{"id":745,"date":"2024-11-19T03:40:51","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T03:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/?p=745"},"modified":"2024-11-19T03:40:52","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T03:40:52","slug":"educators-prodded-by-students-explore-pathways-to-better-political-journalism-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/2024\/11\/19\/educators-prodded-by-students-explore-pathways-to-better-political-journalism-in-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Educators \u2014 prodded by students \u2014 explore pathways to better political journalism in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Journalism professors April Lindgren, Brooks DeCillia, Angela Misri, Patrick White and Candis Callison discuss the challenge of teaching political reporting. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Tamara Merritt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could not have been a better venue \u2014 the home of the country’s oldest journalism school in the heart of the national capital \u2014 to host a discussion about how best to educate the next generation of Canadian political journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final panel of the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University featured a conversation among six university professors exploring the challenges of teaching journalism in an era of industry disruption, political polarization and post-COVID social upheaval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exchange of ideas was moderated by Carleton journalism professor Duncan McCue, an award-winning CBC national broadcaster and author of the landmark textbook Decolonizing Journalism: A Guide to Reporting in Indigenous Communities.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five panelists were former CBC and The Walrus<\/em> journalist Angela Misri, an assistant professor of journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University; her TMU colleague Prof. April Lindgren, a former politics and economics reporter who created the ground-breaking Local News Research Project; former CBC broadcaster Dr. Brooks DeCillia, a professor with Mount Royal University\u2019s School of Communication Studies; former radio, television and print reporter and editor Patrick White, a journalism professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal; and Candis Callison, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous journalism, media, and public discourse at the University of British Columbia and author of Reckoning: Journalism\u2019s Limits and<\/em> Possibilities.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UBC journalism professor Candis Callison spoke on the importance of media ethics during a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 17, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What does success look like in a classroom that focuses on political journalism? There was a consensus among the professors that it\u2019s a place where students are encouraged to follow their passions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindgren discussed her own experience encouraging her students to focus on stories that mattered to young people. She talks to students \u201cabout how their age group is actually going to be the largest voting cohort going forward,\u201d she said. \u201cIt made politics very real and meaningful for the students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeCillia echoed the idea. He said he tries to \u201cfocus on their generation, what they care about, what\u2019s concerning them,\u201d adding: \u201cI find it when it\u2019s meaningful to them and they can relate to it that often they are being more aggressive about finding data or being more aggressive about getting information for their fact checks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misri highlighted the importance of creating the kind of newsroom that she would like to work in herself. This has led to a focus on covering protests and creating a space where aspiring reporters understand the importance of walking a mile in the shoes of those they cover. Story ideas, Misri added, are developed collectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his teaching, White said he emphasizes the idea of immersive learning. He recently launched a summer school in which students are immersed in two Inuit communities and teach journalism basics to Indigenous participants while gaining an appreciation of local culture. The two-week program ends with the production of a bilingual French-Inuktitut podcast. \u201cSo far, it\u2019s been a success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Lindgren, DeCillia, Misri and White focused on teaching the fundamentals of reporting, Callison escribed her experience in teaching media ethics. In the classroom, she spent three weeks examining the idea of objectivity in journalism and then explored the representation of Indigenous peoples in the news media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TMU journalism professor April Lindgren discussed the importance of encouraging students to report on issues that matter to them during a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 17, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe history of media is sorely missing,\u201d she said. Students and educators need \u201ca sense of what the sedimentation of layers are that we are building on, as journalists working in the present.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panelists discussed how teaching political journalism comes with significant challenges given the wide spectrum of political viewpoints that saturate society and the deeply divided nature of political debate in the 2020s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, there was agreement that promoting civil discourse must be at the forefront when teaching how to cover politics. