks like Snooki from Jersey Shore, and other softer news interviews.

Our own Aakanksha Tangri, who is in her final semester of the joint journalism program with the University of Toronto, scored some coveted tickets to several of the tapings and even got to meet Cooper.

Here are her impressions of watching the star at work.

I watched a taping (actually three…) of Anderson Cooper’s new daytime talk show Anderson in New York City. After getting through security and filling out the waivers, we were seated in the studio. The set is classy and overlooks Columbus Circle. Cooper got a standing ovation when he walked in. After the first taping, we were told they had a “surprise” for us. It turned out to be Harry Potter star, Daniel Radcliffe! Radcliffe and Cooper worked together in the Broadway play “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” The conversation was lighthearted and he took questions from the audience. There was another taping after and those who wanted to stay back could, and I of course did…

Throughout the three tapings, there was a lot of audience interaction and we could ask the guests questions (and to Cooper during commercial breaks). I observed the interviewing techniques he used and I knew those (and had even applied it) from what we learned in class. Leaning forward, pauses between questions, lingering eye contact and the different styles of questions. As a journalism student, I’m always curious to know what interviewing techniques good journalists use and I had a sense of reassurance seeing him apply what I’ve learned in j-school.

His producers and crew were very friendly and kept the atmosphere on the set light and humorous (some of them even danced!).

What struck me the most was how unpretentious and friendly Cooper is. He accepted when he made mistakes and discussed everything under the sun the audience wanted to. It was a memorable experience and I definitely learned a lot about interviewing by being part of the audience and watching the tapings.

Anderson set in NYC, photos courtesy Aakanksha Tangri

Do visible minority journalists in GTA newsrooms have to give up their cultural identity to be accepted by Canadian audiences/readers?

That's the question University of Toronto/ Centennial Journalism graduate Abbas Somji asked prominent journalists in the Greater Toronto area this summer in his new documentary film "Invisible vs Visible." The study of Toronto's newsrooms was part of his master's thesis for Ryerson and York's joint program.

He interviewed Tony Wong of the Toronto Star, Harold Hosein of 680 News, Aparita Bhandari of CBC, among others. His findings and documentary are here on Vimeo:

Abbas Somji's documentary

Oh, and you can now call him Abbas Somji, MA.

We've invited Abbas to screen his film at Centennial Journalism later this school year.

Where our Grads Are:

Dan Bilicki blogs about sports for the Toronto Sun…from a young person's perspective.

Daniela Payne is now health editor at Canadianliving. Com

Jon Spratt is the Muskoka reporter for Metroland.

Adam Bemma is now producing a regular audio podcast for Journalists for Human Rights.

Back to School: Week 1

Journalism students search for story ideas everywhere. Pipe cleaners can even be a story, if you do a little research.

Pipe cleaner creation "eyewear" in J0-211-100 Intro to Reporting

My family helped Lloyd Robertson cover 9-11 and other memories of Canada's Most Trusted Anchor

2011-09-02T10:09:00.000-04:00

"Goodnight Lloyd"

When the twin towers were hit on Sept 11, 2001, I was working for CTV News and CTV Newsnet in Toronto (before it was renamed CTV News Channel, it used to be called Newsnet) in several capacities.

I was a business anchor in the CTV national newsroom (see screen cap), but I also did writing, and editing for Newsnet, I worked as one of the writers for the CTV National News with Sandi Rinaldo, I wrote and posted stories on CTV.ca and I worked on their coverage of Pope John Paul the second's illness and death.

At CTV National News, it isn't unusual for journalists to do a lot of things. That's one of the great things about working there: lot's of opportunities.

But part of the reason why folks do a lot of different journalistic functions at CTV News headquarters might be because the CTV national newsroom is pretty small, despite how it looks on TV.

Everyone works closely together in a main hub, at Channel 9 Court in Toronto. The assignment editors, writers, producers, video editors, master control, and the senior news executives' offices all are in or on top of this open hub.

Which is how I got to rub shoulders with Lloyd Robertson.

His office is, as CBC Ombudsman Kirk Lapointe points out in his blog, pretty small for someone who has been a giant in the Canadian news business for so long. It was located in the north east corner of the newsroom, right beside where the staff mailboxes were, on the way to the bathroom and some recording rooms and the library.

So when I was a business anchor there, my anchor desk was actually right beside Lloyd's office. I remember how awed I used to feel as he would come into work in the afternoons. He drove his own car. No limo driver for him. And he always encouraged everyone with a friendly greeting, a supportive comment, and made everyone treat him as if he was an ordinary guy.

I only heard him yell once in the years I worked at CTV (1997-2006).

It was when he was anchoring a newscast. When the show went to commercial break, he was livid because someone had gotten the name of a newsmaker wrong in one of Lloyd's scripts, or had misspelled the name (I was never quite sure). He yelled down from his anchor chair to his senior writer Jeff Wigle (who is now at the helm of Sun TV News) to find out how this had happened. I imagine it was horrifying to Lloyd because he was a consummate professional and didn't enjoy what he must have felt was a blow to his credibility as a newscaster.

I also remember feeling secretly scandalized, yet proud, when I once saw Lloyd dressed for anchoring in his suit, but wearing bedroom slippers on his feet under the anchor desk. I thought that showed that he was a normal human being who also suffers from sore feet once in a while.

But Lloyd's the coverage of Sept. 11, 2001 showed how extraordinarily talented he is.

When the news broke about the Twin Towers, I wasn't scheduled to work that day. Like most people, I was glued to the TV and feeling extremely shaky and scared. But I called the human resources guy Ted Wilson and asked to be able to come in to the newsroom to help. When I got there at 5 p.m., Lloyd had already been on the air for hours, live.

We were all flying on adrenaline, as no one had experienced anything like this terror attack before. Tom Haberstroh and Joanne MacDonald and the specials team were hunkered down in the control room, while Lloyd was in the national news desk chair, calmly and authoritatively reviewing the information for Canadians, as it came in, and taking directions in his earpiece. As he has said, the crazier things get, the calmer an anchor needs to be to avoid panicking the viewers.

Lloyd's live 9-11 special needed continuous interviews and guests to fill the airtime, so I whipped out my little black book, and got to work. My step-sister Karen is a Canadian lawyer who lives with her family in New York City. I got her on the line, asked if she would take a call and be interviewed by Lloyd. I remember she told him she was sitting on the floor in their apartment hunkered down, and in shock at what had happened.

Next I got my sister's sister-in-law lined up for Lloyd to interview: Rhonda is a Canadian psychologist specializing in anxiety and stress disorders for people who've survived terrorist attacks. She's normally based in Israel but she was in New York on 9-11, and decided to make her way down to the hospitals to see if she could help out. Lloyd interviewed her, too, about what the psychological implications would be for survivors of the 9-11 attacks.

I don't remember seeing Lloyd leave the anchor desk for the entire 14 hours he provided live coverage of the 9-11 attacks.

Watching his daughter's tribute documentary and his final newscast last night will be required viewing for my television students this fall at Centennial College in Toronto.
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-picks/lloyd-robertson/

Goodnight Lloyd.

Kosher Food Bank in Toronto: main donor? Salvation Army

2011-08-31T21:20:00.000-04:00

my story today in the Canadian Jewish News

Jack Layton and Centennial Journalism

2011-08-22T16:26:00.000-04:00

Toronto Star coverage of Layton's visit to Centennial Journalism January 17, 2006

Jack Layton and Olivia Chow scrumming with reporters at Centennial Journalism, photo by Mark Toljagic

Jack Layton scrumming with students at Centennial journalism during election campaign January 2006/photo by Mark Toljagic

Jack Layton has been one of the most high profile newsmakers to be interviewed by students at Centennial Journalism over the years. Not only was he the local MP for the riding where our college journalism school is located, Toronto-Danforth, but as national leader he brought his campaign bus to the School of Communications, Media and Design on Carlaw Avenue for a whistle-stop tour.
The Toronto Star story from January 17, 2006 shows journalism students including Sean Pearce, Justin Warner, Liz Dewdney, Vanessa Gates, Dharm Makwana, Megan Eves, George Zicarelli and Neil Springer, as well as instructor Ellin Bessner, scrumming Layton in amongst the national news reporters like James Murray of CBC.
Layton's campaign office in the May 2011 election was on Broadview, just a few blocks away from the Toronto Observer newsroom, where our students put out an online and bi-weekly newspaper.
He will be missed.Check out the Toronto Observer for more coverage and archived stories about him by our students.
This note was sent today by the marketing department of Centennial College.
"It is with great sadness that we have come to hear that Mr. Jack Layton - by far the most trusted federal party leader with whom a majority of Canadians had wished to share a drink and a chat - passed away early this morning in his Toronto home surrounded by his family and close friends. He was 61 years of age.
Mr. Layton visited Centennial College during the 2006 federal election when he came to The Centre for Creative Communications in his East York riding to hold a press conference, in part for the benefit of our Journalism students. By all accounts he was a polished and eloquent speaker who chose to take the high road and speak about sound policies and nation-building, rather than engage in mud-slinging.
Our country has lost a passionate leader and a great Canadian. As someone remarked online today, when we lost Pierre Trudeau we lost a link to our past; when we lost Jack Layton we lost a link to our future. Out of respect for the Layton family, we are lowering our campus flags this week until Mr. Layton is laid to rest. "

http://centennialjournalism.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/jack-layton-and-centennial-journalism/

Centennial Journalism on Facebook

2011-08-21T16:58:00.000-04:00

Back to school

Monday is the first day back to work for many Centennial Journalism faculty members, although Malcolm Kelly and the sports journalism students have been hard at work all summer. It’s exciting to see the renovations to the Toronto Observer newsroom take shape. Here are the latest photos of the newsroom under construction (from Friday Aug. 19) taken by Ted Fairhurst.

looking north towards Ted Barris' office

From room 147 no wall between classroom and old 149 newsroom

Ted F and Malcolm's new offices

No more door near TV news anchor desk entrance

Another view of new faculty offices

This fall, all four journalism streams will be attending classes and taking courses only at the Carlaw Avenue campus.

Orientation for new students is Tuesday Aug 30.

Fast track students @ 8:30 a.m. in room 295/297 (lunch included)

Three year, and UTSC joint journalism students @ 9:45 a.m. in room 295/297 (lunch included)

Parking is free. Parents welcome.

http://www.centennialcollege.ca/mycentennial/orientation/aug302011

First Day of Classes: all programs

Tuesday Sept 6 at 951 Carlaw Avenue.

Centennial Journalism is on Facebook

The program now has its own official Facebook page for announcements, news, photos and events. Thanks to Steve Cogan and family for setting it up. Check it out! Like us!

Observer Radio News

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Centennial Journalism webmaster and multiplatform instructor Phil Alves has posted dozens and dozens of Observer Radio News voicers from this past semester to the college student portfolio portal Centennial onDemand. Have a listen! If they are yours, don't forget to save the links and post them to your own personal portfolio.

http://centennialondemand.com/channel/media/audio/observer-radio-news/

Where are our grads:

Murray Crawford is out in Lloydminster, Alberta at the Meridian Booster, a Sunmedia paper. He was just promoted to senior reporter.

