Tag: journalism

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Opinions

Why journalists need to be paid

Graphic by Florence Yee

Journalism—as many of us at The Concordian know—is a competitive field with very few jobs available. Just recently, the Montreal Gazette announced it would be laying off more workers in the near future, according to the Financial Post. So with fewer and fewer jobs available, aspiring journalists will do anything to get ahead and that includes free labour.

It’s a conversation some of our editors here at The Concordian have had with the journalism department. Some professors believe unpaid internships are the way to go to gain experience, while others are adamant that we should all be paid for our work.

On Jan. 27, ESPN business reporter Darren Rovell sparked a lengthy conversation on Twitter after suggesting the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper ask students at Northwestern University to cover college basketball games for free. After numerous tweets telling him he was wrong for suggesting a publication should have students work for free, Rovell replied saying some of the best journalists got their start while doing so.

While this may be true, there is certainly a disconnect between the journalism of today and the journalism of the past. For starters, you just has to attend any journalism seminar in the country to learn that newsrooms are shrinking.

With the pressures of paying rent, food and tuition, finding time for an unpaid internship is close to impossible. If the only way to become successful in the industry is to become an unpaid intern, then only the most privileged people would be able to get ahead.

In Montreal, one of the places that offers unpaid internships is Bell Media. While these internships offer valuable experience that could make good journalists great, for some people, they simply aren’t an option.

Another dilemma young journalists face is the choice between exposure and money when it comes to freelancing. In an article by the International Business Times, Huffington Post U.K. editor-in-chief Steven Hull admitted to not paying writers for work.

“If I was paying someone to write something because I want it to get advertising, that’s not a real authentic way of presenting copy,” Hull said. “When somebody writes something for us, we know it’s real, we know they want to write it. It’s not been forced or paid for. I think that’s something to be proud of.”

Attitudes like the Huffington Post’s are tricking young journalists into writing for free. Asking to be paid is not disrespectful, it’s what you should be doing. If you are a journalist and your article is next to an ad, then in some way, shape or form you are making money for that publication and should be paid for it. Even if the publication you write for doesn’t have a huge budget, you should at least get a little something for your hard work.

Now you must be reading this and thinking “does The Concordian pay their writers?” The answer is no. Call us hypocrites, call us horrible names and compare us to Huffington Post, because we 100 per cent know we’re in the wrong.

As an editorial team, we unfortunately do not have the power to grant monetary bonuses to our contributors—our board of directors is in control of the finances. We’d like to end this editorial by asking our board to start providing financial stipends to our writers who demonstrate hardwork and consistency.

It’s time The Concordian emerges from this deep slumber and start dishing out some of that money buried deep in our swollen coffers.

As young journalists we shouldn’t have to settle for less just because our older contemporaries did. It’s 2017 and media corporations (including your university newspaper), needs to get with the times.

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News

Concordia journalists debut their work in Canadian magazine

Concordia journalism students participate in investigative data journalism class focused on the budworm infestation affecting the forestry industry in Baie-Comeau. Photo by Gregory Todaro.

After 10 months of work, a Concordia journalism class, led by the New York Times’ managing editor, published their piece

Seven students from an investigative data journalism class at Concordia University have published a 11-month-long investigative journalism project under the direction of New York Times managing editor in the news services division and Concordia journalist-in-residence, Patti Sonntag. The piece, titled “Attack of the Budworms”, was published on Nov. 15 by The Walrus, a Canadian magazine.

“[The topic] evolved very, very gradually, so I started with the question of how was climate change affecting the forestry industry,” said Sonntag. She said she started looking at forest fires and infestations at first.

“I gradually started to narrow in on the story of Baie-Comeau,” she said, referring to the rural area in Quebec. “I don’t think we really knew the story, [until] mid 2016 maybe.”

The team first began their research by investigating the topic of forestry in Quebec, said Michael Wrobel, a Concordia journalism student involved in the investigative project. “We narrowed it down over the course of time to this very specific topic, which is the budworm infestation in one particular region of Quebec and how it’s affecting the forestry industry there.”

Wrobel said he was approached by the Journalism Department to participate in the independent study class, JOUR 451, which focuses on investigative data journalism. “There were five of us who continued the project beyond the scope of the class,” said Wrobel. “Even after we had gotten the credit, we still felt compelled to participate because we felt some ownership over the project too––so we saw it through to completion.”

