Journalism
User data and understanding the audience: how can the media adapt
Reading Time: 2 minutes Tracking software helps media organizations to understand their audiences better. It collects information such as user location, online interactions, and searches. However, digging for that user data may be difficult: media companies have to rely on…
Why peanut butter is essential to journalism
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’re allergic to peanut butter, then you have no place in journalism. Hear me out. Think about journalism as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You’ve got rich, smooth (or crunchy) peanut butter that melts…
The good, the bad, the ugly side of media
Reading Time: 3 minutes “The real West was the world of violence, fear, and brutal instincts. Everything depends on chance, and not the best wins but the luckiest.” ~Sergio Leone on The Good, The Bad, The Ugly The Western world…
How-to: four ways to make your media outlet credible
Reading Time: 2 minutes When media opens a “fire hose” (CBC) of information at their audience, the likelihood of this information to be unfiltered is high. This makes it difficult for the audience to seek out trustworthy sources that provide…
News super mind could be the new source of reliable information
Reading Time: 2 minutes Last summer I subscribed to Canada’s highest circulating broadsheet newspaper (in 2015), the Toronto Star. It is the only newspaper to which I can dedicate reading time from cover to cover (except the sports section) so…
Covering rape: What to look out for in time of #MeToo and #Time’sUp
Reading Time: 2 minutes On January 1, 2018, “more than 300 women of Hollywood form an anti-harassment coalition called Times Up” (Chicago Tribune). “Times Up” becomes a movement for rape survivors to find strength and support, for them to voice…
Ethnic newspapers continue serving closely-knit communities in new information age
Reading Time: 4 minutes The New Information Age Many years ago, print journalism was a straightforward thing. Journalists could get their message across just by publishing an article in one reputable paper. But, since 1990, newspaper subscriptions have dropped 50%…
Becoming a journalist is a trap!
Reading Time: 3 minutes My journalism professor said that one of the biggest fears of a journalist is to be labeled as “biased”. Why? Because the role of a journalist is to cover a story from an objective point of…
Do not lower journalism standards by cutting university courses
Reading Time: 3 minutes At the end of August 2017 students in Journalism program at University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) received a survey from Kenzie Burchell, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Media, Journalism and Digital Cultures. The survey asked for opinion…
