National Newspapers/ Online news services

uefa.com is a web site updated daily covering all aspects of European football from Champions League, UEFA cup, FIFA world championships, European Championships and domestic leagues across Europe in adult and youth ages.

Introduction.

Before arriving for the placement, one “match” night was undertaken which saw the office at the height of activity. The job for the evening was subbing minute by minute accounts and checking half and full time reports. Minute by minute accounts means as the match progresses the match highlights are updated live on the website every minute. This had to be checked for spelling, grammar and accuracy according to which player did what.

On arriving at the office for the first day, I was introduced to the “lads” who worked there everyday, shown around the office, given the codes for the doors and a password to access the main uefa network. I used my own e mail and MSN messenger account as this was the way reports and stories were sent to me for subbing and editing.

Work.

My daily jobs included subbing any reports and stories which were due to be uploaded that day, downloading photographs, adding copyright tags and altering them to fit the page requirements and uploading them into the system and the daily news roundup. I was also asked to write short news stories, add in crossheads and headlines for normal stories, rewrite reports from foreign correspondents and write a news feature about the FIFA under-19 world youth championships for which I received my first by-line.

What did I learn?

I learnt how to sub, add crossheads and write a basic sports news story. I consolidated my knowledge of Adobe Photoshop with having to edit photos. I learnt how the uefa.com network system works and also learnt that writing a news feature is a lot harder than it looks even though it’s about something you are familiar with.

What do I take away from the experience?

Confidence in subbing and editing, excitement at getting my first by-line, a copy of Eats shoots and leaves from the boys at uefa.com and the knowledge that I have met some wonderful journalists and people who I have kept in touch with.

Saffy Rushworth

Best bits.

The sense of humour, the atmosphere, the men, the football, everything really.

Worst bits.

The placement fell at the time of the winter break so it was a wind down week before Christmas and a bit quiet work wise but much Christmas cheer.

Conclusion.

I would recommend this placement to anyone who likes their football and wants experience in online journalism in sport. I was so lucky to have met such wonderful people who inspired and encouraged me all the way. The people are so friendly and girls, if you like your football, an office of about ten to 15 men and all gorgeous, you’re in for a treat.

Placement two at studentBMJ

Date - 26 January to 30 January 2004.

Place – BMJ office, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London. WC1H 9JR

Contact – Deb Cohen.

Description of Placement.

Work placement based at the BMJ office where the BMJ, studentBMJ and BMJcareers are produced. These are medical journals with the BMJ and BMJcareers published weekly and the studentBMJ published monthly.

Introduction.

My introduction at the BMJ was short as my contact was on annual leave and I had been passed over to the senior editor who was very busy that day as it was press day for her. However I was given a desk and again used my own e mail account for work to be sent to me for subbing and editing.

Work.

I carried out a mixture tasks from working in the office to being sent out to a conference in Birmingham. There were no daily tasks but there was plenty to do. I edited three profiles which included cutting down to the correct word length, adding headlines, standfirst and also the author’s details. I also edited feature articles for the studentBMJ. I wrote a short news story for the studentBMJ and co-wrote a news feature for BMJcareers based on the conference I was sent to as well as compiling a “tit bit” page for the studentBMJ. I attended the live heart bypass surgery broadcast at the Dana Centre to see if it was worth a story too.

What did I learn?

I learnt how to use track changes in Microsoft Word, how to cut stories and write a standfirst. I acquired some good interviews at the conference in Birmingham and transcribed them.

What do I take away from the experience?

Increased self-esteem and self-confidence as I find writing much harder than editing and to have someone who is a professional say you have done a good job at both is a boost. I have been asked to be an advisor for the studentBMJ which means I would have a say in what articles are included in the journal and have also been asked to help commission articles for their special issue on sport. I hope to continue writing for them and compiling Minerva, their tit bit page, with another medical journalist full time.

Best bits.

The experience of writing at such a highly respected journal and the heavily subsidised canteen.

Worst bits.

Fighting for a desk to work at, getting into central London and the lack of enthusiasm of some (very few however) journalists to have work experience people present.

Conclusion.

Work experience at the BMJ is worthwhile. Learning how the journal, which you subscribe to and read regularly, is produced is super. After a slow start everyone was pleasant, friendly and encouraging. This is worthwhile if you are considering leaving medicine to pursue journalism full time as it gives a great taste of specialised journalism.

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Work Placement Report-

The Independent and The New Statesman Online

After reading last year’s student reports of their experience at The Independent, I decided I would take my time there with a pinch of salt. After all, it is important to learn about the realities of a newspaper office, even if that includes staff not having the time or jobs for the ‘workies’.

I started on the home news desk, and like previous students spent a fare amount of time sitting around. The Independent has begun to offer fewer work experience placements, hopefully in the realisation that it clogs the office with swivel-chair swingers reading novels. I took the attitude that I was lucky some interesting work was offered to me and I tried my best to make the most of it.

After a few days, I was handed four pages of contact numbers for some of Britains great and good. Learning to sound professional is a hard thing, but after getting through a telephone interview with Anne Widdecomb, leaving a message on Jeremy Paxman’s answer machine felt like child’s play. I was able to speak to interesting people about the forth-coming Olympic bid, and although my short write-up of the interviews were not used, it was a good confidence building and writing exercise. I continued to do short pieces of research for news writers and certainly spent a lot of time on the Internet.

By far the most interesting thing I did while at The Independent was researching and conducting interviews for a double-page feature on family life in the 20^th century. I conducted and wrote four of the ten interviews used and really enjoyed it. I was given a list of contact numbers and was left to my own devices in terms of the questions asked. It was interesting to see the speed in which certain features are produced, and the editing of 400 or 500 word interviews to half the size. When, at the second glance of The Independent, I spotted my name in Lilliputian sized letters accrediting me for additional research, I was happy enough.

I wish I had been at The Independent for longer. Understandably they have to find out how much a work experience person is capable of before they start offering them interesting work and a student might want longer on a desk they are interested in. I went from the home-news desk, to the sports desk and then on to the educational desk. Although it felt a bit flighty, it gave me a better idea of the subtle differences between the type of work and writing that you could be doing. I think I learnt a lot from my placement at The Independent, but two weeks in such a big place is not long enough to make any impact as yet another ‘workie’.

My time at The New Statesman online was a very different experience. Although the placement did not have the same kudos as an editorial internship on the magazine, it was still interesting to be in the office. I think I was very lucky to be there during the week of the vote on top-up fees and the fall-out from the Hutton report.

Most of my time spent at The New Statesman was doing research on the Internet for their New Media Awards. It was not in any way journalistic, and was more administrative then anything else. Despite this, it did give me some insights into the transition from printed page to web page that articles go through and to the different audiences that read either of them.

The office environment was far more relaxed and friendly then at The Independent, perhaps due to the small size of the office and the fact that it is produced weekly, rather then daily. I was introduced to everyone, including Geoffrey Robinson MP and invited to the pub along with regular members of staff.

The New Statesman has an attitude of inclusiveness to their interns. I was invited to attend the editorial meeting the morning after the Hutton Report came out, which was fascinating. To hear the writers and editors on a publication discuss how they will collectively react to something that affects both journalism and politics and the relationship between the two was very interesting.

I did one piece of writing in my week at The New Statesman. We went to an All Party Group on e-democracy. The select committee style enquiry was looking into the trend of MPs keeping weblogs. Essentially dull, it was on the same evening as the top-up fee vote, which we watched from a parliamentary bar, which had a lot more drama to it. My diary-style entry was submitted to the sub-editors but I doubt it will ever make it into print. It was still a good exercise at making something potentially very uninteresting a little less so, whilst trying to add a bit of New Statesman dry humour into 800 words.

Work experience is a strange thing. You can often feel like you are under people’s feet, another nameless student passing through the doors of a big publication. Yet just by being in a professional environment you can learn a lot about what kind of journalist you want to be and sometimes even what kind of journalist you do not want to be.

Perhaps I would have more of an opportunity to write if I had done work experience on a trade magazine of local paper. But I would still recommend both The Independent and The New Statesman as places to do work experience. Together I think in got a sense of the differences between magazine and daily newspaper production, and the different kinds of thinking and work they both involve.

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Name: Maseena Ziegler (PgDip Broadcast)

Placement: The Today Programme (BBC Radio 4)

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

At the end of my two-week placement on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, it’s those immortal Dickens words that best describes the fortnight I spent there. In this time –we all witnessed both the Corporation’s highs and lows in its history. With ‘The Office’ triumphing at the Golden Globes followed by the publishing of the Hutton report that led to the departure of key figures within the BBC – it was an eventful, perhaps unusual placement. Being on the Today programme, which was central to the controversy, the whole feeling of incredulity and uncertainty was perhaps double that than anywhere else in the BBC and over those last few days, being side by side with editors, presenters and producers on the BBC’s flagship show, as we huddled around screens to hear the latest on the crisis – this was a placement best described as (and I do hate the overuse of this word) ‘surreal’.

John Humphreys (whose desk was opposite to mine) said to me a few days into my placement: “When you figure out how things work around here, I want you to tell me, because I still don’t know.” Telling words from the doyenne of talk radio or a humble chin wag from one of the team? This programme has recently been accused of ‘editorial misjudgements’, ‘poor standards of reporting,’ ‘sensationalism akin to tabloids’. Yet each morning when I sat in on the editorial meetings, I frequently surmised: These are a bunch of geniuses. The intellectual debates, the acerbic wit and humour – these meetings were entertaining as they were informative and energising and as a student I was highly privileged to be a part of this process– the knowledge and creativity that shapes editorial decision-making in an award winning news programme. I think perhaps it’s these meetings that I will miss this the most.

As you can imagine, I cared less for going out into the field and reporting, when, as I explained to the assistant editor, fun was to be had right there in the office. I even enjoyed activities like brainstorming the names of suitable guests and then calling them up to suss them out. I was saved from the humdrum practicalities of booking guests (i.e. confirming times, arranging transport etc); tasks undertaken by the broadcast assistants. I would like to think that I gave extra thought and preparation to sourcing contributors and I believe the outcome on such occasions were a tremendous success in broadcasting terms – such as when I convinced the fragrant Mary Archer to speak about nerdy Brits obsessed with US politics for which I was highly praised.

On one occasion I accompanied the politics reporter to Cambridge late one Friday evening to assist in making a package on top up fees. The Labour MP, Anne Campbell was addressing Cambridge students and fielding (usually hostile) questions from a disgruntled audience, which we had to record on mini disc. We eventually had about two hours of brilliant material that had to be edited to about 20 seconds. Unlike, File on Four or documentary type programmes, packages on Today can only be 2-3 minutes long, with the best interviewee saved for a live studio discussion with the presenter. What did I learn from this experience? What the reporter learnt from me is to always get the business card from the taxi that drops you off at the venue, so that a few hours later, when you’re ready to leave, you have the number of the local taxi company handy. I learnt from this admirable reporter that sometimes a gentle, non-threatening demeanour with a politician might just get you that scoop or at the very least, an honest answer.

Meticulous planning and organisation is a key element in the operation of the Today Programme. A planning diary is prepared in advance for the following week with a list of potential stories and guests. Each morning, the group brainstorms and discusses key items for the following day’s programme and also refers to the pre-documented planning diary. At this time, all the guests are booked for the following day and the briefs almost completed. It is important to document exactly what each guest will be saying [and who have been approached even if they have refused or been unable to commit] although at no time are guests given a copy of questions before hand. If, during the course of the day other news stories take priority, then items are dropped as appropriate. At a 16.30 meeting each day, the editors decide which items to keep or drop. At around 8pm there is an official handover to the night shift staff who may work on overnight breaking stories. Again, the agenda and line up of stories may change.