The other journalism students who continued working on the project over the summer were Gregory Todaro, Michelle Pucci, Casandra De Masi and Joseph Arciresi. The remainder of the team included Julian McKenzie, Shaun Michaud and Wrobel.

“This [project] was considered a chance to actually go out there and make an impact and gives us a chance to really interact with the world of journalism beyond the walls of the university,” said journalism student participant and managing editor at The Concordian Gregory Todaro.

Sonntag said she first thought of the topic in November 2015. “I had no idea where the story was going,” said Sonntag. “That’s the wonderful thing about working within the university––you have the time and breath to explore if you have the impetus.”

Wrobel said it was an incredible experience to speak with so many different people in the community of Baie-Comeau, who trusted Wrobel enough to discuss their concerns about the industry, the ecology and the impact the budworms are having on the forestry industry in the city of just over 22,000 people. He said people in Baie-Comeau were very welcoming—some even let Wrobel and his classmates conduct interviews inside their homes.

“We talked to more than 100 people,” said Sonntag. She said the people of Baie-Comeau and representatives of the forestry industry were very welcoming to Sonntag and the team of student-journalists. She said the project was not just completed solemnly through the efforts of her and the group of Concordia journalists. “We had so much help from so many people,” said Sonntag. “Hundreds of people took part in the project.”

Todaro said he and the team not only interviewed community members of Baie-Comeau and corporate or labour representatives of the forestry industry––but union representatives, Innu community members and scientists knowledgeable on carbon, budworms and climate change as well.

“I am pleased with the outcome. It’s a great piece and I see a little bit of all of our research and work reflected in it,” said Wrobel.

Sonntag received a Michener-Deacon Fellowship for Journalism Education in June 2016 due to her proposal to spearhead this investigative data journalism class. Sonntag said she will be teaching a similar class at Concordia sometime in the next year. With regards to the topic, “I have some ideas but that’s about it,” she said.

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Arts

Following a reporter on the front lines

Freelancer on the Front Lines follows Jesse Rosenfeld throughout his journey as a freelance journalist.

New documentary to be presented at the RIDM festival explores the challenges of being a journalist in areas of conflict

We as an audience are accustomed to receiving our news from a variety of readily available sources. Yet, behind that link on Facebook, those newspapers articles, and perfectly groomed television anchors, are journalists on the front lines who are making monumental efforts to gather information for us.

Freelancer on the Front Lines, a thoroughly informative film by Santiago Bertolino, tells the story of one such journalist. It follows freelance reporter Jesse Rosenfeld over a period of three years, as he travels through the volatile region of the Middle East in search of stories he believes need to be told.

The film starts off with an emotional farewell dinner hosted by Rosenfeld’s family before his departure from Toronto. His parents are rightfully worried about his upcoming journey to Cairo, where Rosenfeld hopes to make sense of General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s rise to power following the 2011 Arab Spring uprising in Egypt.

In some ways, his initial trip to Cairo is fitting with the film’s overall message. The general’s rise to power—in what was widely regarded as a sham election-—coincided with the detention of several journalists who attempted to cover the election. The sight of caged journalists, including Canada’s own Mohamed Fahmy, in an Egyptian courtroom, highlighted the importance of Rosenfeld’s work. Democracy cannot survive or flourish without a free press.

From Cairo, Rosenfeld goes on to cover the unrest in the West Bank, the Israel-Gaza conflict of 2014, the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the ensuing refugee crisis. During his journey, he witnesses injustice and human atrocities ranging from the “apartheid road” in the West Bank to the mass executions in Gaza. He sees mass graves of ISIS victims in Iraq and the rotting corpses of ISIS fighters strapped to the cars of Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers. His work gave him a first-hand look at the heartbreaking experience of refugees. Covering such atrocities took a visible toll on the journalist, making his quest to tell these stories all the more admirable.

The film also sheds light on additional challenges faced by freelance journalists. Unlike those who travel on behalf of news organizations such as the BBC or CNN, freelance journalists face additional hurdles such as finding interpreters, guides and military escorts, as well as balancing their budget—which includes, but is in no way limited to, arguing with taxi drivers over cab fare. In addition to the emotional toll and physical danger faced by all journalists working in hostile environments, the film shows Rosenfeld’s constant struggle to convince editors to pick up and finance his stories. Yet, the tribulations seem worth it when the film shows a visibly proud Rosenfeld when he discovers that one of his articles is the top story of the day.

