Jschool Student Blog » Robyn

Canada, politics, and journalism

Robyn — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:00:42 +0000

Hello Past and Future Jschoolers,

It has been a few months since Jschool 2007 ended, and I thought I’d give a bit of an up-date on how the diploma has helped me.

I was offered probably three or four journalism jobs in communities ranging from the Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta, to Thompson in northeastern Manitoba. And based purely on economics (I am almost 29), I realized I was not in a position mentally, financially, or otherwise, to go back to working for 25,000$ a year as much as I enjoyed pure journalism, and the many reasons why it would have been good to work for the media (numbers written in French nomenclature. Oups, must be a Monday morning).

Instead, I took my old job back. I am once again writing climate change policy for the Alberta government, and if any of you have followed the Canadian climate change debate, you will understand the irony in that. By the way, congrats to Rudd for signing the Kyoto Protocol.

Yes, I am working for the dark side. However, the journalism degree has helped me immensely. For one thing, I can now take meeting notes in shorthand and no one can read my snippets of thoughts not intended for the eyes of others–definitely a good thing. My writing has also improved, and I have now been given the ever popular job of trying to take our awesome and smart technical people’s work and convert it into something readable and understandable. As for journalism and media, I can now follow what is being reported in the papers with a more objective view. I understand how the systems work, their limitations, and also, their end objectives, which is very important for my line of work.

I have not totally abandoned writing and am hoping to start freelancing soon. Buying a house, starting a new, old job, and living with a friend and her three dogs plus my old dog has been more than a little hectic, but I sense the winter lull coming. Soon, very soon, I will be able to dust off my laptop and start writing again; sooner if this -30C (wind chill to -46C) weather sticks around.

Jo, you are right!

Robyn — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:17:12 +0000

Hey Jo,

I hear you on the $28,000 a year. It’s hard to justify a job that doesn’t pay the bills…

I hope you have a wonderful birthday in New Zealand. Nothing beats home. Say hi to the Duchess for me.

And congratulations on the intern. I’ve been following your elections with great interest, just in case I end-up back in the world of climate change politics.

And, I would just like to ask, John, where are our grad photos?????????

Cheers,
Robyn

So long and farewell to Australia

Robyn — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:18:48 +0000

So long, farewell, and to next year’s students, good luck.
It has been a great year, but despite that, I’m ready to go home. My internships have ranged from Whitehorse, Yukon in Northern Canada to Launceston, Tasmania–about as far apart as I could possibly get–and I’m travelled out.
It is time to curl up by a fire with a hot chocolate and bailey’s, and write my travel stories. There have definitely been some funny moments–
Getting stuck in London at Christmast last year. The whole town shut down, the self-catering kitchen at the hostel was closed. My christmas dinner was red wine and mars bars…
Discussing world politics with an African, an Irishman, and an American while drinking through two curfews. We called it quits when the preachers started preaching through megaphones at 4am…
Waking up to snow in the Blue Mountains in Australia. Who knew it snowed in June in Australia…
Watching my Austrian roommate push my English roomate home in a shopping cart. Andrew had blisters on his feet and couldn’t walk, or so he says…
Journalists with the Launceston examiner do not have internet on their computers because they might use it to check their e-mail. The result–bloody hard to do background research on stories…
Screaming like a girl when I walked through a very large spider web…–
Tomorrow, I’ll be getting on a plane, my 5000 pictures, portfolio of stories and collection of summer clothes (not sure what I’ll do with those!) in tow, and head home. It’s been a great year, met some fabulous people. I wish everyone the best of luck–my classmates from this year who are looking for work, next year’s class, and Don, John, Desley and Julie for putting up with us all year.
Take care everyone!

