Alumni Profile: Jeremy McDonald, MAJ '07

2/7/2012 11:27:44 AM

CBC Power & Politics Segment Producer Jeremy McDonald is the latest addition to the series of alumni profiles being produced through the journalism program.

Visit the Journalism Alumni Gallery of Distinction for more profiles.

By Matt Lundy

He doesn’t know where it came from, but Jeremy McDonald has a reputation for being a political junkie. When the CBC rebranded its news network in 2009, McDonald was reassigned to Power & Politics – one of the network’s flagship programs – and he says his colleagues were quick to comment on how the job was right up his alley.

“I never thought of myself as an overtly political person,” says McDonald. “When I was working for CBC Newsworld, I did a lot of the 2008 (American) presidential election coverage for the network, and maybe that’s where I got this label as being a politics guy.”

Whatever you might label him, McDonald says he’s focused on making good television and telling a variety of stories, not just those on Parliament Hill. Since graduating in 2007 from Western’s journalism program, McDonald has worked as a segment producer for CBC News Today and Power & Politics, and done a stint as a reporter in Windsor, Ont.

But the place where he learned the nuts and bolts of television production – from operating tape to shooting video and hosting live events – was on community access television.

During his undergraduate studies at Western, McDonald started to volunteer with Rogers community stations, exploring a childhood fascination with visual media. “When you’re a kid, everyone wants to be on television, and that might be what initially attracted me to television,” he says. McDonald volunteered with community stations in London, York Region and Scarborough, his hometown, and took whatever shifts and training he could get. Before long, he was shooting live sports events and even filled-in at the last minute as the host of a university basketball game.

“It’s a great opportunity for people who want to work in television or want to get a better understanding of television,” he says. “You can just go and sign up as a volunteer and operate a camera, or in some cases, get on air and do reports.”

McDonald would like to become a reporter for the CBC, because working on-air was his main goal when he got into journalism. For now, he’s eager to work for a news network where, he says, “the number one priority is public service.”

Also see: Adrienne Arsenault, Raveena Aulakh, Stephen Brunt, Barbara Crook, Avis Favaro, Brodie Fenlon, Joe Ruscitti, Scott Russell