My days would start either by watching a live version of the show or by sifting through all the morning newspapers and going through news wires on ENPS accompanied, of course, by a cappuccino and pastry. I’d often look out for stories that were likely to be missed, or I’d try and research stories beyond the usual headlines. Promptly at 10.30 everyone would make their way into the adjoining closed office for the morning editorial meeting. When I suggested angles or stories, I quite often made the editor roar with laughter while I, correspondingly, sank in my seat. Not sure whether this was a good or bad thing, but I’ve since been invited back for another placement, so maybe it’s not all bad.

I don’t remember ever being bored – even if I didn’t have a task at hand, I’d derive enormous pleasure (sadly, some might say) from surfing around ENPS or the Today programme Contact database, or on occasion firing off an email to the DG (yes really) (for the record, this was Greg Dyke at the time).

I realised that an important part of working in a team such as Today is not only knowing a story inside out, but also knowing who would be the best person to have on the show for that particular story – not just a government minister who can talk easily about this subject matter but an eloquent, intelligent speaker who can offer a fresh perspective.

I often thought about my colleagues on their placements and I was well aware that most of them would get to be on air or even interview people for their own packages, but for me personally I wouldn’t have wanted my placement any other way… or any other place.

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Sibohan Quinn, January 2004

It was a very interesting experience working here. Unfortunately I did not get my hands dirty and was given many menial tasks to do instead. They were very wary of giving a student responsibility because it was national news. Therefore shadowing featured heavily in the placement – which is not altogether a bad thing. I gained knowledge with editing, interviewing and filming, which was invaluable since so far my experience has been with newsgathering rather than output.

The unit provides home affairs news (ie. Asylum, crime, drugs, terrorism, prisons, police etc) to BBC national television and radio bulletins along with News 24. They are a small team of five correspondents and four producers. Their way of producing pieces for the bulletins is to liaise with the programme editor then work with a producer from that programme who will help research the piece and assist the edit.

I went out on some very interesting stories across the country during the two weeks with the unit but in doing so witnessed some ludicrous goings-on. Some of the most valuable lessons I learnt during my two weeks there were of how NOT to go about a story. I shall explain…

The most eye-opening event was when the producer I was shadowing was sent to Wakefield prison where Harold Shipman died. You would think that Wakefield is rather a long way to send a nationals producer from London, considering that the story was centred in a town in the heart of the Midlands where there are countless regional producers. But the team in Television Centre obviously have little trust in the capability of its regional staff and also demonstrated their trigger-happy response to breaking news by sending as many resources as they could. On arrival the place was swarming with regional producers who had everything in hand and there wasn’t anything for us to do. There was nothing new about the story – Shipman died in the morning and he was still dead by the Ten o’clock news!

The most evident waste of resources was the use of a cherry picker that was sent to get a top shot of the prison. Cherry pickers are extremely useful when an incident or accident has occurred as they give the viewers a clearer picture of the situation, but a top shot of a prison where there is nothing to see and nothing to gain from it is merely gratuitous waste. This also caused major controversy - anyone who thought about this would realise that a top shot of a prison is in breach of the Official Secrets Act! Immediately after the cherry picker set up, the prison governor came out demanding it was taken down. After the police got involved, a producer was nearly arrested and the office in Television Centre received a barrage of calls from the Home Office. Yet even the threats and demands from them did not sway the BBC managers who insisted the cherry picker remained but lowered its crane so getting a shot that did not intrude over the prison walls. After a couple of hours and another visit from the police the managers finally conceded. After all that, none of the pictures were used other than those that went out live. What a waste! What we couldn’t understand was why it took so long to resolve the issue.

That was not my only experience with the demonstration of resources waste. The day that the Sudanese man was due at Bow Street Magistrates Court, the BBC sent a team to cover it and as it was a Home Affairs story I went along. Visiting the court was a worthwhile experience but the most interesting part of this was when we came out of court. Even though the planning desk knew the man was not charged with terrorism offences but merely firearms offences, they still sent a truck, live crew and ENG crew along. Surprising then that only News 24 took any interest in the story and that it was dropped from the One and Six O’clock news! This was frustrating for everyone involved – the correspondent had already written his lines and decided what was going in the package, while there was no need for both a live truck and a camera crew to be there. They only continued doing lives for News 24 because they thought they might as well use the facility since they had sent it! This could have been avoided with a little foresight from the planning team.

I did come across some difficult situations that are rather common in television news and learned how to combat these. An example of this is difficulty in editing. When Maxine Carr applied for parole under the tagging scheme the team were faced with a dilemma - there were no new pictures. Apart from a couple of interviews with government ministers and so on, we had to use library footage that made it rather tricky and quite a dull piece. How do you make pictures of Carr and Huntley look interesting when they’ve been seen so many times by so many people? When the correspondent rushed off two thirds of the way through the edit to do a live top and tail from the prison it meant she wasn’t around to amend her voicer. The edit finished just in time to go on air. It wasn’t a bad piece in the end but everyone agreed it could have been better. This raises the question on whether live tops and tails when the correspondent has not edited on site, are more destructive than beneficial to the piece. I’m not a big fan of lives anyway as I think they seldom reveal anything new or say anything that can not be put in a package.

Over all the BBC Home Affairs unit works well with the programmes it works for. A small team has its problems but essentially they are dedicated and loyal to each other. Working in this environment made me realise how such a system is able to produce such good work. It’s a shame I was not able to go out on my own more but the bigger picture is that I gained invaluable experience through shadowing. The national news is run differently to the regions and I think a regional placement would be valuable in other ways while allowing me to gain more hands on experience.

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E.Sheahan/1 Workexp/1

The Gloucestershire Echo – 1 week.

The Echo is a daily, two edition paper. Deadlines are at 8.30am and 11.30am. I was dubious about returning for another week of work experience at my local paper because the last time, while still an undergraduate, I did very little for most of the week except read all the other papers. This time I promised myself it would be different, and it was. From Monday morning I was researching stories, writing short fillers and even tagging on with a reporter to the council chambers for a meeting. I rotated desks each day according to who wasn’t in the office which meant I got to know most of the 12-strong reporting team. Most of them were my age (24), which was strange as I was the lowly work experience student. I think the main difference between this placement and the last was that this time I was actually training to be a journalist and could put my skills learnt so far into practice; earning more respect than your average sixth-former.

The assistant editor took me under his wing, continually feeding me stories and keeping me on my toes. He also gave me plenty of helpful tips on writing and style by going through some of my stories with me.

Wednesday, at around 4pm, the news editor came over to my desk and told me I was to go with Tim, one of the reporters to check out a lead. Excellent, I thought, the roving reporter experience. As it turned out, the story was a dead end, but I did have the opportunity to spend 3 hours finding the caravan park, wandering around knocking on doors and generally freezing my backside off.

On Thursday the assistant editor set me my hardest challenge of the week: I had to phone a man who had just lost his wife. His daughter had written a poem in dedication to her mum and released it to the Echo. The interview went well, but it was uncomfortable. My shorthand was certainly tested to the limit.

By the end of the week I was regularly given jobs to do and clocked up 3 by-lines and about 10 articles of varying lengths in the paper. Local papers are hectic, frustrating and challenging, but ultimately very rewarding. If you’re prepared to put in the crazy hours then you get a lot out of it.

[ends]

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Financial News – by Tom Evans

Jan 2004

I joined the Financial News for two weeks in January 2004. It is a weekly newspaper for the banking industry, and circulates about 14,000 (ABC) per week. However it costs £225 a year to subscribe, so makes £3.15m a year on this alone, but I suspect makes a whole lot more on advertising, because everyone who reads it is in a lucrative industry (most of the time!) and those eyeballs are worth a lot. Its readership is that much larger since the one copy is passed around banks etc.

It is independently owned (i.e. is not part of some vast financial publisher like Pearson or Thomson), and based in an office in a slightly shabby back street near Old Street tube in the City.

It also has some smaller titles covering specific sectors, and a website (efinancialnews.com) which is updated daily, and is charged for or comes ‘bundled’ with a sub to the print version. I was lucky because in my first week someone was away on holiday so I was assigned to work on the Mergers & Acquisitions desk, which basically writes about which bank is advising who on buying or selling such and such a company. Their reporters as far as I can tell send about 50% of their time writing daily website stories and the other half on the newspaper.

I wrote around one (by-lined) story per day for a week, given the more run-of-the-mill stories - basically write ups of Regulatory News Releases (company notices issued to the stock exchange) and following up storied broken by us or others. This involved the usual stuff – ringing the banks etc. involved, getting comments and ‘no comments’, and finding out background info, current share prices etc. etc. This was quite fun, and I was on the phone for an hour with one small merchant bank MD who was selling his bank, getting background info. I also spent a while talking to another banker, who gave me the ‘full off the record’ story on a potential takeover rumour doing the rounds. It gave me an interesting insight to the nuts and bolts of how stories develop in the financial sector – lots of ‘off the records’ and quotes from people ‘close to the company’ and so on.

There was other more basic stuff writing up press releases and reporting what others were saying, where our training on this from Andrew GA came in very useful!

The staff were mostly busy but one or two took time out to give me advice, give me the names and numbers of good people to call for comments on stories and I thought it was a pretty friendly and professional place. The editor, Will Wright seemed decent and invited me to a couple of editorial meetings, where the staff discuss what stories they’re working on. It employs some pretty clued people who know their industry inside out and a few ex-FT people, and many from other newspapers.

In my second week, I was given a good project to get my teeth into, told to prepare for a report they were doing on an area of financing called ‘mezzanine finance’, which is a sort of debt-equity hybrid that is used mostly for management buy-outs (when the management of a company basically buys a company from its shareholders) and leveraged buy-outs (when a finance company of one sort or other borrows money to buy a company from its shareholders). This was very interesting and quite hard work, which basically involved forensically going through past deals and finding out who did the financing and who the major individuals involved were, and finding out biographical info on them.

I ended up finding some key articles on the subject and basically footnoted them as much as possible with breakdowns of the deals mentioned (value, banks involved, and so on) and bios of all the bankers etc. mentioned, where possible. They were grateful for my input and at the time of writing am hoping that I get some print credit for the survey when it comes out!

I was dealing with James Rutter, Deputy Editor, who seems a decent guy and who himself had recently joined the paper from another financial publisher, Euromoney. On my last day he took me out for a pint at lunchtime and we had a good chat about the financial publishing scene in general and FN in particular. The banking industry had a very tough time 2001-2003 with a lot of job-losses in the investment banking sector, and it was good to work at the beginning of what he thought was an upswing in the industry.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It was nice to work in a hectic newsroom with lots going on, though inevitably as a ‘work experiencer’ I did my best to keep out of people’s way but at the same time get involved! I would say that it’s a good place to go if you are interested in financial journalism and, ideally know a bit about the sector, which fortunately I did. If you don’t have interest/knowledge I don’t think I’d recommend it since it is a specialist publication and frankly, to be of any real use to them in a journalistic role, you need to know at least the basics of the City and how it works. If you don’t know, but would like to, there are several good books to look at, including ‘Bluffers guide to finance’ and similar! However, it helps to be interested too, or otherwise I think it could get boring.

