The McGill Daily is the finest journalism school in the country. I speak from my time there, from 1999 to 2001, but also based on the graduates I’ve worked with and met. It’s also the cheapest – once you’ve paid your McGill tuition, that is. For a few dollars a year, you can get ink on your hands, carry on a proud tradition, and maybe score a few free CDs. It’s a good deal.
Its editors, writers, and reporters learn all the obvious stuff, but they also learn how to deal with a sometimes obstinate landlord, to compete in a crowded marketplace on campus and beyond, to share resources with their colleagues at the University’s only French-language publication, and to run an independent organization dedicated to high ideals.
I was lucky enough to go straight from The Daily to a job at a national newspaper. I made life-long friends there and, most importantly, met my wife in its grubby little offices.
But even if you never set foot past its doors in the Shatner basement, The Daily makes your campus a better place. It does this by covering student groups and events, giving space to up-and-coming artists and writers – it published a promising young poet named Leonard Cohen back in the day – and, despite the fact that it’s nearly 100-years-old, it has energy that would put most senior citizens to shame.
Another dollar for The Daily will give you another reason to be proud of where you went to university.
Benjamin Errett was Daily Features editor 1998-1999, Coordinating News editor 1999-2000, and Coordinating editor 2000-2001. He is the managing editor, Features, for the National Post.
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