Toronto (July 17, 2024) – One young Canadian reporter will embark on an extended reporting trip to the Republic of Kiribati in the central Pacific Ocean through the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary.
Kiribati may soon be the first country that rising sea levels will swallow up because of climate change. No part of the country’s land mass rises more than a few meters above the ocean and its Indigenous peoples may soon be forced to become climate refugees.
Megan King, a Global News reporter in Halifax, will produce an in-depth video series with full online and social media treatment. It will highlight the damage already done by rising sea levels, and what is to come if action isn’t taken on a global scale. King plans to spend six weeks reporting in Kiribati and its neighbouring islands to share stories of Kiribatians still holding onto hope for their homeland. She will bring her findings back to Canada and meet with the people of Pictou Landing and Cape Breton about the threats they face because of climate change.
“I’m honoured to receive the Roving Reporter Bursary. I look forward to talking to people that live in Kiribati, as well as environmental activists that are currently working to build walls and sustain the communities on the island for as long as possible.”
King has worked in various roles at Global News in Toronto, Kingston, and currently in Halifax. She is a digital broadcast journalist and tells stories that range from human interest pieces on homelessness, healthcare and municipal affairs — all the way to stories where she jumps out of a plane or chases a storm! King graduated from Western University’s Master of Media in Journalism and Communication program in 2020 and from Fanshawe College’s Broadcast Journalism program in 2019. During her time on the East Coast, she has developed a deeper interest in exploring the threats posed by rising sea levels to communities living along the coastline.
“The opportunity to hear firsthand accounts from people around the world on this issue is extremely exciting,” King said. “I can’t wait to learn and bring back my findings to Canadians with the hope of learning from the situations of others.”
“We are excited to support an early career journalist to travel to such a remote part of the world to tell a story that is relevant for all Canadians,” said Allan Thompson, President of the Gordon Sinclair Foundation. In 1986 Thompson was the first young journalist to receive funding from the Gordon Sinclair Foundation.
“We are happy to be able to support a Canadian journalist to report on an issue as import as climate change,” said Foundation Executive Producer Jeremy Copeland. “It is an honour to be help a journalist like Megan to pursue her dream of reporting abroad.”
King is the latest in a long line of young journalists who have been awarded funding by the Gordon Sinclair Foundation to undertake reporting expeditions around the world. Previous Bursary recipients have produced stories for multiple outlets, including the CBC, Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail.
The Roving Reporter Bursary was created in memory of Gordon Sinclair, who made his name reporting around the world for the Toronto Star in the 1930s. The bursary was established by friends of the remarkable journalist, author, radio commentator and television personality who was one of Canada’s most enduring celebrities until his death in 1984. Sinclair earned that celebrity during a career that included periods with the Toronto Star, CFRB radio and as a panelist on CBC’s long-running news quiz program Front Page Challenge.
At a time when most news organizations have cut back on travel, the Gordon Sinclair Roving Reporter Bursary is meant to support a major research and reporting trip by an early career Canadian journalist who has within the past five years graduated from one of Canada’s university-level journalism programs. The purpose of the $15,000 bursary is to encourage a young journalist to get off the beaten track and to spend a minimum of six weeks away on a reporting assignment.
Last year the Foundation awarded three Roving Reporter Bursaries after missing two years due to Covid.
Ania Bessonov spent several weeks reporting in Central Asia on the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Russians, many of which come from ethnic minorities. They fled Russia because of President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Bessonov is a multi-platform journalist at CBC News.
https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/ethnic-russian-migration
Isaac Phan Nay travelled to Ontario’s Ring of Fire region to produce a podcast that explored how local communities are reacting to provincial plans to heavily mine the region. Phan Nay is a freelance journalist and a recent graduate from Carleton’s journalism program.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/podcast/road/road
Jade Prévost-Manuel spent several weeks in Morrocco investigating the local impact of Canadian recruitment of qualified nurses and health care workers from North African countries. Prévost-Manuel is a freelance journalist and former CBC Joan Donaldson Scholar.
Information about applying for the Roving Reporter Bursary can be found at: https://gordonsinclairfoundation.ca/the-gordon-sinclair-roving-reporter-bursary/