A long career that spans around forty years. A passion that gave meaning to my life. Having the privilege of informing the population about the news and issues of our society has been a joy and a great source of satisfaction for me. I mainly worked in television for thirty years at Radio-Canada. When I started my career in Ottawa, I realized that my training as a physiologist was tailor-made to cover scientific news in this national capital which is full of research laboratories. It was the beginning of a journey that took me into the fascinating world of science.
L’actualité
Among the recent journalism freelances, there was one for the Canadian magazine L’Actualité. I produced columns on the most recent discoveries in neuroscience, the aim of which was to focus both on scientific research while giving perspective to current events through the functioning of the brain. Whether it is the impact of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine or social media, the goal was to explain how neuroscience can take a different look at current events.
To have access to all the chronicles of L’actualité :
https://lactualite.com/auteurs/michel-rochon/
Radio-Canada
In 1986, I began a long career for the public broadcaster which will give me unforgettable moments. First in the news department of the Ottawa station which will be my springboard towards scientific journalism. It was in 1987 that I offered a weekly column and scientific reports for the news bulletin. This is the start of a collaboration with the broadcasts Science Réalité, Le Point and Le Téléjournal.
From 1991 until 2009, I worked as a science journalist for the show Découverte. Then, I became a journalist and scientific and medical columnist for Téléjournal while collaborating on numerous programs including Une Heure sur Terre, RDI Santé and La semaine verte, to finally end my career on the show Enquête.
Thirty years of service
This is my last appearance on Radio-Canada as a journalist. A tribute that greatly touched me, live, from all the workers at the information center, on March 17, 2017, the day of my departure.
https://www.facebook.com/michel.parent.796/videos/10154984524527221
Enquête
This show represents the most difficult thing in terms of journalism. In addition to the basic qualities of journalistic practice, it takes an additional dose of flair, rigor, patience and perseverance to carry out a quality journalistic investigation. The exceptional team of this show has been a great source of inspiration. After two leads which did not bear fruit, I ended up producing with director Dany Croussette, an investigation into the illegal practices of doctors at La Clinique de l'oeil des Laurentides: the cataract millionaires.
The Laurentian Eye Clinic: the cataract millionaires
A few weeks later, we did it again with a second, shorter report tracking reactions to the first. The impact of our work led to the first search by the new Régie de la santé investigation unit in the clinic offices.
To explore the most recent Investigation files:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/enquete/site
Téléjournal
From 2009 to 2015, I worked at the Radio-Canada Information Center as a journalist and scientific and medical columnist. I therefore followed the news on a daily basis with the production of news reports, live broadcasts and public affairs reports on all issues affecting health, the environment, space, new technologies and science.
I collaborated regularly on RDI news bulletins, the television news shows of Patrice Roy and Céline Galipeau, 24-60 with Anne-Marie Dusseault, RDI Santé with Marie-Claude Lavallée and RDI Matin with Marc-André Masson among others. Here you will find a brief overview of my production (which includes hundreds of reports and interventions in front of the camera),
Crisis in emergencies: L’état d’urgence
A series of three public affairs reports for Téléjournal du Grand Montréal which demonstrated the crisis plaguing emergency rooms. Three hospitals – Notre-Dame, General and Maisonneuve-Rosemont – accepted our cameras for a fair and real look at the congestion and the efforts made to offer the best service in difficult conditions.
This series - L'état d'urgence - won the Prix média de l’Association médicale canadienne in 2012. Teamwork rewarded for this effort: Dany Croussette, director, Patrick-André Perron, camera, Gilles Turcotte, sound and Ronald jr Roy and Normand Bourget for editing.
Journey into the brain
Céline Galipeau asked me to take stock of the most important advances in neuroscience. I chose connectomics. The Harvard team asked me to join the human connectome project. So in a way I offered my brain to science by agreeing to undergo functional magnetic resonance with water diffraction which gave a detailed image of all the connections between the different regions of the cortex and the system. limbic of my brain. A gripping report that explores the potential of these advances in neuroscience.
The discovery of a habitable exoplanet
A big challenge in journalism is explaining complex scientific phenomena in seconds. Here is one example among several, a report and a conversation on Téléjournal on the discovery of a new habitable exoplanet.
"À votre santé" chronicle
From 2015 to 2017, the Téléjournal team offered me the opportunity to host a column on medical news with Céline Galipeau. I covered the most diverse subjects, ranging from diseases to innovative therapies, including analyzes of the most recent health studies. In a dynamic question/answer style with the use of a table and a montage of relevant images, this column gave depth to Téléjournal.
Here are some examples of these chronicles. There are several others on YouTube.
Une Heure sur Terre
The television show Une Heure sur Terre, which deals with international current affairs, asked me to produce a one-hour documentary on the French health system entitled “Urgence d’agir”. Nominated for the Prix Gémeaux in 2013 in the best report category, it was broadcast on the show three times. The director Yanic Lapointe, the cameraman and I followed the French health professionals in the heat of the action.
We told the stories of the SAMU with, the biggest emergency in France, that of the Lariboisière hospital, SOS Médecin and family medicine. At the end of the documentary, we try to understand why Quebec cannot draw inspiration from effective French practices. Radio-Canada removed the report from its site and it is not available elsewhere on the internet, which is a shame because it is still current.
Vol de vie
“Vol de vie” is a documentary produced by the “Transcultural” section of Radio-Canada which no longer exists today. It is part of a series of four documentaries to mark the centenary of Canadian aviation in 2009. Director Yves Lévesque and I told the stories of Canadians who use the plane to save lives.