Overall, Bertolino does an excellent job at placing the audience in the trenches alongside Rosenfeld, aptly depicting the struggles of those who bring us news from the front lines.

The film concludes on somewhat of an optimistic note, as Rosenfeld explains his main motivation for doing what he does. The purpose of his work is to inspire his readers to take action against such atrocities, he said. Helping to prevent these stories from recurring or continuing is what he considers useful about his work.

Rosenfeld’s story certainly raises questions about the effect such journalistic work can have. If it weren’t for the work of journalists like Rosenfeld, would Western countries have taken in as many refugees as they did? Would the public have demanded an end to pointless wars, such as in Iraq, sooner, if more reporters like Rosenfeld had been on the front lines? Freelancer on the Front Lines certainly seems to suggest an answer.

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News

Mohamed Fahmy comes to Concordia

During the conference, Fahmy was interview by Paul Karwastsky. Photo by Cristina Sanza.

Award-winning journalist talks about his experience in prison and calls for the university to support Homa Hoodfar

Concordia University welcomed Egyptian-born Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy as a lecturer for the first in a series of homecoming lectures at the Sir George Williams campus on Sept. 22.

Just over one year ago, Fahmy was released from prison in Cairo, Egypt. He, along with two of his colleagues, were accused of being terrorists, he said. They were arrested in December 2013, and found guilty in June 2014, staying incarcerated for over 400 days. Fahmy also spent six weeks in solitary confinement.

To a full house at the D.B. Clarke theatre, Fahmy spoke about his experience in prison and his campaign to free other journalists in similar situations.

Fahmy detailed his experience working at various news stations prior to his arrest—namely CNN, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera, where he worked as an English bureau chief in Cairo.

“I knew it was going to be a challenge when I took the [Al-Jazeera] job,” he said. “My last story, before going to prison, was on the branding of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.”

Three days later, there was a knock on his hotel door and security forces stormed in. He was falsely accused by the Egyptian government of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood—a banned organization.

“My prison neighbors were members of Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood—as a journalist, I was in heaven,” he said jokingly. The audience laughed.

During the conference, Fahmy was interviewed by Paul Karwastsky. Photo by Cristina Sanza.

To occupy their time in prison, the jailed journalists conducted interviews with the different members of these organizations. “We would interview them on their political views, and in return they would do the same,” said Fahmy.

Fahmy got tons of support from not only his family, but from the Canadian press and via social media, which all lead to his release. “It was unbelievable to see the Canadian press uniting under this one cause,” Fahmy recalled. He said social media played an important role in raising awareness and getting Canadians involved. Throughout his time in prison, his family started a crowdfunding campaign where he was able to raise $40,000. With the money, Fahmy was able to pay the bills for his lawyers.

Despite the gravity of his situation, Fahmy did not lose hope and managed to stay positive. He said he read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, a chronicle of the author’s experiences as an inmate at the Auschwitz concentration camp during the second world war. This book taught Fahmy the concept of tragic optimism, which inspired him to turn his prison time into somewhat of a positive life experience, he said.

After being pardoned of all charges in September 2015, he and his wife started the Fahmy Foundation, with goal to fight suppression of the press and to advocate from unjust imprisonments around the world. He said he is currently working on passing a protection charter with Amnesty International to ensure greater advocacy for Canadians overseas.

“We need a mechanism to obligate the government to protect our people.” said Fahmy. “Not only journalists are being falsely accused … we see this happen to regular people and recently, with Homa Hoodfar.”  Homa Hoodfar is a Montreal academic who has been imprisoned in Iran’s Evin Prison since June.

“I don’t call her a prisoner,” Fahmy said about Hoodfar. “She is a political hostage and Iran wants something from Canada—and we still don’t know what it is.”

Fahmy said he believes there should be a change in the way government deals with these problems, and that it is urgent. “She is sick, and she needs support from everyone,” he said.

Fahmy’s complete journey will be detailed in his upcoming book, “The Marriott Cell: An Epic Journey from Cairo’s Scorpion Prison to Freedom,” which will be released on Nov. 15.

Be sure to check out The Concordian‘s exclusive interview with Fahmy in print and online on Sept. 27.

