From Getting A Quote to Inviting Consent

 This Is My Job
Jan 292012
 

Permit me a long post about something I’ve been musing on in my field of work: namely, how to build effective and mutually constructive relationships between reporters and members of the general public who may enter the news at some point in their lives. Before I begin, a disclaimer: this is a musing on my own internal learning process. I’m not reinventing the wheel here; I’m not going to say anything that a thousand million reporters aren’t already doing and thinking and saying. But nonetheless, it’s my journey and, lately, my inspiration. And perhaps some will find that worth reading. [...click for more...]

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Building a Better Media

 Here's Your Local News, This Is My Job
Aug 132011
 

Recently, I asked my Tweeter crew to share their ideas for what type of journalism they’d like to see more of in Manitoba. Some people wanted to see more positive news stories coming out of Winnipeg. Luc Lewandoski (if that is his real name*) suggested more in-depth profiles of our local powerbrokers — which tweaked my interest. It sort of reminded me of About Face, a really cute mag they publish in Portland (have I mentioned yet that everything good comes from Portland?) featuring interviews with cultural, culinary and community leaders. I perused it last time I was there and liked the idea — and I [...click for more...]

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The Reviewer Writes Back, Part I

 This Is My Job
Jul 162011
 

With the Winnipeg Fringe Festival back in full swing, the discussion about reviewers — who are we, why we suck, what we’re doing right or wrong — is also gathering steam around the local Internetosphere. Some notables: on Google+, Kenton Larsen shared an old post on the subject. On Facebook, there was this fascinating discussion. And this reviewer is going to start writing back. I’ve been reviewing stuff in Winnipeg for over a decade now. And while I’m well aware of the shortcomings of the form, and indeed of the review community, and most of all myself – I also believe in it. I [...click for more...]

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Star Ratings and Reviewer Stripes

 This Is My Job
May 302011
 

Like many people (especially those in creative fields, I find), I am extremely hard on myself, and on my work. To put it another way: I hate it. And by “it” I mean “everything I have ever written.” So hard do I metaphorically flagellate myself after every higher-profile piece, that thrice in the last year has an editor had to have a sit-down conversation with me about that specific issue. “Melissa, you have to stop doing this.” Today, I finally realized that they were right.  I need to find a better balance, a way to remain self-critical and self-challenging, without being [...click for more...]

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Nothing in Winnipeg? Wait, I’m in Winnipeg!

 This Is My Job
May 272011
 

Holy crikey, did I ever take a long and unexpected blog vacation. You know how it is. You find yourself going to the National Newspaper Awards, and then not winning a National Newspaper Award, and then drinking a bottle too many of table wine at the National Newspaper Awards because you were so nervous, and then the next thing you know you wake up in your editor’s hotel room clutching a glass of champagne in a Betsey Johnson dress.  Then you have a houseguest for a couple of weeks, and — well, you sort of forget you have a blog. [...click for more...]

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You Know You’re a General Assignment Reporter When…

 This Is My Job
May 012011
 

…you have this text-message exchange with a friend who is due to come over for a visit: FRIEND: I’m going to Shoppers for cat food. I will swing by your place on the way back. ME: OK. Come yell in my window. Winnipeg police are warning that a high-risk sex offender is being released from prison tomorrow. (PAUSE) ME: Uh, sorry, accidentally hit “paste” instead of “send.” FRIEND: LOL weird. — Just a little levity folks, I know we’re all caught up in election fervour. Me? I’m busy picking out an election-night outfit that cannot be confused for bearing the colours [...click for more...]

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One Night In Scanner Chat

 This Is My Job
Apr 162011
 

When the day winds down, and the newsroom empties out, it’s just you* and the scanner. It’s an eerie thing, listening these disembodied voices broadcasting small panics and big emergencies from across the city. It is also instructive, a blow-by-blow of the  real pressures that weigh on our police, ambulance and fire services — some frivolous, some frightening. So tonight, a project: as I sit here, babysitting my scanner, I offer you a play-by-play of the calls that come in. I’ve edited out the minor chatter, such as ambulances checking in to say they’re at a certain hospital, and tried to focus on [...click for more...]

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Reasons To Love Your Photog No. 4

 This Is My Job
Apr 142011
 

Because sometimes you don’t even know it when your photographer is capturing a moment that you never want to forget. I think every writer, every reporter and every journalist (pick your title: I prefer option the first) loves something a little different about this very strange job that we do. Some people love the digging. Some love the learning. Others just love the obligatory press conference cheese cube platters. Me? I love the fact that we get to go places most people don’t get to go. That we get invited into places and spaces and situations that most people will [...click for more...]

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Forever Twenty-Winnipeg: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Store-Opening Hype

 Odes to Winnipeg, This Is My Job
Mar 122011
 

Oh look Winnipeg, another store opened today! And as you can see from my grainy Blackberry pic, it was utter madness inside Polo Park Mall, where over 1,000 people piled in starting at 2 a.m. for the privilege of being, uh, the first 1,000 people allowed in our mammoth new Forever 21:   We’ve had a lot of Big Store Openings, and announcements of future Big Store Openings, in the last year, haven’t we?   And every time, some Winnipeggers get pumped. And when some Winnipeggers get pumped, other Winnipeggers get understandably disappointed. All this fuss for a store opening? How embarassing. How [...click for more...]

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Reasons to Love Your Photog No. 3

 This Is My Job
Feb 202011
 

Because sometimes, when it is the slowest of all slow news days, and when your work email is down because technology is a jerk and you are combing the Forks and braving the throngs of squealing children flooding through the Manitoba Museum, your photog takes one look at a kid posing inside a replica cosmonaut helmet at a really quirky space exploration exhibit, and has an idea. “I think we just found your blog picture,” he says. Of course, no matter how much you love your photog, they can’t do much for the smears of mascara you couldn’t clean off [...click for more...]

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