Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on April 16, 2012 at Committee Room No 2, Queens Park

Present:

Thomas S. Saras

Asha Rajak

Peter Galiatsos

April Lindomen

Viara Dimitrova

Ahmad Hotaki

Shanidul Islam Mintu

Sandeep Prabhakar

Rakhi Prabhakar

Mulugeta Zerqaber

Sultan Ali Shunbuli

Neel Nanda

Suleyman Guven

Moorthy Sellathurai

Gerard Paul

Teshome woldeamanuel

Raffi D. Boghossiah

Hovig Sarkissian

Irene Keroglidis

Sevag Harouturian

Hi-Tien Lin

Mohammed Tajdolati

Parry Long

N. Logan Logendaleghman

Srimal Abeyewardene

Julius M

Kate Raven

Andy Radkivi

Isa Melo

Mila Astorga- Garcia

Hermie Garcia

Ned Blair

John SaraIdaris

Dumitru Popescu

Susana Donan

Jose Donan

Agenda

1.            Welcome Remarks by the chair.

2.            Minutes of the previous meeting

3.         Report of the President

4.            Presentation by April Lindgreen Associate Professor Ryerson School of Journalism

5.            Presentation by Kate Raven – Safe City Mississauga Crime Prevention

6.         New Business

7.            Adjournment

Welcome Remarks by the Chair:

Irene Keroglidis chaired the meeting and declared the meeting open.  Sandeep Prabhakar moved a motion to approve the agenda, Suleiman Guven seconded it. The motion was carried

Minutes of the previous meeting:

Suleiman Guven moved a motion to approve the minutes of the previous monthly meeting held on March 12, 2012. Murthy seconded it.  The motion was carried.

President’s Report/Discussions

·            President Thomas Saras expects a very busy year ahead with many important projects and events for NEPMCC.

·            President wanted volunteers to work with the office of the President to organize this year’s Ethnic Press Festival at City Hall in May 07 to May 12, 2012.

·           City Hall Exhibition: Arif, Perry,Hovig Sarkissan,Logan L, Gerald Paul, John Saras, Ahmed Shah Hotaki  decided to volunteer for city hall exhibition on May 6 Sunday a day before the exhibition

·           Motion: Dr.Tajdolati moved a motion that every member who wishes to apply for grants and any receives grant due to the efforts of NEPMCC or seek any other favours, including nominations must be in good standing member of the organization. The motion was seconded by Srimal Abeyawardene and carried by all.

·           There were various discussions on the visit my members to Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 26.Members thanked the President in organizing this trip. President expressed gratitude to the office of Hon. Jim Karigiannis as it was an educational and historic trip for the members of the council.

·            Thomas Saras thanked members of NEPMCC who made donations to organizations. He was appreciative of the members who recognized the help they have received from NEPMCC.

·            President Thomas Saras is looking for intern from Ryerson to be working with NEPMCC. The intern once selected will assist the office of the President in all future projects.

·            President Thomas Saras urged all members to participate in the ethnic press exhibition in City Hall on May 7. President expressed disappointment as very few newspapers had sent their copies to the office of the President. President emphasized the importance and the benefit of the exhibition as thousands of visitors at City Hall will have access to the newspapers displayed during the exhibition.

Presentation by April Lindgreen Associate Professor Ryerson School of Journalism

The chair of the meeting Irene Keroglidis invited Professor April Lindgreen to make her presentation on some of the findings of the study on what the ethnic media promises and what it delivers.

According to the findings of the study, the editors and publishers of ethnic newspapers acknowledge the importance of reporting local news in helping their readers understand Canadian society. This study investigates the local news content published about the Greater Toronto Area in the Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao and South Asian publication Punjabi Post.

The author of the study argues that newcomers trying to understand their adopted place would benefit from access to more extensive and varied local news and suggests that providing journalists who work in ethnic news media with greater opportunities for professional development would be one way to achieve this goal. Programs could include journalism skills workshops as well as seminars that explore the role of local news in helping immigrants adapt. Professional development sessions would also bring together journalists from different ethnocultural communities to discuss the challenges they face, develop joint projects, and acquaint editors and publishers with the latest research on the role of local news in fostering intercultural understanding.

