A $300,000 cash infusion will be coming to the Concordia Journalism department thanks to Corus Entertainment Inc., a Toronto media group, sometime in the near future, according to a Montreal Campus report.
The Universite du Quebec a Montreal(UQAM) student paper reported that Corus is forced by the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission to donate one per cent of its profits from the acquisition of Diffusions Metromedia CMR Inc., a Montreal company that owns six local radio stations including CKOI and COOL FM, to local initiatives of the company’s choice.
Due to the 1998 CRTC regulation, Corus has chosen to give $300,000 to both the Concordia and UQAM journalism departments, among others.
Strangely enough, neither department was made aware of its luck until a student brought the story to Enn Raudsepp, chair of Concordia’s journalism department, after stumbling upon it while searching randomly on the internet.
Raudsepp then sent a letter to Metromedia’s public relations department, and was informed in a response that Concordia would get $42, 857 a year for the next seven years. He said the department is supposed to receive the money by Aug. 1 of every year.
“We need the money,” Raudsepp said. “The well [of university funds] has dried up, and we need to get money from somewhere.”
The money, however, has still not arrived.
Raudsepp said he sent another letter to Metromedia about the donation, and has invited a representative from the company to come to the Loyola Campus, where the journalism department is based, to see the department’s facilities, but he is yet to receive a response to that.
“For us, the money would be a godsend,” Raudsepp added. “The digitalization of our facilities requires an incredible amount of capital.”
He said the university has been very good about funding journalism in recent years, but this year, they had to slash their budget substantially. “If the department wants decent equipment, we need outside funds.”
Representatives at Metromedia were unavailable for comment, but Raudsepp was confident they would come through with the money before the Aug. 1 deadline.
Raudsepp was also adamant about the fact that this money is to come without any catches, due to possible concerns about a journalism department receiving money from a media firm.
“We will not prostitute ourselves for money,” he said. “To accept money with strings attached would be completely unacceptable.”
The Universite du Quebec a Montreal(UQAM) student paper reported that Corus is forced by the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission to donate one per cent of its profits from the acquisition of Diffusions Metromedia CMR Inc., a Montreal company that owns six local radio stations including CKOI and COOL FM, to local initiatives of the company’s choice.
Due to the 1998 CRTC regulation, Corus has chosen to give $300,000 to both the Concordia and UQAM journalism departments, among others.
Strangely enough, neither department was made aware of its luck until a student brought the story to Enn Raudsepp, chair of Concordia’s journalism department, after stumbling upon it while searching randomly on the internet.
Raudsepp then sent a letter to Metromedia’s public relations department, and was informed in a response that Concordia would get $42, 857 a year for the next seven years. He said the department is supposed to receive the money by Aug. 1 of every year.
“We need the money,” Raudsepp said. “The well [of university funds] has dried up, and we need to get money from somewhere.”
The money, however, has still not arrived.
Raudsepp said he sent another letter to Metromedia about the donation, and has invited a representative from the company to come to the Loyola Campus, where the journalism department is based, to see the department’s facilities, but he is yet to receive a response to that.
“For us, the money would be a godsend,” Raudsepp added. “The digitalization of our facilities requires an incredible amount of capital.”
He said the university has been very good about funding journalism in recent years, but this year, they had to slash their budget substantially. “If the department wants decent equipment, we need outside funds.”
Representatives at Metromedia were unavailable for comment, but Raudsepp was confident they would come through with the money before the Aug. 1 deadline.
Raudsepp was also adamant about the fact that this money is to come without any catches, due to possible concerns about a journalism department receiving money from a media firm.
“We will not prostitute ourselves for money,” he said. “To accept money with strings attached would be completely unacceptable.”
