COVER STORY
JOURNALISM’S SHIFT: OPPORTUNITY, NOT CRISIS Journalism, as we’ve known it, is in transition around the world. News organizations are facing financial pressure, tech change has shaken long-held beliefs of its nature and practice, and the industry is still in search of a viable economic system. Yet it’s not all bad. Many, like Philip Lee, STU’s chair of Journalism, see the light at the end of the tunnel. And this light, it might just bring better and brighter journalists, stories and mediums of storytelling. “I think the future of journalism is going to require journalists to do better work and give people a reason to read them and pay for it. There isn’t a free ride any more for media organizations,” said Lee.
Nick Murray BA ’14
NICK MURRAY
CBC Reporter in Iqaluit Jobs in journalism can vary from investigative newsrooms, to start-up hustle to plane rides across the country. Nick Murray, who graduated from St. Thomas University in 2014, has been working in Iqaluit, Nunavut for the past two years. “There’s no escaping -50 temperatures up here. But seriously, I’m comfortable up here for now. Working in an environment like this is a great training ground as a journalist,” he said. Murray has filed radio stories for CBC’s World Report, TV content for The National and has done live hits on CBC News Network. All of which he thinks “are rare opportunities for young journalists in larger markets.” Murray thinks simply living in the Arctic and experiencing the culture is the best part of his job, particularly because many Canadians don’t ever get the chance to even visit the Arctic. “It’s very cool to be here seeing it all unfold and to be able to share those stories with Southern Canadians who often don’t understand what life is like up here.”
12 FALL 2016
ST. THOMAS UNIVERSITY CONNECTIONS
Murray grew up in Orleans, Ontario. In high school he was a volunteer statistician for Rogers TV, giving fun facts and stats to commentators. During his fourth year at STU, he became Editor-in-Chief of The Brunswickan. Traveling has been a big part of Murray’s journalism career so far. He’s made two trips to the High Arctic and earlier this year, CBC sent him to cover the Rio Olympics 2016 from Toronto. “It was a surreal experience working in an environment where my colleagues and I all shared the same interest in our love for sports. You don’t get that in a normal newsroom since everyone has their different passions.” The constant roar in the CBC Sports newsroom while watching the Olympics is one of the things he will remember the most of this time. He thinks covering the Olympics has been his biggest accomplishment so far. “But as I continue to grow as a journalist, what I define as an accomplishment changes. New goals are set and what I now consider a small accomplishment, was a big deal at the time.”
According to him, the biggest change journalism is facing is in the tools used for storytelling, including social media sites. “I think social media has given journalism all kinds of new avenues for distribution. But it has also added a lot of competition.” Lee asserts that the future of the industry is digital journalism. This is why STU’s journalism program has been through a transformation as well. “The program [Digital Journalism and New Media] is designed to help students develop as writers and storytellers, but also to use all the tools available to do their work. We want our graduates to become leaders in a rapidly changing media world.” He explained that this fast-changing process makes it hard for journalists to remain focused on core values. “We count how many clicks we get to see how valuable a story is when we never did that before. We trusted that we knew the difference between what was good and what wasn’t.” Lee said it’s important to keep an eye on what the core value of journalism is: “to tell true stories that matter in compelling ways that people want to read or listen to.”