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Billy Reeves Industrial Placement Report. – BBC RADIO LONDON, January 2004

The most striking thing about BBC London 94.9 these days is the lack of journalism going on. I spent 3 weeks on ‘Drive Time’ in May when the rot was beginning to set in: a lively news magazine programme has now turned into a schlock stock phone-in. Of course this is remarkably similar to BBC London’s main rival LBC.

Since LBC went FM BBC London’s controller, David Robey, has aped it’s style through a panic period of falling audience figures. Phone-ins multiplied, celebs were bought in to present (although admittedly both Vanessa Feltz and Danny Baker were returning to the fold). While we were on this placement new RAJARs were announced, BBC London’s are up. This meant much back-slapping. (literally). Only these are simply the punters that were lost to LBC two years or so ago.

Still, working as a Broadcast Journalist and Broadcast Assistant on a news-phone-in show was a good exercise in the ‘News Agenda’. Not only did Laura and I have to pitch ideas relevant to the station’s audience (both geographically and demographically) as normally would be the case on a news programme but we also had to come up with stories (that no-one else had found) which were capable of eliciting ‘phone calls into the show. (or ‘Throw outs’ as they are known). The more calls, the more successful the programme is deemed. But, er, isn’t it called Drivetime?? Most people are surely on their way home, are they supposed to call from their cars? I don’t like Johnny Six-pack spouting his views unless he’s directly involved. Sometimes this works, for example the day the worker at Wembley stadium was killed a couple of lads working there ‘phoned in and risked their jobs to tell us what was going on. But mostly it’s crap, so few people call in almost all are put on air with little screening.

The Sport team has more clout under Robey. This section is grossly overstaffed and it seems an hourly sports show every night is unnecessary. They fill the shows with pre-records and have a miniscule number of callers. News output and specialist music shows were slashed to make space in the schedules for this rubbish. The only people who care about Gillingham versus Bradford on a Tuesday evening are going to be at Gillingham’s Priestfield stadium, not listening to ‘exclusive FM commentary’ on BBC London, especially as all the station’s sports output is up against Five Live. Saturdays and maybe Fridays should be enough. Still, good fun for me, I got to interview lots of interesting folk, Laurence Dallaglio, the new England rugby skipper, Wally Downes, manger of Brentford (great story that, see diary) and the legendary boxing promoter Frank warren, a man so ‘media savvy’ I don’t think I’ll ever have an easier interviewee.

Morale seems very low compared to my other stints on the station. Two Journalists were made redundant while Laura and I were there. It seems the best way out is to move over to BBC London’s TV output, which now takes up three-quarters of the office space. A handful of my chums that have made this transition are much happier. This seems to be because more journalism is going on at TV. I always poo-pooed TV journalism, I follow the Chris Horrie thoerum that the medium is an entertainment one, better for Football and Comedy. TV news is always a slave to pictures. But a couple of days with TV changed my view, they go into stories in much more detail and are also doing a lot of investigative stuff, which if not dead over at radio is certainly coughing up blood.

Programmes are still great though. I enjoyed all 3 weeks at my placement and was given loads of things to do, but none better than downstairs in the programmes and art departments. There is also lots of journalism going on strangely; the stuff Vanessa Feltz covers is stimulating, relevant and always puts both sides with studio guests. She is an uber-d-lister but an excellent broadcaster- I spent two days on the show during which she didn’t erm or umm once.

The bulletins people and those doing earlies are an impressive bunch too. The newsreaders are completely self contained and the breakfast news team work very hard. I really lucked out to be with them the morning after the big freeze, although they were looking for a story which wasn’t really there as it wasn’t that bad, but going around the railway stations at dawn to check on commuter progress was public service broadcasting at it’s best. Next time I do a two way I’ll make sure I switch the radio car off afterwards as this affects the other radio car’s output. Whoops.

I learned a lot about Radioman, the main thing being that it’s very easy to use. I was pleased with the positive reaction to my scripts and cues. I like all the people down there. I can produce and feel comfortable on air talking bollocks about music, but the aspect I enjoy about the job most is going out, covering a story then steaming back to edit it to get it on air. (The Royal Courts of Justice M.O.D. compensation story and the Wally Downes gets referee to help Brentford’s disciplinary record were my favourites).I enjoyed my placement and got lots out of it.

But my original plan to get my feet under the table at BBC London and move my way up may have to be re-thought. It’s a second job really. BBC London isn’t, after all, the place for me to start my career. If I wish to get out in the community I’ll have to find a station that does that, as BBC London radio doesn’t any more, preferring the community to come to it.

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Damon Schunmann

Work Attachment – The Engineer

The Engineer is a 147 year old business to business magazine and is part of Centaur Communications who claim to be the UK’s leading provider of engineering media. It is a bi-weekly publication and is based in Poland Street in Soho. The closest tube station is Oxford Circus.

The magazine is principally concerned with technological innovation and is typically subscribed to by engineers in the automotive and aviation industries amongst numerous others.

The staff at the magazine were not all qualified engineers themselves but did share a strong interest in, and understanding of, new technology.

My first day was spent finding and writing NIBs that could stretch up to 150 words. They were to appear on a double page, picture-led spread and were concerned with news. Typical stories were the latest news on the Mars probes, an item on hydrogen fuelled vehicles, and information on the Navy’s new nuclear submarines.

Once I had proved to the editor that I could produce the sort of material that was required I was entrusted with increasing amounts of more varied work. I was often left to my own devices to find and to write up the stories, although I did get some leads from the editorial team. When I encountered difficulties or needed an experienced opinion, the permanent members of staff were generally helpful and informative.

In the days that followed I worked on longer pieces such as a new German rapid prototyping machine which can construct functional medical implants from titanium powder in a few hours. To research this it was necessary for me to frequently telephone four German scientists and to persuade them to give me a crash course in rapid prototyping.

I quickly found that the reputation and history of the magazine was generally enough to persuade interviewees to talk at length on the subjects that I was calling about. There were times when this was not the case though, such as my investigations on military projects or nuclear power installations. In these instances people were generally happy to talk guardedly or off the record. The issue here was to get them to agree to my using quotes and information on sensitive issues that they were initially unhappy about.

At the end of my week at The Engineer with the magazine, the editor asked me if I would like to come in the following week. This vote of confidence was extremely pleasing and I took him up on the offer. In the second week I produced longer pieces including one that took up a whole page.

I was required to source images for most of my pieces and to offer advice to the art editor on which would be appropriate.

At the end of my two weeks on this publication, I felt that I had gained an extremely useful insight into the workings of a magazine. I would recommend it to anybody who has a strong interest in new engineering technology.

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Andrew Humphrey’s Work Placement at BBC Radio Oxford

Mon 19^th Jan

My first day started with the daily Editorial News meeting, in which I participated; informing the Editor about what factors dictates the ‘average’ house price . I was given time and a little tuition in the morning to acquaint myself with the technical equipment, including Quick Edit Pro editing software, Radioman playout systems and Sonifex Courier portable recorder. In the afternoon I was sent out to conduct two Vox Pops in Oxford city centre. I was just given a question to ask, without much background information, and loose guidelines. The pieces were a 1’30” asking ‘What do you do to aid sleep when finding it difficult to drop off?’ and a 0’30” piece asking ‘How does God communicate with us?’ The second question was harder to get good answers for, but in the end I had plenty of material for the thirty seconds. Having returned to the newsroom I edited the pieces for playout in the coming week.

Tue 20^th Jan

The designated producer of the Lunchtime phone-in was away ill so I assisted the production of the programme. This entailed researching and arranging a phone guest for the show, along with writing the cue and questions. The guest was Lord Bradshaw talking about the state of the Railways, and seemed a successful piece with plenty of calls responding to the interview. In the afternoon I arranged three interviews for Wednesday’s Breakfast Show, again writing the cues for the presenter. I also wrote and voiced bulletin material (voicer and cover copy) relating to the Breakfast interviews, about the concerns of local people that the Banbury Horton hospital is under threat of closer.

Wed 21^st

Again helped produce Lunch, arranging a guest about morality in sport, and writing the cue and questions. Not such a success in terms of caller reaction, but the interviewee was articulate and boisterous which suits the shows style. Perhaps a sport subject is not of interest to the target audience of 50+ yr olds. In the afternoon I was sent to the Oxford Mail’s (local paper) cuttings library to research a murder trial for a possible documentary. I sifted through reports at the time and immediately following the conclusion of the trial (when the juicy stuff was free to be printed), and made photocopies and notes.

Thur 22^nd

Third day running worked on Lunch, due to producer still being ill. I arranged a guest about fathers staying at home rather than working, including cue & questions. I also took a clip from the Breakfast ROT (record of transmission) about women in sport for a throw out, with a cue and throw out questions. In the afternoon I was shown what preparation needed to be done for the Weekend Bulletins, which basically meant writing stories which will be ready for the weekend newsreader. I researched a few press releases and did phone interviews from which I took a couple of clips. I wrote the cues and cover copy and also voiced a voicer.

Fri 23^rd

Continued my work for the Weekend Bulletins, interviewing the people who were unavailable on the previous day and finishing the cues/copy.

Mon 26^th

Spent day shadowing the Bulletins newsreader, saw how stories are ordered and audio is linked to copy in ENPS and Radioman, re-wrote a couple of stories sent down from GNS (General News Service), who also provide audio clips and packages.

Tue 27^th

Sent out on two stories. The first was an interview with Blackwells Bookshop Event manager Owen Dodd about the 125^th anniversary of their first shop opening. Blackwells is an Oxford based book retailer and publisher with a history of working with the University, so the story had good local links. I researched the company and the events, wrote some questions and went out with a Sonifex Courier. Upon return I was told that that story was not going to be included in the Breakfast programme, but a different one would be. Quickly researched the topic – Oxford’s Ashmoleum museum’s proposals for major renovation and expansion – before heading back to town. I interviewed Dr Christopher Brown the Director of the Ashmoleum, and took audio of concerned local resident groups from previously shot South Today rushes. Spent two hours making a package, voicing my links and writing the cue. Was about to go home (an hour and half late) when was informed that Bulletin material about the story had to be written, with two different clip stories, as well as cover copy. I was less than happy at the time, but realised that it is expected of a reporter and just because I was not being paid, it did not mean I would not have to stay late (indeed very late!) if a story is not finished.

Wed 28^th

The day of the Hutton Report meant that most shows were planned well in advance and for some reason the editors and producers seemed a little unwilling for a work placement journalist to handle the story! So I spent the morning trying to find other more local stories, without much success. In the afternoon I shadowed a reporter and did a vox in several locations in South Oxfordshire, on local issues affecting people’s lives in the next five years. As the vox was part of a bigger piece I simply tidied up the audio without exercising any editorial judgement.

Thurs 29^th

Was given a free rein on the Weekend Bulletin material, I researched several stories and got some clips from phone interviews.

Fri 30^th

Continued more news for Weekend bulletins, including a couple of clip stories. I also did a voicer.

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BBC Radio Gloucestershire – January 2004

Monday 19^th January

On arrival at BBC Radio Gloucestershire I assumed that I more or less knew it all, having gone through 4 months of rigorous training at the University of Westminster. I naturally would have to settle in a little, but was prepared to have largely taken over by lunchtime on my first day. I had two suggestions for stories which I took with me to the editorial meeting, and despite the positive reaction I got for at least contributing (their last work-placement person gave up after two days having said nothing) they weren’t too interested in using them. It didn’t matter. I knew my time would come. And that afternoon it did – I was sent to do a vox-pop outside the derelict Kwik-Save building in Northgate Street, asking the good people of Gloucester what the thought should be done with it, and it was used on Drivetime. Result.