Jane Wang completed the Joint Program in Journalism in December 2007. She then attended law school. Jane wrote her bar exams in the spring of 2011. She is now articling with the Toronto law firm, Torkin Manes LLP.

Lindsay Bodnaruk was in the 2006/07 college cohort. She did her internship at Entertainment Tonight Canada. Lindsay is now an office manager with Buck Productions, a global leader in commercial, film, and television production.

Eleni Kanavas, (UTSC Spring 2008) is a Communications Officer at Sunnybrook Research Institute (www.sunnybrook.ca/research). She took the position in August 2010 after beginning her career as a Media and Communications Assistant in the University of Toronto (Scarborough) communications and public affairs office. Eleni’s stories appear in Sunnybrook Research Institute’s magazine, Inventing the Future of Health Care.

Cassie (Jeysman) Prosper is a public relations consultant with Hill and Knowlton. She specializes in the Technology Communications Practice and her clients include Motorola and Hewlett-Packard. She was nominated for a CPRS (Canadian Public Relations Society) award in the category of Young PR Professional of the Year. After graduating from the Joint Journalism Program in August 2007, Cassie enrolled in the post-graduate Public Relations Certificate Program at Humber College. She finished that program with honours in October 2008.

Katrina Rozal graduated with her degree and diploma in the spring of 2010. She is now the archivist for Sun News Network. It’s her first full-time job and it grew directly out of her internship as a chase producer for Canoe Live, the current affairs program when the station was formerly Sun TV. Katrina was a recipient of the Dean’s Award. The award recognizes students who earn the highest GPA score from the college semesters of the Joint Program.

Geoff Micks has a new ebook available on Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/Inca-ebook/dp/B005FQSPBU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312673751&sr=8-1

INCA:

Fans of historical fiction can look forward to an epic family saga covering more than seventy years to include almost everything we know happened between the zenith and nadir of Inca power. More than two-thirds of the characters are based on real people, and every corner of the empire is visited over the course of the narrator’s life: The plot has court intrigue, forbidden loves, triumphs, tragedies, rivalries, heroes, monsters, coups, civil wars, prophecies, plagues, treasures, sex and violence –all before the conquistadors arrive to change everything forevermore.

Jamie Ngo –Graduated from the UTSC/Centennial joint program in 2007, and is now Assistant manager, Communications at Scotiabank. Before that she worked for the bank in the president’s office, after reporting for the Toronto Sun and Omni Television.

Send us your news! We want to hear from you.

London Riots: "Courteous" Pickpocket and Good Samaritan

2011-08-13T20:05:00.000-04:00

When I see the images of looters robbing that injured young Malaysian student and taking stuff from his backpack, instead of helping him, I can’t help thinking about our own vastly difference experience as a victim of crime in London during our trip there just a few weeks ago.

On June 23, after seeing “Billy Elliot” in the afternoon, my family and I went to the new M&M’s candy store in Leicester Square.

London M&M's store, Leicester Square.

http://worldchocolateguide.com/shop/mms-world/london/

We bought some chocolate-covered nuts, took photos with the giant M&M’s solider, and then headed over to walk along Piccadilly to see the famous Fortnum & Mason food emporium.

Fortnum & Mason, London (street under construction)

Sometime later at dinner on the South Bank, when the bill came, my husband couldn't find his wallet.

I was sure I had seen him put it in his outside coat pocket earlier in the day, but it was gone now.

I started to panic because the wallet contained all his credit cards, and his driver's license, plus his ID cards, and health card. So I would have had to drive "on the wrong side of the road". And getting new credit cards while on vacation would be a big headache.

After a worried night and calls to our credit card companies’ emergency numbers back home in Toronto, we went back to the M&M’s store as soon as it opened the next morning to see if we'd left the wallet there.

Their efficient security manager, a South African man in a dark suit named C.J., promised to look through their store security videotapes.

Later that day C.J. did indeed call. He said the tapes show my husband placed the wallet in his coat pocket at the cash register, and they didn’t see any pickpockets on their premises.

So we eventually found a police station near our flat. We were staying in the Clerkenwell area on Baker’s Row, which is where Charles Dickens set his famous novel “Oliver Twist”.

The police station has a self-service computer kiosk where you can input and report your crime information without talking to a live police officer. John was starting to type in the information about the stolen wallet, when his cell phone rang. It was our Canadian home alarm security company from Toronto calling. Did we lose a wallet in London?

The monitoring company said that he had a fellow on the other line from London, England who had found the wallet. We were dumbfounded!

The alarm company conferenced my husband with the caller, who gave us his name, address and telephone number, and suggested we come to his office to retrieve the wallet. He told us he was Kumar Shrivastava, the day watchman at the office building just opposite Fortnum & Mason.

That made sense to me since I thought that's likely where the wallet was lifted. But I admit I was still a bit nervous in case it was a scam, or the man was actually the pickpocket!

But when we arrived at the office building, Mr. Shrivastava was waiting for us with a big smile. He held out the wallet, and indeed it was my husband’s. Inside were all the credit cards, driver’s license, IDs, and everything was intact, except for about $100 in Canadian cash.

“I was never so happy to lose $100,” my husband said.

Mr. Shrivastava offered us something to drink, and a bathroom visit if we needed one, and told us that the postman had popped in and told him he had found someone’s wallet.

But instead of simply letting the Royal Mail process the wallet, as is usually done, and which might take months, Mr. Shrivastava opened the wallet to see if there was any contact information, found the only piece of ID that had a Canadian phone number on it, from our alarm provider, and, using his own personal long distance pre-paid telephone phone cards, he called.

Mr. Shrivastava wouldn't take any money from us as a reward, just our thank you, although he agreed to pose for pictures. We were stunned but thrilled at this amazing turn of events. We don't know what we would have done without his kind gesture.

Mr. Kumar Shrivastava returning the wallet, London.

Later, when we returned to M&M’s to tell C.J. that we had retrieved the wallet, he told us that pickpockets in London are known for being courteous (his words) and usually don't throw the stolen wallets in the Thames or the garbage, but instead, drop them into a post box. So eventually, they can be returned to their owners.

Our vacation was saved and our bad experience turned into quite an adventure, and a great story, and we have to thank not only the “courteous” London pickpocket, but also M&M’s and mostly the Good Samaritan building concierge Mr. Shrivastava for his gesture.

When we returned from our trip, I tried to track down a personal email address to send Mr. Shrivastava a proper thank you.

I contacted some of the professionals who work in the same office building, to try to find him. One woman replied. She told me in an email she knows the concierge, who she says everyone calls Ravi.

“Having spoken to him on many occasions he believes that if you do a kind deed it comes back in other ways which is probably why he desired no recompense,” said Kim Mckenzie, office coordinator of Brian Champion Long, a property management company in the same building, Nuffield House, 41/46 Piccadilly, in London.

I also contacted the London newspaper the Evening Standard, suggesting they do a story about this kind fellow. They interviewed my husband by phone. Here is the item that ran, a week ago.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23975531-tourist-says-thanks-for-return-of-wallet.do

As for Mr. Shrivastava, he has not responded to any of our emails. I plan to send a hand written thank you letter and hope that he gets it.

So as the rioting and the fallout continue, I say that not all thieves in London are yobs, even the pickpockets are “courteous”, and there are people like Mr. Shrivastava who go out of their way to do what’s right, in an ocean of wrongs.

By the way, I saw on the news this week that the neighbourhood of Catford was one of the London suburbs hit by looting and rioting.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/872039-catford-riots-six-pcs-charged-40-yobs-as-they-tried-to-loot-retail-park

We had originally booked to stay for a week at a self-catering flat in Catford, because it looked nice, and had a pool, but were advised by friends that it was a “bad” neighbourhood, sort of like Toronto’s Jane and Finch, and so we forfeited our week’s rent there and booked in Clerkenwell, which is where Charles Dickens set his novel “Oliver Twist”.

At the time when Dickens’ masterpiece was published, in 1838, the area was home to a gang of young pickpockets who came from a have-not upbringing. Clerkenwell now is a trendy zone, with Pret a Manger coffee shops, an automated Sushi restaurant, clothing designer showrooms, lots of pubs, a restaurant that serves customers in total darkness, and a Waitrose supermarket that sells gourmet take out for the local suit wearing singles.

There have been no reports of looting in Clerkenwell.

My Toronto rainstorm video makes it on Global News Toronto newscast

2011-08-10T13:24:00.000-04:00

Leslie Roberts and Anne Mroczkowski and........

If you watched the 6 pm supper hour newscast on Global TV News Toronto last night with Leslie Roberts and Anne Mroczkowski, you might have noticed they led their show with the storm story and rain that soaked the city Tuesday. There were floods in Vaughan, and in East York, and broken water mains. The video that started the story about the severe weather...was shot by...me!

I was spending two days "shadowing" at Global News this week, to gather fresh materiel for my classes at Centennial College, to make contacts, and to discuss internship opportunities for my students, as well as keep my (Spidey) news senses sharp. I was driving with the ENG Camera operator Craig Wadman to meet reporter Marianne Dimain who was doing a story about the use of social media in the London Riots and the practise spreading to other parts of the world.

At about 11 o'clock the heavens opened, and the Don Valley Parkway became a waterway for the downpour. I had a small HD video camera with me, and since the cameraman was driving, I started shooting weather video (through the window).

When we returned to the station, Craig suggested I give the video to the assignment desk. Executive Producer Jason Keel had it ingested in the graphics department computers, and to my surprise, and pleasure, they did use it on the show that night!

Here's a link to the show: My rain viz comes in at :41 seconds, as the anchors introduce the first reporter story about flooding in Vaughan.

By the way, according to the Toronto Star story (written by one of our Centennial Journalism graduates Amanda Kwan UTSC/Centennial Joint Program) "Environment Canada had predicted between 5 and 10 mm of rain for the day, but the downtown area saw a total of 20.4 mm by 5 p.m."
And the Environment Canada spokesman said it wasn't the quantity of the water that caused such problems; it was the intensity.

Centennial Journalism newsroom construction update Aug 3 week

2011-08-04T07:29:00.000-04:00

Ted F and Malcolm Kelly's new offices take shape in old 147

Sylvan Ng (Broadcast technician) meets with Mark Stevenson (Centennial) , Ken Thasan of Videoscope and the electrician about where to install lights for TV studio

A walk through campus this week shows renovations are moving along to the Toronto Observer newsroom at East York Campus. Framing of new offices, location of TV monitors, light switches, ordering of gear, gear arriving. All very exciting as classes begin in under five weeks (yikes!) Now, where will the coat rack go?

