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The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted labour markets globally. Housing affordability, precarious work, stagnant wages, social isolation, labour inequity and the drive to automation, are some of the major challenges facing the modern employee. Reimagining Business Journalism explores how newsrooms are rethinking their business coverage to reflect the post-COVID economy and ensure relevance among a new generation of younger, more diverse readers. The Canadian Journalism Foundation welcomes a panel of thought leaders in business journalism to share their insights on the future of industry coverage.

Only days after the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan last August, the world watched in awe as the Taliban swiftly retook control. Desperate and visceral images of Afghans clinging to evacuation planes, lifting children over Kabul airport’s barbed wire fences, and stories of crisis dominated news coverage for weeks. On February 22, the CJF welcomes a panel of storytellers who were there before and during the takeover, to share their insights into the challenges, safety issues and nuances of covering this humanitarian crisis.

Featured speakers are Global News journalists Stewart Bell and Jeff Semple, who captured moments of loss and sacrifice after the Taliban had swept to power; VICE World News journalist Hind Hassan, who spoke with Taliban leaders in advance of the takeover; and visual storyteller Kiana Hayeri, who captured the transition through powerful photographs. Leading this discussion is Nil Köksal, host of CBC’s World Report and former foreign correspondent based in Istanbul, Turkey.    

TikTok’s immense popularity among Gen Z users and more than one billion global user-base make the app an enticing storytelling tool for news publishers. Many newsrooms are reaching hundreds of thousands of young followers that they previously struggled to engage with off the platform. On February 1, The Canadian Journalism Foundation welcomes a panel of trailblazing journalists who are using the video-sharing network to bring news content to a whole new generation. They’ll share their insights on TikTok’s use as an effective storytelling tool and how newsrooms can get their audiences to go deeper on and off the app. 

Featured speakers are journalists Dave Jorgenson, The Washington Post, Evy Kwong, Toronto Star and Sophia Smith Galer, VICE World News, in conversation with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, host of the CBC podcast Pop Chat.

Originally aired: Feb. 1, 2022, at 1 P.M. EST

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Dave Jorgenson is a video producer, editor and writer for "The Department of Satire" and various scripted series for The Washington Post. While at the Post, Dave launched the newsroom’s TikTok channel - where he posts short, newsworthy TikToks twice a day, five days a week. For his work on TikTok, he earned two Webby nominations in 2020 and a win in 2021. He won an award from the North American Digital Awards for 'Best Digital Project to Engage Young and/or Millennial Audiences.' He also made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in December 2020. He recently wrote a book, Make A TikTok Every Day, which includes 365 "prompts" for TikTok. @davejorgenson

Evelyn 'Evy' Kwong is an editor on the Toronto Star's Audience Team that focuses on platforming and finding new, diverse audiences and meeting the people where they are. She strategizes on ways to reach and build trust with communities that have been under-platformed, bring new voices into mainstream media and use new technology to provide everyone with access to information. She is also the editor of the Star's #InTheirOwnVoices, a first-person op-ed section on identity, and host/writer of the Star business series #MillennialMoney focusing on uncovering the financial worries of the younger generation. @EVYSTADIUM

Sophia Smith Galer is an award-winning reporter and author who has pioneered how TikTok can be used for journalism, bridging the gap between traditional media and Gen Z. She is a Senior News Reporter for VICE World News where she has reported on everything from the anti-vaxxers and incels gaming TikTok’s algorithm to youth washing at COP26 and spiking in the UK. Previously a BBC World Service reporter, she uncovered the misuse of political ads during the US election, as well as Donald Trump’s covert campaigning on the app. She has been selected as a TikTok Voice of Change in the UK two years in a row amongst the app's 100 top UK creators and recently won 'Innovation of the Year' at the British Journalism Awards for her TikTok account. Sophia's first book, Losing It, on debunking the sex misinformation on and offline that ruins lives, will be published by Harper Collins in April 2022. @sophiasgaler

ABOUT THE HOST

Elamin Abdelmahmoud is a culture writer for BuzzFeed News and host of CBC’s pop culture show Pop Chat. He was a founding co-host of the CBC Politics podcast Party Lines, and he is a contributor to The National’s At Issue panel. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Globe and Mail, and others. When he gets a chance, he writes bad tweets. @elamin88

Investigative journalists work tirelessly to hold the powerful to account by unearthing stories that expose systemic issues and can lead to meaningful change. On November 30, the Canadian Journalism Foundation welcomed award-winning Globe and Mail journalists Tom Cardoso, Grant Robertson, and Chen Wang for an inside look into how they pitch and research in-depth stories, the challenges they face, and the resulting impact of their work.

In these highly opinionated times, what is the role of opinion journalism? What opinions should be amplified? Which views might be better left in the dark? Have opinions overtaken the news? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kathleen Kingsbury, appointed in 2020 as the New York Times’ Opinion editor, tackles these big questions in her new role with one of the world's most influential Opinion sections.

At a time when a range of voices and perspectives are available across multiple platforms, and a choice word or angle can be a landmine—setting off a barrage of online hate—what does it take to be a columnist and how has the role evolved in a fraught social media environment where attacks inordinately target women and racialized journalists?

From record-breaking heatwaves to prolonged droughts to migration crises and even production declines, our changing climate impacts all aspects of society.

What role can journalists play in ensuring that climate reporting doesn’t only cover “what is” but “what can be”? What role can concrete solutions-based coverage play in responding to this crisis? In the lead-up to COP26 on October 31, this panel explored the importance of climate solutions journalism in sharing valuable knowledge and lessons learned from academics, news leaders, and local communities. 

Featured speakers Jonathan Watts, climate editor at The Guardian, Linda Solomon Wood, CEO and editor-in-chief at Canada’s National Observer, Mike De Souza, Managing Editor at The Narwhal, Laura Lynch, host of CBC’s What on Earth, and Blair Feltmate, climatologist and professor at the University of Waterloo, were in conversation with Fatima Syed, journalist at The Narwhal.

The death of George Floyd focused the world’s attention on police brutality—and the problematic practice of relying on official accounts of events. But reporters have also long maintained police sources who provide information for their crime coverage. How has Floyd’s death changed reporting on police and their activities?

The 9/11 attacks compelled news organizations and journalists to rethink their coverage, from creating a security beat, to ethical questions of sending or using freelancers in danger zones, to how to cover those who were accused—just a few issues among many. Twenty years on, as the West makes its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, what lessons shape today’s coverage and what challenges still persist?

May 13, 2021 - David Remnick helms The New Yorker, journalism's gold standard for agenda-setting, long-form investigations and personal narratives. In the 23 years of Remnick’s editorship, The New Yorker has become the most-honoured magazine in the United States, winning 48 National Magazine Awards and six Pulitzer Prizes. Remnick also won a Pulitzer personally for Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire—one of his six books—based on his time serving as Moscow correspondent for The Washington Post. Remnick speaks about his remarkable career and the challenges of running a legacy publication in conversation with Anna Maria Tremonti, host of J-Talks Live and the CBC podcast More.