From the earliest Ice Age cave paintings to the Victorian-era literary masterworks to today’s most influential podcasts, a good story is a good story through and through.
But how we craft and convey those stories has never been more varied than it is today.
Enter BCIT’s Broadcast & Media Communications Department, which offers aspiring creatives and storytellers an opportunity to excel in today’s rapidly evolving media landscape across a trio of two-year diploma offerings: Broadcast and Online Journalism; Radio Arts and Entertainment; and Television and Video Production.
This is a curriculum that nurtures talent and prepares students for the jobs of tomorrow, where there is a demand for creative talent in storytelling and for new media professionals with a range of creative and technical skills.
A who’s who of B.C.’s media landscape
A brief overview of BCIT’s alumni list is perhaps its greatest selling point: broadcast and media personalities to come out of BCIT include Vancouver Canucks play-by-play personnel John Shorthouse and Brendan Batchelor; Global BC anchors Sophie Lui and Jason Pires and CBC evening anchor Anita Bathe.
The program is led by faculty members who are still actively working in the fields they teach – giving prospective students everyday, practical knowledge in ever-changing media landscapes.
“That is a key selling feature of what we offer because those instructors are doing all of the work on a day-to-day basis as part of their professional lives that the students are learning how to do,” explains Daniel Getz, associate dean, Broadcast & Media Communications.
“Having that direct and immediate experience among faculty is a really key aspect of what we can offer anybody who wants to come to our programs.”
Stories and technology
Though focused primarily on broadcasting and digital mediums, the Broadcast & Media Communications program touches on virtually every facet of 21st-century storytelling: radio, TV, digital, camera operation, video and audio editing, podcasting and the behind-the-scenes work found across each platform.
Grads leave BCIT with the necessary toolkit to create engaging social media content, documentaries, news and sports stories, podcasts and live productions for TV, radio and streaming channels.
The potential career paths are as varied and engaging as the work itself: filmmaker, journalist, on-air host, producer, sound designer, video editor, social media influencer, corporate communications and media relations or public relations expert, among others.
From the classroom to the control room
One of the program’s premier distinguishing features is the hands-on, integrated learning approach that sees students learning in both the classroom setting and in the field. Students are immersed in industry standards across video and audio editing programs while interfacing with the newsroom and control room equipment that’s considered the industry standard.
The curriculum also has internships and practicums that place students into the field they want to pursue, giving them invaluable exposure to that line of work and the decision-makers who could be their future employers.
“Regardless of the technology a graduate may come up against, they will have either seen it in our program or they will have been specifically trained in it, so that sets them up for success when they get out into the field,” Getz says.
To learn more about kickstarting your creative career, log on to bcit.ca/business-media.
