Nadia Tchoumi (CABJ)

Jun. 22

On this episode of Marketing News Canada, Darian Kovacs interviews Nadia Tchoumi, Manager, Media Relations and Communications at Union Gospel Mission.

Nadia is a journalist, entrepreneur, community leader and humanitarian. Her career began as a reporter for Rogers TV. She quickly established a name for herself and was promoted to anchor in less than two years. Her role diversified to include being a talk show host. Nadia relaunched the Canadian Association of Black Journalists, serving as the Executive Director.

Maintaining relationships is very important in journalism. Whether it be going for coffee or phoning a journalism contact you have, it is important to keep in touch. Keeping in touch allows you to reach out to them when you need assistance or information. Nadia said, “the relationship must be beneficial to both parties.”

She stated that 2020 was a major year for black journalists, the biggest event being the murder of George Floyd. She stated that this catastrophic event is what led to a major change in the world of black journalism. This event also drew a lot of attention to the black community and Black Lives Matter.

As a journalist, Nadia states that she always remembers the public relations folks that took the time to want to know more and hear her story. These are the people she makes a conscious effort to connect with and help them in turn. She said strong relations begin in this business when there is no “favour” needed but then they become the people you turn to when you need help.

Nadia believes there are a lot of attacks on credible journalists regarding “fake news.” She states that there often are stories put out to the media that are fake so it has ruined the reputation of many journalists writing true articles. With this being said, there is a significant decline in the number of people reading the news. So with fewer readers, many newspapers have been forced to shut down and lay off their employees.

One of the largest struggles as a journalist is finding information for articles that people want to read, but also need to read. She believes that more people need to be informed about the news, politics and other global issues, however, many people do not care. So the hard thing is figuring out how to communicate in compelling ways.

Although a great user of social media, Nadia has made the recent decision to stop using Twitter, this is because she believes it to be the largest outlet for fake news. With anyone having the ability to post articles and Tweets, it is hard for users to decide what is real and what is not.

Nadia has had the opportunity to experience different cultures and work in many fields of journalism. This is why she is the ideal person to be the Executive Director for the Canadian Association of Black Journalists.

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