NNSL Newspapers – News Stories

Background

In 2006, I worked from May till August for Northern News Services (NNSL) in Yellowknife, NWT, while on summer break from university. Northern News Services is a media company in northern Canada that owns several newspapers, NWT News North and Nunavut News North (Territorial papers) Yellowknifer (city paper), Kivalliq News. At the time they also published Deh Cho Drum, and Inuvik Drum. I primarily wrote for the Yellowknifer and NWT News North on the Education/ General beats.

Challenges

Yellowknife is a northern city with 3 levels of government (federal, provincial and city), whose population is primarily indigenous, but incredibly diverse, with people from all over Canada and new immigrants from around the world. I quickly developed contacts, and relationships with the community as I interviewed people, took photos and wrote news stories.

Results

By the end of the summer, I had written a diverse array of articles, attended press conferences with the Governor-General and Prime Minister, went out with the Canadian Army and the Rangers into the wilderness, covered Aboriginal Day celebrations, and was even published on the front page of the territorial paper with an exclusive story about the Governor General. I also had the opportunity to interview Olivia Chow, wrote an ongoing series on daycare shortages and attended firey school board meetings.

NWT News North – Front Page Story