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MEET THE NEWS TEAM: Reporter Shawn Gibson

'In the end, just do the reporting and don’t worry about divisive people in the community,' says Rexdale native
2021-03-17 Shawn Gibson
Shawn Gibson is a staff reporter with BarrieToday.

During the course of the next few weeks, we'd like to introduce the members of our editorial team. Today, we feature Shawn Gibson, the longest-serving member of the BarrieToday newsroom.

Shawn is a general assignment reporter at BarrieToday and covers a wide variety of issues and events.  

1. Where did you attend post-secondary school, and what did you study?

I went to Humber College in Rexdale (my hometown) and took journalism.

2. What drew you to journalism? 

I’ve always been a news fanatic. I would be hooked to CNN when they would have their 24-hour coverage on anything from Baby Jessica to O.J. to the D.C. sniper. Also, local reporters and anchors were amazing to me. CITY-TV's Mark Dailey was the best!

3. What have been some of the highlights of your journalism career so far?

I didn’t go into journalism right after college. Life takes turns and I went away from it. But I would say the thing I’m most proud of was working, sometimes, three jobs in warehouses, using my six hours of awake time to get in some writing when I was freelancing. The goal was a full-time job in journalism and I’m very happy with how it turned out. 

4. What brought you to the area?

I used to come to Barrie to party in my younger days and I fell in love with the city. I swore I would raise my kids here when I had some, and here we are! I’m completely in love with this city.

5. What are your favourite stories to write? 

Any story that brings attention to a subject that not many had heard about. Whether it's a person, organization or cause, it's nice to get the messages saying the calls are coming in to help or join because someone read our story.

6. What do you find is the most challenging part of writing a story? 

The biased criticism. I take it personally and shouldn’t. There are angry people from the left and the right who just like to complain, and you can’t make everyone happy. In the end, just do the reporting and don’t worry about divisive people in the community. 

7. What is one of your journalism career goals and/or dream story?

I don’t even need to think about this. To be at the police press conference that announces they have solved the disappearance of Nicole Morin.