Tuesday 20^th January

When I got in it immediately became obvious that I had become a vital member of the team when I was asked if I wanted to go to the press conference where the new Bishop of Gloucester was going to be announced. The fact that I was merely shadowing the reporter who usually deals with these stories was neither here nor there – I knew it was me they wanted on the scene. In the afternoon I went out with another of the reporters, firstly to interview a woman who runs a locations agency (?) and secondly to go to an archaeological site in Cheltenham, where they hadn’t found anything and weren’t really expecting to.

Wednesday 21^st January

With a mere week to go until the BBC’s ‘Hey big spender’ day it was decided that I should do a package, and I was given one of the less vital ones. I naturally assumed this was in order t deflect attention from my already burgeoning field of influence within the station. I went to ‘Cash Converter’, a pawn shop in Gloucester, to do a package about how they can help people who have debts. I interviewed the owner, the manager, and a couple of the customers. When I got back to the station I recorded a voicer on rubbish collection in Cirencester. I was on my way.

Thursday 22^nd January

As the vote on top-up fees was looming, the breakfast show presenter (Vernon Harwood – I’m sure you’re familiar with his work) wanted a clip sequence of how local MPs were planning to vote and why, so I had to try and contact Parmjit Danda (Labour, Gloucester), Nigel Jones (Liberal Democrat, Cheltenham) Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative, the Cotswolds), David Drew (Labour, Stroud), and Diana Organ (Labour, Forest of Dean). Predictably it was a bit of a wild goose chase for some of them, but I managed to get a hold of most of them.

Friday 23^rd January

It turned out that the recording I had made in Cash Converter sounded absolutely awful (Radio Glos were clearly on their toes) so I went back to Cash Converters and in the guise of asking a couple more things asked the owner the same questions again, but actually got a bit more out of him. The store manager wasn’t around, but I spoke to another member of staff and best of all the chief buyer, who was the least eloquent person in the World but talked loads, so that made great listening. In the afternoon I edited it and did a couple of voicers to keep the standard up over the weekend.

Monday 26^th January

Today I recorded phone interviews with the MPs had talked to last week, and found out how to record them straight into Radioman. They weren’t the most hard-hitting of interviews – “How are you voting?” and “Why?” being the main two questions, but it was interesting nonetheless. I also followed up the non-story about the archaeological dig, because finding nothing meant that plans to dig a massive hole in case the River Chelt (which is tiny) suddenly goes mental and floods the whole town. I set up interviews with the woman in charge of the petition against it and someone from the Department of the Environment.

Tuesday 27^th January

I spent the morning trying to get some material for a crap feature for debt day called “Blind Debt” which was the ‘wacky’ lunchtime presenter’s way of making debt interesting. It was a fairly embarrassing experience. The commons vote on fees happened this-evening, so this afternoon I went into the middle of Gloucester to do a vox-pop on what people thought of it. All my prejudices and pre-conceptions about Gloucester were once again proved to be entirely correct. A particular highlight was a woman who waited 5 minutes before deciding to tell me she didn’t know what I was talking about. I also tried to find out if there’s a story in he new industrial development in Northway, and there isn’t.

Wednesday 28^th January

*Hutton Report Day* I went and did a vox-pop on what people knew about the Hutton enquiry, as it was given to the select few (Tony Blair, a couple of people at the BBC, The Sun) today. Quite a few people didn’t seem to have heard of it, which wasn’t too surprising, but a couple of people knew what it was and had interesting opinions. They clearly weren’t from Gloucester. In the afternoon I went to Ashchurch where there had been some kind of explosion at a chemical factory. My proudest moment here was trying to vox-pop a local TV news presenter. Then I got hypothermia on the way home.

Thursday 29^th January

In the morning I went with one of the reporters to Minchinhampton as he was making a package on the town centre losing all of its shops, and people going to Nailsworth to shop instead. It was even more exciting than it sounds! In the afternoon I was once again called upon to do a vox-pop – I felt I had carved something of a niche for myself – this time on whether or not people go to church on a Sunday, and what they do instead. This was for Sunday morning, so once again I was keeping up the standards fro the weekend.

Friday 30^th January

My suspicions since about an hour after arrival that I was the linchpin of the news team were confirmed today when I was sent to but doughnuts. It was a frank admission on the part of the news editor that once I’d left there would be a vast hole left in the newsroom. In the afternoon I chased up a story on Gloucester’s urban regeneration scheme to try and set something up for next Monday. My influence would be felt long after my departure. I also wrote two voicers – a tattoo fair in Newent and the Heritage Railways Association awards for 2003 – and recorded one of them. These were to be used at the weekend, so once again I knew that proper standards would be met even without my presence in the newsroom. It was hard to leave, but once I’d been fingered by Lord Hutton it was the only decent thing to do.

What I learnt on my placement by John Wright age 24 and a bit.

As I said earlier, I assumed on arrival that I more or less knew it all after 4 months of rigorous training at the University of Westminster. I couldn’t expect to be taking over straight away, but I was happy to bide my time. There was a general air of surprise and wonderment that I had my own mini-disc and microphone, so I was feeling pretty important from the outset. However, my ideas for stories on the first day were met with the reaction that a suggestion from a young child who is eager to help but essentially useless might get. I wasn’t dismayed by this, no no, I knew my time would come to show them.

I ended up doing a lot of vox-pops throughout my two weeks. It seemed to suit the station to use me in this way – the regular reporters were able to get on in the normal way, and then there were some extra vox-pops to add a bit of local colour. I reckon I probably got better at doing them, but then again they’re not particularly difficult. By the end I seemed to be better at picking good people to pick on, which made the whole process easier and quicker. Editing them on radioman was good practice too.

I also went out with the reporters a few times, which was very interesting. I went to collect information for packages, for bulletins, and a live report in the radio-car. The skill of being able to go somewhere, get everything you need inside an hour and get back to the newsroom to edit was what struck me here. Using what contacts you have to find out as much information as possible, and new contacts, was the key t success, particularly when making a package. We went to Minchinhampton, for example, with one woman to talk to and then she was able to point us in a number on interesting directions. At the archaeological dig in Cheltenham there seemed to be absolutely no story, but by keeping on asking questions and talking to a variety of people on site the reporter managed to get some interesting material. I also got to see how much suspicion people regard the press with when I went to Ashchurch to report on an explosion in a factory. We were herded into a different factory along with the workers who had been evacuated from other parts of the estate. I wanted to go to the briefing for the workers, which was happening in the canteen, to find out what was going on, but someone saw that I had a microphone and I was taken upstairs to the offices to talk to the managing director, who had to come out of a meeting, and after about twenty minutes his rather irate conclusion was to say “Well if that’s what you want to know why not go to the briefing in the canteen?” The workers from the factory where the explosion had taken place had clearly been told not to speak to the press, and it seemed to make them feel very important to say “No comment” judging by the pleasure it seemed to give them. However, it did strike me that it helps to be a good looking girl in this situation, as the reporter I was working with managed to get a lot of information out of the guys who worked in the factory, even after their “no comments.” Sadly, being a good looking girl will have to remain a dream for me, despite the incredible advances in medical science.

Whilst going out on these stories it struck me that not being able to drive was probably my biggest problem. In a provincial local radio station very little seems to happen within walking distance, particularly in a rural area like Gloucestershire where the countryside and small country towns (scary places where everyone is related) provide a large amount of stories. I don’t think radio Gloucester would employ me without a driving license. Perhaps it should be included as a module on the course? “Driving for journalists” has quite a good ring to it. Thank me later.

I did quite a few voicers during my two weeks as well, both writing and reading. Everyone’s rules seemed to be different. The weekend presenters wanted them done one way, the Drivetime guy another way etc etc. It was the same story with cues for vox-pops and packages – some people wanted thirty seconds worth, others just wanted “but what do people in Gloucester think?”, then others said you should never use a question. It wasn’t too much of a problem because they seemed to realise this might be a little confusing, and gave rough guidelines in most cases. I suppose it’s the kind of thing you get used to once you’ve worked somewhere for a while.

I also shadowed the guy doing bulletins for a while one morning which was very interesting. The ease with which he fitted his material into three minutes as he went along was a far cry from my bulletin work. The ability to chop pieces out as you go along seemed to come as second nature. This presumably comes with practice, but it seems a long way off at the moment.

The importance of what initially seem like total non-stories in local radio was also interesting to see. Who cares about a woman who had two Chihuahuas, one of which has died? It was a pretty big story my first few days. She’d made a cardboard cut-out of the dead one to cheer the other one up, and it worked. Stories of how people are weird and mad seem to be very popular, especially when animals are involved. This is good news for Radio Glos, considering the limited gene pool and large amount of animals in the majority of the county.

In conclusion, it was a very interesting and informative experience. I feel far better informed about what working in local radio is like, and what would be expected of me. I also got the impression that the learning process is really only just beginning on the PG Dip course, and continues once you are working for real. Given the opportunity again I might try to get a bit more involved in areas other than vox-pops, but nonetheless I felt I did have a good range of experiences.

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Emily Dent\1 work experience/1

The Observer (January 2004)

During the allocated break for work experience, I went to work at The Observer.

Since it is a Sunday paper, the working week is Tuesday to Saturday. I arrived on the Tuesday not really knowing what to expect since I had not worked on a national newspaper before. I had read the previous year’s reports on work experience on similar newspapers. The general consensus from them was that they were treated like tea-boys and given generally dull things to do. Needless to say I was not happy about the prospect of spending a week being ignored.

However, I was to be pleasantly surprised by the attitude the other journalists had towards me. On arrival I was given my own computer and told to be ready for the week’s editorial meeting that was due to take place in 15 mins. I was told I was free to bring my own ideas to the meeting and to research whatever I wanted to in the course of the week.

In the editorial meeting I sat at the back and tried to look inconspicuous. Nervous, I did not want to bring attention to myself by saying something foolish, so I declined the offer of freedom of expression and chose to merely observe. The meeting was a real insight into the hierarchy of a national newspaper. I saw how important it was to be on the ball with current affairs and to be able to offer up ideas coherently and with confidence.

After the meeting, I sat on my own at my computer with my head down playing on the internet, trying to work up the nerve to ask anyone if they wanted me to do anything. Luckily, an email was circulated saying, “If any one wants to use the work experience girl, she’s sat in the corner.” – Charming I thought, but it worked and soon I was off doing my own research for various stories.

Lunch time came and I was invited to the local with all the reporters. Good networking and time to get myself noticed. A kindly reporter who “remembered what it was like to be on work experience- poor and nervous”, bought me lunch and a beer. For some reason, word had got around that I was on the City course and try as I might to tell people I wasn’t, it seemed easier to let them believe this than explain to a whole bunch of uninterested people that I was at Westminster.

Anyway, journalists started coming to me asking me to do various tasks

from writing nibs to research to interviews. The week I was at the Observer,

the cot death scandal was unfolding and my research helped to secure an exclusive to the Observer. We managed to get hold of some previously unpublished letters, which the mail offered £10,000 for. This research secured me a bi-line in that week’s edition.

I also learnt the hard way just how inadequate my interview technique and shorthand is in the interviews I got.