Why isolated seniors a booming business opportunity: my recent news article

2011-08-02T17:29:00.000-04:00

Many of my friends and family are members of the so called "sandwich" generation, where they are dealing with the needs of aging parents while running a busy home caring for their own children and possibly a spouse at the same time. A friend of mine started her own business recently to provide specialized recreation activities for seniors in their own homes, as a supplement to what their own kids already do. She is unique because she doesn't do laundry! That's the role for many of the large international companies who are setting up franchises across Canada to provide housekeeping, transportation, letter writing and all kinds of personal care for seniors who are still living in their own homes. This prompted me to write a feature story about the growing trend, and the story was just published in the Richmond Hill Liberal newspaper, and online by York Region Media Group.

Many thanks to a wonderful Bonnie Craig, owner of Ovation Performing Arts Academy in Richmond Hill, Ontario, who shared her late mother's story with me, and to Harry Roz of Comfort Keepers, as well as to Aviva Lifschitz of Leisure-Ful Life.

Bonnie Craig looks at photo of her late mother Mary

Bonnie Craig looks at sympathy cards tucked above her living room door frame

Special large size Scrabble board the family made for her mother to play

Bonnie Craig gives her mother's Scrabble board to Aviva Lifschitz, of Leisure-ful Life.

The story was just published in the Richmond Hill Liberal newspaper, and online by York Region Media Group. Here is how the story appeared on two pages July 8,2011 in the Liberal.

Here's the story online.

YorkRegion Article: Professional visitors for isolated seniors growing trend

Centennial Journalism Observer view newsroom extreme makeover

2011-07-28T08:52:00.000-04:00

EXTREME MAKEOVER

While most journalism students (except sports!) are off this summer earning money and making memories, construction has begun at the East York campus to make the Observer Newsroom a thing of beauty. Take a look at the space as I saw it yesterday, as the program prepares for new furniture, new layout, new office space, new lighting and a major transformation of gear and equipment to make the Centennial Journalism program the best one in Toronto!

BEFORE:

NEWSROOM APRIL 2011

CURRENT Photos July 27, 2011

wall removed between room 147 and 149 to make offices for Malcolm, Ted F, Jules and others

main entry door near tv studio

steve's office on the right looking towards Lindy and Ted B's offices

former mailbox wall and phone desk wall

photocopier area formerly

view towards parking lot on east wall

classroom 147 now

journalism is a profession that requires a thick skin, a hard hat and boots

newsroom from inside room 147 looking towards Steve's office

tv studio control room area looking into Ellin's office

Stay tuned for more updates as the weeks progress.

Class of 2011

2011-06-16T20:53:00.000-04:00

Thirty eight amazing journalism grads had their names listed in the College's Thursday afternoon convocation program book today, and it was such a pleasure to watch some of them walk up to the podium, shake hands with the president Ann Buller, and with Dean Nate Horowitz, to accept their diplomas.

My own kids are still too young for me to attend their graduations yet, unless you count the ceremony they had for kindergarden (yes I cried!) and from Sunday school! But as a professor at Centennial since 2005, I always find it a great thrill to see my talented students turn up at graduation to receive the well deserved applause and admiration from the administration, from other students, faculty, and family and friends.

We had grads this year from all the three journalism programs - three year, fast track and UTSC/Centennial joint program. Sports journalism had its own procession.

Many of you are working in the field, and couldn't be here today. Others are embarking on new adventures, both professionally (Reinisa Macleod is moving to Grande Prairie, Alberta in July to be the multiplatform reporter for their local SUN Media paper, the Grande Prairie Daily Herald. She says her Internet radio show at Centennial was what truly clinched the interview! ) and personally (Mazal Tov/ Congratulations to fast tracker grad Dan Heyman and his fiancee on their happy engagement). Dan has been hired full time at carpages.ca in Toronto.

Vanessa Brown tell us she is working for two weeklies in the Goderich area, including the Clinton News Record. Check out one of her stories about coyotes here:

Here are some photos from the events today:

Steve Cogan, Alicia Baird, and her mother

Tara Losinski, Natalie Samson, Nastasha Alli, Dan Heyman

Steve Cogan, Tara Losinski, Natalie Samson, Malcolm Kelly, Samantha Butler, Lindy Oughtred

Minshu Mo and family and friends

Ellin Bessner, Tara Losinski, Natalie Samson, Samantha Butler

Aileen Donnelly, Lindy Oughtred, Reinisa Macleod

Alicia Baird, Reinisa Macleod

Nuno Soares (photo courtesy of Nuno's Facebook page!)

For a complete list of the grads today please see this list.

Nastasha Alli

Alicia Baird

Tamara Baluja

Francois Biber

Vanessa Brown

Samantha Butler

Jacqueline Delange

Jaclyn Desforges

Aileen Donnelly

Brad Featherstone

Michael Gibbons

Laura Grande

Victoria Gray

Dan Heyman

Chris Higgins

Emily Hunter

Tara Losinski

Irina Lytchak

Reinisa Macleod

Tristan Carter

Minshu Mo

Meri Perra

Kerry Prunskus

Tanis Reynolds

Leticia Rodriguez

Jennifer Romano

Angela Rotundo

Katrina Rozal

Natalie Samson

Meegan Scanlon

Maxx Smith

Nuno Soares

Jon Spratt

Shawn Star

Roger Tran

Josh Ungar

Monica Valencia

Kirsten Watters

Ted Barris and Ted Fairhurst are out of the country but join us in wishing you all much success and we remind you to keep in touch. In the fall, when the new East York journalism newsroom renovations are complete, come back and take a tour!

Here is a look at how it will be when it is done.

tv control room/ellins office/lindys office/steves office/ moved mailboxes)/large newsroom/ no more room 147/ malcolm and ted f offices now in 147

ted b office / tv anchor desk w. new lighting grid/ no door/ mailboxes/tvs/ door to 147/2 audio booths

Does Network TV News still matter? Yes, say head honchos of CTV, Global and CBC

2011-06-07T18:14:00.000-04:00

My story published today on J-Source.ca.

It turns out the future is looking pretty good, writes Ellin Bessner. Indeed, the eastern regional director for Global News, Mike Omelus, believes there's never been a better time to be in the biz. If the flurry of broadcast expansions these past two weeks is anything to go by, he could be right.

Don’t touch that dial. Or your iPhone, your tablet, or your living room TV. Canada’s national television news networks are trying to find new roles for themselves in today’s multi-platform news environment.

Over the past few weeks, there have been a slew of industry-related announcements. Take last Monday, May 30, when Rogers announced it would launch an all news TV channel in Toronto in the fall, called CityNews Channel, to compete with CTV’s CP24.

Or last Wednesday, June 1, when Global announced it was bringing back its Toronto morning show, with former Citytv Breakfast Television host Liza Fromer, and former Citytv reporter Kris Reyes as news anchor. Global is also adding morning shows in the Maritimes, Winnipeg, Regina, and Saskatoon, and expanding its existing morning shows in Alberta.

And who can forget the launch in April of Sun News Network, billed as Canada’s Fox News North?

Sure, audiences no longer solely rely on the flagship live national nightly newscasts to hear about breaking news. It’s also true most viewers already know a lot about the news events of the day by the time they tune in to network TV.

But with the potential of video on demand, and a recovering economy, for Canada’s traditional news networks, indeed, there’s never been a better time to be in the broadcast business, according to Mike Omelus, eastern regional director for Global News.

Omelus told a panel discussion at the recent Canadian Association of Journalists conference in Ottawa in May that because of the Bell takeover of CTV, and the Shaw takeover of Global, Canada’s main TV networks are spending money again. Newsrooms are expanding, adding staff, and that is increasing salaries for other journalists in other companies.

Omelus was one of three speakers at the session about the future of network news, which also included Jack Fleischmann, general manager of CTV News Channel and BNN, and Todd Spencer, head of CBC News Network. All three agreed the industry is changing, but are optimistic.

“We don’t serve the same purpose as we did,” said Spencer.

Fleischmann added the traditional model is “out of date”. He believes viewers want more of the FOX and SUN TV style of news channel, which they can get on-demand.

“People look for reasons and answers, which gives network news a whole new life,” he said. “You’re seeing more people on air now such as analysts, web bloggers, and opinions,” as news stations try to answer ‘Why?’ ”

SUN TV was not at the panel discussion, and it wasn’t clear from the moderator why not.

But CBC, CTV and Global all gave poor reviews to the debut of the Quebecor-owned national news channel, which launched in April.

“I don’t think they’re very good right now,” said Spencer, adding SUN TV needs to present newscasts during their live programming. “This country may not be big enough [for SUN TV].”

For Global’s Omelus, the country is probably too big for SUN TV’s apparent limited resources.

“They have only two satellite trucks, one in Vancouver and one in Toronto,” he said.

For Fleischmann, it’s not the size of the station or the country that is the problem. It’s the quality of the content, despite pulling in an average of 12,000 viewers, according to a recent Globe and Mail story, which is more then his own BNN does.

“It’s a personality based channel but unless you have the right personalities and issues, it will be hard to attract new viewers,” he told the panel.

Sun executives told The Globe and Mail this week they were thrilled with their ratings, because they are ahead of where they thought their ratings would be by now.

While network television is expanding, it is also taking a new approach to storytelling to a wide variety of audiences, be they online, on mobile devices, or over the airwaves.

Omelus calls the new approach “platform agnostic”. That means some news stories will be told first on the Global website, even before they appear on network TV.

And because there are no time or length restrictions for what can be shown on the Global website, Omelus said the web will be the home for longer news stories, documentaries, and raw feeds of press conferences and interviews that don’t fit into the traditional network constraints.

The CBC also sees longer form pieces finding space on the web, where folks can watch during a commute, or on their mobile platforms when they have time. Spencer cited the strong ratings for CBC’s investigative journalism shows “The Fifth Estate” and “Marketplace” as evidence “there’s clearly an appetite for it.”

But while CTV’s Fleischmann agrees this type of journalistic long form storytelling is valuable, because of resources, “it won’t become a major part of what we do.”

As network television news evolves, one element to watch for, the three predict, is more interaction with the audience even during live newscasts. While MTV has had viewer comments on screen during some of its broadcasts for several years, Global’s Leslie Roberts has been using Twitter on air during his 11 p.m. nightly newscast.

Spencer, of CBC News Network, predicts connected TV is coming, as broadcasters review the companion apps which are now available that will soon allow more interactivity while on air.

“Conversation,” said Fleischmann, “is what the web is about.”
-30-

Ellin Bessner has been teaching journalism in the Toronto area since 1999, at Ryerson University, Seneca College and now, on the faculty of Centennial College. She is a former foreign correspondent in Europe, and a former anchor at CBC and CTV and a current. Ellin is also an avid blogger and social media user.

Being Erica at Centennial Journalism, More Awards, Barris on D-Day

2011-06-07T02:23:00.000-04:00

(courtesy CBC)

NEWS:

Dean Nate Horowitz informs us that they will be filming part of the CBC series “Being Erica” at the CCC in a few weeks!

The Journalism department has won a Dean’s KPI award for having over 90% student and grad satisfaction.

