Newsroom Insider

Summer of ink. 2013 interns

                Summer interns 2013, left to right: Justin Robertson, Natalie Paddon, Amy Kenny and BlairMcBride.

 

It's spring and at The Hamilton Spectator that means paid summer jobs for reporting interns. Few  things (aside from breaking news and good stories) cause as much excitement in the newsroom as the arrival of the interns. Who are they? What's their background? How will they measure up to interns the year before?

Interning is an opportunity for young journalists to take their journalism to the next level, work in a daily newspaper environment and get practical experience. It also allows our staffers to share, mentor and more importantly, learn from the interns. It's a two-way internship.

Much has been made in business journals and media blogs about interns. Paid, not paid, valued? J-source, an online Canadian journalism site interviewed me last month and posted about the topic of internships.

This summer Justin, Natalie, Amy and Blair will work in each of our editorial departments. They will also take over the space on this blog to write about journalism, their experience and thoughts about newspapers and evolving media.

Here they are with bios written in their words:

Amy Kenny @AmyatTheSpec

After graduating from Ryerson University's journalism program in 2004, I spent a number of years freelancing for organizations such as The Yellow Pages Group and Tourism Hamilton, and publications including Canadian Geographic, National Geographic, Explore and Hamilton Magazine. 

During this time I developed an arts practice and currently have a studio downtown where I paint and produce leather/metalwork under the label, Crown Land Goods. I also write fiction and poetry which has been supported by a grant from the Ontario Arts Council and published by Monday, Room and The Antigonish Review.

It was a gig freelancing for Open File Hamilton in 2010 that led to a combination of freelance and contract work and then this summer’s internship.

My interests outside the arts include dogs, cycling, running, camping and trying to develop sufficient survival skills to be able to live in the bush by the time I'm 40.

 

Blair McBride @BlairMcBride

A circuitous route has led me to The Spec! I'm originally from Waterloo and studied English and Indigenous Studies at McMaster. I then spent several years teaching in Korea and Japan and traveling through Asia. Last month I graduated from Western University with a Masters in Journalism. My hobbies include cycling, music and reading. I feel very lucky to be at The Spec!

 

Natalie Paddon @NatatTheSpec

I am a native Hamiltonian and I am proud to call this vibrant city my home. After finishing my BA in English and Philosophy at McMaster University, I stuck around both the city and the campus working for two years before spending a year in London completing an MA in Journalism at Western University. As part of the program, I spent six weeks at the Spec this past winter where I had the opportunity to exercise my love for storytelling in print, video and online. I am thrilled to be back in my hometown this summer, carrying the privilege (and the responsibility) of sharing the stories of my community. My hobbies include eating candy, listening to music and reading.

 

Justin Robertson @justinatthespec

I’m an Australian-born-journalist living in Toronto. For the past 18 months I was working as a freelance writer in Toronto and have been published in the Globe and Mail, The Walrus, National Post,  and GridTO. It was during this period I started focusing my work on urban affairs and the future of cities and wrote a number of pieces on those topics for the Toronto Standard. I’ve written for two community papers in two different countries; The Pakenham Gazette (Melbourne, Australia) and The Town Crier in Toronto. In 2009, I completed an internship with the National Post. When I’m not in the newsroom, I coach the Toronto Dingos, an Australian Rules football team and I enjoy travel.

Newspaper cool

 This is Hamilton:

There's nothing hipper than a newspaper

Reporters Emma Reilly, Molly Hayes and Nicole O'Reilly (hey, they all have Irish roots and Sunday is St. Paddy's Day, but that has nothing to do with this grouping)

There's the words and photos and the colourful type and interplay between black lines and white space. There's the fragrant smell of truth, justice and democracy in the ink. The lively curl of each page turns to a new chapter in a community, a country, someone's life.

It takes a lot to run these presses, but mostly they are fuelled by reporters like Emma, Molly and Nicole.

It's Friday and what better hangout is there on a late afternoon than a pressroom. I was thinking today about what we do after receiving the last of the spring journalism award nominations. The Spec received a lot of recognition for its staff and its work in 2012, during a time when the economy has been less than favourable and when media disruption happens every single day.

Don't stop the presses.

He breaks news and blogs

1,000 days of blogging and a lot of gems along the way. In May, when Drew Edwards asked readers for their Ivor Wynne memories, one reader shared an  engagement photo taken at the now-demolished stadium. Last week, the reader followed up with a new post-engagement photo: their team has grown by one.

