Reporting on higher education
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Transcript of Reporting on higher education
REPORTING ON HIGHER EDUCATION:
ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS
Presented by NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY
TODAY’S MENU
FINDING AND REPORTING NEWS
FROM STUDENT JOURNALIST TO BEAT REPORTER
WHY HIGHER EDUCATION IS WORTH COVERING
THE PANEL
Elizabeth Churchf
Joey Colemanf
Sheena Goodyearf
Carson Jeremaf
Tony Kellerf
Erin Millar
THEIR WORKThe Globe and Mail National Post Cap Courier
Maclean’s Toronto Star The Manitoban
Winnipeg Free Press
B.C. Business
Canadian University Press
The Silhouette
The Muse
... is a door for many to greater prosperity and it is often the first place where young people get a taste of
the wider world and people who come from other backgrounds and other parts of the country.
Increasingly, it is also becoming a key player in the country's economy. Governments are looking
to colleges and universities to solve the answers to big questions through their research and to educate
people for a new economy.
—Church
HIGHER EDUCATION
WHY IS HIGHER EDUCATIONEVEN WORTH COVERING?
no business reporter has ever spent as much time inside a financial institution as the average person has spent inside the educational system.
—Keller
has far more experience with education, including higher education, than with almost any other area we could be covering as journalists.
Each and every one of us
Think about it:
[PSE] is one of the few beats that is unlimited in story potential.
—Coleman
Anyone who believes [PSE] is boring is suffering from a major fai lure of imagination.
—MillarUniversities are no longer the far-off ivory towers they once were.
They are pillars of.communities
—Goodyear
The key is to not get lost in stories about student politics...—Keller
Some news is too particular – campus politics or very local stories – and so unless there is something special about the issue ... I tend to stay clear.
—Church
I have the luxury of writing for OnCampus, which allows me to write a lot of geeky inside ballgame stories that would never make the print
magazine.—Millar
[Student politicians] think you are the enemy and just want to tell you tofuck off.
—Jerema
There are some stories which are inside the ballpark andthe general public will not be interested.
—Coleman
Stay in tune with the s tudent.body
That means good, old-fashioned chatting and eavesdropping.
—Goodyear
HOW TO GATHER NEWS
Getting people in stories is key,no matter what you are reporting.
—Church
We need to paint pictures...and create evocative scenes.
—Millar
How will tomorrowbe different from today?
—Keller
Ask dumb questions.—Keller
I am always looking for trends.—Church
Student journalists ... will find stories that other media will not.—Millar
Is this interesting enough for other people to read?
—Jerema
I often focus on professors who are actively involved in many disciplines and the community.
—Coleman
I talk to a lot of people. I try to get out to campuses as often as I can and I usually come back with a few ideas. When I go I talk to administrators and students.
—Church
Student journalists are in an incredibly advantageous position to find the most
interesting stories, being on campus and in contact
with the university environment constantly.
—Millar Call people.Ask dumb questions.
—Keller
Look at the big issues affecting other
campuses, and see how they apply to yours.
—Goodyear
No one will wrap it up and deliver it to you, the journalist.
You have to find it and that isn't really about writing or reporting,
it's about reading and asking questions and thinking.
Mostly you need to walk around and be smart enough to ask dumb, basic
questions.—Keller
BEATING SPIN
There is an inherent difficulty in reporting on a machine that runs as smoothly as a
university: it is easy to fall into the trap of not pursuing dissenting voices.
The sophisticated PR machines are there because they want to control
the message.
They can make your life so easy that PSE reporters have to be careful to not turn into mouthpieces. University leaders are often trained to deal with media like politicians.
—Millar
I tend to be more relaxed when interviewing an academic and give them more time to explain the message they wish to convey. Faculty often have
less media experience than an administrator.—Coleman
Researchers and profs are generally enjoyable interviews because you're usually asking them about their work, which they love to talk about.
—Jerema
AVOIDING SPIN
DECONSTRUCTING SPIN
Think-tank people are good, because you are just looking for analysis. I sometimes just call them with no
intent of quoting them, but just to get my head around a topic.
—Jerema
Often, when speaking with a think tank, the main ideas they have to share are contained in
published research. I focus on getting them to decode jargon and complex statistics.
—Coleman
I realized that the student perspective was lacking in
other local media,
and that I could fill that.gap
—Goodyear
THE BIG TRANSITION
It's difficult to convince an editor that you are the right person to write a gripping feature about violence on
native reserves or national politics when you are relatively inexperienced.
But being able to posit ion myself as a special ist in PSE al lowed me to build important relationships
with editors at magazines where I wanted to work.
Now, having established myself a bit, I'm able to pitch those bigger stories.
—Millar
Education is a great niche because there is a
shortage of education reporters in Canada, in my
opinion.—Millar
who could demonstrate a level of
competence.—Jerema
It is an area that few Canadian journalists are assigned
Everyone wants the youth.pers pective
Milk that while you can.—Goodyear
REMEMBER...