Ted Barris will host June 7th Goldhawk show on Rogers Cable TV, as part of a new collaboration with CCC and Rogers TV.

Barris was interviewed by 680 News this week about his late friend Charley Fox, a former Canadian Spitfire fighter ace during the Second World War who wounded Rommel by bombing his car. On June 6, 2011, a London, Ontario landmark was renamed in honour of the late pilot, who died in 2008, in a car accident, at age 88.

courtesy spitcrazy.com

On Wednesday this week, June 8, at 2 p.m., at the University of Toronto downtown campus, graduating students from the UTSC/Centennial joint journalism program will be marching solemnly in their gowns to receive their degrees. Congratulations to all of you. Centennial’s graduation ceremony for journalism is set for Thursday June 16 at Progress campus.

AWARDS:

Rachel Muenz is now a reporter for Northern Pride news, in Meadow Lake Saskatchewan. She won 2 awards at the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association ceremony in April. Best tourism story (second place) and best post secondary education story (3^rd place).

Allison Werbowetsky also won awards at the same ceremony. She won third place for best story of the year, second place (she beat Rachel!) for best post-secondary education story, and tied for third for best health care coverage. Allison was working for the Prairie Post in Swift Current, Alberta.

Yamri Taddese traveled to Victoria, B.C, to the Broadcast Educators Association of Canada award ceremony where she accepted the award for best audio spot news story for her G-spot Valentine’s Day story. Here is part of her acceptance speech:

BEAC's Jim Carr with Yamri Tadesse accepting her award.

I just got back from a trip to Victoria, British Columbia, where I received Broadcast Educators Association of Canada award for my Valentine's Day radio story on the best-selling sex toy in Scarborough.

The story wasn't my typical assignment, and I blush a little every time I play the audio clip. But I must admit that I had a lot of fun doing it. I had never been to a sex shop before, and walking in to ask how the We-Vibe II works was definitely outside my comfort zone. Yet, this is one of the many reasons why I love journalism. I get to go places I normally wouldn't -- with the right to ask questions I would otherwise be too shy to ask.

WHERE our Grads Are:

Alexandra Innes has a regular podcast on the Women’s Information Network where she talks about happiness. Innes is the author of several books, including “Change Your Mind, Change Your Life.”

@yummyquotes

Listen to her podcasts here:

Baseer Syed is an editorial assistant at the Toronto Star. He writes that he is having a lot of fun working for the websites, social media networks and interacting with readers.

“This is a great experience for my career. I work in the newsroom alongside amazing editors who I learn so much from. And I am starting to "get" the psychology of online readers of news, something I think is very important in order to attract heavy traffic to media websites.“

Matt Romanda has a new job at Pagemasters starting this week. He graduated in 2006 and has been working as the Movies and Travel editor at Metro. His new job is with the Canadian Press/Pagemasters.

Theresa Suzuki has a new job at the Globe and Mail as assistant photo editor. She was a photo editor at the National Post.

Recently coordinator Ted Fairhurst asked us to tell him where our grads are working professionally since leaving the UTSC/Centennial joint program.

The following list is by no means exhaustive, so if you can add more, or update me, please let me know at ebessner@centennialcollege.ca

Josh Ungar, 680 News

Denise Falzon exclaim.ca

Jeannette Rabito - The Marilyn Denis show

Rosalyn Solomon- Toronto Sun

Eric Heino Town Crier

Mahesh Abeywardene The Lanka Reporter

Tasneem Yahya _Canada Immigration

Alexandra Sienkewicz CBC Toronto

Joseph Taylor runs his own custom t-shirt printing company on Yonge Street

Uriel Mendoza is a teacher at a public school in Malvern

Louis Tam is a photographer

Laura Redpath is a reporter in Jamaica

Crystal Cossitt, working for SUN TV

Tyler Edwards took a post grad diploma program in sports journalism at Centennial College

Tiffany Kallinikos is taking a post grad diploma in public relations at Centennial College

Thandiwe Vela was a reporter in Edmonton and before that the Toronto Star and now is posted to Yellowknife with Northern News for the summer

Nicole Watts took a post grad sports journalism diploma at Centennial College.

Courtney Roberts Lawes in managing editor of Polysh magazine

Rima Ramoul is at the Town Crier

Selena Mann is a reporter with ComputerWorld Canada

Rachel Muenz is a reporter with the Northern Pride newspaper in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan

Jason Jajalla is a photographer and designer in Toronto

Alexandra Lucchesi – Lifestyles magazine associate editor
Frances Horodelski - anchor, BNN television network Toronto.

Centennial Journalism grad brings underwear and schoolbags to India's Dalit "untouchables"

2011-05-30T19:03:00.003-04:00

Centennial journalism brings school supplies and underwear to orphans in India’s Dalit communitiy of “untouchables"

Centennial Journalism grad Jennifer Kai is leaving for Chennai, India on

 Tuesday May 31 to bring 300 backpacks filled with supplies to orphans and

 outcasts known as Dalits. Kai is traveling with members of her church

called the Hope Centre, in Toronto. It’s run by a former Toronto Argonaut, Brian Warren. The mission was to bring supplies as well as work with the children and villagers considered “untouchables” because they are a lower caste.

Jennifer works for Bell as a corporate loyalty associate,

and has been involved with humanitarian and church related

work for several years.

Here’s a bit of her note:

· On Tuesday May 31st, 12 colleagues including myself from a church called The Hope Centre, will travel to Chennai India to minister to the outcasts of society, otherwise known as the Dalits as well as orphans from a government Juvenile home, showing them that they are not forgotten, they are loved and bringing them school supplies such as back packs, notebooks, packages of pencils, markers, erasers, t-shirts and rulers... We will also be bringing undergarments to the girls there, many of whom do not have underwear.

This will be a short but intense mission as we travel into the heat which is now about 50 C Celsius, so we are definitely stepping out of our comfort zone.

I need to raise $3,000 to be a part of this trip and by grace in a short period of time have already raised about $1,750. Most of the funds go towards transportation. Each of us is allowed to bring two large bags, which is standard, one of the bags we travel with is already filled with school supplies which we packed Victoria Day Monday.

The easiest way to give is by email money transfer. You can email me at kai.jennifer@gmail.com. All funds will be handed to The Hope Centre. If you would like a tax receipt please also email me your full name and address. Thankfully, we in Canada can choose to work hard and move our way up in society. Because of the caste system in India - you are forced to remain marginalized... Watch some of this documentary on the Dalits:

For more information on our church please visitwww.thcchurch.net.

AWARDS:

Tamara Baluja has been nominated for the South Asian Journalists Association award, for a story she did while reporting for the Province in B.C. She’s the only Canadian nominee. Results will be announced at Columbia University next month. http://saja.org/Default.aspx?pageId=935554&mode=PostView&bmi=597006.

Tamara will be interning for the Globe and Mail this summer in Toronto.

WHERE OUR GRADS ARE:

Gord Thain is coordinator of communications and coaching for Ontario Basketball in Toronto.

Vincent Man is at the St. Catharines Standard. Following Centennial, he worked at the Daily Press in Timmins as the sports editor. He was there for 4.5 years, until he left Timmins a couple of months ago for St. Catharines. He is now a paginator at The Standard and does layout for the paper and others in the Niagara region.

Leslie Phalen has been living in Vancouver for a year and a half, where she is looking for a publisher for her new novel. After Centennial, she interned at ET Canada, and Rogers, then traveled to Australia, and took up waitressing/bartending while she wrote her novel. Leslie writes that it’s an update of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Little Mermaid. She set it in modern day, out in Tofino BC and added characters and twists.

Kevin Barley is an assignment editor at The Score in Toronto.

Angela Brunschot is in Edmonton as editor of SEE Magazine in Alberta, where she started after graduation as a reporter. She’s writing about politics, the environment, and human interest stories, as well as learning how to manage and edit.

Stacey McLeod is an editor for SMG Digital (Star Media Group), the digital side of the Toronto Star. She’s editing special sections for entertainment and working with the corporate side of the business on content direction and strategy. She also runs Hooks and Ladders, a blog site for journalists and musicians. She also DJs and performs with grad Phil Villeneuve in the I love You Toos.

David Nesseth spent three years after graduation as a journalist in Canada, working first with the Lindsay Daily Post, then the Cornwall Standard-Freeholder. He’s been traveling abroad, living and working as a journalist in London, England. He’s now on his way back to Canada to test the journalism waters once more. His website: http://www.typetypereturn.com

Iman Sheikh is a copy editor at the National Post, where she appeared in the society pages Saturday at a swanky party.

Neil Springer writes about the MMA and the UFC for the Toronto Sun and also does videos for these stories.

Bre Walt moved into the communications/PR/marketing world working as a senior issues coordinator with the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services since June 2009. She says she does media relations for the Ministry, as well as all the contentious issues management/PR work.

Dan Bilicki is working for the Toronto Sun now as a copy editor on the sports desk and he also writes columns during the NFL football season

Kristen Calis is with the DurgamRegion.com news site, and you can read her stories and column called Kristen’s Kritters, a blog about animals she helps find homes for.

Jessica Hume is reporting with the National Post in Toronto, after several years reporting in the United Arab Emirates and freelancing in Toronto.

Rapture and Centennial Journalism

2011-05-22T18:17:00.000-04:00

I’m sending this out for the May 24 long weekend in case the world ends on Saturday, May 21, 2011.

Awards:

Centennial Journalism students and professors collected lots of kudos in May at awards ceremonies recognizing the best in community newspapering, broadcasting, writing, and investigative journalism.

Former TorontoObserver.ca associate editor Alexis Dobranowski’s newspaper Vaughan Today won second place as Best Community Newspaper Site at the OCNA awards in Niagara Falls. She also won a second place in business and finance reporting for a story on two partners in a micro distillery.

Read the story here:

Congrats to @Editor Eric, Eric McMillan, Editor in Chief of the Toronto Observer Scarborough newsroom, because his Town Crier newsrooms (his day job) won first place for their special education section at the same OCNA awards.

And, Fast Track student @Aileendonnelly, Aileen Donnelly, (2010) who just finished interning at the National Post, won third place at the OCNA awards for student news writing for her story in the Toronto Observer.

Dylan Robertson, a U of T/Centennial joint journalism student, was a finalist at the CAJ awards in Ottawa , for best investigative story by a student. He was nominated for his look into changes in the university of Toronto’s social sciences department. Sadly he was beaten by a team of about 15-crack computer assisted reporting students at Kings College in Halifax.

Yamri Tadesse of the U of T/Centennial joint journalism program, won Best Spot News (Audio) for her quirky radio story on the most popular sex gadget on sale in Scarborough, for Valentine’s Day. The story aired on Observer Radio News and was posted to TorontoObserver.ca. The award comes from the Broadcast Educators Association of Canada, and the ceremony May 28 in Victoria. Yamri is making plans to attend and collect the prize and the cash award.

Where our grads are now:

Tristan Carter, UTSC/JJ 2010 is at the Vaughan Today where his byline is all over their online site. Read his story about a cancer patient looking for a donor here.

