From left: Mr. Stephen Puddicombe, CBC National TV Reporter; Mr. Khalil Shariff, CEO, Aga Khan Foundation Canada; Ms. Kim Kierans, Director of the School of Journalism, University of King's College; Zulekha Nathoo, CBC TV Calgary Reporter, formerly Nation TV Kenya Reporter; Ian Porter, international media consultant.
Bringing the World to Canadians: A Panel Discussion on International Journalism
The stories are there, but who will tell them?
That was one of the questions explored during a spirited presentation called Bringing the World to Canadians: A Panel Discussion on International Journalism, last night in Halifax.
“People need to demand that we cover stories,” said CBC National reporter Stephen Puddicombe, one of the panelists. He admitted that the homegrown approach is “all crime, all the time. Plus weather.”
It comes down to money – and an attitude among media bosses that Canadians don’t want news unless it involves fellow Canucks, said Puddicombe, who has filed stories from around the globe.
Joining him on the panel were international media consultant Ian Porter, and CBC TV Calgary reporter Zulekha Nathoo, who worked for Nation TV in Kenya under the auspices of Aga Khan Foundation Canada.
The panel – in conjunction with Bridges that Unite, now showing at Pier 21, Canada’s Immigration Museum, in Halifax – was moderated by Kim Kierans, Director of the School of Journalism at the University of King’s College.
Given the provocative questions posed by Bridges that Unite about global development, it was a good fit.
There is a “dangerous gap” between the realities of international development versus its perception among among Canadians, said Khalil Shariff, CEO of AKFC, in introducing the discussion.
“Most Canadians believe that international development is about handing out food to poor kids,” he said. “How can we bring the world to Canadians in a more profound and nuanced way?”
“Our foreign coverage in Canada is reprehensible. We don’t tell development stories at all because they’re just not sexy,” admitted Puddicombe.
In Kenya, Nathoo encountered an abundance of compelling tales, as well as challenges such as faulty equipment and over-stretched staff. Yet she managed to produce stories that touched people, and that she believes have an international appeal.
“You can find commonalities with basic things like emotions … fear and joy and pain,” said Nathoo.
Given Canada’s multicultural make-up, there’s an obvious appetite here for news from around the world, the panellists agreed.
Porter spoke about the origins of journalism being rooted in “news from home … now home is all over the world.”
Still, it took Tamils in Toronto “suddenly reacting very passionately and demanding a response for Canadian media to react to the civil war in Sri Lanka. That’s because our journalists tend to be “passive,” Porter said.
One audience member said he believes there’s reluctance to tell the behind-the-scenes stories due to political pressure: “I don’t think it’s any accident. It’s a hostile attitude to that kind of news,” he said.
Reporters also tend to get little time or space to tell such stories, although that may be changing as media managers learn how to effectively use the Internet.
“The Internet is turning everything on its head,” said Michael MacDonald, a Canadian Press reporter who attended the event. “I think it will lead to longer-form journalism.”
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