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a Canadian who supported the Dutch resistance by rescuing downed Allied
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Val Knowles*:
June Coxon:
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Iris ten Holder:
Shirley Van Dusen:
David French*:
Joe Banks;
Helen Bednarek VanEyk:
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Henry Heald:
Jim Watson**:
Rosaleen Dickson**:
Patrick Meikle*:
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* former member
** honorary member
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Lately radio and
television
stations have added the state of today's journalism to their
programming.
February 28
The
Power
of the Press.
On the Sunday Edition of the CBC radio's morning
program hosted by Michael Enright
.
February 18, 2016
Source: new statesman.com.
The headline for an online article by
Peter Wilby is Creative Distruction,
Rupert Murdoch and the Rise and Fall of the Independent. To read
it go to Britain's Current Affairs & Politics Magazine: www.new
statesman.com
February 13, 2016
Source: Ottawa Citizen, page A5:
Panel to Explore Radio's
Digital Renaissance is the headline of an
article by Mathew Pearson. He writes that serial, and podcasts like it,
are fuelling radio's digital renaissance by attracting listeners who
tune in while on-the-go. The article was prompted by a panel discussion
in Ottawa with a number of CBC on-air personalities about radio's
changing landscape. The February 13 live event was also webcast.
.Local News and other news
items
17th Annual
Kesterton Lecture:
Spotlight on Journalism
by Iris ten \holder
On February 4, 2016 the Atrium room at
Carleton University was packed to overflowing.
When I say room, I mean
the size of three rooms side by side. The conversation between Robin
Bresnahan, the morning host at CBC and Martin Baron of the Washington
Post took place 'onstage'..
Martin
Baron, the investigative reporter portrayed in the movie
'Spotlight', who brought the Boston sex scandal of the Catholic Church
to light, now shared wisdom gained from the experience, and also
discussed the many challenges journalists and media face in a digital
era.
The conversation touched
on many aspects of the issue of the Boston
Catholic sex scandal and gave Mr Baron ample opportunity to explain
what investigative journalism means to him, its importance and the time
it can take. He also explained that although he generally has more
humour than portrayed in the movie, the time of the scandal was a very
tense one and the portrayal was factual.
The matter of PTSD for the
journalists who were part of the investigative team was brought forward
during questioins and he humbly said that this was not recognized at
the time of the investigation, to his regret. Baron took time to talk
about the business (financial) aspect of newspapers as well as the
changes brought about by the advent of digital media. It was
an evening well spent.
Susan Harada. Associate
Director of the School of Journalism and
Communication, Head of the Journalism Program, and Associate Professor
introduced the speaker and ensured the audience was comfortable.
Later all joined in
the
Atrium just outside the room to chat, drink
wime and enjoy tasty snacks.
For more
information
click the links below and watch the entire session at
CBC
***
Student Demand
for Mobile Education
Glove and Mail, November. 19, 201 5,
page B9 -
Learning Untethered - Universities and colleges take steps to respond
to student demand for mobile education. "As a student in her second
year of a two-year accelerated massage therapy program at Lambton
College in Sarnia, Ont., Lynette Hyatt's main work tools are her hands,
her practical knowledge of anatomy - and increasingly her
iPad,"
writes Suzanne Bowness.
Her article goes on to explain that "Lambton's move to mobile began
with enhancing its WiFi capability, equipping classrooms with
interactive whiteboards and Apple TVs, and embracing a mobile version
of D2L, the school's learning management platform, as well as a set of
apps."
The five-column article describes similar
mobile initiatives
at
other universities and colleges and quotes a professor at the Centre
for Distance Education, who has published many books on mobile, saying
institutions need to prepare for big changes. "Students today and in
upcoming generations are very mobile literate so we'd better
make
sure our courses can be delivered on mobile devices," he says.November
16, 2015
***
Review
of
New book by John Stackhouse
November
14, 2015, The
Globe and Mail,
page R12. Break the News is the title of a five-column book review of
John Stackhouse's book Mass
Disruption: Thirty Years on the Front Lines of a Media Revolution.
The review, written by Clive Thompson, is subtitled 'It's no secret the
media industry is in turmoil. But could the story have been different?'
