Three journalism education lessons from Canada’s first Future of Independent Media Summit
In an OCAD University theatre in downtown Toronto, journalists, publishers and others working in and outside the journalism industry milled around whiteboards, posted neon sticky notes to answer questions about how the field has changed since 1994, what has been lost and what now stands in the way of growth.
And, “If our journalism sector was robust and healthy, how would we know?”
There would be more opportunities to grow in the field, one person wrote.
Doing the work wouldn’t come with threats to one’s safety, another offered.
I wrote that more people would want to be journalists when they “grew up.” Someone else wrote more journalism school grads would move into journalism careers.
The brainstorming session, or “gallery walk,” was part of Press Forward Canada’s first Future of Independent Media Summit and led by journalist Vicky Mochama.
Press Forward represents independent media outlets across Canada; its foundational goals include safeguarding “strong independent and community-focused journalism.”
As a journalism educator, I left the summit with three takeaways for teaching journalism students now, and preparing them to move into careers in an always-changing field.
1. If we are not already talking about community in our journalism classrooms and curricula, we need to start – and “community” means more than geography.
Throughout the day, the demand to understand and connect with communities – beyond cultivating sources, subscribers or advertisers – was underlined.
Lela Savić, the founder of Montreal-based La Converse, discussed plans for dialogue sessions to build trust among community members who don’t trust journalists or media.
The Sprawl founder Jeremy Klaszus shared the Calgary online publication’s experiments in printing zines, including offering workshops and popping up at community events.
Matthew DiMera, founder of The Resolve, talked about doing slow-moving storytelling that resists extracting from Black, Indigenous and racialized communities and takes time to make journalism practices transparent and empowering for people being reported on.
The takeaway for journalism classrooms is to expand definitions of and conversations about community.
Thinking beyond location does not mean cutting local coverage, particularly that provided by journalism schools whose news publications have contributed to answering growing local news gaps.
But it does mean holding space for emerging journalists to talk about and develop their own definitions of “community,” as well as how stereotypes, gaps and errors in coverage have and continue to cause harm in some communities. Great companion resources for thinking through approaches include (but aren’t limited to) Duncan McCue’s Decolonizing Journalism and Nana aba Duncan’s recent J-Source piece, “We all need help reporting in Black communities.”
Duncan also developed “not my community” and “in my community” story assignments for students in the early years of Carleton University’s undergraduate journalism program. These assignments encourage students to find stories and do interviews with an eye on how “community” is informed by race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, language, age, disability, health and class, as well as by shared values, interests or goals for change.
Invitations for students to critically engage with the concept of community will make them stronger reporters equipped to find a range of sources and stories, as well as open them to new possibilities for how to understand and meet the needs of potential sources, audiences or supporters in the future.
2. Explore revenue models, including by practicing finding and writing grant applications.
We teach journalism students how to write story ledes, “why it matters” nut graphs, focus statements and headlines that can capture readers’ attention and interest.
And we teach the art of crafting story pitches that can win over editors.
We also need to teach (and sometimes learn) the art of pitching big ideas and projects to potential funders – from winning over supportive readers who can donate or subscribe, to understanding how to make proposals for philanthropic donations or government programs.
Preparing emerging journalists to evaluate revenue streams means talking about funding — not in abstract terms, and not only at the levels of what’s been lost: advertising revenues, newsrooms and access to Facebook or Instagram users.
Let’s talk about where else to find money. For example, how to build campaigns for earning subscriptions and donations, how to organize events, when swag matters and how advertising and sponsorship can be included in the revenue mix.
During the summit’s opening presentation, Tyee publisher Jeanette Ageson highlighted the wins identified by independent news organizations: successfully engaging audiences, delivering quality journalism, building community connections and growing audience revenue.
Top concerns included reaching new audiences, administrative growing pains, unstable funding and juggling fundraising demands with producing journalism.
Time in journalism school to learn more about and perhaps collaboratively work on draft or practice applications for Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization designation, Registered Journalism Organization status or the Local Journalism Initiative would give students compasses for their future work, or at least an understanding of what kinds of questions they need to be able to answer if they build or are part of building something new.
During a summit session dedicated to building relationships with non-government funders, questions were raised about how journalists self-advocate and refine their funding requests based on who they hope to work with.
Asks can’t focus on operational funding, or “journalism” or “democracy” broadly. As Taproot Edmonton co-founder Karen Unland wrote after the event, “Philanthropic institutions and others who can help care about strengthening community — that’s what the pitch needs to be, not ‘Help us save journalism.’”
Earlier this year, the Inspirit Foundation, Local News Research Project, PhiLab and the Canadian Association of Journalists co-produced Funding Journalism: A Guide to Philanthropic Support for Canadian Media. For those teaching entrepreneurial journalism, hands-on production courses or ethics, the report’s resources include a breakdown of different kinds of funding organizations, tips for strategically asking for support and best practices for navigating and maintaining editorial independence.
3. Imagine journalism careers after Year One.
The media summit’s whiteboard “gallery walk” exercise landed midway through a day of discussion about what is working for independent news outlets in Canada, and it cemented how a robust and healthy journalism sector would be one full of people living robust and healthy lives, able to imagine and realize sustainable careers in the industry.
To get there, we need to have classroom conversations about managing precarity and burnout, and what it means for someone to strategically stitch together short- and long-term contracts for months and years after they have landed their first journalism job.
It can feel scary to talk about job cuts and non-linear careers when – as an educator – you might not know all the answers or have personally experienced precarity. But there are resources available that can be worked into existing courses:
- The Poynter Institute and the American Press Institute have published strategies for understanding and dealing with burnout that can be introduced to class discussions or as class activities.
- The Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma offers a collection of resources and conversations about “taking care” in journalism, including a webinar about “managing the ups and downs of freelance and temp work.”
- Developing a “journalism manifesto” could help emerging – and established – journalists lock in on their reporting goals beyond any one job or contract.
Leading transparent conversations about different kinds of job interviews over time, and about failures or times when jobs, stories or contracts didn’t work out for established reporters or editors. could also let students know they are not alone when things feel like they are going sideways, and give them tools for dealing with the unexpected.
Journalism programs could also develop new small-scale programming, on their own or in partnership with other organizations, like mentorship programs that connect current students and alumni. Or schools could stay in touch with graduates to develop post-graduate workshops focused on refining new skills they identify as necessary months and years after they have completed their degrees.
Practitioners, educators, and people interested in supporting journalism know sustainable journalism careers, like sustainable independent journalism, are possible.
But there is work to do – and piecing together critical intersections between reporting, storytelling and entrepreneurial skills and practices in journalism school coursework and class discussions is a part of that work.
Trish Audette-Longo is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University. Her research focuses on start-up journalism, digital journalism and coverage of climate change and fossil fuels. She is also the editor-designate of the journalism studies journal Facts and Frictions / Faits et Frictions, which is published by J-Schools Canada.