Recent alumni, Blake Sifton (‘09), has landed a job as Deputy News Editor with Al Jazeera. Working alongside the News Editor, Blake assists in running the news desk.

His work involves liaising with teams in the field and other broadcast centres, booking satellites and other feeds via the dedicated satellite booker, arranging for recordings of incoming material and briefing members of the programme production team.

Blake was one of a group of ten students in UBC’s Master of Journalism International Reporting class last year.  Along with his classmates, he has been nominated for two Emmy Awards for the resultant docmentary “Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground”. 

Focusing on documentary, broadcast news, magazine and print, Blake has interned or worked for the CBC UK bureau, The Daily News Egypt, PBS Frontline World, ABC Documentary Group, The NBC News Channel and Adbusters Magazine. These experiences have taken him to Ghana, Egypt, the West Bank, Mexico, the UK and US.

Blake completed his joint honours BA in International Development and Middle East Politics at McGill University in 2007.