Categories
News

Hubert Lacroix on the future of CBC

CBC CEO spoke to a class full of Concordia journalism students on Jan. 21

On Jan. 21, Hubert Lacroix, the CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, addressed a journalism class in order to discuss the future of Canada’s public broadcaster.

Concordia Journalism Chair and Associate Professor Brian Gabrial introduced Lacroix, who got more applause from the class than he had gotten as of late. This is in reference, of course, to the fact that he has been quite unpopular around the CBC these days because of the massive cuts, both in labour and finances, that have transpired under his stewardship.

“Before I start this, full transparency: I’m a double McGill grad,” he said, and the students in the class laughed. After making a few more jokes about his background, Lacroix began talking about CBC, and the jokes were soon a thing of the past. Instead, during the nearly 90-minutes he spent talking to students, three themes seemed to keep coming back: financing, Canadian content, and scandals.

Financing

Lacroix asked the room and asked how much cable costs most people, and how much people are willing to pay for it. One student mentioned that Bell had approached him saying that it would cost $50 a month.

“If you pay taxes, you actually give to CBC/Radio-Canada per year, for all the services, en anglais et en français, toutes les platformes, about 8 cents per day, $29 per Canadian, per year,” he said.

According to a document published by House of Commons back in 2008, it was recommended that Parliament should “increase the appropriations it gives the public broadcaster, from $33 per capita to $40 per capita a year over the next seven years.” This number was considered the amount required for continued quality production, and did not take into account inflation. And yet, funding has since decreased for the public broadcaster.

Another big topic was the CBC losing the rights to broadcast NHL hockey last year, a contentious and public decision which Lacroix said would cost too much, and that the money would be split in half between players and the NHL itself. “There is no way in the world a public broadcaster can justify spending $5.2 billion of taxpayer money on hockey.”

Lacroix also spoke about the high costs of producing content, both in Canada and elsewhere. For example, one hour of House of Cards costs $5 to 7 million to produce. He explained that that is why other Canadian networks often just pay for rights to air American content, which costs much less money, hence a lack of Canadian-produced content on all networks except for CBC.

Lacroix spoke of public broadcasting funding in other countries, showing just how low the CBC’s numbers are compared to others: the average for developed nations is $80 per citizen, per year.

“Everybody wants us to be the BBC. Look at the numbers. I’m sorry, but they have something like five times our budget, one language, and one time zone.”

Content

For a perspective on CBC’s content, Lacroix once again asked the room to name a program they watched on CBC or Radio-Canada in the last week. People mentioned Tout le Monde en Parle, CBC News, or The National, to name a few. He then asked how many had the CBC App, how many people watch Schitt’s Creek, Book of Negroes, and other shows. He asked students about what they like so much about Netflix, and on how everyone uses every platform: most Canadians have four, Lacroix explained. This has changed the way that content is delivered to Canadians.

“It’s not true that people watch television and series on their mobile phone yet, when we create content, we have to consider that a number of Canadians are still watching in the old way.”

Lacroix also spoke about why Canadian content is so important right now, showing the audience that other networks barely run any at all—most of the programs shown on other networks are produced in the U.S. He then explained why this was such a big problem.

“People ask: is public broadcasting a good investment? Well, for every dollar that the CBC gets, we generate about $4 for the Canadian economy,” Lacroix said. “We create jobs, we commission programs, there’s a whole industry that supports us, and, what’s interesting, is that if you take us away, you immediately take two and a half times the amount that the government invests in us, which is a billion bucks, and you take it away from the Canadian economy, because we indirectly create jobs for that value.”

To rest his case he said the CBC last year invested $762 million in Canadian content, while all the other canadian networks combined invested $500 million.

Scandals

Understandably, concerns came through on the many scandals the CBC has lately been associated with.

Lacroix spoke openly about the Jian Gomeshi controversy, saying that what happened led to a national conversation about sexual harassment. “I think our job is to manage this, go to the bottom of this and put in place the best possible programs and make them easy so that you’re not scared or fear retribution when you actually put your hand up and say ‘The behavior that I witnessed or that affected me was improper,’” he said.

Q&A

After the talk, The Concordian got the opportunity to ask a few extra questions to Lacroix.

The Concordian: What can we as consumers of the CBC do to make sure that there is a future for the public broadcaster?

