One journalist — four platforms

“I think the key for an evening broadcast is to dig deeper,” says Rancourt, who works as a reporter and anchor for ICI Radio-Canada Manitoba, a French-language regional station. “Viewers have seen the news on Twitter. Here’s our chance to provide insight.”

Rancourt’s work with Canada’s public broadcaster began as an intern and researcher for CBC Montreal while studying at Concordia’s Department of Journalism. From there he went to CBC/Radio-Canada in Vancouver and then Edmonton before opportunity brought him to Manitoba in 2015.

“I studied at Concordia to learn about storytelling and improve my English,” says Rancourt, who is originally from Saint-Georges de Beauce, Que. “It was a first step in providing me skills in web reporting and multimedia.”

Rancourt previously completed a degree at l’Université du Québec à Montréal in cultural and media production strategy.

“The thing about the CBC is it’s our mandate to use radio and television,” says Rancourt on the broadcaster’s enduring legacy media presence.

“I work across four platforms — television, radio, web and social media,” says Rancourt. He notes that reporters tend to produce content exclusively for outlets such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

“It becomes part of the story. You compose your tweet of 140 characters and follow it throughout the day,” says Rancourt. In other ways, the dynamic isn’t quite as seamless.

“The conventional two-minute video report isn’t digitally effective,” says Rancourt. “Even if the content is the same, you often need something that’s less than a minute for Facebook.”

While Manitoba’s francophone population is just over 50,000, Rancourt says digital scope enables him to reach French-speaking audiences all over. As an example, Rancourt cites a report on the refurbishing of a more-than 100-year-old building in La Broquerie, Man., and the traction it gained on the web, garnering over 4,000 views.

What do changing news consumption habits mean for journalists?

“When I joined, the cuts had already been made,” says Rancourt in reference to layoffs of over 1,500 CBC/Radio-Canada staff in 2015.

“It used to be you had a director, a researcher, a cameraperson and someone for lights,” he says. “I often take care of most of that when I report.”

Even when Rancourt is sitting in the anchor’s seat he’s overseeing the story lineup for the newscast.

“Though it’s tough work, when I think about it, it’s actually an honour to be on the air,” says Rancourt. “Another way I maintain passion is to remember why I wanted to do this in the first place. I like to tell people’s stories.”

#CUalumni

Related links

• Concordia’s Department of Journalism
• Samuel Rancourt’s website
• ICI Manitoba Facebook page