Passion

Robyn — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 23:57:46 +0000

Despite being sick most of my second week, and having had to go home (or be sent home) early most days, Iâ€™ve had an amazing time at ABC. Iâ€™ve loved researching science stories, and was able to pull two stories together into research briefs.
The firs story I worked on was indoor air quality, which everyone here loved. They are hoping to use the ABC building as a guinea pig to test IAQ here and see if it really is a sick building. It would have been great to be here longer to see the story come together but they have promised me a copy of the final story, so that will have to do.
The second story is on retirement homes using virtual games. Elderly residents are using the Nintendo Wii virtual gaming consols, which simulate bowling, golf, and tennis and loving it. Aside from the fun aspect, it has improved motor skills, and coordination. That story was all my idea J.
Iâ€™ve also been able to leave them with about four pages of story ideas and possible sources based on Robynâ€™s stash of random scientific facts, which hopefully will give them ideas to explore over the course of next year. The one they seem most interested in at the moment is methane emissions from dams, which according to the latest research findings, can be up to four times higher than an equivalent megawatt coal plant.
For me though, the best part is that despite being sick, Iâ€™ve been able to deliver two well-researched stories. They have invited me to extend my internship by a week so that I can attend a shoot in Brisbane at the end of next week.
John, when I was applying to Jschool, you asked me if I was too passionate about environmental issues to do a good job reporting. I canâ€™t remember what I told you at the time, but I have to say now that passion is a good thing. Being familiar enough with materials to know what information is available, where to get the information you need, and what questions to ask, is a tremendous asset to research. Being able to have a repository of random facts can provide great and potentially unusual story ideas. Besides that, the most interesting people to talk to are the people who are passionate about what they are doing. If you have to work, you might as well have a passion for it!

what not to do on an internship…

Robyn — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:21:37 +0000

GET SICK!!!!!!

They asked me to research a story on sick buildings for next year, which was all fine and dandy until I came down with a flue yesterday. The joke is partly on me for researching sick building syndrome, being in a sick building (although theirs is far less toxic than the one I was working in in Edmonton), and coming down with the flue. Guess, I’ll get the last of my homework done today and hopefully be ready to go tomorrow. I’ve still got some fun research left to do!

Week one reflexions

Robyn — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:59:19 +0000

Week one is nearly done, and I must say, I’ve had fun. It only took me a day or two to figure out I was siting beside and across from the reporters (the faces on TV), who by the way, all have cubicles–no special perks. I’ve read more science stories than I can remember and am now trying to sort out what I’ve read, where I’ve read it and who the possible talents are for each story. The next step will be to contact people to discuss their projects, which is fancy way saying to feel them out to see if they and their research are suitable for a TV story.
I’ve also had a chance to learn a few bits about TV. The funniest was when they realized they had to reshoot a meeting because the sound was crap. It was going to be a fill in the gaps until Mark found out Chris the scientist had had a hair cut. That, in TV, is the end of the world. The whole meeting had to be reshoot. They opted to have everyone in the office pile around the table for affect…that included me. Try as I might, I could not completely avoid the camera!
Today, I sat in on the editing for part of the afternoon. I’m pleased to say that so far, I’ve not made it on TV but they were threatening so I may yet make it to the final cut (John, for you that will be the season finale, carbon offset segment).
Most of all, I’ve really enjoyed finding my niche so to speak. Coming in with as strong a science background as I have, I’ve found it easy to get up to speed and start finding stories, which have either been good because they’ve been done, or been good because they haven’t been done and they fit with the show (either way, I’m catching the right ideas). I want to phone my high school physics teacher and tell her, I didn’t forget about science and it really is fun!
{if there are any spelling mistakes, I appologize, I’ve been working, reasearching and editing my assessment materials since 7:30 this morning and my brain is pretty much fried}

Internship No 2

Robyn — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 08:58:59 +0000

Day two of my internship is done and I have to say, I’m loving it. What could possibly be better than researching science stories all day?
Catalyst has a staff of about 20 or 25 people to create its weekly half hour program. There are five reporters who present the stories, production people, editors, program coordinators, and of course, researchers. I am working with the researchers to suss out background information that the reporters can then use to film the story. Specifically, I have been asked to research a 5-min story on indoor air quality and to come up with some story ideas on water. The indoor air quality is a piece of cake because I worked on IAQ issues with Alberta Environment so am familiar with the subject matter. Water on the other hand is frustrating. Putting a fresh spin on the crisis is tricky. And then of course, there is figuring out what has already been done…
While I enjoyed my time at Whitehorse Star, I have to say, Catalyst is far better, not because it’s the glamorous world of TV but because, I have always said I wanted to communicate science to people. I wanted to interpret research and make it relevant in people’s lives and that is what I am doing. I am talking to researchers and people in-field to knit together a story that is informative and interesting. Nice to know that what I thought I wanted to do is actually what I enjoy doing.
As for Sydney, itâ€™s great although I have yet to see the sun–I’m starting to think itâ€™s always grey and overcast here. Weather aside, my hostel is three blocks from the ABC building and five blocks from Darling Harbour. I’m a stone’s throw from the Opera House and smack dab in the middle of Chinatown–great for sightseeing, and eating although I’m still not going to try chicken feet.
PS: there is a moth infestation here–they are everywhere. Apparently, they were blown off course while migrating.