Hubert Lacroix: I think that the time has come to ensure that if you believe in public broadcasting, that your voice is heard. That the people who choose on where the tax dollars go, if they hear that public broadcasting is important to Canadians in this country—because it does ensure Canadian culture, it ensures democracy in this country—if the people who are going to be seeking votes and who are elected understand that it is important for you … if you make those statements clear, that’s going to be the big difference maker.

C: You spoke a lot today about the importance of Canadian content, and yet one of the first things that the CBC cut was in-house productions. A lot of known personalities like Peter Mansbridge have spoken against this. What will the 2020 plan mean for in-house productions? Will they be returning?

HL: No. Because Canadian content doesn’t have to be done by CBC/Radio-Canada in-house. We can actually partner with an independent Canadian producer, creating Canadian content, and have it on our programing schedules in the same way. It’s just the making of it, inside our shop, with the infrastructures, with the square footage, with the technical equipment, that is what we have chosen to do less of, inside our shop. CBC actually was not doing much inside our walls … We commission the program. We decide, ok we are going to greenlight your project, we are going to invest in it, and we are going to show it on our network.

C: You mentioned that you give a lot of talks like these. Why do you think that it is important to talk about CBC today to university students?

HL: Because the interaction that I get, the questions that I get, the blank stares when I talk about CBC and our programming … shows me that in order to be able to reach the audience that is the next generation of our audience, plus, people in this faculty that could actually work for us one day, we have to continuously listen. Listening, seeing what your consumption habits are, what you’re doing in your schools, the subject matters that are important to you, the matters that you raise with me… all of that is absolutely key to how I see the broadcaster evolving … And because you are going to be involved in here, some of the challenges that will impact your work area.

Categories
Opinions

Media today: Canadian content matters

Why people should be passionate about public broadcasting

On Jan. 21, Hubert Lacroix, the CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, addressed some of Concordia’s journalism students and asked them a question.

“How many of you care about Canadian content?”

The answer was, quite frankly, underwhelming. A few people said yes, and a few said no. At least a hundred young adults sat in that room, and none seemed to feel strongly about the importance of Canadian content.

We won’t mince words: this is depressing.

As Canadians, this is an important time for us to band together and express an interest—no, a need—for Canadian-produced content. Because supporting Canadian content means giving a chance to people in our own country to produce things that matter to us, like films, documentaries, T.V. shows, everything. It means creating more jobs, and knowing that we are supporting our own.

Let’s not forget the idea of a cultural identity: it’s the reason the CRTC was made in the first place! Before, in the deep dark ages of the early 20th century, Canada was inundated with American content. Media is a part of “soft power,” and it was this slow encroachment from our neighbours to the South worried many Canadians, who felt that it was slowly eroding any national identity Canadians have.

The best way to create jobs, protect content and craft a cultural identity, is by watching Canadian content.

Even if fiction and television don’t interest you, your interest in The Concordian is proof enough that you care about the news. Publicly-funded news is not beholden to corporations or private interests: it is only loyal to the public that provides its budget.

After all, who didn’t tune in to CBC during the Ottawa shooting? During the elections? During 9/11? Having a news source that is not pressured by ad revenue, one that cares more about getting it right than getting it first, is invaluable in the era of the 24-hour news cycle.

If Canadian content matters to you, or if public news matters to you, or if the CBC/Radio-Canada matters to you, remember to vote for it! Canada is in an election year. Consider voting for Canadian content. Consider voting for un-commercialized news.

Categories
Opinions

Will cat GIFs fuel the future of journalism?

You won’t believe the answer!

Let’s be honest, BuzzFeed probably isn’t the future of journalism. They are, however, all over the web and they’re doing something interesting. They’re adapting to the publishing realities of the internet age by using the internet’s most valuable currency: cats.

Here’s how they’re doing it.

BuzzFeed gets people in the door. They do this with cats, mostly, but also serve up a potent cocktail of sharable lists and frivolous quizzes. It turns out that they’re also hoping you’ll stay for the journalism. It’s true: there’s journalism on BuzzFeed, but don’t worry if you missed it. It’s easy for a climate change headline to look like a joke when you’re scrolling through 37 unbelievable cat-fails.