Sarina Adamo USTC/JJ 2011 is interning at Scrapbooking and Cards Today magazine, and Luggage Leathergoods and Accessories magazine. Both contacts were made when Sarina and her Beat Magazine student colleagues Angela Rotundo and Sarah Moore won the IPAO (Independent Publishers Association of Ontario) award for best new niche magazine and came to pitch their Social Shift Magazine to the publishers earlier this winter.

Minshu Mo, Centennial Fast Track 2010 is working full time at the Today Commercial News, the top free Chinese language daily in Toronto, and the only Canadian Chinese paper accessible in Mainland China, according to the media kit. Head office is on Progress Avenue in Scarborough.

Dharm Makwana (Centennial three year grad 2007) is in Vancouver where he got married in September. After several years with Metro News doing stories and video, he became Editor in Chief. After Sun News Network hired someone else, he went back to being a reporter for three months. He recently started a new web editor gig at The Province. Dharm says he would be happy to provide lots of good war stories and tips for students. He’s on Facebook and @Dhmakwana on Twitter.

Thandiwe Vela (UTSC/ JJ 2008) is reporting with Northern News Service for the summer for the he Yellowknifer. And the temp today was 9 Celcius! They publish 2 x a week circ. 5,400 and 6,100 according to Wikipedia. Almost like the Toronto Observer! She interned at the Toronto Star radio room, and worked there for a year, worked in Edmonton, and now is spending her summer in the north. Follow her on Twitter @ThandiVela

Hockey: A parent's view on Weighing merits of body checking with misgivings

2011-05-19T21:52:00.000-04:00

An editorial I wrote for our local paper about bodychecking.

YorkRegion Article: Weighing merits of body checking with misgivings

Former Toronto Star intern sparks newspaper war in Squamish, B.C

2011-05-16T19:39:00.000-04:00

Gagandeep Ghuman, founder of The Squamish Reporter, at the Canadian Association of Journalists conference in Ottawa, May 2011

His family in India wanted Gagandeep Ghuman to be an engineer or a diplomat. But armed with a journalism degree from Toronto, a masters in English from India, and several years writing at the Toronto Star, the Guelph Mercury, freelancing in Vancouver, and working for the Squamish Chief newspaper in B.C, the young entrepreneur is taking on his former employer in his adopted West Coast community with his own weekly paper, The Squamish Reporter.

Ghuman was at my table Saturday night at the Canadian Association of Journalists annual conference in Ottawa. He had been nominated for one of the top investigative journalism awards. His story about the controversial state of Squamish's fire department after six homes burned down earned him a spot on the shortlist for the award. Read it here:

He didn't win, but he says his aim was to gain some buzz about his paper among the CAJ members and panelists.

Because money is tight, and advertisers and the district give most of their dollars to the Chief, which has been around for two decades, Ghuman says he spends two days a week driving a cab to help defray expenses of putting out his weekly, and maintaining his online site. Come to think of it, driving a cab is probably a great way to get story ideas!

Ghuman probably isn't all that popular these days in the newsroom of the district's rival paper. In 2009, he worked as a reporter at the Squamish Chief, before going freelance. Now his own paper is coming out and competing with the Chief every Friday in the community of 15,000 people, an hour north of Vancouver on the Sea-to-Sky highway. He emails each new edition every Friday to 1,800 people.

He's planning to revamp the website, and is thinking about adding an online donation box, to help cover costs. And he's musing about enticing an intern to come work there, with the offer of groceries and a place to stay. He's also assembling an editorial board that includes a BBC reporter, and journalism professors and academics (full dislosure: not me.)

One sign that Ghuman is becoming a respected member of the media in Squamish? He was recently featured as a panelist --along with folks from the Chief and from the Garibaldi Times, another local news site that seems to have stopped updating its website - at Quest University's May 8, 2011 philosopher's cafe on the topic of civility and censorship in the blogosphere.

Censorship is something Ghuman knows a lot about, now. His September 2010 story about the Squamish Fire department prompted the threat of a lawsuit from the town's chief administrative officer if he didn't retract his story and tell them who the whistleblower was who leaked the internal document about the fire department. He didn't back down. Read his reply here.

The story has made an impact on Squamish. It prompted the municipality to make major changes in order to make the community safer, with more appropriate levels of fire protection. See story here.
http://www.ryersonian.ca/article/9098/

I say: good for you, Gagandeep, and good luck to you. Most journalism students prefer to stay close to home, for financial reasons, as well as family and personal reasons. We professors and news industry veterans always suggest that journalism students go to a smaller news outlet in a small community for their first jobs, where they can learn about a new part of Canada, cover issues they haven't faced before, learn about themselves, and build a portfolio. Be a big fish in a small pond. And become more experienced and make mistakes far away from the hiring managers in Toronto, if that's where they want to end up, eventually.

Centennial Professors at CAJ conference Ottawa 2011

2011-05-16T13:17:00.001-04:00

Centennial Professors at CAJ conference Ottawa 2011, a photo by centennial college journalism on Flickr.

Just came back from a fabulous Canadian Association of Journalists conference in Ottawa with the profs at Centennial College. I will post soon about all we learned, and who we met. Kady OMalley, Chantal Hebert, Tom Clark, David Akin, Jack Fleischman, Murray Brewster, David Mckie, and more..

Sex Toy story wins Broadcast Educators Association Award

2011-05-10T13:47:00.000-04:00

A story for Valentine's Day by student Yamri Tadesse about a Canadian invention called We Vibe 2 has won the Spot news award (audio) for 2010-2011 by the Broadcast Educators Association of Canada.
She did the story for both the Toronto Observer newspaper and for my radio news course, at Centennial College. At the time, she was a bit nervous to submit it for radio, since it has noise of the vibrator, and a quote about how it works, with graphic description of where the appliance sits and how it works.
I told her not to worry about this, but I did blush and do a bit of a double take when I had to edit the story, and heard the quotes from the sales person!
Nevertheless we are thrilled for her. The BEAC president said this about the award:

Congratulations!

Your BEAC entry titled Valentine’s Day G-Spot was judged to be the winner in the Audio Spot News category in this year's BEAC National Student Awards competition.

Comments from the judges:

- Interesting angle on Valentine’s Day

- Well-written, informative and easy to understand

A copy of your winning entry is immediately being sent to Yvonne Colbert, President BEAC for consideration for the BEAC-President’s award in Audio or Video.

Thank you for your entry and please pass along the judges congratulations to your student(s).

Take a listen to her story, as well as see and read the online version of the print story, click here:

Way to go Yamri!

The award is being handed out at a gala dinner in Victoria, BC May 28.

Jim Babbage leaves, UTSC students tour, Ke$ha and Kylie Minogue

2011-05-08T11:05:00.000-04:00

Goodbye Jim Babbage

I knew something was up when digital imaging and photography professor Jim Babbage walked into the staff meeting last Friday at the CCC. Sure he was still wearing one of his bright red Hawaiian shirts. And shoes with no socks.
But he looked different. He was minus the trademark beard. Wow, I thought - something must have changed in his life. And indeed, it will change in the lives of many journalism students next year.

Jim Babbage without his beard!

With beard, before!

After 21 years at the helm of the photojournalism courses at Centennial College, and elsewhere, Jim has accepted a full time job with Adobe.
It is a logical step because he has been writing how-to text books for Adobe and training countless people how to use Adobe's Creative Suite software. Now he will work for Adobe's education branch with lots of travel involved, but he won't be in the classrooms of Centennial anymore.
Yes there were a few teary moments when he made the announcement. (We know you had to love what you did here, Jim, because you stayed for two decades of dedication teaching as a part time instructor, always hoping the College would create some more full time faculty positions, which never happened.)

Hello UTSC journalism students

For the first time since the University of Toronto and Centennial College teamed up to provide a joint journalism program, incoming students who will attend Centennial in the fall of 2011 paid a visit to the Centre for Creative Communications Thursday, to see first hand where they will be spending the next 18 months. Coordinator Ted Fairhurst welcomed the group of eager students to the newsroom at the East York campus at Danforth and Pape. You guys are a talented bunch, with your own radio shows on Fusion, the UTSC campus radio station, and editor of the Varsity, Dylan Robertson , who has been nominated for one of the student awards by the Canadian Association of Journalists.
Other students want to go into music journalism, or be a human rights reporter, or politics, or sports. Looking forward to having you with us in September!

Return of the Jedi:

Steve Cogan, Natalie Samson, Tara Losinski, Alicia Baird, Lindy Oughtred, Courtney Kraik, Laura Granda, Meegan Scanlon, Meri Perra (not shown Dan Heyman, Chris Higgins, Nastasha Alli)

A dozen graduating students from the three year and fast track journalism programs met in room 149 last week to brief Lindy Oughtred and Steve Cogan about their experiences working on internships from January to April, as required to complete the credits for graduation. It was so exciting to hear all their stories from inside the newsrooms of Toronto's journalism giants including magazines like "Today's Parent" and "House and Home". And to hear where our grads are being hired after their internships.

Chris Higgins will be spending the next six months reporting at the Slave River Journal in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. The paper is an award winning small circulation weekly serving Northern Alberta and the NWT.

Tara Losinski has been at House and Home where she has been offered a contract position with the magazine run by designer Lynda Reeves.

Courtney Kraik was a digital intern at Canadian Family, (read one of her articles about 20 books for toddlers) where she didn't take lunch breaks and was the hardest working intern they have ever had.

Laura Grande was at Today's Parent and spent her internship doing the morning blog and Twitter/Facebook content and will continue to do this 3 days per week there. She will be interviewing Theo Fleury for the September issue. During the election campaign, she used social media to get all 5 political parties to send their platforms to Today's Parent on behalf of Mom the Vote.

Dan Heyman is now a staff writer at Carpages.ca, where he uses Final Cut Pro to edit the video reports he produces about car test drives.

Nastasha Alli worked at the Canadian Living website during her internship and she has now been hired two days per week there. She edit pictures, uploads links, makes powerpoints, and does interviews such as one she did with cookbook author Trish Magwood (In My Mother's Kitchen) at the author's Rosedale home.

Natalie Samson interned at Quill and Quire where she embraced her inner book nerd.

UTSC grad Brad Featherstone interned at Kelly Mason Productions, where they make web commercials and content for clients including Apple, and has now been hired (it's even on their website!) Watch his video here:

Dancing with the Stars

Graduate Phil Villeneuve, who writes for Chart, saw a You Tube video of himself dancing to Kylie Minogue's music on the subway, go viral. So much so, that connections at EMI music arranged for the pop star to see the video, and apparently she loved it so much, she invited Phil to Montreal last month to spend some time chilling with her at her recent concert! Now Ke$ha has called him, to make a dance video to one of her tunes!

http://www.chartattack.com/riffs/kate-harper/2011/mar/08/watch-chartattack-contributor-phil-villeneuve-dance-to-kylie-minogue-o

Canadian election night coverage at Centennial College Journalism

2011-05-02T23:11:00.000-04:00

Classes are over for the year. But a hardy group of journalism students volunteered fanned out across the city to cover the ridings around East York, and the federal party leaders campaign receptions in Toronto.
Check out their first video broadcast before the polls closed.

