Webinar assists in jump from journalism

 

It’s no secret that the number of places to practise journalism has been on the decline for years. Whether it’s newsroom numbers withering due to media owners’ cost cuts and pandemic-related layoffs or freelancers facing copyright-grabbing contracts, it’s not an easy profession in which to make a living.

But journalism skills are eminently transferable to a number of different communications fields.

The Canadian Freelance Guild (CFG), which is affiliated with CWA Canada, has assembled a panel of former journalists who have gone on to new careers. They will discuss, during a Zoom webinar on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 7-8:30 p.m. ET, how they made the leap and how others can do it, too.

(The Life After Journalism webinar is free for members of CFG, as well as CBC freelancers who are represented by the Canadian Media Guild. The cost is $15 for ‘Friends of CFG’, which includes CWA Canada members, and $25 for the general public.)

The panel is to be moderated by Karen Tankard, a former CBC reporter who now makes her living as a digital campaigner, communications professional and educator. She founded the Canadian versions of Life After Journalism groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Panelists include:

Lesley Pritchard is the Director of Communications for B.C. Emergency Health Services, and has worked in media relations and issues management at the Provincial Health Services Authority and the Law Society of B.C. Prior to that, Lesley spent more than 20 years as a journalist with the CBC in various parts of Canada, including Yellowknife, Halifax and Vancouver.

Samantha Falk is the Director of Communications at Nature’s Path, a North American organic breakfast and snack food company. She previously worked in communications for Hootsuite, a global leader in social media management. Before that, she spent two decades in broadcasting as a reporter and anchor at both the local and national level.

Ann Gibbon was a reporter with The Gazette in Montreal before working for a decade as a reporter with The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business. She left journalism to work with a national public relations agency, then formed her own consulting business. She is co-author of the book Steinberg: The Breakup of a Family Empire.

For more information and to register for the webinar, visit the CFG website. [Friends of CFG: enter promo code LIFE]