This new side of BuzzFeed isn’t so new, having begun in 2012, but it still surprises many people. I first noticed serious headlines on BuzzFeed last year but, like many, assumed they weren’t worth my time. Besides, I had photobombing cats to look at. My perspective changed when I heard an interview with Anne Helen Petersen, a Ph.D. who left academia for a writing career and ended up at BuzzFeed. Unbelieveable. There is at least one Ph.D. at BuzzFeed and she does thoughtful, long-form pieces on celebrity culture. Petersen cites the huge online audience for BuzzFeed as one reason for making the move, and that makes a lot of sense.

I don’t always know that I want to read a feature-length story before I see it, and I never know that I need to read it before I actually do. For instance: I once clicked a silly BuzzFeed headline while goofing off in the library; moments later I was enthralled. I was reading the harrowing first-person account of how American journalist Gregory D. Johnsen (he’s working on his Ph.D.) escaped a kidnapping attempt in Yemen, a country he had lived in and loved for years—on BuzzFeed! The clickbait headline got me in the door but I stayed for the insightful narrative journalism. Does it matter that I was carried in on the backs 37 cats?

I don’t have a degree from JMSB but this makes sense both from a business perspective and might (maybe) be good for journalism, an industry that’s still finding its place in the age of Facebook and Twitter. All those clicks and views of silly cats pay the bills for cultural critics like Petersen and perspectives from experienced correspondents like Johnsen. I like cats and I like insight, and I bet I’m not the only one. Go find their features online; you won’t believe you’re reading BuzzFeed.

I’m intrigued by the concept, but I’m not sold on it yet. BuzzFeed can be a useless time sink, but I believe it’s trying to be more than that. Their approach is novel, but it remains to be seen if this marriage of clickbait and serious reportage will last.

No one likes to see the weak exploited, so a serious question remains: how do all those cats stand to benefit from BuzzFeed’s growth? There’s a feature story here somewhere, and I hope BuzzFeed tackles it.

Categories
News

Mellissa Fung on challenges and hope for Afghanistan

Journalist minimizes 28-day kidnapping ordeal to focus on status of citizens

On Tuesday Nov. 18, journalist Mellissa Fung came to Concordia to give a talk about her experience reporting in Afghanistan. The independent journalist, writer, and former reporter with CBC was captured and held for 28 days by an Islamist group in 2008. This happened while she was reporting for the CBC on Canada’s military intervention in the country. Despite this experience, she chose to go back later to keep reporting on the fragile state.

A few years after, she wrote a book about her story, entitled Under an Afghan Sky. This talk was part of a series of discussions held in seven journalism schools across Canada to share her experience.

The event, titled “Inside Afghanistan,” was organized by the Aga Khan Foundation, a non-profit organization which works towards social growth in the developing world.

André Roy, the Dean of Arts and Science, introduced Fung as being an inspirational example of journalism representing the “conviction, courage, passion, and commitment” necessary for success.

“Just because we have been at war in this country for the past 12 years doesn’t mean that things were going to turn around quickly,” said Fung. “We have to have patience.”

In her talk, Fung chose to focus on why she kept coming back to the country over the last seven years despite everything she’d been through. Even though she made headlines because of her kidnapping, she didn’t talk in detail about this experience. Fung explained that while the press tends to highlight the individual, she did not want to become the story. Instead,  she hopes people will focus on talking about the lives of refugees and women overseas.

It is for this specific reason that she feels committed to the stories she collected, to put the spotlight back on those who are struggling every day. She also spoke about how much Afghanistan has changed and gained since 2001, coverage that traditional media tend to ignore in favour of more negative coverage like instances of suicide bombing.

“We have the responsibility as journalists to tell the other side of the story as well to get a complete picture of what really is going on in the country,” she said.

Fung explained that she had to argue with CBC in order for them to allow her to return to Afghanistan in 2011. They feared for her safety, but this was preventing her from covering the stories she believed in. Fung finally went back with an NGO working in Afghanistan.

According to her, 80 per cent of women in Afghanistan are still illiterate but the number of girls in school keeps increasing. “Development is a process, it is generational,” she said. In addition, new initiatives exist in the population. One of the stories she shared was about a school where boys and girls were learning side by side for a few years, before the government intervened.

Outside of education, she also looked at the healthcare system and talked about new initiatives increasing widespread healthcare access. The Afghan government for instance partnered with a French NGO to create the French Medical Institute for Children in Kabul. Twelve years ago, such a facility didn’t exist, and it is now expanding.

Fung’s lecture concentrated on the difficult situation of women, but she addressed it with positivity. She said that around 90 per cent of women have experienced some kind of sexual assault. However, increasingly women are able to speak up about it.