You need to install or upgrade Flash Player to view this content, install or upgrade by clicking here.

They'll do another one in a few moments.

Interviewing Awards Centennial Journalism, Bye Bye East Toronto Observer Newsroom

2011-04-30T11:36:00.000-04:00

Lindy Oughtred, Melanie Schawill, Alissa Randall, Nicole Pulsinelli at Interviewing Awards Ceremony for East York students (Octavian Lacatusu photo)

Andre Widjaja and Michelle Grace at Interviewing Awards East York campus April 2011 (Octavian Lacatusu/photo)

Interview awards …

It was an elegant affair at the East York campus Thursday at the Not Ready for Prime Time Interviewing awards, hosted by Lindy Oughtred. From the formal printed invitations (who really needs a Royal Wedding invite after this?) to the baked goods supplied by folks including Janet Piercey, awards were handed out for everything from best costume to best interviewer. Congratulations to the students who won the real awards, and the joke ones, too. Check out the photos by Octavian Lacatusu here:

At the UTSC campus Wednesday, Ellin Bessner’s Advanced interviewing awards for Joint Journalism students, saw 6 prizes handed out for everything from best dressed to most likely to succeed Oprah Winfrey.

The winners:

Best dressed: Andre Thurairatnam, runner up Kayla Kreutzberg.

Most improved: Janice Yeung

Best Bessner Question: Alex Kozovski, for “If Dan were an Acronym, what would it be?”

Oprah Winfrey award: Yeamrot Taddese

Second Place: Best Interviewer Award: Kyle Larkin

First place Best Interviewer: Maryam Shah.

Deans Awards…

Steve Cogan with Jaclyn Desforges, highest GPA, journalism 2010

Steve Cogan awards Entrepreneurship Award to Shannon Keller, Journalism 2011

Alina Smirnova wins Entrepreneurship award from Ted Fairhurst, UTSC Journalism 2010

Ted Fairhurst awards High GPA to Joseph Jacobsen, UTSC JJ 2010

Thursday night, the CCC campus served up the best of the best awards to students who achieved high marks in their programs, as well as the newly-established Entrepreneur Awards, to students who showed creativity and leadership for themselves and their community. Pictures here on Flickr.

First Semester Journalism…

Our deepest condolences to the family of the late taxidermist Cliff McCutcheon, who stuffed a blue whale for the Canadian National Exhibition, who’s obituary the first year journalism students had to submit to Ted Barris for their final writing assignment.

Observer…

Congratulations to the @TorontoObserver crew and the East York Observer print edition, for rating a mention in the Toronto Star this week. The Observer reported that the Don Valley West NDP candidate has been missing in action and didn’t attend all candidates’ sessions, and won’t talk to the press. Story originated by Kristen Annabile and Matilda Miranda and picked up by @tomwalkom, Thomas Walkom, national affairs columnist. Read his story here.

Stay tuned to TorontoObserver.ca and to Observer Radio News on May 2, when journalism students will fan out across the GTA and East York ridings to cover the Federal election.

Jack Layton riding headquarters on Broadview Ave (Toronto-Danforth) photo by Ellin Bessner

Luckily Jack Layton’s riding and campaign headquarters is in the riding where our program's community newspaper the Toronto Observer is located, so we shall be right in the most newsworthy area Monday night!

UTSC BYE BYE Morningside Observer:

(photos courtesy of Aakanksha Tangri)

After 5 years, it’s a bittersweet bye bye this week to the Morningside campus newsroom, and classroom 304 and 306b for the UTSC/Centennial joint journalism program. After a half dozen years of offering classes to the students at 755 Morningside, the eastern campus next to UTSC will no longer house the joint program with the East Toronto Observer serving Malvern, West Hill and Scarborough. Starting this fall, all classes will be held at the soon-to-be-renovated (beginning in June) East York journalism campus at Mortimer and Carlaw (Pape subway!)

Say what you will about the smallish cupboard sized/Observer newsroom 306b --- (Maximum capacity 15 people) -- it sure has provided excellent training for 5+ years of journalism students. Sure it was cramped, but what great memories! Where there were more students then computers, where the ESL and GENEd students routinely came in, looking desperately for staplers, or for someone from IT to help them fix their printers, or folks hoping to complete their fall registration timetables! “No, this isn’t the English department.” “No you can’t use this lab, it’s for journalism students only.” The Scarborough campus lab has produced countless editions of the newspaper, great TV and audio stories, eye-catching layouts, award winning Beat magazines, and has seen more Facebook visits then anyone could count. Not to mention the annual Wall of your Observer Staff photos with crayon mustaches!

Speaking of UTSC journalism grads, congratulations to Megan Harris (Centennial Journalism 2010) who will be interning this summer writing stories and content for real estate writer and advisor (the Globe and Mail) John Warrilow, entrepreneur and consultant.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/your-business/exit/john-warrillow/

PHOTO CALL please!!! Anyone with memories of Morningside campus Journalism is invited to send in a Tweet or an email and we’ll collect them and publish them, and any photos which you wish to send in, would also be appreciated. You can tweet to @centennialjourn or email to :
journalism@centennialcollege.ca
or to
ebessner@centennialcollege.ca

Jamie Kennedy, Chris Spence, Jian Ghomeshi and Centennial Journalism

2011-04-20T23:41:00.000-04:00

Andrew Phillips, Sarah Dayal, Melanie Schawill interview Chef Jamie Kennedy at Centennial College Journalism, photo by Octavian Lacatusu

With one week and a bit left in the winter semester, students (and faculty and staff) are feeling the pressure to get the assignments completed (and get the marking done) and finish the next issue of the Toronto Observer print edition before the May 2 federal election.

In this newsletter Vol 3 edition, we’ll focus on the fabulous guests that have been seen in the halls of the CCC and the Morningside Campus the last few weeks, as students in the Advanced Interviewing courses put into practice all the skills that they’ve learned in order to interview real newsmakers and celebrities. Using the tips and tricks (or Trips and Ticks, as Ellin Bessner calls them- shout out to Kyle Larkin!) has helped one group schmooze a tired chef Jamie Kennedy. Melanie Schawill revealed to the chef that she once micro waved a dish covered with tinfoil, because she doesn’t know how to cook. Yes it exploded. Kennedy perked up, laughed, and then she was able to ask him what was the craziest sandwich he had ever assembled.

Paramedic Steve Darling of York Region EMS was a reluctant guest, stepping in to replace one of his staff who cancelled their interview with students in the joint journalism program at the Morningside campus. Interviewer Jessica Lee kept at him, asking him about his regrets after a 30-year career. He admitted to her that if he’d only studied harder in high school, rather then fool around, he might have been a doctor today, and still hoped to go to medical school in the future. He emailed back to say how much he’d enjoyed the interview experience and would be willing to come back next year! Check out Jessica Lee's gorgeous photos here, on her jessicaology's flickr account.

Check out the Centennial Journalism Flickr account for photos taken by Octavian Lacatusu, Jessica Lee and me, of the great guests, and the students who’ve interviewed them. Next week, final interview with Jian Ghomeshi of CBC’s Q in the Q radio studio by 3 UTSC joint journalism students! We’re bringing him a bunch of Arsenal souvenirs and pistachio nuts, as apparently that’s his favourite team and snack!

Read the great stories written about their guest interviews by Advanced Interviewing students at JJ/UTSC, now posted on Centennial Journalism's wordpress blog.

http://centennialjournalism.wordpress.com/

GRAD/ALUMNI updates:

Jaclyn Desforges (fast track 2010) writes to report she’s done her internship at Homemakers.com now and she just started a new job as a Media Monitoring Specialist at FPinfomart.ca (a clipping service owned by Postmedia.)

Josh Ungar covering the Rob Ford campaign October 2010 for the East Toronto Observer.

Josh Ungar, UTSC Joint Journalism (2010) has completed his internship at 680 News in Toronto and has been hired on staff doing audio editing and web content editing and writing. Josh writes that he did a mix of overnight/day/morning shifts for the first 10 weeks.

“ I was bouncing around doing a little bit of everything... Going out on the street to get MOS tape, doing police/fire checks, monitoring foreign news services like BBC/Al Jazeera ect, writing press releases into copy for radio, monitoring the web for kicker and entertainment stories, rewriting stories for radio, doing TV and radio line-ups for competitors... Progressively I did a little more, going to the scene of actual crimes and police press conferences to get tape and turning them into script/clip stories, calling around to get interviews from professors and media reps for stories etc... After about 10 weeks I ended up covering an actual audio editing shift, got noticed by the web department and did some preliminary training, then for four weeks I worked with the head web editor, writing stories and learning their web system.

After that I was offered a position working part-time doing a mix of audio editing and web content editing/writing, which I'll be starting next week.”

Check out the new Promo of UTSC/JJ 2010 grad Sarah de Mille on the Centennial College website. http://www.centennialcollege.ca/thecentre/utscjournalism

NEWS:

The Advisory Committee for the Journalism program met April 12 at the CCC campus, with some high profile names from the industry helping to steer the school in the right direction: Eric Morrison, CEO of The Canadian Press, Gino Apponi, chief of Staff to Jennifer McGuire who is GM of CBC News, Marci Ien of CTV Canada AM, Chris Boutet, digital media senior producer at National Post. One recommendation: to bring more alum and grads back to campus in the fall to meet current students and discuss where the jobs are and to act as mentors! Shall do!

A Toronto Star photographer came to Observer Radio News Wednesday morning April 20 for a photo shoot of journalism students who were performing live newscasts on air. It was for the Star’s Guide to GTA Colleges and Universities – the next edition. Our stars Kyle Koivisto, Kris Ali-Trotman and Braydon Keddie all wore their best black t-shirts for the impromptu session.

Awards:

Alina Smirnova (JJ 2010) has won the Dean’s Award for entrepreneurship in the Joint Journalism program at Morningside campus, for her leadership in running the Observer during the recent municipal election, as well as her solid editing and fact-checking skills on her group’s beat reporting project. For one of the stories in that magazine, Foodshed Magazine, she also climbed on rooftops of the Royal York Hotel and the U of T to interview urban bee keepers.

Joseph Jacobsen (JJ 2010) has won the Dean’s Award for the student in the JJ program with the highest GPA. His beat magazine project Top Shelf Manzine, with colleagues Josh Ungar, Ryan Jhagroo, Billy Courtice and Brad Featherstone, was the Beat Idol judges pick for best magazine of the year.

Congratulations to you both. See you at the ceremony April 28 at the CCC.