I was asked to interview the head of the shop keepers trade union about violence against shop assistants. I just expected him to be easy to interview and to get some decent quotes out of him without much effort. I was embarrassingly wrong. I got so tongue tied at his aggressive remarks that I lost all concentration and asked stupid cringe-worthy questions. In the end I just made an excuse and put the phone down. This taught me there is an art to information extraction, but I still managed to get a bi-line from it.

The next confidence knocking experience came as I was asked to get various celebrities’ agents to comment on a dodgy campaign they were supporting. I had to phone Dawn French’s agent, Caprice’s agent and Carol Smillie’s agent. I was warned that agents and PA’s could be a handful, but I wasn’t expecting the barrage of abuse that I got. I tried to blag it, but Carol Smilie’s agent saw through it and told me that “fucking trainee wankers shouldn’t get involved in things they don’t understand” and that he couldn’t believe what a nerve I had to phone him up. Fantastic.

That set of interviews secured me an “Additional Reporting” mention in the paper, so I can’t really complain. The experience was a bit of a wake up call though; people really hate journalists and I have to grow a thicker skin. The story earned the Observer a lawsuit. My very first! I had to have a pow-wow with the lawyers, handing over all the emails I sent and all my (appalling) shorthand.

There were various other pieces of work I did in the week I was there, including a feature on modern methods of dating and some stuff on sports corruption.

The week was a really good insight into the workings of a Sunday. Tuesday through Thursday was pretty slow, but the rest of the week was hectic.

The other journalists were keen to help me out. I think it’s because they are all quite young and so remember what it was like to be in my situation. They were all really willing to get my name in the paper and my work was rewarded with more opportunity to help out. I learnt that just asking for advice and criticism is the best way to learn. Once you make yourself look willing to learn, and flattery helps, people are very willing to invest in you and give you any help you need.

I would go back to the Observer, but I was told by one of their journalists to get experience on a daily and to not consider starting my career on a Sunday.

At times I felt in the way and at an utter loss, spending hours pissing around on the internet, but there was always work heading my way and in general I thought it was worth doing.

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Tania Teixeira - Pg Dip Journalism (Broadcast)

Radio Jackie (South-West London)

January 2004

I spent three weeks at Radio Jackie in south-west London. It’s started off as a pirate radio station in 1969 and launched a twenty-four hour a day service in 1983. In 1984 the station launched a petition to be licensed but was forced to shut a year later due to raids by the radio regulatory authorities. In 1996 it missed out on the chance to chance to buy a licence to Thames Radio, which was put for sale in February 2003. This at last gave an opportunity to the original management of Radio Jackie, which purchased and revamped the station’s output to include around the clock live programmes and local news on the hour. It re-launched in October 2003 as Radio Jackie.

From my experience I was able to tell that people in the area are proud of having Radio Jackie. Many of the shops down Tolworth Broadway, where it’s based, have it playing in the background and its stickers on the front windows. The latest RAJAR figures for Radio Jackie shows that their audience share in SW-London has gone up in the last quarter from 0.2% to 37% out of a possible reach of 698,864 people. The station claims that 70% of its listeners are in the ABC1 category, which I’m not sure about, but they do reach affluent parts of Surrey (like Richmond – with some of the most expensive property in the country).

Radio Jackie takes its national news from IRN, and advertises itself as a station providing local news on the hour twenty-four hours a day. The news bulletins have a duration of three minutes, with an extended one at 5pm, and are pre-recorded half an hour to about a quarter of an hour before they go on air. An interview of around one minute and fifteen seconds is played in the extended bulletin and there is fierce competition for this spot. The station has two studios, one for programmes and the other for news reading, interviews, and editing. Sometimes two bulletins are pre-recorded in one go, which means anything coming in (other than murder, as I had the chance to witness) is most likely to be missed out until the following bulletin. The bulletins were never time to the second, and were often ten seconds short or over. There are three full-time journalists, including the news editor and two broadcast journalists. One does the early shift from 6am, and the other comes in from midday, which is the same time as the news editor and reporters.

There are many unpaid reporters, the majority having joined in the last three months, who come in and write and read bulletins. Some have been formally trained through PG Diplomas and others are training as they go along. The reporters come in on different days and these are supposed to be consistent, but it did not seem that way to me. This means that some days there were few people, whereas on others the newsroom was overcrowded. Radio Jackie also seems to take on most people asking for work experience because there were several people coming in for just a day during my three weeks. It’s obvious that as a new station, it’s eager to take on as much free labour as possible but, as expressed by the morning journalist, it ends up having a counter-productive affect. Over-crowding was one of the factors that sometimes made me hesitant to ask the editor for help.

The station started encouraging the reporters to do some live bulletins and overnight shifts (paid at minimum wage) towards the end of my work placement. The previous overnight bulletins were a mixture of IRN national news and pre-recorded local stories from the previous day. Radio Jackie feels particularly proud that it is completely independent and born out of the perseverance from the current owners. I found that the news writing was of a good standard and it took me a couple of days to shift from a more formal ‘BBC style’ to a more commercial one. I was told to write as if I were telling the story to a mate down the pub and to start using apostrophes. Despite this ‘relaxing’ of style on my part, I didn’t fee like I was being asked to whack people in the face through my writing either. Copy stories tended to be three to four short lines, and the next step for me was learning to shorten sentences. I was given good advice on how to select information, and to ruthlessly cut down on words.

Radio Jackie’s main news sources are the websites of local authorities and other bodies, and press releases. Despite being quite young, Radio Jackie seems to have made great contacts and to be kept well in touch with what is going on within its transmission area. Many of the listeners consider it an improved version of the former Thames FM, which gives it an established feel. For a commercial station, it takes its news seriously and has ambitious visions for its future news output. The news editor was very much a hands-on team member, offering continuous advice and support to the reporters. The majority told me privately that the station has provided them with a friendly learning environment. In the first couple of weeks I was given press releases and the contact books and left to research and write my own copy. I was also shown how the studio desk is operated and the different editing softwares in the studio and newsroom work.

I sat in every morning with the morning journalist, who gave me good advice on how to read the bulletins. I had the opportunity to have a go at recording it almost every morning for the first couple of weeks. The news editor occasionally listened to it and gave me feedback. He also took the time in the first week to teach me how to ad-lib the traffic news from ‘raw’ scripts and how to read a sixty-second news summary. This was excellent training and made me more confident as the placement progressed. Unfortunately there was no outside reporting to be done, except for court cases, where one of the reporters would call in the report. We would not see the reporter on the day though, which means I couldn’t have the opportunity to go out to court with them.

In the third week at Radio Jackie, I did several interviews over the phone and a couple with the guests in the studio. From the recordings, I took different cuts for clip stories to be broadcast over the course of the day. By the end of the placement I felt confident I‘d mastered the station’s style. I was only a bit disappointed that there were no demand to produce wraps and short packages. I am now working one day per week with Radio Jackie and I’m nonetheless being given the opportunity to do as much work as I can. I’ve also had an interview broadcast in the coveted extended bulletin. Radio Jackie is still young but I think it has the potential to grow and become more sophisticated in its overall output.

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Saffy Rushworth

Work Placement Review 2003/4.

I undertook two separate one week placements.

Placement one at uefa.com

Date – 15 December to 19 December 2003.

Place – uefa.com office, Askew Rd, Hammersmith.

Contact – Simon Hart.

Description of Placement.

Introduction.

Work.

What did I learn?

What do I take away from the experience?

Saffy Rushworth

Best bits.

The sense of humour, the atmosphere, the men, the football, everything really.

Worst bits.

The placement fell at the time of the winter break so it was a wind down week before Christmas and a bit quiet work wise but much Christmas cheer.

Conclusion.

I would recommend this placement to anyone who likes their football and wants experience in online journalism in sport. This placement was the best out of the two I had and I was so lucky to have met such wonderful people who inspired and encouraged me all the way. The people are so friendly and girls, if you like your football, an office of about ten to 15 men and all gorgeous, you’re in for a treat.

Placement two at studentBMJ

Date - 26 January to 30 January 2004.

Place – BMJ office, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London. WC1H 9JR

Contact – Deb Cohen.

Description of Placement.

Introduction.

Work.

What did I learn?

I learnt how to use track changes in Microsoft Word, how to cut stories and write a standfirst. I acquired some good interviews at the conference in Birmingham and transcribed them.

Saffy Rushworth

What do I take away from the experience?

Best bits.

Getting paid for writing news story and Minerva and the heavily subsidised canteen is fantastic.

Worst bits.

Fighting for a desk to work at, getting into central London and the lack of enthusiasm of some journalists to have work experience people present.

Conclusion.

Work experience at the BMJ is worthwhile. It looks particularly good for your CV as a medical professional and learning how the journal, which you subscribe to and read regularly, is put together made the experience enjoyable. After a slow start everyone was pleasant, friendly and encouraging. This is worthwhile if you are considering leaving medicine to pursue journalism full time.

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Hannah Robertson, PG Dip Broadcast 2003-2004

Reading 107 FM, 5^th-30^th January 2004

I expected to be making the tea for the first week or so. If I’m lucky, I thought, they might let me have a go at writing the odd cue!

In reality, at the end of my three weeks with Reading 107 I truly felt I’d been working as a real broadcast journalist, and a useful part of a news team.

This was largely due to the compactness of the station.

Reading 107 was launched in October 2002, as the first commercial music station dedicated to the town of Reading. News content is narrowly targeted to the chosen audience. As the official station of Reading FC, sport’s high on the agenda, and local news comes before national news wherever possible. For example, on the day I read the news, a story about a girl in a nearby village who’d been refused help with her school fees by the council pipped the story that ice had been found on Mars (both stories broke at the same time).

The station has a listenership of 40,000 (RAJAR), which they’re very pleased with.

Everything’s still shiny and new, and the studios are packed with fabulous ergonomically designed, integrated technology - but there’s just not enough of it to go round!

There are two studios. One’s used by the presenter and newsreader, and the other’s fought over by journalists recording voicers and making packages, DJs recording links and the advertising executives making commercials.

Self-opping while newsreading is a dream. There’s a monitor where you read your scripts and watch the clips counting down, and you press two buttons on a keypad - one to reach the next page of the script and another to fire off a clip.

The newsroom integrates with both studios via a CART wall. If you record, copy or edit a clip on one of the ‘bricks’ it’s immediately accessible from any networked PC, and can be attached to written cues, ready to play during bulletins. But there’s only two linked PCs in the newsroom!

This lack of equipment meant that for the first week I only saw bits of the news making process. Because both PCs in the newsroom were being used, I tended to get asked to do fragmented jobs like making a package out of pre-existing clips, bashing out a couple of cues, or getting some audio, which wasn’t ideal considering the speed with which I was expected to get the hang of things.

It was only in the second week when I was covering for holiday and sick leave that I really understood the way things worked at Reading 107, which is this:

There are three broadcast journalists, who work three shifts, working autonomously. The journalists on the morning shift (6am - midday) and afternoon shift (1pm - 8pm) build bulletins with national stories from IRN and other feeds, and local stories created by the reporter, and reads and self-ops bulletins on the hour (and half-hour at peak times). The reporter works from 10-6, gathering at least five local stories for the following day, with an interview that‘s usually done by phone due to time constraints. Two different clips are taken from each interview, each highlighting a different angle, and two different cues written.

The ideal Reading 107 story is 30 seconds long - 15 seconds of cue and 15 seconds audio. There’s an extended 15 minute programme at 6pm called Reading Tonight which rounds up all the day’s news and sport, which includes longer items and packages.

