Tayef Ahmad: “ We do not have a requirement to meet.”

Despite the University of Regina having a journalism school, the student-run Carillon newspaper has no J-school students on its staff.

In an email replying to questions about the newspaper’s staffing, Tayef Ahmad, the chairperson for both the Carillon and University of Regina Student’s Union (URSU) according to their respective websites, said, “I would not characterize as we are lacking journalism students, as we do not have a requirement to meet.”

Hiring students from J-school could be beneficial for both the paper and the students, according to a long time journalism professor.

“Journalism students bring different ethics in a newsroom, like watchdog and accountability journalism and treat it as a serious business rather than a hobby which creates a cultural difference in student newspapers,” said Mitch Diamantopoulos, an associate professor at Journalism school.

Shivangi Sharma, a staff writer at the Carillon, believes the newspaper needs to be independent.

“I think the Carillon office is too close to URSU,” said Sharma. “I would like us to have some more distance from URSU if you know what I mean.”

Although hiring J-school students could cut costs on external training. “I believe having someone who is trained professionally can save us the money we pay other journalists to train our staff. A J-school students can also make the newspaper more professionally structured,” said Sharma.

Working in an environment which resembles to an actual newsroom could be extremely helpful to the journalism students as it would provide them hands-on experience as they apply theoretical knowledge in real world, build connections which would lead to industry exposure and portfolio building. All these elements could be assets during their internships.

“Journalism is competitive, and I want every resource and guide to give me an edge in the application process for internships, graduate programs, or entry-level jobs. The Carillon is a great way to gain experience,” said Katie Flath, a second-year journalism student.

Woking part-time along with classes is quite common for any university going student. Hence, getting paid while polishing their skills is another reason encouraging journalism students to work at carillon.

“It can also be a source of income if I’m not mistaken, they do get paid,” said Ethan Jasper, first-year journalism student.

Recently the Editor-in-chief and Op-ed editor of the Carillon resigned. The reason remains unknown. When asked about the plans to recruit journalism students to fill those vacancies, Ahmad said, “By virtue of our work, journalism students obviously have priority in our hiring but do have to go through our fair hiring process … We do not have any way to send direct communication to students studying journalism. Should there be an association, it would be good to reach out and collaborate.”

To bridge the gap between the Carillon and J-school many steps could be taken. Ahmad suggested that, “We remain open to create partnership with the School of Journalism to allow students to internship in our organization. We now have a full capacity to supervise and mentor students with our permanent full time Executive Director. We also encourage journalism student to contribute to our paper.”