Journalism school prof says Thank you Rob Ford

Toronto-Nov 27, 2012– by Ellin Bessner.
I owe a big thank you to embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, and not just for this semester, but ever since he was elected to office in 2010.
Because of him, teaching municipal reporting to my journalism students has never been so easy.
Until Ford came into office, you couldn’t count the number of eye rolls and yawns in my class when we got to the unit mid-November about why it is important to cover civic politics.  Usually there might be one or two students out of a class of thirty who even knew where city hall is located  (hint: it will be on the quiz) and probably only three or four students who cared anything about local politics. This was especially true under the David Miller administration.
Enter Rob Ford, the colourful, shoot from the hip, controversial mayor, with his conflict of interest trial, his libel suit, his astounding use of a TTC bus for his Don Bosco football team, his driving while reading infraction, and so on.
The result?
Now, not only do my students jump at the chance to go down to cover city council meetings, but some even dress up for the outing.
They are engaged, and eager, and they all turned up for today’s (November 27) council meeting, the first one since Ontario Superior Court judge Charles Hackland ruled Monday that Ford violated provincial conflict of interest rules and should be removed from his position.
And what a spectacle they witnessed.
The public gallery was as packed as I’ve ever seen it. EMS workers were there in their yellow emergency jackets to lobby for more new hires. Two workers turned up from the west end cookie factory that is about to be closed and turned into condos (they wore t-shirts that read: Don’t let condos eat my job).  And there were more reporters and journalists and members of the media then I’ve ever seen there, even more then when Rob Ford was sworn in two years ago and Don Cherry wore his pink jacket for the occasion and called Ford’s opponents Lefty Pinkos.
The benefits of having such high drama play out in a forum that is open to the public, where anyone can watch it in person, including my journalism class, is something worth all the homework and essays and Canadian Press style quizzes that they also have to learn during their training at Centennial College.
When the journalists from CP24 and CITY TV and the others scrummed councillor Giorgio Mammoliti today, a close Ford ally, my students were right in there with their tape recorders and note pads.
It got so noisy that the speaker, Frances Nunziata, kept threatening to kick the media out, and even scolded the councillors for disrupting the proceedings when they headed up the stairs to the back of the council chamber to give their 30 second sound bytes to the press corps.
With at least 14 camera crews on hand, plus tables full of reporters from every media outlet imaginable present in the council chamber today, it was certainly a memorable event.  Usually, the city hall press corps stays downstairs in their offices on the first floor when council meets, and comes upstairs only when something particularly interesting is being debated, like the plastic bag ban, or more ice time for girls’ hockey in Leaside.
Today, with everyone there waiting to see who would say what after the legal ruling that could kick Ford out of his job in 14 days, the excitement in the air was palpable. One of my shiest students participated in four scrums today with outspoken councillors including Mammoliti, and Adam Vaughan, and was emboldened enough to tell me he wanted to nab the mayor’s brother, Doug Ford, too. A second student who is a foreign trained journalist now back at school to gain Canadian credentials, was the only one to clinch an exclusive interview with one of the most respected politicians in the city, former councillor Mike Feldman, who is in his 80’s, who was in the public gallery today. And if that wasn’t enough excitement, the Grey Cup was in the building too, as the Argonauts victory Parade and rally was held just outside the front doors and the football players were carrying the cup in the lobby of city hall.  Three of my students (who I know want to be sports reporters), didn’t hesitate to get their quotes and photos in and around the rally at Nathan Phillips Square.
Want to get journalism students excited about their chosen profession?
Here’s the formula:  Rob Ford + the Grey Cup + Argos cheerleaders + rubbing shoulders with Christie Blatchford.  Mix together, and you’ve got  a winning recipe for journalism education. So thank you, Rob Ford.