Facebook As A Journalistic Tool

Facebook is no longer just a social networking site that connects university and college students together.

The world’s largest networking site is now being used as a journalistic tool.

Facebook is a free social networking system that is made up of many networks where a wide variety of individuals and groups can connect.

The site allows users to create profiles, upload photos and videos, send messages and keep in touch with their friends and family.

Many journalists are finding Facebook to be an important resource in conducting the reporting that they do.

Facebook gives reporters the ability to connect to communities, find sources and generate leads.

Journalists can engage with their audience over Facebook and build connections with their sources.

James Murray, a reporter for CBC, agrees that Facebook is a good journalistic tool to use because the social media hears things before anyone else does.

Reporters have begun using their Facebook friends to help work on potential questions for interview subjects, to discover sources for articles that they did not know existed or to learn about events that could possibly turn into full-blown stories.

Murray says that if the star of a high school football team dies on the field, everyone who goes to that school will be posting messages about it on Facebook.

He says he sees no difference between using social networking sites as a journalistic tool and asking someone a question on the street.

“I see it as gossip in a bar,” says Murray.

Jim Rankin's Leap from Photography to Online Journalism

A romance was born when Jim Rankin’s got his first SLR camera at the age of 12. He now shares his love with a video-camera, audio-recorder and notpad.

The award-winning journalist has worked with the Toronto Star for 14 years. He has shifted from the world of photo-journalism to online journalism.

He launched a website called, Crime and Punishment, featured on The Toronto Star website in 2008.

The website exposes the shocking costs to lock a criminal up in Canada’s jails and maps out where the criminals originate from.

Canada spends $13 billion each year on policing, courts and corrections.

The website also features a game called, You Be The Judge, which allows viewers to learn about how hard it is for judges to come to their conclusions.

Even though Rankin has launched this website he does not forget his first love for photography.

Organic Brewering in Toronto

As much as we enjoy the bitter taste of an ice cold beer on a warm summer day, the environmental impact of beer making and drinking is not as enjoyable.

Beer is primarily made from barley and hops, which commercially involves the use of herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and fossil-fuel derived fertilizers.The chemicals used to produce these grains pose threats to human health and ecosystems.

Organic beer offers a better alternative to environmentally conscious consumers.Brewing organic beer benefits the environment by enhancing soil fertility, conserves water and produces fewer greenhouse gases.

The Steam Whistle Brewery in Toronto uses all natural ingredients, which consist of pure spring water, malted barley, hops and yeast, all GMO-free.

Steam Whistle Pilsner rolled off the line in March, 2000 using green glass bottles which are made with 30 per cent more glass. The green glass bottles are made sturdier for easy reuse. This allows for the same bottle to be washed, inspected and refilled up to 35 times.

The painted logo saves trees from becoming label paper and eliminates glue and dyes from contaminating the water drained from our bottle washer.

Next time it’s your round, try beers like Steam Whistle Pilsner, that are naturally crafted to help save the environment.