I never intended to go into journalism – in fact, I more or less fell into the program at Humber College. For most of my life, I was insistent I was going to be a lawyer. A few years of university later, I decided the cost was too high to pursue that path at the time, so I started looking at my other options as I was preparing to graduate. I applied to Humber for a number of programs, including their Print & Broadcast Journalism program. I’d always been interested in the media – and I’m a news junkie, so it seemed like a smart idea.
I chose Humber for a number of reasons – it was close to home, family members had gone to school there (although many, many years ago), and their programs (I applied to 3 at Humber) were some of the best-rated ones in the industry. Humber boasted an impressive rate of students getting jobs after graduation, and their Journalism program had some excellent instructors – who had actually worked in the industry before coming to teach at there.
Don’t let the name ‘post-graduate’ fool you though – the two are essentially the same program.
The Basics
There are two variations of the journalism program – Print & Broadcast, and Post-Graduate Print and Broadcast (which is also called the accelerated program). Don’t let the name “post-graduate” fool you though – the two are essentially the same program. I was in the post-graduate stream, and the major difference was the post-grad group had 2 years worth of material crammed into one. My program was only 2 years long, while the regular program takes 3 years to complete, and includes electives (we didn’t get that luxury in the post-grad one). In the final year of the program, we got mixed in with those that took the regular three year program.
My first semester was an introduction to journalism. We took a lot of general classes like Media Law and Interviewing Skills. Second semester, we got into the nitty gritty of the industry – we produced and published a magazine, wrote for the school newspaper, The Humber Et Cetera, produced material for Humber Radio, and took TV class where we completed quite a few video news stories. It was busy. It was really, really busy. At times, I was very overwhelmed by working in all 4 mediums at the same time. It was good to dabble in all three though, because near the end of second we were required to decide on either Print or Broadcast as a stream. If you choose print, you’ll spend one semester working for the paper (usually in an editorial capacity), and another producing two magazines. I chose broadcast, and subsequently spent first semester in TV class, where we produced a 20-minute newscast daily. In second semester, I was in radio, where we produced content for @Humber, an hour-long, award winning, news magazine show.
In addition to those classes, everyone (in both print and broadcast) was required to take a half semester digital journalism class, which taught us the basics about writing for the web, creating images and video for the web, and content management systems. The idea behind this class was that with the changing face of journalism, in the future we will likely need these skills. For instance, if you’re a newspaper reporter, chances are you’ll have to know how to get your pictures, and very often a video, onto your newspapers website. Although I personally didn’t find the class very useful, some of my classmates did – especially those who were not overly familiar with blogs or website creation.
The Good
The newsroom, the newsroom, the newsroom! I can’t say enough about the newsroom we had to work with at Humber. A few years ago, the college renovated their newsroom – and WOW! It rivals some of the professional newsrooms I’ve toured, and has light years on many of the smaller stations out there. Industry professionals who visited were highly impressed with the quality of the equipment we had to work with. We had all the stuff a real newsroom did – and in broadcast, this meant we got trained with the same equipment and programs we’d be tackling post graduation. In TV class, we even got technical training, which many schools don’t offer in their journalism program. We got a chance to learn CG, the switchboard, the audio board, the VTR, and many other technical aspects of the industry which is valuable to be able to include on a resume. When I walked into my internship at CTV Toronto, I took one look at their control room and was able to dive right into some aspects of it thanks to the similar equipment I worked with at school.
The control we had over the newscast is something most graduates won’t experience for a very, very long time in the industry – if ever.
The newsroom atmosphere was also something I really enjoyed. In the final year of the program, you had teacher advisors who guided you through daily production – but the students really ran the show. We had student directors, producers, reporters, editors, and control room operators. We got to pitch story ideas, discuss them, and then run with them. We were accountable to each other, as opposed to an instructor. The instructor would step in if absolutely necessary, and they were there to guide us through the process, but it was largely student-oriented. The control we had over the newscast is something most graduates won’t experience for a very, very long time in the industry – if ever. We were really given the freedom to learn the ins and outs of the industry while producing an entire news cast or radio show.
The Bad
I think I was most disappointed with the way internships were handled at Humber. I felt like many of the instructors really viewed CBC as the be all and end all of news, which, in my opinion, is rather subjective. There’s a huge application process to intern at CBC, and they only take a few a year – usually top students recommend by the department. If you weren’t one of those who got in at CBC, than you were more or less on your own.
In order to get an internship, you met with your program coordinator to discuss options. For many local stations, they had contact information for the internship coordinator. You were basically handed the contact information and then left on your own. Although I managed to get a great internship at CTV Toronto, it was no thanks to the school. They only had contact information for the internship coordinator at the National, and they had already filled their spots for the year. I had worked for CTV in promotions previously, and managed to get in touch with CTV Toronto’s news director to inquire about internships. Many people I know who had internships, or co-op placements, in other industries and at other schools had a great deal of help from their school getting an internship – which I didn’t feel was the case at Humber.
I would like to mention that if push came to shove, and it was the 9th hour and you were still without an internship, the very wonderful broadcast program coordinator would sometimes place follow up calls (although only to a handful of places where he personally knew the internship coordinator) to see what was going on.
After Graduation
I was one of the lucky ones that landed an industry job almost immediately after graduating. I was hired as a Video Journalist at EastLink TV News in Timmins, Ontario. Many of my peers also found industry employment – doing everything from reporting, to editing, to producing. I know people who were hired by CBC after their internships, both as reporters and producers. A few of my classmates are at CTV Toronto as producers, or doing some backfill and freelancing. Many went on to work as reporters and photographers for various newspapers, and a few picked up and moved out west when they got great offers to be radio reporters or video journalists. The small station I was hired at post grad expected you to do everything yourself – filming, capturing, editing, audio, and final production for air – so the technical experience I got at Humber really came in handy.
It takes work to get a job after graduation though – at least it did for me. A few really lucky individuals got hired thanks to their internships, but most of us were applying to jobs like crazy. I applied for approximately 10 jobs a day from February to May before I was finally hired. If you’re willing to buckle down and put the time into though, I really believe Humber will help you get a job.
Since leaving college and entering the workforce, I have met an incredible number of Humber grads who are working as journalists, broadcasters, and news directors. Humber trains their students well – and it’s refreshing to see that the industry recognizes that training.
When I graduated, I felt ready to enter the work force and was confident I’d been given the specialized skill set to do it.
The Verdict
The Journalism program at Humber College was an amazing experience. When I graduated, I felt ready to enter the work force and was confident I’d been given the specialized skill set to do it. The instructors were (for the most part) wonderful, and offered really great criticism on our work. A few instructors were hard for some to handle (I can think of one particular class where people often left crying due to the criticism on their print stories), but if you can get past the blunt nature of some of the feedback and look at the actual suggestions, you’ll really improve as a journalist.
Although we do take an online journalism course, if you’re really interested in writing or working for a journalism website, you’ll probably want a solid background in html, java, and css – which you won’t get in this program. Also, although we do get technical experience in the broadcast stream, it’s not enough to actually run an ENG truck, or be a full-time VTR operator at a station like Global or CTV. If you’re a techie, and looking for a technical career in the media, there’s other courses that will better suit your needs. But if you want to get into print or broadcast journalism, I’d highly recommend this program.
You can take a look at my online portfolio at www.laurensouch.ca. It showcases all of my work from my time at Humber, as well as many of the things I’ve been doing post graduation.
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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