There are no timeouts for this typist. Spec sports reporter Drew Edwards (@scratchingpost)reports, blogs, videos and tells just damn interesting stories about the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Canadian Football League.

Along the way, Drew has forged a relationship with readers across the country who look to Drew for news as it happens and context off the field.

Today, he starts a well-deserved vacation, but only after marking his 1,000th day of consecutive straight blogging. In his piece marking the marker, here, Drew writes about the background to the blog and insights along the way.

A tip of the hat to you, Drew.

Drew knows deadline doesn't take a vacation - he's always looking for tips, opinion pieces and links. His email is dedwards@thespec.com You can find the home page to his Scratching Post blog here.

Random thoughts on a snowy day

Twitter photo of a prisoner transport truck stuck in downtown Hamilton. Taken and posted by @susanclairmont who went to court today - twice - before it was shut down.

 The thumping sound on the porch this morning wasn’t Snowmaggedon.  It was the sweet, serene sound of the daily issue of truth, freedom and democracy under the banner of The Hamilton Spectator hitting the front door. God bless our carriers.

Shortly after it made its way into the warmth of the house in the pre-dawn, Spec staffers were online updating news, closures and the commuter report. Some worked off-site while others snaked their way through the squall before or just as streets were plowed.

Weather broadcasters drive me crazy and I can’t believe how inconsistent their reports can be when weather is significant news. Some are reserved, calm and perform their role as journalists with aplomb. Others treat the weather like a carnival game: “Well it looks like we’re going to get 20 cm, maybe more. But I think it could go as high as 50 cm. This could be the worst storm in the last five years.”

Give me facts and let’s ban may and could. May is for spring rains and could is for politicians. They are two words that are nebulous and meaningless and don’t get to the point (Here’s one for journos: anytime you have a lede that uses may or could, work on expunging those two words. My bet is you end up with a sentence that is clear and meaningful.)

Here’s a tip of the hat to the tow truck driver who pulled me out from an icy patch at a mall parking lot this morning. I pulled into a coffee shop to pick up sustenance for the newsroom staff (donuts inspire adjectives) and became stuck. My car was inches from another parked car and I was afraid of fishtailing and hitting it. The truck driver was getting coffee and I asked him if he could pull me out. He did but only after giving me a long lecture about driving in such lousy conditions. He said people should not be on the roads and too many people underestimate the severity of weather and slippery roads.

True, I said and told him I work at the newspaper.

“We’re an essential service.”

****

UPDATE: Newsroom Insider brings you this value added snow day surprise movie:

 

Download Jim Snow

Drone drops a media bombshell

Oh my how the media can huff and puff and rail and write for truth, freedom and hail the disinfectant powers of sunshine.

How then does one of the most promient and powerful newspapers in the world get to a point where it believes colluding with the CIA to keep from the public details about a secret drone base in Saudi Arabia?

In a stunning Page One story in Wednesday's New York Times, the paper revealed details about the USA's drone program and it's informal pact (along with the Washington Post) with the government to keep the location of the base a secret.

The NYT ombud weighed in with a piece discussing the story and the timing of the disclosure.

In her interview with Dean Baquet, a managing editor at the paper, she said the NYT broke the informal embargo because the time was right. The NYT ombud, Margaret Sullivan writes:

“It was central to the story because the architect of the base and drone program is nominated to head the C.I.A.,” Mr. Baquet told me on Wednesday. In past stories, he said, the location of the base “was a footnote.”

The story exposed a shocking arrangment, yet it's hardly a black and white issue. There are many times when newspapers tread lightly around information and how they get it: confidential source arrangements, story embargoes, keeping certain facts out if they are considered to cause more harm than good. Canadian media withheld news that CBC reporter Melissa Fung, working in Afghanistan, was captured and held hostage for fear that public interest in her case would complicate negotiations and threaten her release.

It's never easy. In this case, the U.S's drone program is topical, controverisal, secret and of significant concern and it warrants aggressive, transparent reporting. Democracy, truth and freedom cannot be served when government and media make secrecy pacts.

Tweeting Truths

A Hamilton Spectator journalist is covering a murder trial in a way we've never done before: She is using social media's Twitter to let readers know what is going on inside the courtroom.

Susan Clairmont, a Spec columnist, is no stranger on Twitter or to crime and court reporting. This is the first time she's been able to combine it all (find her on Twitter @susanclairmont).