Will everyone just s$%&-@#!

Robyn — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:49:12 +0000

Everyone is back this week for crunch time. We have a full itinerary that kicked off with a discussion and role-playing on journalism and trauma, then t-line speed tests. Tomorrow is photojournalism. Wednesday is broadcast journalism. We have deadlines for the independent and I’m still trying to adapt to having to much blood in my brainâ€”sorry, bad joke about being upside down again.
I’ve been a little bit stressed about being back down here. It was hard to come back, not because there is anything wrong with Brisbane–I just didn’t realize until I went home how much I really like home where I know all the roads and potholes and frost heaves, where the leaves change colours and winter snows are just around the corner.
Needless to say, with all this going through my head, t-line has not been a top priority. And the class started off predictably dodgy. I could master 50 wpm but kept tripping up on prefixes, suffixes, the pl, cn, cm, letter-r combos, and of course, how to spell words in general (I’ll edit this before posting). Julie pushed for 60 wpm minute. Joe did awesome, nailing it on the first try. The rest of us struggled. Myself, I could keep up for 1/2 to 3/4 but then fell behind.
I finally resolved myself to not making 60 wpm. The rest of the day was therefore, purely for practice. And then it happened. I got on a role. I was writing at 60 wpm. I wasn’t falling behind. Julie stopped and I madly scribbled down the last few words, thinking I probably don’t have 98% but I’m really, really close. And suddenly, as I scribbled, Julie and John started whispering about who should pay for the coffee that John had just brought up. I couldn’t help myself. Without taking my eyes off the page I yelled “SHUT-UP!” I may have repeated the command, I’m not sure. I was just so close I couldn’t bear to loose those last few words that were rapidly fading from my brain.
I passed–100 per cent on that exercise. I past my shorthand for the course, the one part I was most worried about, although word of advice, itâ€™s really, really not a good idea to tell your teacher to shut-up, no matter what the reason!

Commas

Robyn — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:08:41 +0000

Week two is half over and I have to say, they use way to many commas here. It is kind of like a comma addiction. They are randomly plunked down in sentences on a whim and used somewhat erradically. Half the time there is a comma before and in a list and half the time there isnâ€™t. The words but, was and where all seem to necessitate a comma as does the words said and but. The rule of thumb here seems to be no sentence is complete without a minimum of three commas.

John, I know I am suppose to read books about or by journalists but I think my first order of reading will be â€œEats, shoots and leavesâ€ that is on my book shelf. Iâ€™m sure this book will be able to shed some light on commas and clarify their uses because somewhere along the way, my three uses rule seem to no longer apply.

Week one down

Robyn — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 02:23:19 +0000

Today wrapped up my first week and I have to say, my experience here was a lot more relaxed than Joe’s! Today we all went home around 3:30 – 4 as we got the paper out around 1:30 and then, since its a lobg weekend and the paper doesn’t run unitl Tuesday afternoon, we all went home, or, they went home and Molly and I went to the vet to ascertain damages to old dogs–we have a dental visit booked for next week.

But back to journalism, I can say contacts are important. I was told to write a profile on Amy Sloan. Amy graduated a year ahead of me and just landed a major role in an ABC (North American version) sitcom. Her agent said she was unavailable but when I talked to her mom (who was also my Grade 11 English teacher). Mary said “I’ll phone Amy and have her give you a call.” Amy phoned me half an hour later, gave me a great interview and the story made it in today’s paper! Yeah.

And John, I learnt the value of shorthand as I madly scribble notes this week, while asking people to wait while I caught up. Today, since things were slow, I started practicing.

Cheers all and have a great weekend (even it’s already half over for you guys).