One of the frustrations of working in journalism is the perception that content has to be dumbed down or no one will be interested. That the “public” is an attention-deficit riddled entity incapable of reading more than 140 characters at a time or tuning into a show that requires cognitive ability. Sure, some of the…
Nice butchering? It seems an impossible task when it comes to a writing critique. However, according to at least one student, I might have mastered it. Every year in the news production class I co-teach, students are required to reflect on their experience producing a daily news show. Here’s an excerpt from one of their…
The hardest part of putting a story together isn’t figuring out what to put in, but what to leave out. That’s why I love my blog. It’s the perfect home for all the interesting quotes/ideas that I can’t wedge into an article. Something I was reminded of as I was writing my latest piece for…
If you teach any type of media, it’s a constant struggle to keep up with new tools and trends. That’s why I went to the Broadcast Educators Association of Canada’s (BEAC) annual conference in Banff. You can check out my live blog of the event, but if you’d rather not scroll through a few days…
A few months back a book called Overcoming Bias came across my desk. It’s described as a journalist’s guide to culture and context. Admittedly, I was a bit put off by the title; I don’t think overcoming a bias that may have been festering for years can be overcome in the time it takes to…
On November 8th and 9th in Denmark, academics from around the world, including me, congregated at the University of Copenhagen for the New Media and the Public Sphere conference. Just arrived at University of Copenhagen for #NMPS2012 – beautiful campus http://pic.twitter.com/2AUhDQgl Nicole Blanchett Wed, Nov 07 2012 23:52:57 ReplyRetweetFavorite Topics ranged from how a teen’s…
As I write this, I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Copenhagen where I will attend the New Media and the Public Sphere conference. A great line up of people are scheduled to speak on how changing social networks are impacting discourse in the public sphere. Of course, my primary interest is…
Last week I attended the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. From an enchanting talk by Margaret Atwood to debate over journalism practice, thought provoking doesn’t quite cover it. As a means of aggregating highlights from the event, I used Storify to post my RTd tweets. Why? I wanted a mechanism to choose…
Despite being the best rated original program on CBC’s New Network, engaging the audience in a way few, if any, other daily news shows can, Connect with Mark Kelley is being cancelled. Government funding cuts–and management decisions on how to spend what money is leftover–have put it on the chopping block. I’ve probably given a…
The media find African famine boring. I cringed when I heard the President of the University of Guelph, Dr. Alastair Summerlee, express that sentiment at a conference I recently attended. Not because I thought he was wrong, but because I was worried he was right. That’s the beginning of an article I wrote for J-Source…
Redefining Journalism's Blog 