According to some of the finding of the study, offering more coverage that acquaints readers with the local community and fosters intercultural understanding is possible, provided there is a willingness within ethnic news organizations to rethink news priorities and to redeploy at least some existing staff and resources. Journalism educators and scholars and mainstream organizations representing journalists can assist by working with ethnic news organizations to develop education and training programs for journalists in the sector. Training opportunities of this sort are currently a rarity, though the limited experience to date suggests they are popular when offered: 300 journalists and ethnic news media proprietors attended when the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada offered its first-ever training seminar in 2009 (NEPMCC 2009). Business and advertising strategy sessions dominated the three-day seminar, sponsored by Heritage Canada, but the agenda did include one presentation devoted to interviewing techniques and a second that dealt with libel issues.

Calls for Heritage Canada or other branches of government to put money into training for journalists will raise concerns about attempts to “purchase” positive news coverage for the government in media that reach huge numbers of voters. One way to address this concern would be to direct the funding through established schools of journalism in major immigrant-destination cities across Canada. Journalism schools in Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto all have faculty and instructors who could lead conferences, or one-day or evening workshops on everything from reporting skills to critical thinking about journalists‟ roles and news values.

The results of this study suggest there would be particular value to training sessions in the following areas:

· Acquainting editors and publishers with the latest research on the role of local news in fostering intercultural understanding and in helping newcomers adapt. Practical suggestions for changes that can be accomplished within existing economic models – such as putting more local news on the front page of ethnic newspapers – should be emphasized.

· Exploring the ethical challenges faced by journalists who report on their own ethnic groups and who must deal with the tensions that arise between their professional practice and the expectations of their communities (Husband 2005).

· Offering specific training in specialized reporting and writing skills, including feature writing, interviewing skills and coverage of other ethnic groups because, as Mahtani (2008) has observed, “the ethnic media, like the mainstream media, is not exempt from the practices of misrepresenting and under representing the immigrant voice” (246).

· Exploring similarities and differences in the ethics and news values of journalists from various ethnic communities and the mainstream media.

· Bringing together journalists from different ethnic communities to discuss the challenges they face, and share solutions. These sessions would also be opportunities for journalists from different ethnic media to exchange story ideas, develop joint projects, identify common problems, and investigate ways to report on tensions among different ethnic or visible minority communities.

Implementing this training and education agenda would also create an unprecedented opportunity for scholars at a time of growing interest in the role ethnic news media play in diverse communities. A program of research that assessed the news content of ethnic media outlets and engaged journalists in focus groups to discuss issues of professional practice could be undertaken before and after the training sessions to evaluate the utility of such sessions. Participating journalists and news managers could also provide valuable insight into the economics of ethnic news media, news values, and the challenges faced by reporters and editors working in these newsrooms.

The agenda for change outlined in this paper places obligations on a variety of players. Newsroom managers must be willing to encourage reporters and editors to take advantage of training opportunities. Journalism educators and ethnic and mainstream journalism organizations must be willing to provide the training. Organizations and governments with a stake in the successful integration of newcomers will have to consider making funding available in an arm’s-length way that respects the independence of news organizations.

Following her presentation Professor Lindgreen took questions from the floor. Many members including Rakhee Prabhakar, Suleiman Guven, Srimal Abeyawardene, Adu Janus Raudkivi participated in the discussion and Professor Lindgreen answered all questions raised in the floor.

President Thomas Saras thanked Professor Lindgreen for her presentation and hoped to work with faculties of various institutes to better the cause of ethnic media industry.

Presentation by Kate Raven – Safe City Mississauga Crime Prevention

The chair Irene Keroglidis welcomed Kate Raven to make a presentation to the council.

Kate Raven familiarized the members on the mission and vision of Safe City Mississauga.

The Safe City Mississauga is mandated to provide programs, services, and information that contribute to the reduction of crime in Mississauga and which help residents and visitors feel safe and secure. Safe City Mississauga will lead and partner to deliver crime prevention services and initiatives for a safe city.

Kate Raven took questions from the floor and provided information on some of the specific programs that her organization undertakes.

The chair thanked Kate Raven for her time.

New Business:

New Member – Hovig Sarkissan, Toronto Hye.

The chair welcomed the new member to the council.

 Adjournment:

Peter Galiatsos moved a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Suleiman Guven seconded it. The motion was carried. The chair Irene Keroglidis adjourned the meeting at 9:30 pm. The next meeting would take place on May 14, 2012 at the Toronto City Hall, committee room N# 2.