Transportation of a journalist

I am lucky enough to have a car that is very reliable and that I can take anywhere I need to go, as long as there is somewhere to park it. Downtown Winnipeg is one of the hardest places to find parking and yesterday our journalism class went to the Law Courts downtown.

I don't have any idea where to park downtown, and I didn't want to spend $10 just to be there for a few hours. So, I took the bus.

Last year I took the bus to school and back home almost every day but now that I'm used to driving it was a terrible experience. Why, you ask? Well, to start you never know when the bus is going to come.

Winnipeg Transit isn't always on time. Sometimes the bus is early, sometimes it's super late. And, living in the South end of the city makes it even harder to get places like downtown because busses don't come very often and if you miss your bus, you're going to be late. It's very important that journalists aren't late especially to the Law Courts because if you miss part of the trial you're going to have to catch up and you might miss the announcement of a publication ban.

The bus is also way too hot and often over crowded. I was sweating on the bus yesterday which hindered my appearance. I had to comb my hair once I got the Law Courts, it's important for journalists to look professional.

Some people don't respect others when riding the bus. It really annoys me when people (mainly Jr. High aged kids in this case) take up a ton of seats, talk loudly and generally break all the rules of the bus. This put me in a bad mood and it's important for journalists to always be open minded and not  grumpy. So, I had to shake it off.

Being on the bus makes me personally very sleepy. This is really bad because unless it's night time, and even that doesn't matter sometimes, journalists need to be alert. If you're tired and nodding off you can miss something and you'll just look unprofessional and you don't want that kind of reputation.

Maybe all of these things just happened to me and affected me because I'm not used to taking the bus. But, for the rest of the year I'm going to be taking my car. It gives me time to think, be alone, sing really loud (which pumps me up), be in control of my own arrival time and most importantly sleep in!

Journalism Jobs

Before I know it I'm going to be out on work placement and getting some "real world" experience. I put real world in brackets because a lot of the things we do in CreComm are the same things we'll probably be doing on the job, we just do them at school.

As I'm thinking about where I'd like to have my work placement, I think about where I want to end up when I graduate. I don't want to be working as someone's assistant or teaching english to kids in Africa. Both of those jobs are great for those who like that kind of thing, but that's not just for me.

So I started thinking, what is my dream job? Well obviously CNN or BBC anchor, but that's setting the bar pretty high for a 21-year-old brand new journalist. So what's my dream first job? I would love love love to work in tv. Reporter would be ideal, but when you're first starting out it's kind of that "take anything you can get for experience" kind of thing.

So I set out to look for some TV jobs in Manitoba (I would love to stay in the province close to my family friends and boyfriend). Low and behold, there weren't any. 

During the summer the internet job posting websites were full of TV news jobs. From reporter, to anchor, to weather, etc. All summer I was thinking "oh man I wish I was done CreComm so I could apply for these." There was a lot of change that went on this summer and I feel like that doesn't happen very often.

I'm hoping that this drought for TV news jobs at home doesn't last. I'm also well aware of the "who you know" clause. So my plan for finding an awesome first journalism job: make a lot of connections at work placements and scour all the media job websites I can find.

Here's a list of ones I used for those who are looking:

Jeff Gaulin Journalism Jobs

Media Job Search Canada

Workopolis

Kenton Larsen's CreComm Grad Jobs

Simply Hired

Wow Jobs

I'd love to know what other resources people use to find jobs, and what your "first dream job" is.

Tips for Blogging

Blogging is a great tool for every journalist to use. The more you do it, the better you get and the better your blog is. It's a great way to showcase your writing and for potential employers to see what you've got.

There are some guidelines that I like to follow when I write a blog, and some that I don't that I probably should. Your blog becomes an online portfolio that EVERYONE can see. It won't go away if you delete it thanks to the wonderful tool of screen capturing and printing. Don't forget that your blog is probably one of the first things that comes up when someone Google's your name.

1. Keep it simple. If you write long winded, non-sensical sentences that turn into page long paragraphs, nobody will read it. People don't have a lot of time to read blogs so they usually just skim - and if it's too long it's on to the next.

2. Don't say anything you wouldn't have published. You risk your reputation if you say things that aren't professional.

3. Try and keep a style. If your blog posts are consistent in style (the one you write in normally) then potential employers can decide if they like you or not. It can be distracting if every post seems like its written by a different person.

4. Add photos and videos. If you want hits, this is a great way. People like visual stimulation so photos and videos are a great addition on any blog post (as long as it's relevant).

5. Follow other peoples' blogs and comment on them. This way people will see that you are getting engaged with them and go read what you have to say.

I'd love to know tips from other bloggers out there! I'll be adding to this list as I come up with more and get deeper into the world of blogging.

Who Says I Can't Be A Journalist?

When I was in high school I had an interest in journalism and I loved the idea of being a reporter on TV, but I never thought I could actually do it.

My friends would tell me "I want to be a journalist" and I'd say "Ha, good luck with that!" But now, I see myself heading towards a career as a journalist.

Now was is a journalist? I can't even answer that question because there are so many things that a journalist can be. For example, some television personalities on news shows are simply there to be "web" or "social media" reporters. What do they even do? Who knows!

My dream job: reporter for a television news station. I've come to find that I love writing for TV and producing VO's (voice overs) in Broadcast Journalism. Thinking about the pictures you have in your video, putting that together with words that make sense - and the viewer will care about is the perfect recipe for me. I love doing it, and so far - that's where I want to end up after CreComm.

I do also love writing. Writing, writing, writing, writing - I can write all day long and not be bored (unless it's an academic style paper, ugh.) I love telling stories. I haven't had as much opportunity to write stories for the Projector lately because all the first years are writing, and I am a little bit sad about that but am glad to be writing for The Lance.

So look, here I am - the sports editor of the Projector, and writing for the Lance. Next up - news reporter extraordinaire.