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Canadian Centre for Verbatim Studies open for business

Lucrative careers in real time reporting

At first glance the Meech Lake Accord, the David Milgaard case and a patent infringement lawsuit in Hungary don't seem to have much to do with each other.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2008-01-09 ]

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The Canadian Centre for Verbatim Studies is the only English language school of its kind in eastern Canada and one of just three in the entire country.

But there's at least one single thread running through all of them: Kimberly Stewart was a verbatim reporter for each of them, dutifully noting every word that was said during the failed constitutional negotiations, the Supreme Court of Canada hearing for the wrongly convicted Saskatchewan man and the arguments, pro and con, in Budapest.

Verbatim -- or real time --reporting is a great career, says Stewart, whose work has taken her to more than 30 countries, but there are far too few reporters for the work that's available, she says. That's why Stewart has opened the Canadian Centre for Verbatim Studies in downtown Toronto.

Approved by Ontario's Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, the centre is the only English language school of its kind in eastern Canada and one of just three in the entire country. The other schools are in Edmonton and in Montreal, where the language of instruction is French.

The centre's first class of full-time students began its studies Jan. 7, with part-time students following them the next day. Class size is capped at 46 students to ensure a good student to teacher ratio, says Stewart, the centre's president and an 18-year verbatim reporter.

Her students come from "virtually all over," she explains. "We've even had a call from New Zealand." Irrespective of where they come from, Stewart says most of her students will be women. Full-time students will take courses for 44 weeks for two years, part-timers will study two evenings a week for three years.

Richard Williams, the centre's executive director, says the students will learn what is essentially machine shorthand writing. That means they record the sounds they hear -- not the words -- on a steno machine and software translates their reporting into a real time transcript that can then be edited if necessary. When fully trained, Williams says, real time reporters can record speech at 225 words a minute. Normal conversation speed is about 200 words a minute.

As well as working in courtrooms and similar venues, the centre's graduates will also be qualified to work supplying closed captioning to TV broadcasts.

Stewart says to enrol in a real time reporting course students must be native English speakers or have native-like fluency. There is also an entrance exam to test spelling, hearing and listening -- including the ability to distinguish homonyms (two words with the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings). Applicants also have to write an essay and be able to type at 30 words a minute. That test is to see if they have the necessary dexterity to succeed, Stewart says.

Because of the skills involved and the scarcity of real time reporters -- there are fewer than 100 of them in the entire country and their average age is 50 -- it's hardly surprising trained reporters can earn six figures and new graduates can expect to be snapped up.

"They do get paid exceptionally well," Stewart says, pegging the average annual income at $120,000 a year, with the more established practitioners earning a heady $200,000 plus. Closed captioning work is also highly lucrative, with trained reporters earning up to $200 an hour.

Of course, as with any highly paid occupation tuition isn't cheap. Full-time students pay $1,200 a month, Stewart says, with those studying part time spending $850.

The centre isn't yet OSAP eligible but Stewart notes there is flexible financing available, and tuition fees cover books, software and the steno machine.