Loyalist Journalism Graduates Prepared to Lead in Rapidly Evolving Industry
By: Jennifer Bowman, Journalism-Online, Print and Broadcast Student
Reporter, radio announcer, television news anchor, sports journalist, news blogger, hyper local news site reporter and manager – these are only some of the careers Loyalist College prepares its journalism students for.
“Loyalist is definitely ahead of the curve and their journalism graduates are coming into the workplace and sharing new approaches to journalism with current employees,” said Todd Smith, News Director at Quinte Broadcasting in Belleville.
Students create content for Qnet News, the College’s online news site.
Loyalist College prepares the students in the Journalism – Online, Print and Broadcast program for the rapidly changing world of journalism. One of the major focuses of the program is the online element. This includes everything from maintaining a regular journalism blog and effectively using social media, to creating websites and using content management systems. The program also enables students to present news for a variety of platforms.
“As things evolve at Quinte Broadcasting, I want to hire people who can do all of these things — people who know the internet inside out, people who know how to twitter, people who know how to take video, edit it and upload it to a website. These are skills we’re really relying on in our newsroom,” Todd added.
Although initially hesitant, Ashleigh Gehl, a third-year student in the Journalism – Online, Print and Broadcast program, is excited about using the online component to brand herself as a journalist.
“It’s new territory — exciting, and innovative. It’s a medium that reaches people on a whole different level. You have that interaction component and people can be empowered by your work. It’s no longer an age where you write a print piece and then you’re done with it. People comment. They want to be involved,” said Ashleigh.
Much of the learning in the program takes place on the college’s news website, QNet News. Students create content and are directly involved in helping the site grow and change to accommodate new technology and software.
In the past, news organizations strove to inform, explain, and interpret news. QNet News focuses on a newer model of educating, engaging and empowering its readers. Students use smart phones to twitter events such as council meetings live and interactive chats to give members of the community opportunities to talk to professionals. It not only offers news, it gives people an opportunity to interact and express their questions, views and concerns. And it’s all online.
For information about the Loyalist Journalism – Online, Print and Broadcast program click here.