Carleton journalism students played a critical role in the Ottawa Citizen’s election night coverage, with two students also being diverted to covering breaking news, including a car accident and a murder.
“We could not have done it without them!” wrote the Citizen’s city editor, Joanne Chianello the next day.
The sixteen students in the first year Master’s journalism “bootcamp” course have been working on the federal election all term. “It is a journalism laboratory outside our window,” said Paul Adams, who co-teaches the course with Janice Tibbetts. The bootcampers were joined at the Citizen on election night by MJ2 Jesse Winter and BJ4 Anaïs Voski.
“I wanted you to know how impressed I was with the students who helped us cover the campaign last night,” Chianello wrote the next day. “Despite several students needing to be reassigned on the spot, to covering a shooting at a hotel in Gatineau, they all worked diligently and professionally, tweeting photos and observations and filing constantly and by deadline. And a number of students ended up with surprise winners in Ottawa Centre, Hull-Aylmer and Gatineau, where they performed admirably. Please pass on my congratulations and gratitude.”
Eight Carleton students earned bylines and the rest all received acknowledgement in the form of “files from” at the bottom of published articles. For most of the students, it was their first time working with a professional newsroom.
“It was a turning point in their education and a critical early test of their professionalism,” said Adams. “It is an important stepping stone on the way to their careers. And we are all very, very proud of them and their work.”
_____
READ THE ARTICLES BELOW
Reports by:
Simon Deschamps – Hull-Aylmer / Gatineau report
Cody Mackay – Glengarry-Prescott-Russell
Darren Major – Kanata-Carleton
Jean Pierre Niyitanga – Hull-Aylmer
Curtis Panke – Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke
Spencer Van Dyk – Queensway crash / Gatineau report
Anais Voski – Ottawa Centre
Jesse Winter – Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke
With files from:
Olivia Bowden – Ottawa West-Nepean
Nathan Caddell – Ottawa-Vanier
Marc-André Cossette – Pontiac
David Deen – Orléans
Brea Elford – Carleton
Brian Hill – Gatineau
Alexandra Mazur – Ottawa South
Sabrina Nemis – Nepean
Rupert Nuttle – Carleton
Halima Sogbesan – Orléans
Thursday, October 22, 2015 in Journalism News, News
Share: Twitter, Facebook
