Vanessa Wright
Vanessa Wright (external link) ‘22 is a video journalist for CTV News based in Halifax, N.S.
Since the end of 2024, Wright has been with CTV News writing, shooting, editing and producing daily news for Nova Scotians.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was it like leading up to graduation?
The only reason I really wanted to be a journalist was that I loved watching the NBA with my family. It was a routine we did every week, and so I just always wanted to be a sideline reporter.
I kind of went into J-school knowing that was going to be an end goal for me, but of course, you get exposed to a bunch of different types of journalism and broadcasting. One thing for me in my journey, I don't know what year it was, but there was a time when we were getting a whole bunch of alumni coming to our lectures, and they would be working at Global News or The Globe and Mail, and we were in awe.
My best friend and I, who was also in J-school that year, I would tell her, “are we ever going to get into these sorts of prestigious stations and companies?” It was like a dream.
Getting into the news aspect was a great start for me because it's a good learning foundation for journalism altogether.
I did do maybe two or three articles for [The Eyeopener]. That was a lot of fun, and I captured my experience as a Black Journalism student (external link) , one of the only ones in that year. And overall, it was such a great journey. There were highs and lows, just like anything.
Would you like to add more about The Eyeopener article?
I was kind of scared to write that, to be honest. Not because of any backlash or anything, but it was my first time putting my own thoughts out to the public.
But I felt so much conviction in it, and I was really excited about it. It opened up the doors for what I wanted to stand for as a journalist in the future: integrity, honesty and commitment.
That launched my feelings about who I wanted to be, not just as a journalist, but as a woman in this industry, and that was a really important piece.
How did you get to your current role at CTV News?
When I graduated in 2022, it was a little bit tough because I knew I was very hellbent on being a journalist in Toronto, finding something and staying at home. That's where I set my bases out initially, but I was still working odd jobs that weren't in journalism.
I think a lot of people, a lot of grads experience that at one point or another, where they're just like, “did I choose the right thing? I'm not even doing what I said I was going to do.” My mom was like, “you should just apply for different places outside of the province.”
So that's what I did, and in 2023, I started with Global News Halifax, which was such a great time because they hired me as a video journalist or a VJ. That's a pretty pressing role; you have to write, edit, and shoot all your own content, and then report on it for a five or six p.m. deadline.
So that was my first launch into that, and I learned a lot of great things. Then in 2024, I left Halifax for Global News Durham briefly, and at the end of 2024, I came back to Nova Scotia, and I am now with CTV Atlantic.
It’s been really, really good.
What was the experience like going from wanting to be a Toronto-based journalist to moving out East for the job?
I did have a lot of growth in that year. Not only was I a first-time journalist, very, very green, what made it even more difficult was that in the year before, the year I graduated, we were still coming off of COVID-19. So I didn't have an in-person internship.
I was really coming into that role with Global News Halifax, banking on my own love for being in broadcast. At first, it was very difficult. It was also my first time living alone, living in a new province, a new city, all of that.
Looking back on it, I know for a fact that had that not happened, I would not have anything to attribute my current success to.
Looking back, how do you think you’ve grown from your first job in Nova Scotia to now?
I would say confidence is what I'm most proud of. If you're taking on a role, like a VJ, you're constantly working on a bunch of different skills every single day, writing, reporting, live reporting, editing, long-form writing, shooting and camera work. We work on all those things. There are a lot of technical things to be proud of, but confidence is really gained over time.
When I first started at Global News Halifax, I would go out with my colleagues, and a lot of people would be like, “oh, so this is the intern that you have with you.”
Shout-out to my colleagues who would be like, “no, she's a reporter, she's the newest on our team.” I would get that a lot.
It took me a long time to learn to be confident, even after experiencing stuff like that.
Because when you know your own abilities, and you're confident in your own abilities, it's like, anything anyone tells you otherwise is like, it's null and void, and so I'm so grateful for working every day to get that confidence back because it's a hard journey to take, but I think that overall is what I can look back and, and be proud of.
What does your job look like on a day-to-day basis?
My day usually starts around nine, and all the reporters usually pitch stories; we pitch what's happening for the day. Then, as soon as we get assigned our work, within the next hour, we're making calls, essentially the chasing phase of your story.
That's the beauty of it, that no day is ever really the same. So after you're done chasing, you'll usually go out and videotape or record your own interviews.
Then you come back to transcribe it all and put a script together. Depending on the story, you may be asked to go live.
In the role I'm in right now, after that whole broadcast portion is over, you would put out a written web copy as well.
It's a pretty chaotic day, but having the final result, seeing your story air, I always watch back my stories, just to try to look at it as a viewer.
I would say that is the gratification that comes at the end of each day, knowing that what started as a thought or a pitch that somebody mentioned ended up being a full-on story.