Despite the small team of three, the news output is of a very high quality.

As someone who was there to learn, I found the shortage of equipment and the small number of journalists meant things were such a rush I didn’t feel I was getting anywhere. It sometimes felt I was churning out story after story, with no opportunity to polish my craft and learn from my more experienced colleagues.

But I did learn an unbelievable amount during my time at Reading 107.

I can use recording and editing technology effectively, and extremely quickly. I know how to treat a story as an organic, developing thing. I can think like an editor, reporter, producer and newsreader - and switch between those modes quicker than you can say “lie back and think of BBC Berkshire”. I’ve learnt how to work very fast and make my own decisions - there’s no such thing as an editorial meeting at Reading 107! I’ve also got the knack of building contacts and using them to find stories that wouldn’t reach us through the wires or via a press release.

The course had prepared me for reading the news, using CoolEdit and making packages, and given me the confidence to take whatever was thrown at me but there was such a lot I was unprepared for - not least the speed I suddenly had to do everything at! The one and only package I’d made we had two weeks to do, now I was expected to put one together in 20 minutes!

I did get the feeling they expected me to be able to hit the ground running and work pretty much as an autonomous part of the team, that I was already up to speed with the technology and that I would understand the way the station worked and the processes for news making and news gathering by osmosis. I was really very far from this! Partly because no-one had much time to mentor me or give feedback, partly due to the lack of equipment, but mostly because we’re only beginners!!!

But I’m very grateful that they always pushed me further than I thought I could go, and I did meet the challenge of getting up to ‘real broadcast journalist’ speed.

BACK TO INDEX

Diary, Richard Randall PG Dip 2003-2004

Dee 106.3, (Chester) Work experience

13/01/04

The newsroom at Dee was tucked away in a corner of the main commercial sales office. The local and community news was a major part of the output of the station with three-minute bulletins on the hour and a specially extended lunchtime and evening news slot. There were three journalists, Lucy, the news editor, Claire, the senior journalist and James who had just arrived at the station. It was nice to hear that each of them had done a PG dip course even if they had all attended Cardiff. On day one the main news was Harold Shipman’s suicide and hence most of the reports were taken from IRN. On arrival I was asked to get some vox pops on whether people thought that the authorities were at fault for allowing his death to occur. To my surprise many people hadn’t even heard of Shipman and the ones that had couldn’t have been happier to hear the news of his suicide. The clips were then taken back and edited and this gave me a chance to familiarise myself with a system other than Cool Edit Pro.

14/01/04

A Royal visit was top of the news agenda on this day. Prince Andrew was due to speak at a local BAE Systems factory, marking the completion of the first wings for the new A380 airbus. I arrived at the plant with James where we recorded the Prince’s speech, which in mid-sentence, was interrupted by a huge smashing noise from elsewhere in the factory. When broadcast later it seemed as though His Royal Highness had been squashed by a falling chunk of airbus wing. We were unable to ask any questions directly to the Prince regarding his visit and merely recorded him. I was able to help interview senior officials concerned with the project.

15/01/04

I was given the opportunity to make a package on Chinese New Year. I decided to focus on how the local Chinese community might celebrate the festival and planned an interview with a lady who owned a Chinese restaurant in the city. I then organised a meeting with Chester’s Equality and Diversity Officer who I discovered was launching a multi-faiths calendar to mark the occasion. Being Year of the Monkey I also decided that a trip to Chester Zoo to visit some apes was necessary with respect to actuality.

16/01/04

I met up with Lucy Yong from Raffles Oriental Bar in the centre of Chester and she gave me an interview on the traditions of Chinese New Year. I returned to the studio where I spent the rest of the day editing my piece and planning for the next interview.

19/01/04

I made an early trip to the town hall in order to meet up with Sylvia Callum from Chester City Council. She was obviously very media savvy and she talked about her books on ethnicity even giving me a free copy. I spoke to her about what the Council could do to mark the celebration. She said that in future the Chinese Community would be welcome to come to her with any ideas regarding celebrating their new year.

20/01/04

I met up with the curator of mammals at Chester Zoo to talk about monkeys. In the interview I conducted with him I put to him the interpretation of what the Year of the Monkey meant to Chinese people. (That people born in this year would be successful, popular and full of fun). After this I spent half an hour in the monkey house trying to excite the Chimps in order to get some background sound. I spent the rest of the day arranging interviews for future news features including one with Barry Norman.

21/01/04

I got an interview with Stuart Ainsworth, an archaeologist with English Heritage and also a member of the Channel 4 ‘Time Team’. He was in Chester excavating part of the Roman amphitheatre which was revealing more about the cities early Christian past. I spent most of the morning with him and was able to try out various interview techniques. We went on a walk around the ruins, which allowed for a descriptive piece of work on what his team were doing in Chester with regard to researching various historical sites. I was also allowed to get more familiar with the studios and the broadcasting equipment at Dee 106.3. It was a very interesting experience and I was able to spend much of the day further editing my radio piece for broadcast. I was also lucky enough to record the day’s entertainment news, which enabled me to practice my script writing skills.

22/01/04

Today was the first time I had direct experience of news censorship! I was out vox popping for most of the morning, this time in the centre of Chester. The issue up for discussion was whether people thought that declassifying cannabis to a class ‘C’ drug was a good idea. The only problem with this was the fact we were only allowed to use vox’s from people who thought that it was a bad idea, so not to offend anyone. Later in the day I was able to get further practice typing up news story scripts to be read in the bulletins..

23/01/04

The morning was spent carrying out further vox pops on the issue of teenagers possessing airguns. The rest of the day was spent at a local primary school where a theatre company was entertaining kids with a ‘new-age’ interactive play where the children were encouraged to participate as actors. I learnt from watching my fellow journalists what to do and what not to do with regard to interviewing children! Later that day I had my package broadcast

26/01/04

My final day and I was able to practice reading a news bulletin and also recorded entertainment news, which I was able to write myself and later had broadcast.

BACK TO INDEX

PG DIP PRINT 2003-2004

Emma Bigger Work Experience

NINETEEN

19 is a glossy magazine that focuses on teenage interests and problems. It is part of IPC media and I spent two weeks there working between the features department and the fashion editorial team.

I arrived at Kings Reach Tower in Waterloo, dressed to impress and keen to get started. The building looked scarily unstable and the security was very strict. I had to sign in, get a security pass and wait for someone to make their way down from the 27th floor to come and collect me. This became a daily occurrence. When I reached the top floor of the building I was pleased that my contact, whom I had chatted with on the phone was just as pleasant and welcoming in the flesh as she sounded over the phone. I was shown my desk and did a lap of the office introducing myself. I was pleased that everyone managed to lift their eyes from their computer screens to say hello.

My first job was to sort the mail. I was determined not to become the annoying work experience girl and was willing to accept every task with enthusiasm. It gave me a chance to get to know everyone’s name and learn where everyone sat. There were hundreds of letters and competition entries to get through. This was a dull and uninspiring task that only became interesting when I opened the reader’s responses to the 19 sex survey. In the afternoon I assisted the features team by sifting through papers and magazines to get some ideas for future stories. The magazine was undergoing a face-lift and the re-launch was coming up soon and it was clear that new features ideas were vital to the new look magazine. I contributed various ideas for stories, interviews and profiles from the papers and they seemed pleased with my contribution. My day finished at six.

I was given topics to research for the April issue such as ‘boys and cleavage’ and ‘celebrity parties’. I used the Internet to collect facts and information.

Throughout the week I worked alongside the fashion team. I was asked to write small editorial pieces and illustrate them with pictures and photos. I not only wrote the piece and give it a headline but I also helped design the page with the art team and chose the pictures. I also had to give advice and ‘top tips’ on fashion. Although the subject of teenage trends is not particularly challenging, I liked the responsibility of having a page as my own project and it gave me a continuous piece for a couple of days. I compiled this page for the April and May editions. It was interesting to look at pictures and layout as well as writing. The fashion team also asked me to accompany them on a photo shoot and to write the editorial to go with it. This was a very long day that involved a lot of standing about in the cold. However, it was interesting to see the pictures at the end of the day and to use them to base the writing on.

I was asked to research several features ideas throughout my stay at 19 and was given a project of my own as part of the new magazine design. It was a new debate or comment page that was pegged on something that had happened recently. I had to familiarise myself with the house style and make it appeal to young readers. I found this quite straightforward- it wasn’t that long ago that I was a teenager myself. I researched and wrote a piece on how easy it was to marry as a teenager following the Las Vegas marriage of Britney Spears and if catwalk models were too young after an eleven year old paraded down the catwalk in Paris. I began these by researching the event itself and the media coverage it attracted. I then rang ‘experts’ and asked their opinion on the topic extracting quotes and interesting facts. This was the first time I used my short hand on my placement and I noticed that no one else used it at all. The event and topic were central to the feature and the comment and debate was secondary. This was fun and interesting and again I was given quite a lot of responsibility considering it was a new feature. I also had to research the cost of living like a celebrity following Kate Moss’ extravagant 30^th birthday party.

A regular feature on 19 is a page of vox pops. I went out in Oxford Street with a photographer and asked young girls who looked stylish about their wardrobe and where they shopped. This was very repetitive and quite boring but it was good working with the photographer and getting out of the office.

I was often asked to sub-edit various pieces from the features team and the fashion team when the subs were busy. I would cut things down correct spelling and grammar and suggest any changes.

I didn’t manage to escape the normal, mundane work experience jobs. On a daily basis I rang PR companies requesting clothes and make up for the fashion and beauty team and also returned them when they had been used in shoots or still life. I also had to run errands like collecting models from reception when they arrived for castings and sorting out petty cash and expense claim forms.

Working at 19 was a lot of fun and I settled in very quickly. The subject matter was light hearted and fun most of the time, which made things amusing and relaxed. It may not be cutting edge journalism but I gained a lot of experience in a variety of areas and I didn’t have to make a cup of tea once.

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Mandeep Gakhal PG DIP 2003-2004 February 2004

Work Experience Report – 19 Magazine

I spent two weeks at 19 magazine as part of my work attachment. 19 is a glossy magazine for teenage girls that focuses on relationships, celebrities and fashion. I worked on features sitting next to Suzy Cox, the winner of the new journalist of the year category at the awards show that I went to with Chris Horrie and others in November.

Upon getting there, I was surprised how casual and plain everybody was. I expected the staff to be donning Dolce & Gabbana and Prada and parading in kitten heels. In fact, although I didn’t wear a suit on my first day, I still felt overdressed.

I was surprised at how strict security at IPC Media was. Until I got a temporary pass, everytime I entered the building, reception would ring 19 to tell them I was there and even though 19 would confirm who I was, I still had to wait until somebody came down from 19 to take me back up to the 29^th floor where I was based.

I began each day sorting out mail and giving to the right person. This was a good way to get to know who everybody was. I would then sort out mail received from readers, either letters or competition entries, and then bundle them together so a winner could be chosen at the end of the closing date. I was surprised to find that magazines really receive letters and competition entries from genuine readers as I always thought magazines made them up. There was also a lot of response to a sex survey 19 had printed in the issue before.

Within my first half hour, there was a briefing held by the editor which was handy for me as it gave me an opportunity to find out what was going on with the magazine at that stage. Helen, the editor, basically checked with her staff what they had done and what else she wanted to be done.

