Posted by Krystyna Hunt in
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After finishing our desktop magazine, we switched to writing for the online newspaper as we had done for the previous semester. I could no longer choose to write for the Arts beat, so I chose the Issues beat. Interestingly enough, this turned out to carry more responsibility than I bargained for.
Recent events in the news focused on how KAIROS, a local human rights group who had been a distributor of Canada’s foreign aid to several of its overseas partners, was suddenly, after 30 years of loyal service, cut off from receiving this foreign aid. Our present government is super pro-Israel and in order to impress Jewish voters, accused this human rights group of anti-Semitism because two of their partners dealt with Palestinian refugees. I thus decided to focus my article on what exactly is the definition of anti-Semitism. This was my first serious journalistic article in which I was out there, competing with the big guys for media access to government sources (like the Prime Minister). I had decided to challenge the ruling government’s wisdom in declaring this human rights group anti-Semites and now risked getting myself on its enemies’ list. If the government could cut off funding to this group could they cut off funding to my College?
(The slogan on the t-shirt above says, "KAIROS is not going away.")
The human rights group did volunteer to be interviewed by me and I had hoped it would reveal their outrage. But the group's answers, provided by a PR person, were so careful, so politically correct, and so circumspect I realized I was not going to get any emotion, or the outrage I had hoped to hear, into her quotes. I was the one who had to make the leap to the conclusion of what she must be REALLY trying to say by balancing it off against what was already in the media, and the group’s actions in defending itself.
Forget talking to the government. I realized what a paltry fish in the sea I was when I tried to contact a government spokesperson - nay, what a plankton. People the media is after do not have to answer the media very quickly. I knew I was one of thousands competing for the spokesperson's time. I did leave a message on our Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s voicemail (it was not his greeting on his voicemail) asking for an interview, and surprise, surprise, he did not return my call. At least I was able to say that my request for an interview got no response.
This time I felt the cold breath of fear coming down on me. This was the first time I was writing something where I had to absolutely get everything down right. Quotes had to be perfect, dates and situations had to be perfect or else some awfully important people could get awfully angry with me - and the College. Big shit could come my way.
It was tense, but all in all my editor-in-chief Prof Norman, and my managing editor Prof Laura were quite impressed with my work. While I allowed the Prime Minister to maintain a level of dignity I did not believe he deserved in the situation I pointed out succinctly that merely helping Palestinian refugees did not qualify as anti-Semitism by anyone, including those of prominent Jewish citizens (whose quotes I did get to back that up). I lightly slapped the government’s wrist. I have no idea if anyone in the government, never mind the PM, ever even got to read my article. Nobody out there responded to it......which was a big relief.
I will leave a link here to the website where it is published: http://tinyurl.com/6bxaec9