Last Friday, Feb.1, was the first day we were allowed to bring electronic devices that allow us to instantly report what is said and transpiring inside an Ontario courtroom. That was the day new protocols from the Superior Court of Ontario allowed media to live Tweet.

Susan describes it as a new freedom, but one that comes with much responsibility:

"I'm very conscious of being careful with what I Tweet, so as not to breach any bans."

The new protocols govern the use of electronic devices in Ontario courtrooms. Unless the judge orders otherwise, devices must be silent, discreet and unobtrusive and are permitted to be used by counsel, paralegals licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada, law students or clerks assisting during a proceeding, self-represented parties and media or journalists.

The above descriptors are taken from the Superior Court of Justice site outlining the protocols and a full version can be viewed here.

It does not define what is meant by media or journalist. It does says members of the public will not be permitted to use electronic devices in the courtroom, unless the presiding judge rules otherwise. It will be interesting to watch rulings from presiding judges when asked by citizen journalists or neighborhood groups to allow their devices for social media or recording purposes.

The protocols allow for recording in the courtroom for note-taking purposes, however that recording cannot be transmitted. And you cannot use a device to take photos or to talk.

The protocol is a big deal for reporters in Ontario. In some respects, given the evolution of our media and technology cycles, a small step, but one that has happened after considerable debate and discussion by those who work with and in the justice system. I'm told it is being closely watched and many sidebar issues are expected (for example, the protocols don't discuss retweets or live commenting).

 

 

My media affair

Just turn the page. No wi-fi necessary.

As media experiences go, it was thorough, revealing and fantastic.

My finger glided over the information-rich platform. The tactile experience was easy and rewarding. Photos, dates, context, reporting, weather, entertainment and sports stats. I had a daily encyclopedia in front of me. Custom delivered, and, it cost less than a $1.

In today’s new media world, we're told content is king and with this experience, surely I was living in a castle.

This medium was thoughful and neatly partitioned: experiential and divided into four content sections. Information I didn’t need right away, I set aside for easy access when I was ready. The format was filled with multiple content providers and allowed me dive deeply into one story, scan other. I checked out good deals on stuff. Looked at who died and why, who was born and who was getting thanked. I learned more about my community than I knew moments before - such a social tool.

I absorbed as much or little as I wanted and on my own time.

I put the newspaper down, found my TV converter and watched and listened to the hype of a new mobile phone.

Photo Finish 2012

 The shooting is done, now the judging begins.

Spec photographers have sorted their files and put up what they believe to be their best photos of the year. They've posted their pix to a wall in The Spec. This year, editorial staff are in on the judging to choose best in the NEWS, FEATURE and SPORTS categories. It's a friendly, in-house competition and the stakes are little more than a pint of draft and handshakes.

The best of 2012 is below. Photos range from sombre moments with Hamilton's Lincoln Alexander lying in state and at his funeral, at a Mac Marauders game, high schools students at a Walk with Christ outing, car and train crashes, young women protesting the fur fashion industry, Idle No More movement, pickpocketing elephants, and more.

Scroll down to see the pics:

NEWS:

 

SPORTS:

FEATURE:

Journalism - a certain kind of person

Lisa Niro is an 18-year-old high school graduate in Hamilton. Like many her age, she understands media activity and engagement. She undertands the power of communication, and, the importance of media.

Perhaps that's what I find refreshing about Lisa. Every Tuesday she reported to the Spec newsroom as a co-op student to sense, experience and understand life at a daily. She attended news meetings, watched assignments take shape and news unfold. Lisa came out of it with a refreshing and keen sense of the business, our values, and even more heartening, a positive outlook.

Sadly for us, Lisa's co-op ended today. Before she left, Lisa wrote down her thoughts which we published in the Spec today. You can read Lisa's story in today's op-ed.

Thanks, Lisa.

The objective journalist in real time

"...the best method of inquiry is not subjective ranting and unfair verbal warfare..." - Stephen J.A. Ward, writing in Media Magazine.

Social media and demands of a 24/7 news programming does not justify lack of objective reporting.

Journalists are not robots free of emotion, bias (cultural, political or otherwise and point-of-view.

Stephen Ward argues there are safeguards.

A day before the Connecticut shootings, J-source posted a prescient media column by Stephen J.A. Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

J-Source says the column was originally published in the latest issue of the Canadian Association of Journalists'  Media Magazine and reprinted with permission.

