Budget Cuts at the CBC and Getting a Job in Journalism

I love writing this blog. It’s an outlet for me to share what I think about movies, TV and Internet, topics that are eternally fascinating to me. At the same time, I’m working on my Master of Journalism degree, improving my writing abilities and my analytical skills. But as of this moment, I have no idea whether there’s a job waiting for me when I graduate. After the federal budget that was handed down this week, my future is even less certain.

Why? Because this year’s budget has put our venerable public broadcaster, the CBC, on the chopping block for a total $115 million in cuts. I’m not saying that all Canadian journalism students are earmarked for careers at the CBC, but the cuts should serve as a wake-up call to all working and up-and-coming journalists in Canada. Sooner or later, our “safety net” will be gone, and we’ll all be on the high wire trying to stay alive.

Alert! Incoming administrative post!

Hey guys. As the title suggests, this is just a short administrative piece I’m posting before my main article goes up. I wanted to bring a few things to your attention and put out a request.

If you’re new to this site, I’d just like to re-iterate that Professionally Incoherent is the place to find spoiler-free reviews of movies and TV. I’ve heard that there’s an interest for these types of articles, and frankly it matches up with how I like to write reviews: less plot summary and more analysis of how well the episode/movie accomplished its goals. I believe reviews can be done without giving the whole thing away, so trust this blog to bring you the reviews you want to see with as few spoilers as I can manage (I may slip up from time to time, so reader beware!)

"Captain! What you see before you is not a planet, but is, in fact, a text-heavy housekeeping post!"

Some of you may have noticed that the tagline no longer includes a reference to “tech”. This is because I was thinking that I might refocus the blog just a bit, and move away from tech commentary (At least officially). I decided that I can’t really write articles on tech all that often when I only own a limited collection of gadgets and software. I don’t have enough first-hand experience with the products I’d be talking about, and I don’t want to merely repost stories from other sites. I’m still hoping to write an occasional post on the topic, but it won’t be a major focus on this blog. Besides, I’d like this site to have its own style, and you can find tech commentary on a host of other, very knowledgeable blogs like Gizmodo and Engadget.

Finally, I’d like to put out a request for any contributions/collaborations you’d like to share with this blog. I’ve already had one suggestion for a collaboration, but I wanted everyone to know that I founded this blog with the hope that it would link up with what other people are publishing on the Internet. Keep checking back here for updates, and remember to hit that “like” button in the Comments section under each post, and let me know what you think!  Stay tuned, because my main post for the day is in the works, and will be posted shortly! Cheers!

Reboot

Hey guys – this is going to be the inaugural post on a reinvigorated robertsnow.wordpress.com! I originally created this blog after completing a course at Memorial University in St. John’s  (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) that required students to write regular blog posts. Most of my entries for the class were posted to a general class blog, but I recently thought I’d reboot this page and use it to post thoughts about three things that really interest me: Film, TV and Internet culture. Hope you enjoy reading what I think about these topics.

By the way, I am in no way sponsored by any companies/organizations or sanctioned as an official reviewer. I just like sharing my thoughts about media and tech, and figured some of you might be interested. Watch out though – I have a tendency to get into some pretty heavy analysis at times (I have a degree in English lit and a number of film theory courses under my belt). Let me know if I’m getting a bit wordy, but feel free to argue with me about my thoughts – I love a good debate. Keep checking for updates, as the first real post is coming soon!