JOURNALISM PORTFOLIO
Read my work and view my photos below.
ABOUT ME
Aly Beach
My passion is writing. I love the process: The story hunting, the outlining, the writing, and the editing. I enjoy the rush of finding a story and those lightbulb moments when I find that missing piece to a story.
My educational, personal and professional experience has taught me to be persistent, observant and critical of detail. has taught me that there can be a story or a source anywhere- you just have to look. I'm not one to give up, I'll just keep digging until I find what I'm looking for.
STORIES
SCALPERS RUIN EVENTS FOR ALL
The Ontario government is trying to do something about the fiendish cyber villains stealing tickets from Canada’s most loyal fans: scalper bots. It’s about time.
Last month, Attorney General Yasir Naqvi announced the Ontario government is planning to implement new legislation to better regulate online ticket sales, specifically ticket scalping. The province has launched an online consultation so consumers can give their ideas for the new law.
The push for new legislation comes from fans’ disappointment over the sold-out Tragically Hip shows. Fans were denied as many as two-thirds of tickets, all thanks to scalper bots, according to CBC News.
DC, UOIT LEAVE THE PACK BEHIND
Do you want to quit smoking? The Leave the Pack Behind program offered on campus might be able to help you.
Young adults smoke more than any other age group, and about 2,000 students smoke on campus, according to Campus Health Centre nurse Nicole Daniel. She says approximately one in four smokers have their first cigarette after the age of 18.
“Obviously, being a young adult is stressful, with school, work and balancing everything and often moving out and all those things. So, we want to prevent those people from starting smoking in their college and university years,” says Daniel.
project or document so readers can enjoy the entire piece.
PUNK'S NOT DEAD AT THE RMF
Punk proved it was alive and well on Friday. The Atria, an Oshawa bar, was packed as people gathered to see the punk showcase of the Reel Music Festival.
Pickering band Sight By City kicked off the night with their song “This Time.” They performed new songs and some old ones. The band also covered Green Day’s iconic “American Idiot.”
They also announced they plan to release a new EP soon, and have just finished recording it.
They performed, “Run Away,” a song the lead vocalist called a “lovey-dovey” song.
“[I was] told to write a nice song and this is what we came away with,” he said.
THE WOMAN BEHIND WORKABILITY
“Success is more than a paycheque,” says Dawn Lauchlan, which echoes the values of Ontario Works and a workshop called Workability.
Lauchlan has worked for the Regional Municipality of Durham for 25 years. Lauchlan says that her initial plan was to be a teacher. But after working at the John Howard Society, she realized that community work was her true calling.
“I got into community work and really loved it and my plan was to go back to school to get my bachelor of education just shifted,”
PLAIN PACKAGING: JUST SMOKE AND MIRRORS
During the last election, the Liberal Party of Canada talked of promises to implement plain packaging on cigarettes in an effort to reduce smoking rates. Australia, the UK, and France all stand behind this promise; Canada should stand against it.
The problem is that the plain packaging test-run in Australia was debatably ineffective. Plain packaging will not work. Plain packaging will increase illegal tobaccos sales, and there are already so many safeguards in place to limit advertising, and laws for smoking.
DC ALUMNI SINGS HEART OUT AT THE RMG
The crowd was captivated as Tay Sera, all smiles, sang her heart out to her original song called “Reap What You Sew” while playing at the RMG on Friday.
Tay Sera, also known as Taylor Murray, is a Durham College Alumni who graduated from the Entrepreneurship and Small Business program who graduated in 2014.
The self-described indie-folk musician played a mix of original songs as well as covers. The general theme of her set-list was risk-taking and reflecting on personal experiences.
LIP SYNCHING FOR A GOOD CAUSE
An electric energy filled E.P Taylor’s as the first Our Lips Are Synced event took the stage at the Reel Music Festival last week.
The event is a lip synching battle between participants, similar to the Lip Sync Battle on Spike TV. The event is run by music business management (MBM) and is part of the RMF. All proceeds went to charities selected by the participating team.
Each team performing in the competition picks a charity that proceeds from the event to go to. The first place winner wins half of the money for their charity, while second and third place winners get a quarter each.
POP PUNK PLAYS THE PHEONIX
Hundreds of fans flocked to Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre to enjoy a concert experience given by one of the biggest names in pop-punk, The Wonder Years, with some coming from as far as Thunder Bay.
“It’s hard to keep track of how many times we’ve circled the world, how many times we’ve crossed the border and been to Toronto. But I’ll tell you what,” yelled lead singer Dan “Soupy” Campbell, “we’re going to remember this, because you guys are f—–g killing it, Toronto!”
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PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
RESEARCHER- WHITE RABBIT COMMUNICATIONS- CALGARY AB
2012
Researched and recorded specific companies and contacts
Found email addresses and other important contact information
JOURNALIST - PETERBOROUGH THIS WEEK NEWSPAPER- PETERBOROUGH ON
2013
Co-op work placement at Peterborough This Week
Wrote, edited and published articles, briefs
Conducted interviews to gather information
Conducted phone surveys
JOURNALIST - THE DURHAM COLLEGE & UOIT CHRONICLE NEWSPAPER- OSHAWA ON
2017
Wrote several stories for final print of the Durham College/UOIT Chronicle of the semester (Look here)
Produced pages to go to print on Adobe InDesign
Conducted in-depth research and interviews for story
Winner of 2016 Best Commentary Award and Best Photo Award for first year at the Durham College Journalism Awards
Met tight deadlines
WEB CONTENT CREATOR/EDITOR- REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OF DURHAM- WHITBY ON
2017
Created and edited webpage content for the Region’s new website
Conducted in-depth research for webpage information
Wrote in plain language using the official Durham Region web writing style and CP style
Participated in weekly meetings
Communicated and collaborated with several departments to complete web content
Tracked resources and number of completed pages
CONTACT
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