Journalism students about to enter the workforce face changes to the traditional Canadian media landscape, with mass layoffs, funding cuts in newsrooms and dramatically shifting public news consumption habits. Here's how three of them hope to adapt and find new ways to engage with their audiences.Journalism students Justin Koehler, Emma Kelly and Noah Brennan, left to right, are graduating this year.
in the second round of mass layoffs since last spring, when six per cent of Bell Media jobs were eliminated and nine radio stations were either axed or sold.that it planned to cut 10 per cent of its workforce, split between the company's English- and French-language services. Last year, Nordstar — parent company for the Toronto Star and other newspapers —Kelly, 21, is a fourth-year journalism student at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Koehler, 26, graduates from Fanshawe College's broadcast journalism program this summer. He has a few work opportunities lined up, but worries about sustaining a long-term career in the quickly evolving news industry. Western's MMJC program is giving students practical skills and options to have careers in journalism, communications or other media industries, said its former chair, Jeremy Copeland.