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, it was acknowledged, deepened political polarization and made civil discourse that much more difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misri observed that journalism students who were in high school during the pandemic did not emerge with their social skills entirely intact. \u201cThey are not sure how to confront each other or even sure how to just have a conversation without confronting each other,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Patrick White, journalism professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal, stressed the importance of young journalists making phone calls during a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 17, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When she sees emotions running high during stressful newsroom exercises, she presents a distressed student with a watering can and directs them to the plethora of plants filling her classroom. \u201cHaving a plant between you \u2014 having to a move a plant out of the way to yell at someone \u2014 I don\u2019t know why, but it calms people down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White agreed that students\u2019 social skills were affected by the pandemic. Still, he said, he sends his students into the field and compels them to pick up the phone. \u201cThe idea right now,\u201d he said, is \u201cto put pressure on them to get more in the field, talk to real people, make eye-contact and not only rely on answers by email.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Callison said she creates sessions in her classroom to allow students to talk about what they disagree on. This includes writing response papers and displaying comments made during class to facilitate a live discourse analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this discussion about journalism education, McCue made a point of encouraging journalism students in the audience to pose questions or contribute their own insights to the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TMU professor Angela Misri talks about her classroom teaching tactics as a journalism professor at during a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 17, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One recent graduate expressed frustration with the seeming incongruity that comes with writing news that students themselves want to hear. \u201cIt\u2019s great that journalism students are doing stories that matter to them,\u201d he said. \u201cFor the certificate program that I was in, we all had degrees. We were all university educated. I think there\u2019s such a gap between what we want to see in journalism and what non-university educated people want to see in journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comment echoed remarks made by conference keynote speaker Jeet Heer, columnist and podcaster with The Nation<\/em>, about the present divide between society\u2019s educated elite \u2014 including most members of the journalism profession \u2014 and the broad segments of the public who lack post-secondary education and, by and large, supported president-elect Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 U.S. election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeCillia admitted he \u201cdidn\u2019t have a satisfying answer\u201d to the issue raised by the student audience member, but said it\u2019s a challenge that must be confronted in both newsrooms and classrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do we do a better job of listening and hearing that perspective and trying to explain that perspective?\u201d he said. DeCillia suggested the \u201csolutions journalism\u201d movement \u2014 in which a prime aim of reporting is to identify and tackle social problems in collaboration with community members \u2014 could constructively \u201ccomplicate the narrative . . . But I think I begins with a lot of listening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mount Royal University professor Brooks DeCillia discusses incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing into his classroom at a panel discussion at the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton University on Nov. 17, 2024. [Photo \u00a9 Nkele Martin]<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Callison applauded the idea. \u201cIt is really important,\u201d she noted, \u201cto get outside of your journalism bubble and be in community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another student raised concerns about gaps in journalism training around economic issues. He said journalism schools do a poor job of preparing their students to write about money and economic policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misri joked that many journalists often get into the field because they don\u2019t like math, drawing laughter from the audience. But Misri said she encourages journalism students to reach out to experts on complicated topics. \u201cThe truth of the matter is, we can\u2019t be experts in everything,\u201d she said. Confidence is needed to reach out to the experts, she added, and humility is required to admit that \u201cyou don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another student asked the professors how they are preparing students to enter into such a fraught media marketplace \u2014 where many legacy news outlets are in distress, digital upstarts are struggling to build sustainable audiences and social media have disrupted the entire information ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJournalism is being reinvented,\u201d Lindgren said, emphasizing the power in numbers: \u201cThink about models of collaboration . . . Understand how to collaborate with other news organizations so that you\u2019re not just doing it on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Callison ended the panel discussion by expressing hope for the future of journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I think 15 years ago what didn\u2019t exist, and what exists now \u2014 in terms of media organizations, in terms of options, in terms of possibilities \u2014 there\u2019s more movement that\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tamara Merritt It could not have been a better venue \u2014 the home of the country’s oldest journalism school in the heart of the national capital \u2014 to host a discussion about how best to educate the next generation of Canadian political journalists. The final panel of the Reimagining Political Journalism conference at Carleton … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745\/revisions\/756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reimagining-political-journalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}