March 2023 Edited by: Devin Andrade

Dear Colleagues,

This month’s Newsletter features key stories about International Women’s Day, the annual worldwide recognition on March 8 of female achievement and the urgent need for greater gender parity.

First, if you haven’t had a chance, please check out this interview with CBC News: Go Public’s investigative reporter, Erica Johnson, who inspired a class of Seneca Journalism students by describing the higher purpose she finds in her work.

“I do encourage people to try to use this craft for good,” she said. “It’s a great privilege that we have to be able to tell stories and reflect the world back to viewers and listeners.”

The interview was part of the School of Media’s In Conversation series hosted by Journalism Professor Robert Ballantyne, a former colleague of Johnson’s at the CBC.

The first woman at CFRB to read morning newscasts, Johnson said conditions are much better for women in the journalism industry than in years past, when it was almost exclusively an ‘old boys’ club.’

“We now see a lot more women in the field and at CBC, the proportion of women in leadership roles might be even slightly higher than male. It used to be a male-dominated industry — those days are gone. That is a real shift that has happened in recent years,” she said.

Even with that progress, women, particularly racialized and Indigenous journalists, are regularly subjected to verbal abuse, threats, and physical violence far beyond what their male counterparts deal with.

Seneca Journalism Professor Paula Todd described a disturbing rise in this type of harassment in an interview with Edmonton Radio station CHED.

“We are now seeing a rapid increase – it’s always been there but it’s getting worse — so women who have power because they are journalists and they’ve been permitted to tell other peoples stories are targeted,” she said. “But the way women are targeted far more frequently than male journalists is through their sexuality. So prominent journalists who happened to be women will also be threatened with death, with rape, and stalking.”

Professor Todd, who has written extensively about online bullying, said that while the problem may seem insurmountable now, it can be countered if those in positions of power take it seriously – and leverage new digital tools to help track down the abusers.

“One of the things that’s become effective is using our digital smarts, which increasingly we have, to find out who’s behind the bullying and the death and sexualized violence threats,” she said.

While governments, police and society in general need to prioritize the safety of women in the public eye, we can also make a difference as individuals – by challenging harmful attitudes and behaviours when we encounter them, and by speaking out against harassment and abuse when we see it happening, whether in person or online.

Stay well and stay safe.

Kurt

In honour of International Women’s Day, Journalism professor Robert Ballantyne interviewed CBC News: Go Public Senior Investigative Reporter Erica Johnson. With an expansive career, reporting on stories across the country, she shared her expertise on the art of the interview, her thoughts on the future of the industry and her advice for aspiring journalists. This special School of Marketing & Media event was thought-provoking and informative and the full-house in the Lower K was engaged throughout the conversation.

Rachel Bonnetta, a former student in the Journalism program, was featured in the Toronto Star to discuss her role as a host with the NFL Network. After leaving Seneca, she went from Liberty Village bartender to the face of Toronto FC to one of the most sought-after onscreen talents in U.S. sports broadcasting. What makes her talent so highly coveted? Rachel brings a unique comedic take to sports coverage, with many characters and trademark bits already under her belt.

I do feel that we have come so far. I don’t know if the things that I make would have been made five years ago. There have been times when I have sent a video to my boss asking ‘is this OK? I’m poking fun at Bill Belichick!’ What I do is not typical, it’s not the norm. So for the NFL Network to be moving the needle in that way is so cool.

Seneca’s team of marketing students including Mariia Khodchenko, Yasmine Shateri, Dylan Heida and Gian Sebastian Villa were awarded bronze in the 2023 Vanier National Marketing Case Competition. The Vanier Case Competition brings together top marketing students from colleges across Canada to compete and network with peers. The case challenge required students, within a three-hour timeframe, to review and prepare a strategy to solve a real-world marketing problem and then present to a panel of industry judges.

"This is the best that Seneca has ever done in this competition. Special thanks to professor Stefan Kanitz for his exceptional leadership. Thank you to professors Margaret Osborne, Kathryn Faubert, and Steven Litt for all of the assistance and feedback over the past few months in coaching and encouraging the students. Kudos to all of the dress rehearsal guest judges for their feedback to the students. Thank you to Theresa Seto for taking care of the logistics for the team. Lastly, congrats to the School of Marketing as a whole. This is their second big win in a case competition in the past four months and a true testament to the meaningful work our staff do every day." - Nadia Bedok, Acting Chair - School of Marketing

Seneca's 3rd place win at Vanier rests entirely on the shoulders of the brilliant and dedicated student team. For two months they went over and above, juggling classes and a minimum six hours a week of practice and training, to prepare for this challenging competition. I am very proud of the team and their success. - Stefan Kanitz

Seneca’s latest partnered animated production Jasmine was produced for UNICEF HQ (New York) and commissioned by ASIFA-Hollywood. It is a public service spot on the work of UNICEF in war-torn Syria. All production was done by animation students under the guidance of professor Dave Baas. The voice featured in the spot is Rahaf Seahdh, a student in the Acting for Camera and Voice program who came to Canada as part of the Syrian refugee program. She performed both the English and Arabic versions which will be shown around the world.

Titus McNally, Lindsay Rollins and Sloane Smith, graduates of the Illustration program and co-founders of the game studio Rocket Adrift, were awarded the prestigious Grand Prize at Ubisoft Indie Series. This prize secured $50,000 in funding and mentorship opportunities from Ubisoft and National Bank. The team created Rocket Adrift with a mission to tell personal narratives that highlight LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC experiences and depict Canadian culture through an outsider’s lens. Their latest project, Psychroma, is a narrative-driven side-scroller game where you play as a digital medium. It is narrative rich with themes of trauma, violence and restorative justice, but rather than centering the gameplay around survival, the player is challenged to empathize with the ghosts of the past using unique mechanics in order to progress.

“[We wanted] a narrative that was representative of the disillusionment of marginalized identities within that kind of dystopian future. A lot of popular cyberpunk media really focuses on what we would describe as a ‘dad rock’ mentality of cyberpunk where it’s basically a male power fantasy. It’s not so much talking about the socio-economic issues that the cyberpunk genre has really pioneered.” - Lindsay Rollins

Dorielle Retemyer, a graduate of the Animation program, got to see her short film being displayed at Yonge-Dundas Square. The short film called “I Spy” for the series “Dreams in Vantablack”, was the first solo project that she had the opportunity to work on. Ian Keteku, the Producer and Director of the series, had the vision to create a series that highlighted Black voices through poetry and art, and reached out to Dorielle with the opportunity to be a part of the experience.

“I Spy” was the first solo animation project out of college that came to me at a time when I was struggling with self-confidence. It was an extremely meaningful project to me and it is amazing to see it come so far. - Dorielle Retemyer

Isabel Kanaan, a graduate of the Acting for Camera & Voice program, is featured on the #SenecaProud Podcast. She is the co-creator and star of Abroad, a sketch show filmed in English and Tagalog that will soon start its second season. Ms. Kanaan joins host Pat Perdue to discuss moving to Canada during her final year of high school, the importance of pursuing a career you love and the importance of diversity in TV.