After sorting out the mail, a daily chore of mine was to go through the daily papers and make cuttings of anything that I might think would be of use to 19, such as celebrity news and real life personal drama type stories. Although it is an easy job, I underestimated how time consuming it would be as there were so many papers to go through. I would go through tabloids and broadsheets but also regional papers like the Birmingham Post and the Liverpool Echo. Once I had made my cuttings, I had to file them away into the filing system.

I carried out research on the internet on various topics such as male personalities, why women gossip and how much it would cost to hire a private jet for the feature on how to live like a millionaire.

I also learnt how crucial things I have been taught on the course are, such as getting quotes. For the male personalities feature, I had to ring psychologists and authors of self-help books to get a quote. This was probably the only time I got stressed on my work experience because firstly, it was one of those days when nobody was around, secondly, the deadline was the same day and thirdly, I thought it was two-second job.

I transcribed a couple of interviews. The first was an interview with Andy Harmers, who works full time as a David Beckham lookalike. His ex girlfriend works with him as a Posh lookalike. The other interview I transcribed was with a stylist for the Oscars for a “Stars Style Secrets” feature.

I did a couple of interviews. One was with a personal shopper for the careers page and the other was with a couple that revealed why they loved each other and when they realised it was love.

I was given the task of devising questions for an interview with Amy Whinehouse, but had to do so in her own lyrics. I thought this was fun as I got a chance to use my brain.

I also got to go to the movie premiere for School of Seduction, Kelly Brook’s new film. It was okay for a British film. I got a chance to speak to her very briefly.

I managed to do some vox pops. I had to go out with a camera and look for boys aged 18-23. The question was “What do you think is cute about your girlfriend that she finds quite embarrasing?” Responses were varied from waking up with ‘bed hair’ to ‘farting?!’

I soon found out why the daily cuttings that I had been doing were useful. I was told to compile a case study for why Angelina Jolie is so weird (she slits her wrists and used to carry a phial of Billy Bob Thornton’s blood when she was with him.) I started by going to the filing system looking under ‘J’ for Jolie and then gathered everything that had anything to do with Angelina. This was similar to the profiles that we did in class except that I had no Infolinx and instead had a more manual system.

19 are currently going through a bit of a revamp. They are changing the way the magazine looks visually and with that are having more features. I was asked to brainstorm ideas for different sections of future issues. For example, I was asked to think of ideas for the relationships feature page such as “How to kerb his jealousy” and “How much should you tell him about your sexual past?”

I also had to think of questions for 19’s “Blokes: Get Sussed” section where a group of boys answer questions that girls always want to know about them such as, why they are obsessed with threesomes and why they only change their sheets yearly.

I carried out little errands such as going to petty cash to claim expenses for the team and going down to the publishing department to show them the layout for the next issue. I was quite pleased that 19 won ‘best cover’ for January, which is an IPC thing.

I enjoyed my work experience with 19 because I was given various things to do and have made a few contacts. I am pleased because I will be credited for my work and was told that 19 would be happy to have me again.

BACK TO INDEX

BBC RADIO NEWCASTLE –

PG Dip broadcast 2003-2004, Stevie Loughrey

Well if ever there was a good example of the old adage sink or swim - this
has to have been it. Literally two minutes after I had walked in the door,
the editor had given me two copy stories to write and told me to do a voice
piece on the lead story for the 1pm and 2pm bulletins. No tour, no chat over
coffee about target audiences or local politics, just find a desk and get
stuck in. I'm certainly not complaining though, I have probably learnt more
in the last few weeks here than I have in all the places I've worked before.

The fact that the newsroom is a bit smaller than the others I've worked in,
is a benefit, not a drawback. It means there is more of a communal
atmosphere and you get given far more work because they are relatively
under-resourced. The people I was working with were really friendly and
helpful. For the first few days I probably would have tested the patience of
a saint, with my incessant stream of questions on how to do this and that.
But to my immense relief, everyone was incredibly obliging and happily gave
up their time. They also assured me that they had been in exactly the same
boat when they started here.

In the first week I was on the 10 - 6 shift, although I was actually doing 9
- 8ish most days - not because I was tryingg to impress them with my
religious zeal for work ( hardly! ) but because they kept giving me more and
more stuff to do. The second week they put me on the Breakfast show which
was great fun despite having to get up at 4.30 am.

I was a bit tentative coming up here because of my total ignorance of the
local area and its news agenda, but I quickly got a feel for it so it didn't
pose a problem. Although the total absence of my geographical awareness was
conspicuously evident when I wrote a copy story about a man getting crushed
between two lorries at a haulage yard, only to later discover it was 30
miles beyond their catchment area!

Anyway, after lunch on the fist day I was handed a sonifex and sent out to
do a vox pop about who were the better drivers, men or women. I have done
vox pops all over the place and normally only get a hit rate of about 1 in
3, but everyone seemed more than happy to talk - making my job a damn sight
easier. They were all bubbling with colourful stories of how their other
half was totally incompetent behind a wheel. When I got back I was again
thrown in at the deep end - (again with no armbands ! ) when they sent me to
edit it myself on Radioman. Now my Cool Edit skills are legendary, but even
a master like me is going to find it difficult to translate my expertise to
a new system if I don't even know how to turn it on! Anyway, I managed to
get it done after some Frank Spencer esque head scratching and cavorting
around.

Earlier in the day I had been having a bit of banter with the sports lads,
and was just about to head off home when one of them came over and asked me
if I wanted to go along to the Newcastle v Fulham game at St James that
evening. Obviously I said no and went home to watch Newsnight. No, just
joking - those tickets are like gold dust you'd need to be mad. The couple
of sociables we had planned to have after the game, didn't quite happen,
surprise surprise ! All I'll say is I wasn't feeling too clever when I
rolled out of bed the next morning.

As I walked in the door the following day, hallucinating about a big Ulster
Fry and wishing that I had more sense, the assistant editor came bouncing
over to ask me if I could drive. He wanted me to take the radiocar and go
and do a two way from the scene where a man had been stabbed the previous
night. Being the shrinking violet that I am, I said "yeah, sound man - no
worries". It was only on my way out there, that my daydreaming changed from
food to an almost manic fear that I was about to put my foot in it Royal
style and get the station libelled on my second day. I had visions of my
career flushing down the drain before it had even started. Luckily they
decided they wanted me to do a clip sequence instead, which apparently was
very good.

My first package was to have been about a new police initiative to clamp
down on North Eastern football hooligans travelling to Euro 2004, but
unfortunately after researching the story it turned out to be in our
neighbouring stations patch, so we had to pull it. But not to worry, the
following day I was sent to cover the melodrama of a Woolworths store
closing down in Sunderland. An illustrious start to my broadcasting career
then - watch out Fergal Keane! Despite having to drive like a maniac to get
back in time to edit and write the piece and almost pissing myself because I
thought I was going to miss the deadline, they said it was spot on.

The next week I was given even more autonomy and was sent to cover stories
on the re-classification of cannabis, panic buying pensioners stocking up
for the Big Freeze, the struggle self employed businessmen were having
getting their tax forms in, a package on how easy it was to accumulate
credit for BBC debt day and a story about electronically tagged criminals
who had used their tags as an alibi even though their DNA was found at crime
scenes. I was also sent to cover the "Big Conversation" type gathering at St
James Park where the Prime Minister was supposed to be grilled by seventy
'randomly' selected members of the North East public. The most probing
question the sycophantic crowd managed was whether Mr Blair planned to
improve the A 1. The 'Big Con' more like. Despite my scepticism about the
event it was still a great experience to be there and to get to cover it.

The whole fortnight was a steep learning curve but a hugely enjoyable and
beneficial one. I would strongly recommend it to anyone seeking a placement
outside of London.

BACK TO INDEX

Fran Neagle, PG Dip Broadcast 2003-2004

BBC Radio Kent

Successful placement?

On the whole I feel that the placement was a fairly successful one, except I wish it had been possible to get a further placement during the Easter vacation, but they were booked up. I also wish that my driving test hadn’t had to be cancelled just before I went on my placement as I’m fairly sure I would have passed it, and would have been able to go out in the radio car and actually get my teeth stuck into more packages. I was offered several, and was tempted to just get in the car and drive regardless, as they weren’t actually going to check my licence! Probably best I didn’t…

A lot of what I learned on placement was a matter of applying what I’d studied on the course to BBC technology. Instead of the CoolEdit program I was used to using at university, I was using CoolEdit Pro, and Radioman couriers and soundcards instead of minidisk recorders and minidisks. It was also a matter of adapting methods learned for telephone interviews, and using a soundboard in a pared-down digital studio. It was frustrating in a way, knowing that I knew how to do things in another setting, but having to relearn it, but I suppose that was a fairly useful skill to have learned in itself We’d done a lot of work on copy style on the course, and I’d had some experience of making copy relevant to a local audience on previously, so it was mainly getting to grips with the BBC style that was the challenge. Many of the newsroom skills I’d learned on placement before, but I was aware I handled them much more professionally this time, like dealing with difficult people on the phone, and getting on with colleagues in a news team, though this may have been down to age and experience rather than skills learned on the course. But I was very pleased to have been able to jump straight in on day one and say yes I can do some cuts, copy and cues, and feel confident in doing so. I was also really impressed with the amount of help I was given in learning how to use ENPS, and Radioman by both editors and other BJs.

Successfully serving needs of local audience?

I found the morning news meetings to be a very good gauge of whether the broadcaster was serving the requirements of its audience (in addition to listening to the broadcast of course!). In order to get the placement at BBC Radio Kent I’d had to write a critique of the station, so I had a fairly good idea of the output that was expected. According to ‘BBC English Regions’, local BBC radio stations aim to provide a ‘trusted service of news, current affairs, politics, sport, and weather’ for their respective coverage areas, and in reality I found that as far as Kent was concerned, it was mainly targeting white, middle-aged, middle-class, middle England, which I thought was fair enough really since that is Kent’s demographic in my experience. The one specifically ethnic story that was covered whilst I was there was a fairly non-story about a refuge for Asian women in the county, which was mainly done to ‘tick a few BBC boxes’, according to one journalist, a very un-PC comment….Towards the end of my placement at BBC Radio Kent, it snowed, and it was this time that really proved to me that BBC Radio Kent was effective in serving the needs of the audience. Unlike other local (commercial) stations such as Invicta FM and KM-fm, the BBC had the means to provide up-to-the minute updates on travel, and school closures and re-openings. This took up about ten minutes in every hour. The newsdesk phone lines were jammed with local community clubs, theatres, and adult education classes phoning in updates on their status. It all seemed very boring at the time, when I was taking calls and cataloguing cancellations, postponements and schools closing at two-thirty instead of one-forty-five, but when I caught some of it on-air it sounded like an extremely useful public service broadcast. And the Managing Editor was fairly sure that alone had had pushed up the RAJAR figures. The local angle was extremely important, and I found it interesting to note that getting a local angle didn’t necessarily have to mean getting a local (and possibly less credible expert as an interviewee. It was just as valid, if not more so, to get a national figure, and localise the story with a phone-in, or make a local reference in the cue.

And I learned that some Editors are better than others when it came to judging ideas put forward during the day by BJs. For example, a story was run on the basis of one woman’s testimony as an outpatient at a local hospital. She claimed that the lifts in A&E were broken, so bodies were having to be taken through the wards to get to the mortuary, and food was being delivered late to in-patients, claims which were both rubbished later by hospital spokesmen. The story was ripped to shreds in the news meeting the next day, particularly since it was run in bulletins post-hospital spokesman comeback, without acknowledgement the claims had been dismissed.

