Today’s media landscape is undergoing tremendous change that presents both unique challenges and opportunities. Now more than ever, we see media outlets, organizations, and individuals embracing innovative ways to share information: from traditional print, radio, and broadcast to online and social media; from text-based journalism to viral images and video content.
J-Source, The Canadian Journalism Project reported that, while the number of journalists employed in traditional Canadian newsrooms has dipped over the past ten years, the definition of a journalist has also changed. With so many communication mediums to choose from, the definition of what constitutes a journalist or trusted news source isn’t so clear cut.
In the context of October’s upcoming federal election, it is important that Canadians have access to trusted sources of evidence-based information in the media. Canada’s colleges and institutes are doing their part. In communities all cross the country, students are honing the skills necessary to pursue important careers in communications, media, and journalism. For example:
- Lethbridge College’s two-year Digital Communications and Media diploma program prepares students to envision the future of delivering news with particular emphasis on how traditional media, information, and entertainment has changed. Students explore cutting-edge industry trends and equipment, including a radio and television studio, a working newsroom where students publish Endeavour Magazine, and 360° journalism and storytelling technologies.
- Langara College’s Journalism program prides itself on being an all-encompassing introduction to the industry, from communications theory to video and audio best practices and intensive courses in radio, television, data, and mobile journalism, focusing on integrity and quality in media. Langara students also publish the Langara Journalism Review, an annual look at issues faced by journalists.
- Loyalist College offers Canada’s only multi-year Photojournalism program that prepares students for careers as photojournalists, reporter-photographers, multimedia producers and editors, and specialists in digital publishing with skills in camera operation and video capture, reporting, writing, news judgment, and principles of storytelling.
- At Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), students in the Radio Television Journalism program learn to become critical thinkers, researchers, and investigators, with courses focusing on writing for a diverse public and telling stories accurately and fairly. Students also learn about media entrepreneurship, identifying the tools, resources, and self-employment skills necessary to succeed in the growing freelance journalism market.
- Canadore College has a brand new one-year certificate program in Indigenous Visual Storytelling that teaches various forms of Indigenous storytelling and performance art within the context of media technologies such as photography, video and film production, sound, and design. By enabling the sharing of histories, languages, and world views between generations, the program aims to encourage and strengthen the voices of Indigenous peoples in media.
- The Cégep de Jonquière has partnered with the Kiuna College and First Nation on a diploma program in Media and Communications Technology (DEC en Techniques de communications dans les médias) designed specifically for Indigenous students, responding to the need for cultural diversity and a highly-skilled Indigenous workforce in Quebec’s journalism industry.