“Today they have control, they can have a choice. And that’s what makes the whole difference,” she said. “Women all have a sense of cautious optimism about the future, they know they made incredible progress over the last 12 years and they see a lot of hope that this will continue.”
Thanks to the lessons learned from working in “one of the world’s most fragile states,” Fung shared the challenges, risks and importance of treating all sides of a story. Through powerful stories about education, health and women, it is a sorely-needed bit of optimism in the challenging future that lies ahead for this country.

Categories
Opinions

Behind the scenes with a war correspondent


On August 20, Japanese foreign correspondent Mika Yamamoto was fatally shot while reporting on the civil war in Syria.

News of her death spread rapidly both through conventional news networks and Twitter, renewing the discussion on the safety of foreign reporters. Was Yamamoto too close to the fighting? Should she have been forbidden to report directly from Syria considering the danger?

Yamamoto, like every other foreign correspondent, chose to pursue this particular field of journalism, knowing the risks. News networks will support these foreign reporters the best they can without giving too many restrictions. There are also other subjects they will cover as they search to give the world a complete picture of the country they are reporting on.

Bryan Denton has worked in the Middle East as a foreign correspondent for seven years. He is a freelance photographer with the New York Times as his primary client. He has documented upheavals in Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, to name a few. According to him, foreign reporters are aware and accept the danger they put themselves in.

Denton’s desire to become a foreign reporter stems from his fascination with history. As a child, he would read history books to understand how history shaped the world around him. Getting a front row seat to witness conflict and change is what incited him to become a foreign correspondent in the Middle East.

“I think the idea of conflict as part of the human experience has always interested me,” said Denton. “War has theoretical boundaries and characteristics, but its roots and causes are often unique and incredibly complex, and every conflict I’ve seen has been very different from the others.”

However, the price of being so close to the violence is sacrificing part of your safety. Denton said he spends lots of time planning his movements, such as finding the safest route to the frontlines.

“A lot of people think that we just rush in,” he said. “But in reality, there’s quite a bit of logistical planning that goes into reporting on conflict.’

Even the news agency he occasionally associates himself with will not push him towards a dangerous area. When he was working for the New York Times on an assignment for example, he said the editors “were always very clear about their desire for [him] not to take any unneeded risks. At times, the newspaper has sent a security advisor to help coordinate movements and provide medical support.” Despite these precautions, the newspaper usually trusted him to make the right decisions to ensure his safety.

Denton also said that as a reporter in a danger zone, he was equipped at all times with body armour, which included a vest and helmet, and a personal medical kit. He considers his medical kit, and his knowledge of how to properly use it, his prized possession.

Foreign correspondents don’t only report from the frontlines of a war zone in the midst of gunfire.

“The most interesting pictures are away from the frontline combat,” said Denton. “They are in hospitals, homes, and places where people are trying to survive.” He believes photographs of ordinary people in such countries are the best way to illustrate a specific conflict.

“Eventually, you need to look elsewhere or else you’re just putting yourself in more danger, searching for the same pictures you already have,” he said.

Correspondents that report exclusively from war zones are few and far between. Most are searching for ways to describe a country and its sociopolitical complexities in its entirety in a way that can resonate with strangers. Just like Denton, who demonstrates the ever present fear in Syria by posting a photograph of a rebel sleeping with his sniper rifle, foreign reporters will search past the battlefield for the real stories that lie hidden beyond the violence.

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News

Journalism professor Ross Perigoe dies of cancer

Ross Perigoe, a fixture of the Concordia journalism department, died from a brain tumour on the evening of Jan. 3.

Perigoe, better known to his students as “Coach”, taught at Concordia University for 25 years and was the longest-serving professor in the journalism department. He also lectured in the journalism department at Loyola International College.

Perigoe was known best for his odd nature and infectious enthusiasm by the undergraduates he taught. He viewed himself as a coach rather than a professor, only answering to that nickname, and acted as a guide in his students’ education.

Mitch Gallo, a recent Concordia journalism graduate, credited Perigoe for helping him focus his career direction. Now a sports anchor for TSN Radio, Gallo described Perigoe as a man who was always fully prepared and took an active effort to help his students.

“I don’t think anyone could possibly match his enthusiasm when it came to teaching,” Gallo explains. “You could tell in his eyes that when he was listening to every single student he was so focused and enthused and he just wanted to help everyone get to wherever they wanted to get to. It really stood out with Ross.”