Reality TV and the Egyptian Tahrir Square protests: Centennial Journalism students win awards

2011-04-12T13:16:00.003-04:00

Last week, I posted a story about how Centennial's journalism program helps our students get jobs. Thanks for the good feedback on the blog post. Since we launched our Twitter account @centennialjourn and we are putting graduate success stories on our College webpages (see Ryan Sang's testimonial here) http://www.centennialcollege.ca/thecentre/journalismft, we've been hearing from many of you, staff and students and grads.

I've decided to try to put together a regular newsletter about the events going on around campus, as well as news from grads/alum and profs. So here is Edition 2.

This week, it's all about awards! We have the CLIX photo gala, the Dean's Award winners announced, and grad Murtz Jaffer flying high in L.A. with all the reality tv stars!

Meegan Scanlon and friend -courtesy of "Get Out There" radio

Awards season:

The Dean’s Award for highest GPA last year at the East York journalism programs: in the three year Category: Meegan Scanlon, now completing her internship at Explore magazine in Toronto, and Jaclyn Desforges, for the Fast Track program, who is completing her internship at homemakers.com, and preparing for her upcoming September wedding. Congratulations.

• Meegan Scanlon has also won the new Dean’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award, for the East York campus, which is for the student who is an independent thinker, takes the initiative in identifying and creating an opportunity, accepts the associated risks, and establishes value for themselves and others. Meegan was one of the founders of Centennial’s Internet Radio station, had her own radio show on outdoor activities, and co edited Freshly Pressed, the magazine for first semester student stories, and planned a wedding all at the same time.

The awards presentations will be made April 28 at a ceremony on campus.

*Shannon Keller has won the award for Fast Track program this year, for being the driving force behind www.torontocairo.ca, a website created during the Tahrir Square in Cairo protests to link young people in Toronto and Egypt through social media.

Here’s what professor Jeffrey Dvorkin, a former NPR Ombudsman and managing editor of CBC Radio News, who now teaches multiplatform journalism at Centennial College, had to say about this endeavour.

“We created a site www.torontocairo.ca which linked up young people

in both cities to comment on the rapidly changing events in Egypt. We

created a Twitter feed and a Facebook page to track how people were responding to

events. We contacted students at the American University in Cairo and they

contributed to the discussion.”

You can listen to Shannon Keller’s interview here about TorontoCairo on this podcast by Observer Radio News which aired on the Friday when Hosni Mubarak stepped down. Hosts: Scott Reid, Connie Jean Kennedy, Nicolas Pescod, Nicole Pulsinelli and Alissa Randall.

http://www.box.net/shared/3gacvzxet6

It’s also awards night for the CLIX photography contest for 2011, open to digital imaging photojournalism students in Jim Babbage and Joseph Marranca’s courses at EY and the UTSC students at Morningside campus.

The gala is April 13 with the show from 6:30 to 8 pm in the Corridor Gallery on the second floor of the CCC campus. Refreshments will be served. Congratulations to Alex Ward, Farhanna Uddin, Ocatavian Lacatusu for the winning photos.

You can read Jim Babbage’s story about it here:

http://jimbabbage.ca/blog/?p=202

Grads update: Where are they now?

Shawn Starr

: Three year grad (2010) now working at the Town Crier in Toronto.

Like some of the other students in the article, I was also hired at the end of my internship. At the end of May, I will have been with the Town Crier newspapers and magazines for a year as both a reporter and copy editor. While I cover virtually every topic, I've mostly been focusing on crime, politics and features. Some of my personal favourites include: 1. A North York woman whose basement has flooded 18 times in eight years, but has received no compensation from the city, 2. The bizarre murder-for-hire plot and subsequent torching of Harold the Jewellery Buyer, 3. The ongoing saga of politics in the Beach.

I'm glad to see so many people doing well post-graduation, and I've even heard Centennial journalism being talked about in the newsroom as a place that's becoming known for putting out great talent. It's very encouraging to see, considering how often we hear that the industry is shrinking.

Simone Castello, fast Track (2009) Graduate now web editor working at jobpostings magazine.

I graduated from the fast-track journalism program at Centennial college in 2009. Since then, I've had the chance to work as a writer in print and online at different magazines, including some overseas. Right now, I work at jobpostings magazine as their web editor, and I can credit the instructors and courses I took at Centennial College for preparing me to take on this role. I will always have fond memories of my time at the Centre for Creative Communications, and am proud to say I'm a graduate from Centennial College's fast-track journalism program.

And if you get the chance, please let the students know about us. We're a valuable resource for students looking for work after grad.

You can find us on

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jobpostingsca

Twitter: @jobpostingsca

Online: http://www.jobpostings.ca

Graduate Murtz Jaffer, (Fast Track 2003) who is a celebrity reporter, hosted his own Gemini Award winning TV show called Reality Obsessed on TV Tropolis, and founded the website InsidePulse .com, which reports on popular culture, and has a staff of 200 writers.

Murtz was in L.A. this week to receive the 'Special Achievement In Reality Reporting Award' at the Reality Rocks convention in Los Angeles. http://tvguide.ca/tvnews/articles/110317_murtz_jaffer_award_dw.htm

First year student Leslie Eamons' story has been published by Centennial College’s website about her father also being a Centennial grad, in automotive. The story came out of a J0-102 Intro to News Reporting class audio podcast project that was picked up by the college. Read her story here. http://www.centennialcollege.ca/news/grenada

Yamri Taddese of the UTSC joint journalism program reads the news for an Ethiopian language TV show on Rogers TV

http://www.rogerstv.com/page.aspx?lid=12&rid=17&sid=4033

UTSC (2010) student Emily Hunter has released a new book on the new breed of young people who are fighting to save the environment around the world, as she does, herself. You can read about the book here.

http://www.NextEcoWarriors.com/

Three year grad (2010) Ciaran Thompson and CCSAI multi media whiz Geoff Anhorn have started a new web series documenting new artists/bands.   It's called Untouched Sounds and we've posted the first episode on our website.   http://untouchedsounds.tumblr.com/  

Ciaran asks people to “do us a favour and search Untouched Sounds on Facebook and 'like us' or 'become our friend' or whatever it is. (No, I still haven't joined Facebook. Surprise surprise)   You can also follow us on Twitter: @untouchedsounds   Thanks very much!   Ciaran

How Centennial College Journalism helps college graduates find jobs in the media

2011-04-03T16:26:00.001-04:00

Next week, Centennial College's journalism program will be hosting some big events that will bring our students front and centre with the media industry which they are soon to enter as rookie reporters, editors, producers, anchors and designers. It is one of the most important ways the Centennial College's award winning journalism program prepares our grads to move from the campus newsroom to newsrooms across the country, and indeed, around the world.

Our graduates are finding jobs even before their internships end. Like Samantha Butler, who while at the Kingston Whig Standard this semester, was offered a job, and responded by breaking the story about how a Queen's University professor thinks CBC's Vote Compass is flawed. Her story went national and caused a lot of buzz in the current election coverage. Butler also covered the Wolfe Island entry into kraft Hockeyville's competition.

Like Ryan Sang (Fast Track 2009), who has moved to Toronto from Saskatchewan to work as a reporter with Global TV News Toronto. He credits Centennial College's Fast Track journalism program for getting him to where he is now. Like covering train derailments.

Like, Aileen Donnelly (Fast Track 2011) who has won the Ontario Community Newspaper Association Award for best Student Writing, and will receive her award in May in Ottawa, at the OCNA national conference. Aileen covered a sentencing hearing for the Toronto Observer to win the award. She now writes as an intern for the National Post. She covers crime, editorial writing, and had this primer on the uprisings in the Middle East.

Like Francois Biber, who is graduating this spring, but has been hired by the Vermillion, Alberta newspaper where he hopes to use his multi-platform skills in audio, and video, to boost the newspaper's online presence. Read the paper's interview with him here.

Like Tamara Baluja, who's internship at the Globe and Mail is seeing her byline with important stories such as the gay-straight alliance controversy at a local high school.

Our students tell us their time at Centennial College's journalism programs gave them exposure to the leaders and experts in the media industry, and prepared them to launch their careers. Some come to us with undergraduate degrees, some come straight from high school. Others come after working for several years in other fields. All benefit from the speakers, visits, and opportunities available to them every week of the semester at Centennial's boutique campus in mid-town Toronto, and the vibrant news city of Toronto around them. Here are just a few events scheduled for this coming week:

On Thursday, the man who produced hundreds of those "I Believe" vignettes about athletes for CTV's 2010 Winter Olympic coverage, Don Young, will deliver his "Best Time Ever" inspirational message to students at the library of Centennial College's Centre for Creative Communications, which houses the Fast Track, Three Year, UTSC, and Sports journalism programs. Young says this is the best time ever for students looking to enter the media field, because there are so many opportunities for them. The speaking engagement was arranged by Ted Barris, professor and author and broadcaster who is runs the online news program for the East York students of TorontoObserver.ca.

Also on Thursday, the former pro ball player who broke the silence about what life is really like on the road for professional athletes, Jim Bouton, author of the 1970 seminal book "Ball Four", will be chatting with sports journalism students via Skype from New England directly into one of their classrooms. The interview was arranged by Malcolm Kelly, coordinator of the sports journalism program

Also on Thursday, students in the radio news courses will be visiting the headquarters of 680 News, the Fan590, CHFI and Kiss 92.5 FM, to meet the newscasters and producers, to see how the newsrooms operate, and to watch live shows on the air. The visit is being arranged for classes taught by radio instructor Ellin Bessner, a former CBC and CTV News anchor and reporter, in conjunction with lecturer Anne Lavrih, who is internship coordinator for 680 News and the voice of Today's Parent minute on that station. Lavrih has been teaching at Centennial for two years.

In Lindy Oughtred's Advanced Interviewing classes on Mondays, students will still be buzzing about their trip to watch CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi host his live radio show "Q". They are also giving lively presentations about the findings of their major research projects which they've been preparing all semester, including one by student Ani Hajderaj, with his tips on how to interview people who are in business, and how business journalists operate.

In photography and digital imaging, professors Jim Babbage and his colleague Joseph Marranca have announced the winners of the third annual Clix Journalism Photo competition, involving entries by students in all three programs. Congratulations to UTSC joint journalism photographer Jessica Lee, who excelled in all the categories. See the winning entries here:

Find out more about why Centennial College's journalism programs will lead you to a career in the media business. Follow us on Twitter , on Flickr, read our program blog, follow the award winning Toronto Observer's online news site , check out our award winning magazines, radio news programs, television shows, and digital imaging by students on CentennialOnDemand.

Contact Steve Cogan, coordinator at scogan@centennialcollege.ca for more information or to apply.

How to get a job in broadcasting: tips from the pros

2011-03-08T13:29:00.002-05:00

Natalie Sequeira and Anthony Thurairatnam from Centennial College/University of Toronto Journalism meeting Leslie Roberts and Ward Smith of Global News Toronto

Attended a great session of the Ontario Association of Broadcasters annual Career Day at the Rogers headquarters in Toronto yesterday, with some of my students from Centennial College and the University of Toronto.

