MULTIMEDIA+MULTICULTURALISM (M&M)
M&M Internship Briefing, May 24 & 25th 2012, University of Ottawa
The United Nations Association in Canada’s (UNA-Canada) M&M internship programme welcomed 19 interns to Ottawa, for a two-day briefing session, anticipating the start of their 6-week internships with mainstream and community media outlets across Canada. The second round of Interns came prepared and eager to learn about the value of inclusive media & their role in the production and dissemination of news.
Highlights
- Global/ Shaw Media’s national director, Ron Waksman, presented a first person account of making it in the news room and media business. The interns and Regional Coordinators were amazed with his depth of knowledge and willingness to guide the M&M interns to success. His Q&A session provided useful knowledge on skills and savvy to increase employability in the media business.
- Metro News’ Managing Editor, Sean McKibbon, and Global/ Shaw Media’s camera operator Jamie Butler, provided informative technical workshops on the nuance of newsgathering, and the equipment and production tools used in today’s newsrooms to get a paper to press and the news on air.
- The interns were privileged to enjoy a tour of CBC Ottawa, guided by radio host, Michael Bhardwaj and video journalist, Waubgeshig Rice. The dialogue following the tour provided tips on creating good news stories and creating content relevant to local communities while reinforcing the imperative of taking initiative.
M&M Montreal National Advisor, Habib Siam (McGill University), initiated a discussion and intense debate through his presentation on race, culture and stereotypes. Siam’s presentation brought out the notion that we all come with preconceptions and we must all be careful about this realization in the work that we do, especially if the work is to report and represent stories of people, whether they fit those preconceptions or not. - Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Multiculturalism Programme officer Buanga Mufuta attended Day One sessions both in a greeting and monitoring role. To assure UNA-Canada is delivering M&M both consistent with expectations and learning and improving through doing. This ensures UNA-Canada learns along with our interns.
- The interns gathered important tips from all of the presenters and learned valuable skills through their interaction with each other. The M&M Internship briefing provided interns with the opportunity to connect with each one another, meet with M&M’s national project staff and their regional support networks, while amassing critical knowledge from subject matter experts in the media industry.
- The responsibilities of these very privileged interns were also shared, including monitoring and evaluation of M&M activities.
Lessons Learned
- Diverse perspectives from each presenter revealed how media culture differs between organizations. Each presented, at times, different views about internships, desirable skills and media production. Contrasting viewpoints allowed the interns to critically assess how media is produced and consumed across a spectrum of media.
- Subject matter presenters highlighted some of the missing gaps in the media industry: Diversity needs to go beyond on air-talent, and emphasized the need for diverse voices in the decision, editorial and policy making positions.
- Questions from interns demonstrated a heightened interest in what the media industry’s response to the goals and objectives of the M&M programme has been thus far.
Host Partners
- Shaw Media, M&M’s national partner, will be hosting interns in Global Newsrooms in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. As well as at Entertainment Tonight in Toronto.
- Metro News (Ottawa and Calgary); Schema Magazine (Vancouver); CJSR, OMNI/CityTV, ShawTV, WorldFM, Dreamspeakers (Edmonton); New Roots Radio (Halifax).
“I want to thank you for a great introduction to the M&M programme. I really enjoyed all the info sessions…”
– Rosanna, Intern Ottawa Metro News
“I really enjoyed the Ottawa briefing… for all the wonderfully useful interning tips. I’ve already engaged some of them! A big thanks to you and everyone at UNA-Canada!”
– Natascia, Intern New Roots Radio, Halifax
M&M has been generously funded by the Government of Canada