Gallo remembered the pride he felt when his mentor Perigoe asked him to write a letter of recommendation for the Michael Monty Memorial Award. The award, presented by the Radio Television News Directors Association, is given to broadcast educators nominated by students. Perigoe would go on to win the award in 2009.

No matter how loved he was by his students, his working relationship on the other hand, wasn’t a fairy tale. Elias Makos, a former technical instructor in the journalism department, described the man as being marginalized by some co-workers.

“There’s no doubt that he was kind of an oddball,” says Makos. “It’s difficult to talk about. I think the sad but best way of putting it is that at times I think that he was bullied by others in the department.”

Leo Gervais, undergraduate program director and lecturer in the department, agreed that Perigoe was often at ends with some co-workers, that he wasn’t afraid to speak up or shake up the status quo. “He had ideas that other people didn’t agree with. He wasn’t always in the mainstream of thought. He would often go on the banks of the mainstream,” says Gervais.

Gervais, one of Perigoe’s former students, described Perigoe as full of ideas, and having the energy of “a kid in a candy store.”

“[Perigoe] always had the best interest of the student at heart. He cared a lot about the students. He would follow up with them, push them and encourage them.”

At the age of 20, Perigoe was a producer for CBC national radio programming. He was a broadcast reporter and producer in Canada and the United States for 15 years, eventually earning a PhD at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. Perigoe was interested in the representation of visible minorities, and his PhD thesis, which he was rewriting for publication, studied the depiction of Muslims in The Gazette after the September 11 attacks.

He began teaching at Concordia in 1985, long before some of his more recent students were born.

Friends agreed that Perigoe’s memory will live on through the students who have taken and will take the advanced radio course at Concordia, a class he was integral in developing and continually evolving.

Perigoe is survived by his wife, Christina, and two sons, one of whom attends Concordia. He loved long runs, an activity that let him clear his mind.

Categories
Opinions

The world still needs print journalism

When I told my family and friends that I was enrolling in a journalism program, I was met with a few concerned looks. The common belief seems to be that the industry is crumbling. But that’s not exactly true. Yes, many newspapers have fallen by the wayside, but new markets continue to emerge and traditional outlets are in a process of reinvention. What better time to join an industry than during a period of transformation?

As journalism dives headfirst into the digital age, one of its fundamental media is unfortunately losing its appeal. No more than five years ago, every single student in Concordia’s graduate diploma program, an intensive one-year professional-training curriculum, signed up for the magazine writing elective course. This year, enrollment was so low the class was almost cut.

“I was shocked,” said Linda Kay, chair of the journalism department and a writing professor.

“It’s an important class because good writers are cherished at any medium.’’

Kay believes the decline in the number of students is a sign of the times. With the growth of the Internet, a premium has been placed on technical skills in the marketplace.

Jennifer Charlebois, a diploma student who was on the fence about the writing course, confirms Kay’s suspicions.

“I felt like you could be the best writer in the world, but if you didn’t know basic HTML, an employer would pass you over,” she said.

Professor Barry Lazar, who teaches the magazine writing course, believes words are not getting a fair shake in our techno-crazed environment.

“People think of the Internet in terms of images, but all those algorithms are looking for words,” he said.

Lazar and Kay are quick to point out the misconception that print is dying. In fact, magazine circulation for specialty publications is increasing and a study released last week by the Newspaper Audience Databank found readership for print versions of newspapers, including the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, grew modestly in 2010.

Writing is the basis for all journalism. A well-structured story is essential for a web video, a radio report or a feature article.

But long-form written journalism, more than any other medium, brings the audience into a deeper level of engagement and understanding.

“I’ve missed many metro stops because I’ve been immersed in an article,” admitted Kay.

As we drown in a sea of information we need more life preservers. Magazine articles and feature stories provide the necessary analysis and background to navigate the flood. Good writing keeps us afloat amid a soundbite culture. While the market demands that journalists be multi-talented, it does not mean that writing is any less important. Lazar feels that his course and others like it are an environment in which success does not depend on technical expertise.

“Things grow in an oasis. It becomes a place of nourishment, a quality that comes from simply reading and writing,’’ he said.

“That is something any good journalist needs, whether they consider themselves a writer or not.”

 

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