We followed pediatrician Johanne Morel who dedicated herself to caring for Inuit families in Ungava Bay. We accompanied a helicopter pilot who made more than 200 rescues, often at the risk of his life, a medical team who flew to the rescue of a heart patient in Cuba and a Canadian Forces team who intervened all over the world to save victims of natural disasters.
Nominated for the Gémeaux Prize for excellence in technical work in sound recording, it is unfortunately no longer available on the internet.
Découverte
The popular science program Découverte is an institution. From 1992 to 2009 then from 2015 to 2016, I produced a large number of reports, documentaries and chronicles in the fields of health, the environment, space and high technologies. A great school of popularization for television, this show has won a large number of international distinctions.
The director-coordinators Thérèse Patry and Hélène Leroux as well as the editor-in-chief Pierre Sormany shaped the success of this show. Almost all of the production is not available on the Radio-Canada website or elsewhere on the internet. The choice that is therefore made here does not reflect the reports that I wanted to present to you. I therefore encourage the broadcaster to work to ensure the sustainability of its production for future generations.
Dawson, Code Orange
The most memorable documentary of my career is without a doubt “Dawson, Code Orange”. With director Yves Lévesque, cameraman Pierre Mainville, sound engineer Éric Celton and assistant director Priscille Beaulieu, we recreated with great realism all the medical care given to the victims of the Dawson College shooting , September 13, 2006. Beyond the two victims, around twenty students were injured. The report recounts all the efforts of paramedics, police officers, nurses and doctors to save the lives of these victims.
A report that took a year of effort to convince both certain victims but also the doctors and health professionals involved to relive the event for our cameras. A touching shoot which allowed many to make peace with the horror of the event. I think all of this comes across on screen since the report has won numerous awards. Five nominations for the Prix Gémeaux including one won, the silver medal in the medical documentary category at the World Media Festival in Hamburg, Germany.
Palais Montcalm: the acoustic palace
My passion for music has given rise to numerous reports on the Découverte show. “ Le cerveau et la musique » with the director Pascal Gélinas won the Science and Society Prize of the Canadian Association of Science Editors in 1999 and the Scientific Investigation Prize at the 15th International Scoop and Journalism Festival in 2000. I also produced with the director Yves Lévesque « Musicothérapie et Alzheimer« , « Folie et créativité » with the musician Jorane and « Le syndrome de Williams ». Here is the report produced in 2008 with Pierre Tonietto on the construction of the “Palais Montcalm” performance hall, the acoustic palace.
Nomination for the Roberval Prize
The report was nominated for the Roberval Prize of the University of Technology of Compiègne in France in 2009. This prize, open to the French-speaking world, rewards works whose subject is the explanation of a technology. Finalist in the television category, it was cited for the originality of its form and the quality of its popularization.
Explanètes
Here is a report on René Doyon's team from the Institute for Research on Exopianets at the University of Montreal. We see their decisive work for the James Webb Space Telescope which is in operation today. This team is responsible for the telescope's stabilization equipment essential for taking images and the equipment necessary for detecting exoplanets.
La plastisphère
A shocking report on the extent of the plastic problem in our oceans with proof that these plastics have entered the oceanic food chain. Produced by Pier Gagné and Chantal Théoret and broadcast in October 2016. The City of Montreal presented this report to elected officials in the Council room to make them aware of the need to pass a regulation on the single use of plastic bags.
Le cerveau bilingue
A report on the positive effects of practicing several languages on brain plasticity. In addition, more scientific research shows that our brain uses code switching to switch from one language to another. There are only positive effects on cognition and memory.
Collaborations-Radio/TV/Written
On est pas sorti de l’auberge
Original show on food hosted by Francis Reddy. During the 2017-2018 season, I had a health crisis. Here is an extract on cholesterol and eggs…
Ce Soir – Ottawa
Between 1986 and 1990, I worked at Radio-Canada as a journalist in the television news room of the Ottawa station. This is where I suggested starting a science “beat” for the newsletter. I produced news reports, public affairs reports and live broadcasts in the field or in the studio on scientific news. Some of my reports have been broadcast on the national network in the shows Le Point and Science Réalité among others.
One of my very first reports for Ce Soir Ottawa:
Other media
I also collaborated with other media including the newspaper La Presse and the magazine Québec Science La Presse et le magazine Québec Science.
Dire
Since 2013, the magazine Dire publishes scientific popularization articles from all fields (art and culture, history, politics, society, science and technology, etc.) written in French by second and third cycle students registered at the University of Montreal. I was asked to be the guest columnist for the 2020 editions. I was also invited to speak in front of the students to tell them about the importance of popularization.
First column for Dire magazine:
Association des communicateurs scientifiques
A member of the "Association des communicateurs scientifiques du Québec" since 1992, I have been involved at various levels in the advancement of science communication in Quebec. I have been, in turn, administrator, secretary, treasurer, vice-president and president of the ACS.
Presidency
I was president of the ACS between 1995-1996 and again from 2019 to 2020. The role of president is to promote greater influence of scientific popularization in Quebec. Through professional training offered to members and its annual conference, the ACS allows nearly 300 journalists, communicators, museologists, editors and producers to enrich their profession and network more effectively.
Here is an example of media interventions during my second term:
https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/idees/562504/faire-de-la-science-un-enjeu-electoral
Fernand-Seguin Scholarship
I had the chance to collaborate in the relaunch of the Fernand-Seguin Scholarship in the early 1990s and to closely follow the evolution of the winners for around twenty years.
This scholarship, which is of great importance for the next generation of science journalists, allows the winners to do internships in the country's major media and increase their chance of becoming professional science journalists.
The Fernand-Seguin grant website :