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...