They were among a hundred eager young broadcasters from colleges across southern Ontario and universities who came equipped with talent, passion, and file folders containing resumes. Some students came dressed for on air TV jobs, while others wore jeans but needed only to say a few words out loud to hear the golden pipes they were born with that could land them a dream job.

And there is hiring going on. After the recession, the good news is, folks are hiring.

The Ontario Association of Broadcasters annual career day is an important meet and greet opportunity for students. The gathering attracts news directors, sales managers, human resources personnel, and internship coordinators from stations such as 680 News, CHCH News, Bayshore Broadcasting, Haliburton Broadcasting, Evanov Radio, Astral, Durham Radio, and Global News, to name but a few.

As the OAB is for private radio stations and TV stations, the CBC is not a member.

Students get the opportunity to sit in small groups at round tables for 25 minute "speed-dating" type sessions, divided by field of interest, and chat with the folks who do the hiring. So if they wanted to do radio production, they sat there. If radio sales was their thing, they made a beeline for that session.
And after 25 minutes, the students rotate to the next table.

Nicholas Pescod of Centennial College promotes his radio show Radio Nation at Ontario Association of Broadcasters

At the TV news table, I listened in as students chatted with Global Toronto anchor Leslie Roberts, along with News Director and Station Manager Ward Smith, and CHCH TV News Executive Producer John McKenna. I asked all three some of the questions which students usually ask me over the years: how often should I call, I don't want to see that I am annoying, and should I call, or email, or come in person?

Some of the tips they gave to students:

Ward Smith:
1) Do send him emails but call as well. Don't be afraid to be persistent. He may not have time to answer today, but keep trying.
2) Don't check your Facebook while on an internship there. They notice.
3)Do work at Rogers TV as a volunteer in their community cable stations, to gain experience and a demo tape

Leslie Roberts

1) Do come to story meetings with ideas. Offer to get interviews. Don't sit in a corner and just shotlist tapes.
2) Do make the camera person your best friend while on an internship, and ask to do stand ups and on cameras with company microphone flags, for your portfolio

John McKenna
CHCH TV News

1) Don't call. He prefers email.

Matilda Miranda of Centennial College at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters career day 2011

Earlier in the day, a panel of experts called Getting Started gave the students some general advice about how to hunt for jobs, how to send out cover letters and resumes and .mp3 audition tapes.

Laura Broughton, Manager from human resources, Rogers Media Broadcasting offered these tips:

Rogers won't even look at your resume if there is no cover letter, as it shows you didn't take the time to carefully tailor your master copy to the particular job.

If you have spelling mistakes, the application gets thrown out.

If you address it to Dear Sir, that's a no no. Find out the name of the person, as it shows you have done your homework.

Keep track of which jobs you apply for so if you receive a call back, you remember which job it was for.

Use words in your letter and resume that are found in the job description, so that the Rogers' Human Resources software program will find those words and move your resume higher up in the sorting process it uses. So if they ask for "experienced researcher" make sure you use those exact words somewhere in your own letter and resume.

Andrew Forsyth, consultant, had these tips:

1) mention community service or volunteering that you do outside of your journalism life

2) spell check !!

3) Once you get the interview, do you homework! Know the program, know the show, know the station. Be a fan. Tell them why you like the show.
4) Even if you hate country music, apply for the job at a country station. You can learn and it will lead to other gigs elsewhere.

Corey Fuchs of MediajobsearchCanada with students at Ontario Association of Broadcasters career day 2011

Corey Fuchs, founder of Media Job Search Canada, biggest online job site in the country for media says

1) 2,800 companies pay to look through resumes posted to his site, so post your resume there.

Steve Kowch, Author and Radio News consultant, former PD Newstalk 1010 says:

1)Do take charge of the interview. Tell them what you can do for them.
2) When they say "Do you have any questions for us?" have one or two questions prepared (not about salary). Know the station. Ask about philosophy or some of the station's recent strategies.

All excellent food for thought!

Social media for business magazine wins IPAO award 2010: Social Shift Magazine

2011-02-17T14:44:00.000-05:00

For the third year in a row, the members of the Independent magazine Publishers Association of Ontario, IPAO have selected a magazine launched by my students from the joint journalism program at Centennial College/University of Toronto, as best new magazine.

Social Shift editors Sarina Adamo, Sarah Moore and Angela Rotundo at IPAO dinner.

IPAO members looking at Social Shift Magazine first edition

Social Shift Magazine first edition cover

Social Shift Magazine, with co-founders Sarina Adamo, Sarah Moore, and Angela Rotundo, was chosen because it is a timely new magazine that serves a growing demand by small and medium sized businesses to learn how to use social media to grow and profit.

The magazine, with its premiere edition launched in early December, tackles everything from using Facebook and Twitter, to other lesser known social media applications such as Deskarma and FourSquare.

The editors suggest businesses that want to grow their brand, should subscribe to Killerstartups.com to keep abreast of the rapid developments in the social media field.

There is a case study and profile of a Hamilton photographer, Jay Perry www.jayperry.ca who is using social media to attract new customers both here and abroad.

The students' winning magazine was the culmination of four months of work, from conceiving of the topic, to suggesting stories and content, to interviewing and writing, and gathering and assembling multi media audio, video and photo galleries. They also had to put together a companion website, a social media component to build a community of followers and readers, and do design, layout and find a printer.

Their supervising editor was Paul Grossinger, a veteran publisher of several magazines including Canada Camps, Ontario Lacrosse, Security Matters and Security Products Canada, and owner of KAP Publishing. Paul is part of the faculty of industry experts on staff at the joint program between Centennial College and the U of T. http://www.centennialcollege.ca/thecentre/utsc/faculty

Congratulations to the Social Shift team, and to Paul, and special thanks for the mentoring and guidance by the members of the IPAO. And a special thanks to Paul Williams and Donna Kerry from Rogers Publishing, who inspired the class, as did Doug Bennet, of Masthead Magazine and Design Edge Canada, and to Kelly Dirken of Ironstone Media for advice and suggestions about layout, colours, type, leading and fonts.

Observer TV News

2011-02-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

Observer TV News is the broadcast arm of TorontoObserver and TorontoObserver.ca, part of the Centennial College Journalism program’s multi-platform news site. The stories and content are produced by students in the Journalism program here at Centennial.

http://www.torontoobserver.ca/

By the time students reach their final year, and final semester, they take an intensive 15 week Television News Course—their only one in their entire time with us—where they learn advanced shooting, basic lighting, video editing with Final Cut Pro 7, and advanced broadcast writing skills so they can put together full television stories that run about 1:20-1:40. These stories are structured just like the ones you watch on any supper hour t.v. news show. They also are repurposed as mobile content for computers and mobile devices like cellphones.

These stories then are uploaded to our YouTube Channel, Centennial Journalism’s you tube channel..like this one by Kerry Prunskus on the U of T’s accapella singing group called Tune Beats Awesome.

Kerry Prunskus piece on Tune Beats Awesome

They also learn to work the control room equipment located in our newsroom in room 149, and at the end of the course, they produce several 20 minute long live-to-air television news shows. With full t.v. makeup, suits and ties, and the intense adrenaline pressure of meeting a live deadline.

These broadcasts for Observer TV News are the culmination of all their writing, and anchoring, and storytelling skills in news, sports, weather, entertainment, and commentary. Their final newscasts are broadcast live to air, on Centennial On Demand, warts and all, no matter what, but then are edited afterwords, cleaned up, and uploaded as videopodcasts to our You Tube Channel, and to Centennial On Demand, for their employers, parents, and the general public to see.

On these broadcasts, not only do we broadcast the day's news, local, national and international, but also, showcase the stories which our students did during the semester, using the Panasonic cameras, or new high def Canon Vixia cameras we have added to our inventory of equipment to prepare the students with skills they will need in the journalism world when they go on internships at the end of the course, in January.

The skills they learn during that course also help them in their other academic work, as they can shoot video for their magazines which they are creating, or for their career management course as they build their own online resumes and portfolios in order to secure an internship and a job.

This year, the college IT people installed new Macs into rooom 149 with Final Cut 7 editing software in it that can accept files right from the portable cameras, so the newsroom here became a real multiplatform newsroom where students can write, edit, and broadcast all from the same spot.

Here is one show from December 3

Observer TV news student Aleksej Nesterins shot a new opening for Observer TV News, aired for the first time in December …the music composed by his brother.

And we are now able to use proper lights – Lowell Lighting kits—purchased as part of this year’s capital budget and used by our students for the first time this fall.

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Some history. When we first taught this course several years ago out of the bigger Broadcast and Film RTV studios, we used the old standard definition cameras, and we were able to broadcast live through the Internet through Centennial’s Ondemand site from there.

But since we built our own smaller City-tv like newsroom and control room down the hall in 149, three years ago, we didn’t have the capability to “go Live” for real, as there were no cables to connect us to the RTV studio down the hall. So I faked it for several years. Live to tape. But it didn’t give the same classroom experience to the students.

This semester, I begged staff to find us a solution. But nothing worked with the computers and gear we had. We bought a bit of new gear, and were able to borrow a laptop and on the municipal election night, October 25, 2010 while the online Toronto Observer print students were posting articles and stories from across the city to their site, Observer TV went live with our journalism program’s first ever televised election night specials. We had three shows, about 10 minutes long, with anchors Deeana Charrion, Kris Baker and Dan Heyman reporting in with the lastest results and the surprisingly quick Rob Ford victory.

Here’s what the 10 p. m. show looked like.

http://centennialondemand.com/2010/10/25/toronto-votes-2010-10-p-m-election-update/

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Most students love the TV experience, and it turns some of them on to the possibilities of on-air work in tv journalism, although most came to Centennial planning to be print or magazine journalists.

Some shy students never completely accept t.v. but they do all go on air, and do all the positions in the news room, and find that when their friends and parents see them on air LIVE, or watch their stories on demand..their satisfaction is enourmous.

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One thing to mention is the patience and undestanding of my colleagues in the journalism newsroom, who have to dodge cables, and duck under lights, and keep quiet when they try to manouvre around the cameras while we are on air. The studio sits right in the main portion of the newsroom, and the control room is on the other side of their offices, so on tv class days, working around us is always hectic and noisy. Especially with me yelling commands and barking orders at the directors to start on time. So thanks for your putting up with all of this, for the good of the students.

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This week, we reached a very important milestone for Observer TV. One that will permit the journalism program to expand it’s use of Live broadcasting all year round.

Thanks to IT and Christine Deering, we have now installed a nice new Mac PC beside the control room. It has enough guts to be hooked up to that fancy white box which permits us to broadcast live to the Internet through Livestream…and we tested it Wednesday and it works perfectly. The gear will stay permanently hooked up, and anyone in journalism or the campus who wants to broadcast interviews with guests, talk shows, panel discussions, or…in my bucket list of dreams, I’d like to have a daily TV newscast or programming by students for students…much like the Internet Radio Station which Ted Fairhurst built, with Live TV shows streaming right from our newsroom.

Live from East York, it's Observer TV News.....!