Meet a Journalist

A journalist's profile, stories and career in the field of journalism. Know a journalist who should be profiled here? Send an e-mail to Janet E. Bardon

Posted November 12, 1999
Updated March 2004
Hal Doran
Media Consultant, Writer and Trainer
Ottawa, ON
hdoran@synapse.net

I chose journalism because I was interested in telling people what was going on in the world and because I've always liked explaining things to people. (Perhaps having a public school teacher as a mother influenced me.) Journalism, for me, was always part of my main career goal, which was making radio programs. I did that for private, community, college and public radio for over 25 years. I've also worked for newspapers (Winnipeg Free Press, Ottawa Citizen), written for magazines, cranked out media releases and taught at a community
college. Right now, I do media consulting and media relations work, training as well as some freelance writing. I'm also involved from time to time in projects doing broadcasting on the Internet and other Internet-related work.

The results of the grade nine career aptitude test given by our high school guidance department suggested I should either be an electrical engineer or a psychiatrist. Producing radio programs, in a way, combines both those things. {;-)

Then, in grade twelve, the results of that year's career aptitude test suggested I was well-suited to being an urban planner, since I had aptitudes for both artistic and scientific endeavours as well as organizational and planning skills. Again, all of those things are requirements for a good radio producer - or a good journalist.

My second career choice would have been to be a history professor.

With both career choices in mind, after high school, I went off to McGill University in Montreal on a scholarship where I obtained an honours degree in East Asian History. Like many of my contemporaries in journalism, I didn't study journalism formally. In high school, I had written occasionally for my home town paper, edited the high school year book, and made my own audio tape documentaries about world events. At college, I worked at the campus radio station and hung around a bit at the student newspaper.

After completing my B.A., I applied to and was accepted to both the one-year graduate journalism programs at Western Ontario and at Carleton. But I decided instead to pursue an M.A. at McGill in Japanese Intellectual History. (I'm not making this up. {;-) ) After completing the course work and toiling away for a few months on the beginnings of my
thesis, I withdrew from the program, as they say. I was bored with spending so much time in the library. So of course I found a job in the University library where I worked for the next two years while I figured out what I wanted to do when I grew up.

After the library, I spent a few years working in the music business managing and promoting bands and helping run the Winnipeg Folk Festival, during which time I often supported myself by freelance work for both radio and newspapers.

That lead to finally taking the plunge and becoming a full-time freelancer which lead, after a year or so, to a full-time job in radio journalism. And the rest, as they say, is history. {;-)

Looking back, I would single out two things which really helped prepare me for a career in journalism.

First, listening to, watching and often recording (audio only, no home VCRs in those days) newscasts everyday, beginning in grade school. As well, reading a newspaper every day and at least two news magazines every week, beginning in high school. And listening to thousands of hours of radio of all kinds throughout my primary, high school and college years - and beyond . I still read and watch a good deal of news every day. Being an avid consumer is one of the best
ways to learn how to be a creator, in my view.

Second, being trained as an historian has really helped me as a journalist. I was taught how to research accurately and meticulously; to question and analyze what I had researched; to write clearly, logically and persuasively, with analysis and arguments based on verifiable facts
and the clearly referenced viewpoints of others; and to defend what I had researched and written in discussions and debates with other students and with professors. All very good skills to have as a journalist.

(And thank God they made us take that touch typing course in my final year of high school!)

If I had to pick out a few 'highlights" of my career, the two half-hour "instant" documentaries I did for CBC Radio's As It Happens on the Falklands War, each compiled, crafted and edited from beginning to end in about six hours on the day of broadcast and mixed live to air stick out in my mind as good pieces of craft done under the pressures of daily journalism. A number of other "breaking story" and feature items done for both As It Happens and Morningside also are things I look back on with pride, though the topics were often on gloomy subjects such air crashes, invasions and hostage-takings. But all the other "meat and potatoes" stories on radio and in print have also had their value, if not the excitement of some of the "deadline crunchers".

Many people have helped and mentored me over the years. I don't want to single anyone out for fear of insulting a lot of other people who were also helpful. Good mentors are always to be found if you look for them and are willing to ask their advice - and then listen when they give it.

If you are a young person thinking about a career in journalism, my advice would be as follows. Get a good general education, maybe even work awhile in another area, before embarking on a full-time career in journalism. You can always find ways to keep your hand in part-time through college or community media outlets or mainstream media. But first, obtain a good general understanding of some of the major aspects of life and living before you try to tell people about those things through a full-time job in the media.

If, after you obtained a good general education and some life-knowledge, you want to formally study the craft and trade aspects of journalism, there are lots of good places where you can go for a year or two. Trade craft, while rigorous, is much easier to learn than learning about how to live and think.

For me, the greatest challenge facing journalists today is trying to maintain a sense of "civic purpose". By that I mean, trying to inform their communities about the whole range of issues affecting how people live and how communities work, not just focusing on the the "fun" or
"sensational" or "commercial" aspects of life. Those too are important, of course, but not at the expense of many other things that are just as important, perhaps even more important, in people's live. Good journalism informs the people in our society and so helps develop
informed citizens who can intelligently share in the decision-making processes of our communities, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.