".....As former Globe editor-in-chief, John Stackhouse reports in his
new book, when the paper analyzed its online traffic, they found that
fully 40 percent of the paper is read by fewer than 1,000 people,"
writes Thompson. "This benighted, much-ignored category includes
baseball, tennis and theatre reviews - basically, a lot of arts and
culture coverage...... Why is this cultural category so I'll-read?, he
asks. "There are a lot of factors at work, but partly because the
Internet is abrim with commentary, some of it extremely good....."
Clive Thompson is the author of Smarter
Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the
Better.
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A
Like-Hate
Relationship: Social Media's Impact on Community News from an
Editorial and Business Perspective
By
Cynthia Cee
The Honeywell Room in
Ottawa City Hall
was filled on April 18, as the Media Club of Ottawa gathered to hear
Glen Gower speak on the impact
social media is
having on the way local news is presented.
Gower is a
communications and marketing
consultant as well as publisher of StittsvilleCentral.ca, an
independent news website with a focus on the community of
Stittsville.
Journalism students,
their professor,
local editors and other media types listened as Gower used
StittsvilleCentral.ca as a case study to show how social media is
shifting the distribution and advertising model for community news,
for better or for worse.
He outlined his
findings as a like/hate
relationship, showing advantages and disadvantages in the new social
media trend. He also pointed out the two main areas
of the old business model that have been the most affected by this
new media trend: the way news is reported and the way income is
generated.
“In terms of
reporting local news,
people now completely bypass mainstream media,” Gower said.
“The
unsettling part is the amount of unsourced and rumoured reporting
that comes from informal citizen journalism. It can be borderline
libelous”.
He gave a local fire
as an example. Someone puts the news on a neighbourhood Facebook group
page and
people start to post things.
“So there's no
fact checking or
authentication of quotes?“ commented a member of the audience.
“Exactly. You hit the nail on the
head,” Gower said. “These reports aren't necessarily
factual. They wouldn't hold up to journalism ethical standards, which
raises
real concerns. That's the issue.”
He added that this is
especially true
in community news. “It’s important to be extremely fair,
use
accurate quotes and have a real level of ethical accountability.”
The second part of
his talk dealt with
how to sustain a newspaper business as it interacts with the new
media.
“Social media
is a speedy way to
access readership for young entrepreneurs, especially for community
news outlets,” said Phi Hoang Trinh, first-year journalism
student,
Algonquin College. “But to fully use it as a marketing tool
requires understanding of the distribution process and income
models.”
Gower explained that
for centuries,
publishers have generated income in two ways, by advertising and by
selling subscriptions to their product. The classified section used to
be the
bread and butter of a publication, Gower said, but now people have
shifted to using online selling sites like kijiji.
He added that small
businesses are
advertising through Facebook, a large US company. “Where’s
the
small business ad revenue going? To Facebook,” Gower said.
“It’s
money leaving our community and our country and our economy and going
to a large California firm.”
The second income
generator was
subscriptions. “There is still a struggle for people to pay for
work done and presented on the internet,” Gower said. “The
hope
is to charge people $5 a month or $50 a year to sustain the man-hours
and expense still spent to produce a newspaper – even though it
is
online.”
Gower also stressed
how distribution is
different with a strictly online paper. Where he may save money in
printing, there is no actual newspaper to distribute to houses or
coffee shops or stores.
“Our greatest
challenge is to make
people aware that we exist and to help them to find us online,”
Gower said. He relies on people or sites such as Facebook to
continually remind people to go to StittsvilleCentral and read the
paper.
So the question
becomes how to remind
people you’re still here. “This is where social media comes
in,”
Gower said. “To know a method to harness that would be great. The
business model just isn’t there yet.”
Gower is positive
about the new
untapped opportunities social media is providing. He cited an
example where a hard-to-isolate Rogers Cable signal problem in
Stittsville was found by residents, who posted the locations of
affected houses on a map using social media.
He added that there
is still a craving
for local news, since mainstream media has cut back and shifted their
focus to larger, international stories. He believes that local news
covers what no one else does.
After Gower’s
presentation, people
lingered to munch on sandwiches and sweets, drink coffee and juice,
and ask him questions. There was also a discussion among the
students and media professionals that stayed behind.
“Using social
media is especially
relevant for our demographic,” said Sarah Ferguson, first-year
journalism student, Algonquin College. “As millenials, social
media is a big part of how we know what’s going on. Having the
opportunity to learn ways we can distribute our stories through
social media is important. It’s not going away anytime
soon.”
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