Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Local news for local people
This is the week I broke into Canadian journalism!!! Okay, my stuff hasn’t actually been published yet, but I’ve filed it so it’s only a matter of days or a week. Yay!!!!!
Local reporters in Canada spend their time a lot differently than their English counterparts. In England, I conducted almost all my interviews on the phone (unless they were those horrendous ‘vox pop’ things where you ask people on the street for their opinions – thank the Lord they don’t do that over here), and a photographer would go out and take the photo.
In Canada, the reporters are also the photographers, and all the interviews are face to face. So reporters are out of the office a lot more, although they still manage to churn out huge amounts of copy (haven’t quite mastered that one yet – I’ve done 4 articles in 2 days!!). This means that journalism is less deskbound and more people-based. The articles are also a lot longer and more feature-y, taking their time and putting in lots more background information.
All this means that Canadian journalism is much more my cup of tea. I love it! The only snag with local journalism is telling people what you do (doctors and lawyers probably find the same thing). People go “Ooh, you could write about this.” Often “this” is of no interest to local people, or completely outside the paper’s geographical area. I write for the Niagara region, but a guy today was telling me about his band in Toronto. How many times?? It’s a local paper for local people!
Having said that, I live in Hamilton which is about 30km away from where my paper’s based. So getting there to do my interviews was pretty hairy. Not only did I do them pretty much in one day, I had to hire a car for that day because I still haven’t bought one! And it was only my second day of driving in Canada! The best bit was when I had to interview a driving instructor – I parked on a hill while she watched (thinking goodness knows what as I scraped and lurched and bumped into the parking space).
But I managed to get all the interviews and return the hire care intact, with no damage to my internal organs and/or bones! So it was a pretty good day.
I pretty much spent the rest of the week writing or helping Joe out with his accounts and stuff. Sleep, once again, has been pretty elusive (totalling about 8 hours in the last 2 nights). I can still function, but in more of a zombified state with only Tim Horton’s standing between me and unconsciousness. Still, at least I can identify with my fellow Hamilton residents, most of whom seem to wander the streets clinging to life by the fingernails.
Talking of clinging to life, the weeping Catholics have been back on TV again with this whole Pope thing. I kind of thought my Italian family would be upset, but no-one even mentioned it. Weird. I guess the older generation have seen so many Popes come and go that this guy’s just one more. For me, it’s my first Pope death, because John Paul II donned his white cap in the year I was born.
Other celebrity events this week include the Canadian music awards, aka the ‘Junos’ – as in ‘Did Juno that _____________ was Canadian?” (fill in blank with Nickelback, Diana Krall, etc). Almost every Canadian who every released a record was honoured on Sunday evening, including Avril Lavigne who swept the board (big surprise there, seeing as she’s one of the few Canadian musicians anyone’s ever heard of. There’s also Celine and Bryan, who probably won Lifetime Achievement Awards or something).
Tomorrow I’ll be flying to England for a brief visit – can’t wait! And then on Sunday it’s back to Canada. I suppose it’s for the best – if I spent weeks on end in the UK, how would I ever get used to life here? Now if I can only figure out how to get all my English friends and family to emigrate...
Local reporters in Canada spend their time a lot differently than their English counterparts. In England, I conducted almost all my interviews on the phone (unless they were those horrendous ‘vox pop’ things where you ask people on the street for their opinions – thank the Lord they don’t do that over here), and a photographer would go out and take the photo.
In Canada, the reporters are also the photographers, and all the interviews are face to face. So reporters are out of the office a lot more, although they still manage to churn out huge amounts of copy (haven’t quite mastered that one yet – I’ve done 4 articles in 2 days!!). This means that journalism is less deskbound and more people-based. The articles are also a lot longer and more feature-y, taking their time and putting in lots more background information.
All this means that Canadian journalism is much more my cup of tea. I love it! The only snag with local journalism is telling people what you do (doctors and lawyers probably find the same thing). People go “Ooh, you could write about this.” Often “this” is of no interest to local people, or completely outside the paper’s geographical area. I write for the Niagara region, but a guy today was telling me about his band in Toronto. How many times?? It’s a local paper for local people!
Having said that, I live in Hamilton which is about 30km away from where my paper’s based. So getting there to do my interviews was pretty hairy. Not only did I do them pretty much in one day, I had to hire a car for that day because I still haven’t bought one! And it was only my second day of driving in Canada! The best bit was when I had to interview a driving instructor – I parked on a hill while she watched (thinking goodness knows what as I scraped and lurched and bumped into the parking space).
But I managed to get all the interviews and return the hire care intact, with no damage to my internal organs and/or bones! So it was a pretty good day.
I pretty much spent the rest of the week writing or helping Joe out with his accounts and stuff. Sleep, once again, has been pretty elusive (totalling about 8 hours in the last 2 nights). I can still function, but in more of a zombified state with only Tim Horton’s standing between me and unconsciousness. Still, at least I can identify with my fellow Hamilton residents, most of whom seem to wander the streets clinging to life by the fingernails.
Talking of clinging to life, the weeping Catholics have been back on TV again with this whole Pope thing. I kind of thought my Italian family would be upset, but no-one even mentioned it. Weird. I guess the older generation have seen so many Popes come and go that this guy’s just one more. For me, it’s my first Pope death, because John Paul II donned his white cap in the year I was born.
Other celebrity events this week include the Canadian music awards, aka the ‘Junos’ – as in ‘Did Juno that _____________ was Canadian?” (fill in blank with Nickelback, Diana Krall, etc). Almost every Canadian who every released a record was honoured on Sunday evening, including Avril Lavigne who swept the board (big surprise there, seeing as she’s one of the few Canadian musicians anyone’s ever heard of. There’s also Celine and Bryan, who probably won Lifetime Achievement Awards or something).
Tomorrow I’ll be flying to England for a brief visit – can’t wait! And then on Sunday it’s back to Canada. I suppose it’s for the best – if I spent weeks on end in the UK, how would I ever get used to life here? Now if I can only figure out how to get all my English friends and family to emigrate...
