Zoe McKnight is a Toronto based freelancer who’s worked for the Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun, National Post and many others. A recent Ryerson graduate, her piece, “The Kingston Whig’s Columnist Behind Bars”, was featured on J-Source. Jose Vivar is the inmate in focus who was arrested in 2007 in relation to guns, drugs and money in Toronto. Kailey Guillemin had the chance to chat with McKnight over the phone about working on this article and her experience so far as a new journalist.
Kailey Guillemin: How did you come across the “Kingston Whig’s columnist behind bars”?
Zoe McKnight: This isn’t that great of a story because it was sent to me from a friend who was freelancing and is now doing the Michelle Lang Fellowship so he doesn’t have time to freelance. I think he pitched it to J-Source last year maybe, or a few months ago, and they didn’t bite. He then sent it to me. I think he saw my byline on J-Source and said they didn’t want it as a freelance piece before – and it was also just the editor he sent it to –but see if they are interested in it now. So I sent it to my editor at J-Source, Bruce Gillespie, and he thought it was great.
KG: So what were your first thoughts when this got pitched to you?
ZM: When anything is the first or the only one, obviously that perks up editors ears and I think when you say this is probably the only prison columnist in Canada that’s writing for a mainstream publication, then obviously there is going to be some kind of story there.
KG: Can you take me through the process of writing this story?
ZM: So how to get him, I actually wasn’t’ even sure if I would be able to. I’ve never tried to contact anybody in prison before and I was worried I’d have to go through Corrections Services Canada or try and get permission somehow, and obviously dealing with a federal bureaucracy can take forever. But I called the editor of the Whig who didn’t really know Jose because he was relatively new in that role and wasn’t there when the decision was made to bring Jose on as a columnist. So he directed me to Greg Burliuk because he is the person who is kind of the liaison, as a former writer at the Whig and now a deacon in the Catholic Church in Kingston. But part of his role as a deacon is he communicates with and meets inmates and used to run a writing club and book club. So I called [Burliuk] he did have Jose’s mom’s email so I emailed her and she wrote me back a couple days later and we arranged a time to talk. So I didn’t have to go through the government, I didn’t have to go through the prison to talk to him maybe because he’s in I think it’s a medium security [prison]. And then she three-way called me so I’m pretty sure his mom was on the line while I was talking to him.
KG: So that’s pretty cool that you got to talk to Jose himself.
ZM: Yeah. I think he agreed to it because he is interested in pursuing journalism on the outside when he gets out. He’s talking about going to journalism school and talking about how to figure out a strategy now to highlight his experience into a career. I don’t know if that is going to be possible for him but I think that’s probably why he agreed to talk to me thinking that any exposure would maybe help in that regards.
KG: When you were going through this article yourself, did you have any kind of personal feelings when writing this?
ZM: I was a little concerned with being balanced about it because the guy is in jail for crime, he was convicted, and I know a lot of his columns talk about rehabilitation and remorse and all that kind of stuff. So he’s like a sympathetic person I was worried about celebrating somebody who is convicted of very serious crimes but ultimately it’s really not up to me to judge. And what he is doing is interesting, his support that he has is interesting and what he writes about is what got me when you read his columns. A lot of them are every thoughtful and insightful about the prison system, how it works how the odds are stacked against certain groups of people, what kinds of people are incarcerated what their day to day lives is like and, like he said, it’s very humanizing. Ultimately it’s not for me to decide whether or not the guy belongs in jail. It is what it is. He’s in jail and he’s writing from there.
KG: What reactions have you been getting from this article?
ZM: It went around Twitter and people were like “oh cool look at this.” Nothing really particularly directed at me. I know that his column in the Whig have prompted criticism and letters to the editor and all that kind of stuff, for and against him. But personally, to be honest, the reaction was just like a regular day.
KG: Have you been in contact with Jose since you’ve written this article?
ZM: No I sent the link to his mom. His mom left me an email thanking for taking the time to speak with [her] son and I wrote her back and sent her the link but she never responded. I don’t know if she was unhappy with it because obviously you have to say what he was incarcerated for and that also I have to say he was acquitted of a first degree murder charge and these are serious crimes he was accused and convicted of. So I don’t if she was unhappy with the article sort of bringing that back up again. So I don’t know I haven’t heard from her, or him.
KG: Let’s shift to more about you. What was your experience like going through journalism school?
ZM: The work experience part of it was very valuable. Let’s leave it at that.
KG: Do you like freelancing better or would you prefer to work with a news outlet?
ZM: Freelancing gives you more freedom. Also a lot more risk, I guess, a little more stressful. Working in a newsroom is great because everyone is in the same boat and you have a lot of people you can ask for help and advice. I think I would consider working in a newsroom, there just isn’t that many jobs.
KG: Do you have any kind of struggles you would be willing to share?
ZM: The struggle, like the day to day struggle is almost always getting the right person to talk to you by your deadline. Almost always. The broader one is steady work is really a challenge for people graduating from journalism school. I guess trying to do the best you can with the education you now have and sort your ideals and matching that with the day to day demand.
KG: Last questions. Any tips for us new journalists entering the workforce in a few months?
ZM: Honestly if you really want to do it you have to keep trying. Actually there’s a really good quote from David Carr where it’s like it shouldn’t be easy because if it was easy everybody would do it. And journalism beats having a job. Also don’t just pick communications or something if you can’t get the newsroom job right away. Don’t just cross over to the dark side. Another piece of advice I wish I had done is be good at one particular thing. Whether it be data, social media, or I don’t even know science or something, because there’s a lot of general reporters out there and there’s not a lot of experts or people who have specific skill sets and I think that is really valuable when you’re trying to get a job.
KG: Any tips for freelancing?
ZM: I haven’t really been freelancing for very long. I’ve only been doing it for five or six months so I would say I don’t really know, I’m actually trying to figure it out myself.
The dirty secret: journalism has always been horrible to get in; you always have to eat so much crap to find a place to stand. I waited tables for seven years, did writing on the side. If you’re gonna get a job that’s a little bit of a caper, that isn’t really a job, that under ideal circumstances you get to at least leave the building and leave your desktop, go out, find people more interesting than you, learn about something, come back and tell other people about it – that should be hard to get into. That should be hard to do. No wonder everybody’s lined up, trying to get into it. It beats working.
- David Carr
This interview has been edited and condensed.