"For example, when it comes to democratic deliberation among different viewpoints, the best method of inquiry is not subjective ranting and unfair verbal warfare; nor do we want sloppy and wishful thinking to be dominate.

What we need is a strong emotional commitment to verification, openness to other perspectives, respectful disagreement and evidence-based claims."

The mass shootings of adults and school children in Connecticut Friday (Dec. 14) exposed hubris and weakness in much of the reporting that followed. Errors, innuendo and much emotive-based reporting dictated news reporting. In one segment of CNN, I thought Piers Morgan was going to explode on set. He was angry and righteous and combative. He wasn't a journalist, news anchor or information facilitator - he was an actor and agitator and with news stories of this complexity and magnitude, I don't want to watch someone who is vying for an Academy Award. Give me news, context and information that are timely, useful and verified. Sadly, he wasn't the only journalist who veered from the facts and strayed into opinion masked as news reporting.

On Friday and through the weekend, too many reporters on tv, radio, social media and newspapers were telling us what they thought and how they felt.

Ward's words are good reflection for future reporting.

***

For more reading on speed vs accuracy, see NYT Margaret Sullivan's column today  on time pressures, facts and susequent corrections.

Constant disruption. The tetonic shifts of journalism transformation

There's a new report/essay out from Columbia Journalism School's Tow Centre for Digital Journalism that I recommend as required reading for anyone interested in contemporary media, how we got here and insight into navigating the future.

The report is a well-organized read about the trends, economics and practicalities of old and new media. It offers much to think about and discuss. You can link to the report here: Post-Industrial Journalism.

I've been through the report twice and continue to mine it for history and advice. I love how it's sectioned and find the commentary is fair, reasonable and thoughtful. We've heard much lately about disruption theory, now I suspect we'll be hearing more about a dynamic described in the report as "post-industrial journalism."  Here's a description of the term from the report's authors:

"Post-industrial journalism assumes that the existing institutions are going to lose revenue and market share, and that if they hope to retain or even increase their relevance, they will have to take advantage of new working methods and processes afforded by digital media.

This restructuring will mean rethinking every organizational aspect of news production–increased openness to partnerships; increased reliance on publicly available data; increased use of individuals, crowds and machines to produce raw material; even increased reliance on machines to produce some of the output."

Joshua Benton, writing for the Nieman Journalism Lab does a concise job of distilling the report and pulling out highlights. You can read his post here.

Somalia on her mind

 
This year, Amanda Lindhout's Global Enrichment Foundation opened a literacy school for female Somali refugees in Kenya. GEF also started She Will which offers therapy and education to rape survivors. (Photo by Riccardo Gangale and sourced from Hiiraan.com a website with news and information about Somalia.)

Amanda Lindhout is a story-teller, survivor of the lengthiest kidnapping in Canadian history and bridge-builder. She is a passionate advocate of human rights and is a poster child for the power of forgiveness. At 31-years-old, Amanda Lindhout is many things, but she is not a journalist, and now, she is not afraid to say so.

As a young woman in her 20's, Lindhout travelled the world, visiting more than 50 countries, seeing, touching and experiencing local culture. She travelled as a freelance journalist and sold stories here and there to broadcast outlets and a column to her home paper, The Red Deer Advocate.

She was inexperienced, unprepared and without proper training or former journalism credentials. In 2008 after spending eight months in Iraq, she wanted to explore the stories in a Somalia refugee camp, a place where millions of people were starving and displaced because of civil war. She went to a country some deemed to be among the most dangerous places in the world, at a time when large media organizations refused to send staff.

Outside Mogadishu in August, 2008 Lindhout was captured and taken hostage and held captive for 15 months, being released after ransom cash was paid. Her ordeal is horrific, even unimaginable, and she now works to bring education and empowerment to people in Somalia. She's forgiven her captors saying she believes they are victims of their own environment. Much has been written about Lindhout, her experience and her work (see Need to know links below).

Today I had the privilege of listening to her powerful and upsetting story about hurt, fear and forgiveness as the keynote speaker (see Spec.com video) of the YMCA Peace Medal breakfast. After her talk, we discussed journalism and her role as a freelance journalist. There are many times when I am approached by young journalists or people who aspire to be foreign correspondents or globe-trotter reporters. Amanda talks about some of those issues in this short video interview:

 

I also asked her about the role of media in conflict zones:

 

 Amanda Lindhout - need to know: 

• Was working as a freelance journalist when taken hostage in Aug. 2008 by teenaged Islamic militants in Somalia. She spent 15 months - 460 days in captivity.

