Media industry changing

Students at King's receive well-rounded journalism training

Students in the journalism program at the University of King’s College pound away at their keyboards to meet deadline. Photo: Ashley Thompson

Video didn't kill the radio stars - it made them work harder. With online journalism upping the ante, print journalists are going all-out just to find work.

And that's making it more important than ever that journalism students receive a well- rounded, muilt-media education.

The Media industry is evolving and diverse reporting techniques are becoming more available to aspiring journalists, says the director of the King's School of Journalism, Kim Kierans.

"We're hoping that the training you get here will make you versatile enough to adapt ... and be leaders in change."

Experienced and aspiring journalists alike are scrambling to secure paying jobs in a struggling industry.

CanWest Global Communications Corporation, owner of the National Post, a chain of big-city dailies and Global Television, filed for bankruptcy protection this fall to deal with a $4-billion debt. In Halifax, the Daily News closed in 2008 and the Chronicle Herald laid off more than 20 members if its newsroom staff in March.

Despite this bad news, an annual report of the King's journalism admissions committee shows enrolment in the one-year bachelor of journalism programme is the highest it has been since 2004.

Kierans feels King's students leave school equipped with the skills necessary to work in radio, television, online and print journalism.

"Media like our people because they come in, roll up their sleeves and they're ready to rock n' roll."

But Kierans warns that lifelong careers with one company are rare in this ever-evolving industry.

Kristen Lipscombe graduated from the one-year journalism programme at King's in 2004 and worked for the Chronicle Herald for five years. She received a layoff notice in February, marking the beginning of one of the most stressful times in the 29-year-old reporter's life.

Former union representative and entertainment editor for the Herald, Greg Guy, remembers the day layoffs shook the privately owned newspaper. "It was incredibly difficult watching this young talent walk out the door."

Guy, who wrote for the Herald for 23 years, accepted a buyout instead of bumping newer reporters, like Lipscombe, out of jobs. He has since started his own entertainment-based media company called Guy About Town Communications.

Lipscombe has taken a similar route.

Two weeks after the layoffs, she began freelancing with Metro and signed a one-year contract with the newspaper that was supposed to end in May.

This contract was cut short but, this time, it was Lipscombe who chose to leave. She is moving to Calgary to work as a media coordinator for Hockey Canada.

While Lipscombe and Guy now work in public relations, both feel it is important that new journalists are trained to tell the stories that have yet to come.

"Society is going to need us because journalism is a vital part of democracy," says Lipscombe. "Not everybody may realize that right now, but as the industry changes and grows, opportunities change and grow as well."

Guy agrees. "Society needs journalists. We can't go away. We are the voice of the people in many ways."

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