The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
It's not often that a person can turn on their TV with the expectation of seeing someone they know delivering the news. However, with the advent of Satellite TV, folks from Flin Flon and Snow Lake have been watching a former resident, Kendra Slugoski, do just that. Slugoski, who began her career as a reporter and weekend news anchor with Saskatoon's Global News, was most recently employed as a general assignment reporter and sometimes news anchor with Calgary's A-Channel. She left that position at the end of March. However, up to that point, and in the five years previous to it, she was a local girl who had left her hometown and was literally making the news. Slugoski says that she has been involved in the media since completing college in 2000, adding that she originally decided to get into broadcasting because of a love for public speaking. "I knew I didn't have the patience to be a teacher, so this seemed like the next best thing," she said. Learning her trade by taking a two-year Media Production course at Brandon's Assiniboine Community College, the promising young reporter also worked at that community's local TV station, CKX, while enrolled in school. "This is where I gained a lot of my 'true' experience, and started to grasp what went on behind the scenes," said Slugoski. As mentioned, once her time in college wrapped up, she moved on to Saskatoon and from there, to Calgary. The 24 year-old reporter confesses that even though many of the people working within the news media see a lot of disturbing stuff and as news deliverers, they are constantly being scrutinized for the way that they portray things, she finds the job extremely rewarding and has no trouble admitting that she loves the work. "The challenge of first getting the story and then telling the story (using sound and pictures) while striving to meet your daily deadline is a rush," said Slogoski. "It's an amazing feeling to be one of the first to know what's happening in a given situation, while still being able to learn something new everyday. With so much news coverage and reality TV out there these days, it's hard to engage viewers and keep them watching. So if I can tell a story that captures a viewer, I've done my job." When asked if there was any one story that she would include amoungst her best work, Slugoski confirms that there is. However, before she recounts it, she explains that in probing for someone's story and then in telling it, it is extremely hard not to become involved. "That's part of being a good journalist," she said. "In order to be objective, you have to step back and remove yourself. I try to be fair when I'm telling a story." She confesses that there are stories that have touched her more than others; an example she used was in talking to a mother about her deceased child. "I think there's a fine line between compassion and taking sides," she said. "I try to be compassionate, but in the end, it's just a job and just a story I have to tell. I realize that may sound cold to some people, but you really do have to distance yourself, or it could mess you up. You also have to have thick skin, because more often than not you hear how someone disliked your story. It's not often people will call to tell you what a great job you did, but rather how your story was inaccurate, or portrayed someone in a negative light. That said, you have to be tough, and stand by your decisions." The story that Slugoski puts forward as her best was done last winter. It involved a group of high school students on a backcountry ski trip in B.C. They were caught up in an avalanche and seven of the teens died. See 'Emotion' P.# Con't from P.# "There's a lot of pressure when something like this happens, every news organization wants emotion," said Slugoski. "Instead of calling the families, I decided to show up at their homes. And yes, I had a lot of doors slammed in my face, but one family said I could come in. I talked to them for a while, and they eventually decided to talk to me on camera. It was an amazing interview. There was a lot of raw emotion from the mom, who lost her 15 year-old son. She just poured her feelings out to me and I let her tell the story. It was a great story because, number one Ñ the emotion, and number two Ñ no other station managed to talk to a family." In addition to going out and getting the stories, (while undertaking occasional news anchor duties) Ms. Slugoski also delivers them. She says that people often ask her if she wants to be a full time anchor. Although she admits that occasional anchor duties are great, she just couldn't see herself doing it on a continual basis. "As a reporter I've met so many interesting people over the years," she said. "I've had the opportunity to cover some big names (Chretien, Paul Martin, Prince Charles) and also experienced so many things a lot of people would never get the chance to do (flying with the Snow Birds, high profile court cases like Dar Heatherington's, and travel). It's a high stress job, but I feed off that pressure and enjoy the grind." This former Northern Manitoba girl has also had her peers take notice of her abilities. Last year she was a finalist in the category for 'Best Live Reporter' at the AMPIA (Alberta Motion Picture Industry Awards). Unfortunately, she didn't win, but she did attend the awards banquet in Edmonton. "It was exciting to be a finalist, especially since I just learned to do live reporting in Calgary," said Slugoski. "The nomination was for the live reporting I did for the breakfast news show during the G-8 summit in Calgary. My news director submitted my work, so I was honoured that he thought I was good enough to be a competitor." Even though she acknowledges that news reporting is the job of a lifetime, the young newscaster plans to leave her work for a short period. Slugoski's last day on the job was March 26. She's decided to take a year off work in order to travel, and is heading to Australia at the end of April. "I've decided that I should travel to gain some world experience, and also I want to take time off while I'm still young and have no commitments," she said. "I plan on getting back in the business once I return, but I am also taking a resume tape to Australia. Who knows, maybe I'll do some reporting there as well. However, I do want to be working in Vancouver in time for the Olympics."
