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Nov 18, 2005 12:12

Canadian Journalism:
Pretty Good. Not Really. Ughhh.
Better and Worse Than What the Yanks and Brits Get.
It Sure Could Use a Lot More of This, Much Less of That.
Can It Be Saved? Hell No. Then Again . . . Maybe.

Okay, so I thought is was fairly interesting. It's the cover of a report written on the state of Canadian journalism, based as a round-table discussion formed through quotes the author got from various interviews. There's some discussion going around as to the ethics, as the sources never met each other and therefore the quotes are slightly out of context. Of course the defense is informed consent. You should never talk to a journalist in a professional setting without accepting the possibility, however small, or your words landing themselves in print.

Other than that, there's a whole weeks worth of news to go through now.

I spent the weekend bussing back and forth between my room and the National Writer's Symposium, set up by the CAJ. The guest speakers they had in for breakaway sessions were interesting; or the ones I saw were. Granted the PC session was boring and covered nothing that I actually would have written. Truthfully, for most of the gender-based PC language used I wouldn't have been bothered by the bad examples. Firefighter? Okay, generic term. But if it's a fireman specifically, say fireman. If it's a firewoman in your story, say firewoman. I understand equality and not using gendered words such as the generic 'he' for any unnamed subject but if you have to force the PC, it's no longer PC. I'm also not that fond of the phrase 'PC' in the first place. And that shall end my rant for today.

I also managed to visit a copy-editing session. The saddest thing about taking this program is that I've developed a love of copy-editing. Not the punctuation and Canadian Press style guides, but taking and awkward, nonsensical or just plain horrible piece of writing and making it better. It's almost as good as creating, and when you take it back to the writer you get such good debate over them trying to defend shoddy work. When I'm writing, I'm guilty of the same fault, it's far too hard to chop up something you've worked on even if it does make it better. That's what the evil of editors was created for. On that note, I applied for an assistant editors position on the times next semester, because I don't really like to be the face of things. I'd rather sit in the background and edit copy in peace.

The last session for Saturday was Warm Bodies, based on placing people in leads, or not placing them in depending on the story. Warm Bodies are the people stuffed into leads for no reason other than to have a person there, and often don't fit. It was a good presentation, with a great speaker, and the j-school contingent had a good time.

sunday one of my professors gave a lecture session that turned more into a seminar of sorts. I learned what I like to call journalistic prostitution (I think most people would say something PC like medialistic entrepenuering, as it's much more fun to make up your own words). It includes crossing the boundery from journalism into advertising, and so should only be used as a last resort. Life would be so much easier if the advertising and PR people across the hall weren't so nice..then we could hate them. As it is, they're wonderful people doing a wonderful job in something that as a journalist we apparently just shouldn't touch. only one semester and those particular biases are already rubbing off. It's hard to be trusted for objectivity if people know you're also writing promotional pieces for companies.
There was a good slot on making money as a freelancer as well.

Saturday night was the best of the weekend though. A group of the second-years and..well, me, headed up for drinks at our teachers, then to one of the skeezier downtown pubs for more drinks. We managed to talk one of the guys into driving everyone home, which went great until the flashing lights came on behind us.
So, he was okay to drive, but it turned out he had an overdue speeding ticket. Only Neil in the backseat having been in the army with the cop kept him form getting his license confiscated. So, the three in the back seat left to walk home, and I got a 15 minute lesson on driving standard and was left to drive my friend and his car home before finding a bus stop.
I'm exceedingly proud of myself for that though. I not only now know the basics of driving standard, but I learned it in one evening. I just have to talk him into giving me proper lessons now.

So that was my weekend, and the week has pretty much dissolved into the same old. I did managed to get two interviews done over the phone this week, which leaves me with three more at the least before I can write my profile. Two more weeks to go.
The stressful point is having a pitch accepted for the times, meaning I have to have the story done by noon Tuesday. Monday is going to be crazy. But it's all good, it means I'll sleep well when I finally get some down time at home.

As an end note, my parents went and got a kitten, so I've demanded photos and have heard all about the new pet who I think is named Jack, though I can't be sure. I've already made threats to call him Sparrow, after everyones favourite painted pirate.
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