• Amanda on Twitter: @AmandaLindhout

• A book, A House in the Sky, about her ordeal (it's billed as a memoir) is due out next summer. Lindhout was taken hostage with a photojournalist and man she describes as ex-boyfriend. Australian Nigel Brennan published a book about his experience. It was released in 2011 and called, The Price of Life.
  

• Background about her ordeal in Somalia. See Nov. 22, 2010 Toronto Star interview 

• Amanda's mom's preaches forgiveness. See Sept. 2012 story in Red Deer Advocate Red Deer Advocate:
  

• Four months after her release she started a plan to help Somalis, primarily women. She is the founder and executive director of Alberta-based Global Enrichment Foundation

It's about the story - part two

Memorable storytelling takes different forms. Long-form narrative, column, theatre, song and video as we saw in Private Riley, and in one my ritual stops for slices of life stories, the daily obits page. Some time ago I flagged the obit of Fred (Fred's Dead and Dogs Liked Him). Today another gem from the pages of today's passings:

James (Dale) Reid was quite aware of his pending date with the afterlife and upond his death instructed his family to run the following obit. I've never met Dale Reid, but get a sense of his personality. Here's a snippet of the obit he wrote:

(Died) "of complications caused by his wife and children making him old before his time. Dale Reid in his 67th year. Husband of Mary (Marlene). Father of Kim Chapman (Kent), Darlene Ahenakew (Lee) and Amber Adams (Colin). Grumpy to six superior grandchildren. During his life Dale was a Scout leader, softball coach, church steward, a member of Glanbrook Home Support, Blackheath Binbrook Lions, Local 1005 USWA, and a lifelong supporter of the New Democratic Party. In lieu of flowers, please send a nasty letter to a Conservative".

Family man, acerbic, wry and political. After reading his obit,  I get a sense of Dale. In 72 compact words, his story lives.

It's all about the story

A damn fine story: Where the Blood Mixes at Hamilton's Theatre Aquarius (Nov. 7-24)featuring Craig Lauzon (left) and Lorne Cardinal (right).

I wrote last week of the captivating and innovative storytelling Mark McNeil and others in our newsroom put into telling the story of a Hamilton soldier and his regiment. A powerful tale told from a unique perspective: a music video.

Mark turned a story into song, photographer Barry Gray turned it into a video, editors turned all that into another newspaper story and then all of it a special section. The full story about Private Riley, can be viewed on the Spec’s website here and an interview about the song and series can be heard on CBC’s As It Happens with Carol Off and Jeff Douglas.

I was thinking about Private Riley and the power of Mark’s work as I entered Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius to watch and listen to another story. A full four days after seeing Kevin Loring’s Where the Blood Mixes, I remain amazed and still somewhat numb at the power and depth of that piece of live theatre and the incredible performance.

Where the Blood Mixes is primarily about how a residential school affected a community, in particular two families. It's stark, bleak, emotional, riveting and, like Mark McNeil's Private Riley, a unique piece of journalism.

We have newspapers and tablets and digital on steroids. Smart phones and wireless and minicams and apps galore. There’s no arguing we’ve entered a new age of storytelling, but as always, it’s always about the story.

The scribe, the song and the story

The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry is one of Canada's most storied regiments. It's soldiers fought Fenians in 1866, the Boer War, two World Wars, including the nightmare at Dieppe, and saw action in contemporary Afghanistan.

Spec reporter Mark McNeil has long written about Hamilton’s history and the RHLI’s.

Earlier this year he wrote about Private James Henry Morrison, who died in 1866 and is marked as being the RHLI’s first fatality.

Mark got thinking about the 17-year-old RHLI and believed there was a deeper to story to be told. Mark is creative, contemporary and understands the power of good storytelling. So he wrote a song. For the newspaper.

That song, Private Riley, is the paper’s first-ever music video and the words, photos and videography tells a national story. Marks sing and plays the song and is accompanied by a 37-piece military band. The work is impressive and moving.

The video composition by Mark and photographer Barry Gray are excellent and they are first-rate examples of how a contemporary newspaper continues to evolve in a multimedia world.

View the song and video here: Download RileyFINAL