Writers Toolbox

Are the days of news reporters in television behind us?

Sheri Block discovered that continued cutbacks have rendered this question an increasingly relevant one

It may be more efficient and cost-effective, but the new model for gathering television news is making it harder for young journalists to find jobs.

Jennifer Quesnel, a 22-year-old graduate from the University of Regina, has left television behind to take a position in radio. She says this is the only way she can be a reporter now that video journalism has become a predominant force in Saskatchewan.

"I'm not saying this is a good trend, but as we all try and keep a handle on costs I think it's an inevitable trend. So, there's no point in trying to fight it as a graduate."

Video Journalists (VJs) who report, shoot and edit their own stories are replacing traditional reporters and their camera operators. This enables stations to cut jobs and demand more from their staff. Although technical experience is not mandatory in all cases to be a VJ, unbounded enthusiasm is necessary.

Quesnel, who as a student worked both at CBC Newsworld in Calgary and Global TV in Regina, discovered the trade-off soon after graduation. She accepted a research job at CBC television in Regina and was given the chance to do a few TV stories. After six months, when she tried to move from researching to her first love, reporting, she was told she wasn't qualified.

"My manager said 'we'd love to, we really think it's important that we develop you, but you're just not qualified to work as a reporter in our newsroom,'" says Quesnel.

Quesnel was bewildered by the comment at first but soon figured out it was her lack of technical experience that hindered her from moving ahead.

"When it comes right down to it the only way that you will find a [reporting] job in a CBC Saskatchewan newsroom right now is to be able to VJ," says Quesnel.

She had watched other VJs in action and decided that at this point in her career, she wasn't ready to be a VJ, and instead wanted to work on honing her reportorial skills.

The story was different for Lyndsay Duncombe. The recent journalism graduate from Ryerson couldn't wait to become a VJ. She was hired to operate the CBC bureau in Prince Albert and has just completed a six-week VJ training in Regina. She is excited about doing everything on her own.

"I don't plan on compromising any of my stories. But I think it is a risk you have to take. I think a good news organization uses both VJs and reporters because there are limits to the kind of stories VJs can do [but] there are not as many limits as people think there are," says Duncombe.

Dean Gutheil, who has been with CBC in Regina for almost 12 years, views the job of the VJ a bit differently. He has been doing his own camera work for the past five years and his own editing for the past year. He enjoys the freedom VJ-ing offers, but says there are drawbacks to the job.

"I've been quite open about not being in favour of it because I think there's a burnout factor and I also think some journalistic compromises are made," says Gutheil.

"I like doing three jobs. I just find five days a week, day in, day out, day in, day out, there's sort of a cumulative effect. It kind of drains you."

Gutheil says there is less time to work on each story, considering he does four to five a week.

"You're just sort of compartmentalizing everything you do. You have to think 'OK, I gotta have pretty much my research done by this time. I better be shooting by this time. I better be writing by this time. I better have my editing done. You're sort of making these little mini deadlines for yourself all day,'" says Gutheil.

Like Gutheil, Wayne Mantyka, who has been a reporter at CTV Regina since 1975 and a VJ for the last two years, says there can be advantages.

He says VJ-ing can be effective in a crowd or demonstration setting because it allows him to instantaneously capture what he sees and write a script in his head as he goes. But the physical component of the job does take its toll, according to Mantyka.

"I'm feeling it physically a bit. It's always running around. It's like going everywhere you go with two suitcases, with one handle broken. It's just awkward. The tripods are awkward to carry, the bag is falling off your shoulder, you go everywhere you go like that," says Mantyka.

"I was kind of hoping this would go away but it's still here," he laughs. "I still think it's going to go away. I still haven't changed my feeling on that … because I still think photography is a profession of its own."

Although both CTV and CBC in Regina have been relying heavily on VJs, Global Regina is one station that has not. Jeff Bollenbach, the news director, says that storytelling and the craft of photography are different elements and neither one should be compromised. His newsroom uses VJs if they are short-handed, but have four full-time camera people, with no plans to change the way they operate.

"I would certainly do everything I can to make sure we don't move in that direction," says Bollenbach. "I'm a firm believer in good pictures for television and I think you get better pictures with full-time photographers that have experience in doing that kind of thing and can concentrate on that work."

Bollenbach says that, although video journalism can work in some situations, he thinks there will still be room for people who just want to be reporters.

"I think there's now going to be a place for video journalists, but I also think there's still a place for people who want to focus on being good journalists. Good writers, good storytellers … I think there will always be a place in the news business for people who can tell good stories with good pictures," says Bollenbach.

By contrast, David Kyle, the senior producer of Canada Now for CBC TV in Saskatchewan, is a big supporter of VJ-ing. He was part of the "first VJ experiment" in the CBC in Windsor, Ontario. The station had been shut down in 1990 due to cutbacks but re-opened four years later using VJs.

Kyle admits VJs face a lot of stress and that it can be a real challenge to produce a story a day. Even so, he says the job satisfaction is unmatchable.

"I don't think people do it for the money. I don't think that is the reason. I think they do it for the satisfaction of saying 'I did that. Every part of that.' … And at the end of the day, that is pretty intoxicating to be able to sit back and see that on the screen."

But is the audience noticing a difference? Mantyka doesn't think so.

"I don't even think they even know for the most part … The audience isn't complaining. I don't think my product is any different than it used to be for content, from a journalism point of view," says Mantyka.

Despite the emphasis on the technical side, Kyle says these skills will not be the determining factor in getting a job.

"What we like to say is we don't hire for the shooting or editing skills, we hire the minds. That's what we're after. The rest can be learned," says Kyle. "If you're a natural storyteller with great research instincts and news gathering abilities, there's no way I would not consider you."

For now, the trend is to decrease the number of jobs. Kyle says that using VJs allows newsrooms to have less staff and allows producers to have more flexibility.

"I'm not saying this is a good trend but as we all try and keep a handle on costs I think it's an inevitable trend. So there's no point in trying to fight it as a graduate. You might as well just accept that the era of the reporter specialist in television is coming to an end and people going into journalism school this year, by the time they graduate, they may never hear of such a thing as a television reporter position being posted again," says Kyle.

But for Quesnel, this is not where she wants to be. She may try her hand at television again someday, but for now, she will concentrate on building up her reporting skills, wherever she can.

"I'm going to try and stick with radio for a while and see how it goes, see if I like it," she says.

"I totally want to be a reporter. I want to [focus] on stories. That's my thing. That's what I really feel passionate about, so by all means, I'm going to go for it."

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Sheri Block is in her last year of Journalism at the University of Regina after completing a B.A. in Psychology. She has been editor of the student newspaper, the Carillon, worked at the Regina Leader-Post as a city news reporter and interned at MuchMusic. She is also a reporter/host for E-clips, an entertainment show on local cable TV, and plans to pursue a career in arts journalism upon graduation.