Blitz emulates real journalism

Blitz emulates real journalism

 

By Kenneth Bullock

Reporter, Assistant Entertainment Editor, Social Media

 

Many aspects of the St. Clair College Journalism program teach skills essential to the job, but Blitz is a realistic exercise for actual journalism.

The program’s Mini-Blitz is an opportunity for students to complete a story within a short timeframe. In those hours, their written story should be completed and be submitted for edits. Once edits have been completed, the story will be published for the course’s Converged Citizen newspaper and placed on the MediaPlex’s website.
Professionals in the journalism industry recognize how important the skills gained by through activities like a Mini-Blitz are.
“You have to learn how to cut your teeth,” said Rich Garton, CTV reporter. “News is a perishable commodity, you can’t wait on something for another day, if it’s news, it’s happening now.”

As a reporter for CTV Windsor, Garton does stories for video and online. He also teaches Backpack Journalism and Capstone in the program’s optional third year. Working on the blitz has its ups and downs. Some students have interviews who cancel suddenly, others have transportation issues, and there are sources who don’t give the correct information for a story. Unexpected problems during Mini-Blitz are common. A graduate of the Journalism and Media Convergence programs, Hailey Trealout, had these problems too.

“On Mini-Blitz day, two of my contacts backed out last minute, leaving me without any quotes for my story that was due in the afternoon,” said Hailey Trealout, Editor for the LaSalle Post.

Trealout became editor shortly after graduating the Media Convergence Program. She said being able to work thoroughly and quickly in the moment, with a strict deadline are lessons the Mini-Blitz teaches you.

The Mini-Blitz is an intro to the “Blitz” which is an extended version of the aforementioned. The main differences are all stories will be submitted for a Blitz edition of The Converged Citizen. The Blitz will be held on November, 7 and the Blitz paper will be published the following Thursday, on November, 13.