Journalism Group on Facebook

It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything here that I completely forgot my password and had to have a new one sent to me.

In case ANYONE is still out there, just thought I’d let you know that the new j-school students have started a Facebook group for Western Journalism.

You’ll need to have a Facebook account and an UWO alumni email and then you’ll have to join the UWO network within Facebook before you can finally join the journalism group. It’s a bit convoluted, but I promise you, once you get started in Facebook you won’t be able to stop.

A real announcement

Have plans for the 30th? If not and you’d like to see some of the ol’ J-school crowd, some of us are getting together on Saturday at 8 p.m. downtown T.O.

Email Steve for more details.

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays!

We are the “Person of the Year!”

That I am writing about this here is actually a confirmation of their selection.

PR 101

In today’s lesson, we learn that soliciting for donations over the phone is really a means to educate the public about your organization’s cause. 

Let’s hope this wasn’t a Freudian slip

Tax subsidies for this industry would require a rather large loophole.  I know, you’ve all seen or heard about it elsewhere, but I couldn’t help myself. 

CBC comes to Amman!

Yesterday afternoon one of the phones in the newsroom rang and an American colleague of mine answered it. He chatted with the person on the other end for a while – they seemed to want to talk to one of our editors, but none were around.

Then I heard my colleague ask if the person was American?

“Oh Canadian, really?” was my friend’s response.

Though I had been eavesdropping all along, my ears perked up at this.

He eventually got off the phone, turned to me and said “Hey some Canadian TV guys are coming tomorrow.”

“Which network?” I asked, very interested.

“Uh, C-something.”

Thanks, you yankee, I thought. “CBC?”

“Yeah! That’s the one.”

The crew showed up today to talk to my editor about all this Bush business (could get into it, but I’m sick of the story already) and I got to hang out with Peter Armstrong (who replaced Adrienne Arsenault in Jerusalem this summer) and his producer (a Western grad) and talk dirt about CBC. Also begged for a job, but that wasn’t a fruitful endeavour.

I also got to help out with the filming. Setting up lights, white balancing, audio checks, positioning the interviewee… does anyone else miss Cliff and Dave’s classes??

So Peter and his crew are doing the Bush story. They filmed some pathetic protests by the Parliament buildings today. Protests aren’t a big thing here because freedom of association is not a right most people are familiar with – or one the government is familar with, for that matter. Unfortunately there are lots that would LIKE to be protesting, but are too afraid of the consequences to do so. Plus you need a permit to protest and the government rarely grants them.

Anyway, if anyone cares to catch my editor on the news check out The National tomorrow night.

Hopefully he’ll make the cut.

One way to silence your critics

Uwe Boll’s publicity stunt to fight his critics in a boxing match is the subject matter for the most entertaining article that I have read in a long-time.

Still if you had the chance to pummel “the world’s worst director”, I’d at least fork over some cash to train at a decent boxing club. Getting in the ring with no experience is really stupid and I’m surprised the event was sanctioned in Canada of all places.

Didn’t we interview this guy last year?

Glenn Pearson wins the hotly contested riding of London North-Centre. I couldn’t be happier, he has a great history of local and international humanitarian work.

How do I know this? Because at least 3 people in the class last year must have interviewed him about his charitable work in Sudan. He was almost as used and abused by our class as the poor fellow that ran the Queer Library. If only we had known he would be a future M.P., might have kept his contact info.

Seriously though, how many more people of prominence are chronicled in the Online Reporter…huh…huh? Somewhere is a pet-shop owner, waiting for the moment to shine!

Politics…

From one world into the next. I’ve left politics and I’m trying to find some gainful employment in journalism again…I know all about the hang-ups believe. Regardless, want to get back to writing.

Anyhow, I still try to stay abreast of political happenings and I thought this column by Chantal Hebert was particularly interesting. I don’t know if I agree with it. I’m more inclined to side with Warren Kinsella and friends on this issue.

I think that as symbolic as the issue maybe, vague attempts to identify the Quebecois as a nation are going to beg for clarity, and I know that some of the politicians publicly supporting this bill privately have serious reservations. I’m afraid this will lead us down the all-to-familiar road of antagonistic debate we experienced during Meech Lake.

Looking forward to the convention this weekend, this issue will be the defining policy point.

You can always anticipate a political rant from me if the frequency of posts starts to decline.

Our new home

Welcome to the new, more attractive and feature-filled alumni site.

I managed to import all of our posts from the old site, but unfortunately it now looks like I wrote them all. Not quite sure how to fix that… Sorry guys.

To contribute your own posts here you need to have a WordPress account. Sign up for one, email me and I’ll add you to the users’ list.

Enjoy!

Update: Just found out you need to sign up for the account and then let me know the email address you used for the account, not the user name.