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Journalism 101: Communication and Connection

The pursuit of truth leads you to strange places. For Erica Johnson, it led to the dungeon of a gun-toting, cross-dressing man in Budapest.

Johnson, recent host of CBC’s Marketplace and award winning investigative journalist, was one of many dynamic presenters at CBC’s Junior Journalism School on January 23rd, 2016. Approximately three hundred eager Grade 10,11, and 12 students listened avidly as she detailed her experience alongside fellow journalist Natalie Clancy.

In Hungary, Johnson was was working to expose the corruption of a scientist who was selling a device claiming to cure people of cancer. She began to suspect he “wasn’t all there”, when she and her cameraman arrived at his mansion to find him unexpectedly dressed in drag. Johnson told students after the presentation that the interview was difficult to film, as the scientist kept turning and talking to his own camera crew; referring to Johnson as “Satan”. Because of her investigation, she says, the government banned the scientist’s device from being sold in Canada.

For Johnson and Clancy, investigative journalism is all about holding government agencies and businesses “accountable”. In their presentation, All About Investigative Journalism, Johnson and Clancy spoke about exposing corruption and pursuing the truth in everything from dirty hotels to sexual harassment in the RCMP.

Other presenters at the day long workshop ranged from the charismatic and charmingly self-deprecating News Hour anchor Andrew Chang, to the snappy and refreshingly empathetic Rosemary Barton, host of CBC’s Power and Politics.

Chang spoke about dealing with a his own crisis of confidence. He offered an optimistic look on “haters” and “trolls”, and advised the young audience to “see rejection as a learning experience”.

Barton spoke about life as a journalist in the Ottawa “bubble” of political reporting, and revealed her secret for excellent comebacks is to simply “go in armed” when speaking to politicians. With a compassionate twist, the political reporter reminded the Junior J Students that politicians are “fundamentally human”, a reminder that respect is an essential quality for fair journalism.

Pictured from left to right, Junior Journalism students Emma Buchanan,  Power and Politics host Rosemary Barton and Junior Journalism Student Iyol Martinez

Respect and intimacy were the themes of one of the more emotional presentations of the day, Rick Cluff’s and Gloria Macarenko’s The Art of the Interview. Cluff spoke about the intimate aspect of radio, and said that “[he] never uses the words ‘I’ or ‘all of you’,” in The Early Edition, his radio show. Instead, he always refers to the audience as “we”.

This powerful personal connection inspired one of the Junior J School’s most heart warming events. In a round of audience questions, a student told Cluff that “when she hears [him] in the morning, [she] has a better day”, and that he is “a big part of the reason [she’s] still alive.”

After 40 years as a journalist and nearly 20 years hosting the Early Edition, Rick Cluff is a household name. His sensitive handling of this poignant moment on Saturday was a powerful reminder that the essence of all journalism is simple: communication and connection.

Rick Cluff, host of the Early Edition on CBC and Junior Journalism Student Emma Buchanan
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