As well as being local, it was of paramount importance not to focus too closely on certain areas of the county, which is really hard, since there’s a lot more going on in Medway, or a city like Canterbury, than there is in a backwater village that even people in the closest town to it had probably never even heard of. Really good stories that would have made excellent packages very often stayed as copy for fear of not keeping a countywide balance.

Painting a snowy picture

An idea that was run past in a morning news meeting really struck me as being a fairly good one, and a good pointer in general about how radio can work. The idea was to send out the three radio cars that BBC Radio Kent have to different locations in the county to see how the weather was panning out in the different areas, and how they looked under cover of snow. It struck me as very good illustrative radio, including vox from local people trying to get about from A to B in the snow, providing a good overview of the county. It would be an excellent use of resources too, as it could be done by journalists already out on stories, talking about their own journeys.

Diary of the attachment (BBC Radio Kent)

Friday 9^th January

A very organised day and am well aware it can’t last. I’ve my own logon and email address set up for me in advance. Went through the ENPS and Radioman online training programmes, which I found to be fairly useless, and was reassured that most of the feedback on the BBC website said the same. Hung about a bit afterwards hoping to make myself useful, and fiddled with some TV copy someone had written to make it more TV-friendly. Interesting request for someone who’s never studied TV, but never mind. The person writing it was impressed- as was I with him, but unfortunately he’s off on holiday for the next couple of weeks. Mainly hung about to look keen as I was only meant to be there for training, so finding myself a bit of a spare rib, I left at the reasonable hour of half–past five. Only a two-hour train journey to get home now- or maybe three hours- this is Kent after all. If I’m very lucky my boyfriend will have dinner on the table for me.

Monday 12^th January

Dull, Duller and Dullest. Went to the morning news meeting. The quietest Monday a newsroom has ever seen. Nothing to even get vox pops on in desperation. No fairly pointless stories I tried to chase came to fruition either. Was fairly down, thinking this was going to be it for the next two weeks, but my destroyed soul was patched up somewhat when I was told everyone else was even more bored than me, and that this wasn’t normal, so maybe I don’t have to rethink my career after all. Made check calls- a lot. Observed how interesting it was that TV and radio function in the same news space: it seems fairly useful as in theory news stories can be shared, in practice however it seems they just don’t make tea for each other.

Tuesday 13^th January

One of the BJs grabbed me as I walked in to take a couple of clips from some live interviews that had been done first thing on the breakfast show, for bulletins later that morning. Went to the news meeting, and waited to be given something to chase. Yes it is that painfully hierachical. Realised yesterday that it pays to look keen and act keen, but to do so passively. Producers are fairly slow at BBC Kent in deciding what to give to whom. And its not that they don’t want to give me anything, or that there isn’t anything to give, but they really don’t like to rush things. Am a very jinxed lady today. Started to write a voicer on a court case, and had some doubts about the facts, so phoned the court only to discover that the case has been pushed back. Grr. Also learned never to phone a news agency and tell them that you’ve seen their press release as you lose control of the conversation quite quickly. Regretted that one fairly instantly. Tried to locate two next-door neighbours who’d moved to Lincolnshire from Kent, one to be with her family, the other to stay with her neighbour. Don’t you just love local news…

Wednesday 14^th January

Learned that BJs do make mistakes. A package on broken lifts in a local hospital should never be run on the strength on the testimony of one patient, and that a clip of her comments should not be used after the hospital have responded- pretty much saying the story’s rubbish. Did a vox on the downgrading of cannabis to a class C drug, and realised just how thick Joe Public is. Intelligent-looking/sounding woman in her late twenties confidently told me it was legal to smoke a joint in a public place as long as you had MS. Secured interviews with local Conservative and Labour MPs for interviews in tomorrow’s breakfast programme on the subject. Discovered that press officers can be really helpful and real pains in the bum, usually at the same time…

Thursday 15^th January

Learned that when doing a phone-in it’s ok to have a national representative (who’s more likely to be more credible anyway) on a subject, as a phone-in off the back of it can provide the local angle. Was asked to go out in the radio car to do a really good package, but unfortunately I don’t have a driving licence yet, which was fairly frustrating (yes I know I’ll need one soon….). Have become aware that I’ve a tendency to try and finish things before I start a new task, which means I don’t necessarily put calls in on stories as soon as I could. Wrote lots of very boring copy, one in particular- a Horlicks survey that discussed the average time couples spend talking in bed, and how the subject matter makes it difficult for them to then go to sleep. Was warned never to use even simple percentages in copy ‘because people are stupid’. Apparently ‘old people understand fractions but not percentages, they think 25% is loads more than a quarter’…

Friday 16^th January

Local BBC radio loves vox pops, and I was very surprised when yesterday I’d suggested getting vox on a story that was rapidly becoming package material, and was told it wasn’t necessary. Today’s news meeting lamented the lost opportunity as the subject matter in question had lacked ‘an illustrative local credibility angle’. Again, grrr! Several very good potential package ideas were immediately discarded, as it was more important to keep a balance of stories across the county, rather than use the best material. Recorded a voicer, and due to a very lazy BJ I did lots of telephone interviews to take cuts and write copy for the weekend bulletins. But a very astute producer who saw what was going on told me that being prepared to hand work over in order to get home was a very useful skill…

Monday 19^th January

Phones were screaming for attention all morning, and the newsdesk was very short staffed, so I manned them and missed the meeting. It made me realise just how useful the morning meetings are, as I had no idea what was going on without it. It’s also useful when hearing BJs on later shifts asking how their work was, and to know what editors actually thought of it, and their (un)diplomatic replies. Several periods of intense boredom today, and a lot of self-imposed reading through council minutes and rubbish press releases in an effort to discover something exciting. Learnt that the BBC is very tight when it comes to providing a fax machine that works.

Tuesday 20^th January

Found a story which the Drivetime producer wants me to do as an ‘as live’ 3 minute piece! Wayhay! An Australia day is being held at a local pub showing all the England rugby matches throughout the day, including the final. And Ben Cohen’s cousin’s going to be there! (No idea who he is!!). But get there and the pub’s closed. Am hoping that one day I won’t be paid lots of money for doing nothing….Sampled some court reporting, and recognised the importance of BJ’s with terrible legal knowledge having an editor who knows the ins and outs of court copy- with 30 seconds to edit before it goes to air. Was nearly held in contempt of court. Very arsey magistrate who obviously doesn’t understand the court system- My colleague was told off for taking shorthand notes (‘obviously being BBC you may not know the rules….’), whilst two journalism students were chucked out for being students taking notes…McNae take note…the law has changed overnight. Was disturbed by the fact that the BJ I was shadowing seemed to have a very loose grasp of the law (she has a pg dip from a rival London institution). She didn’t seem to know what I meant when I told her she couldn’t name a school in connection with the case as the child in question’s identity could be narrowed down, (‘but there’s loads of people in a school!’). Left it to the editor, hence the last minute changes. Suddenly felt I’d actually understood some law after all! Spent the remainder of the day mainly chasing up local MPs about whether they were going to vote for or against in the tuition fees bill.

Wednesday 21^st January

It snowed!! Weather team who had been convinced it would happen and refused to help organise BBC Kent football friendlies as a result were very smug. Their stubbornness had paid off! Lost out on doing another package because I don’t have driving licence. Very frustrating. Set up local MPs for Hutton response interviews for the breakfast programme, and the Head of Media at Canterbury Christchurch University College to discuss the future of the BBC post-Hutton. I thought that getting someone to talk on that subject was a bit mad, but it was explained that BBC local stations see themselves as quasi-franchises rather than part of the Beeb.

Thursday 22^nd January

Was extremely late because of the trains not being able to cope with snow. But people who’d made it in were treated like gods (before having to get stuck into three people’s work to cover shortages), so it wasn’t a problem. Luckily about 10 minutes in every hour was travel and school closure updates so there was less news than usual to fill! The morning meeting discussed how it would have been nice to get the radio cars out to different parts of the county to get an illustrative view of weather. Learned how to play the kazoo, and formed a band with some of the BJs {we broke up due to musical (in)differences} Flicking through Sky, Fox, and various other news channels, I discovered that BBC News 24 were the only ones that were really interested in the BBC walkouts for Greg Dyke’s resignation.

Friday 23^rd January

Did more telephone interviews, cuts and copy for weekend bulletins. Edited TV footage streamed into Radioman for a package for Drivetime, chased some interviews, and took lots of work I’d done off the system to save to mini-disk so I can laugh at it in ten years’ time. Or now.

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Music Week – MARY SWEENEY PG DIP 2003-2004

Music Week (MW) is a weekly business to business magazine (average circulation:10,555) for all companies that are involved with the music industry in one way or another. This means that the publication has to cater for a broad range of readers, from music publishers, to radio stations, record company staff, and managers of indie record shops.

MW is part of CMP Information, which in turn is part of the United Business Media company.

The publication is put to bed on Sunday evening. The vast majority of MW is completed by Friday evening, but because they publish the charts at the back of the magazine, they are not allowed to send it to print until 7pm. This is because the BBC broadcasts the Top 40 Chart on Sunday evenings until 7pm and no one is allowed to release this information before Radio 1 have finished transmitting the show. A few members of staff come into the building every Sunday to tie up any loose ends with stories and subbing, and to drop the charts information into the templates at 7pm before finally putting the publication to bed.

Music Week comes out on a Monday morning, and this is also the time when the staff have their weekly editorial meeting to discuss stories for the forthcoming issue. I sat in on both meetings

I had the most contact with the online editor, who would give me media releases to rewrite into stories of between 150 – 250 words. Their website, musicweek.com, provides daily content to subscribers, and the job of the online editor was to provide daily news stories for subscribers.

A CD of French music was given away with one of the issues of the magazine, and I was given the task of writing 100 word biographies on 18 French bands. The biogs were to be published in the magazine to give listeners some basic information about the artists featured on the CD. I stupidly thought it would be easy to do and I would get it done quickly. I was very wrong. It took me two days to complete, and at one point I had to call a record company in France to request artist information in English because many of the artist’s websites were (understandably) in French. But I got a byline and an entire page to myself, so it was worth it.

I also compiled a small feature during my second week there called The Big Question. This is a regular feature in MW, and it involves getting quotes from those involved in the industry on a topical subject. The question I was given was: ‘Who would you like to see as the UK Eurovision entry?’ because it was at the time that the UK contestant for Song for Europe was being chosen. I got on the phone and got quotes from a variety of people, from heads of music at radio stations, to heads of A&R.

I also helped out with single and album reviews for the reviews section. It made me realise how hard it is to write about music! I had suspected as such, but this just confirmed it. There is only so many times you can use the phrases ‘infectious chorus’ and ‘four piece from Cardiff return with their latest single’. The editor told me he had a similar problem when writing his music reviews so I felt a bit better.

In general, the staff at MW were friendly and helpful and the placement was good because I learnt new things and it was my first experience at a b2b magazine. However I feel that I went to MW at a bad time and I would recommend to future students that if they wanted to apply, to do so for Easter. This is because in late January they have some of the biggest (and therefore busiest) issues of the year, and so they didn’t have much time to speak to me. I had more contact with the online editor and the charts and new releases co-ordinators than the news reporters and feature writers.

Bizarre

Mary Sweeney PG Dip Print (2003-2004)

I spent one week at Bizarre magazine, which has recently been acquired by Dennis Publishing. It was previously owned by IFG, who in turn had bought it with other consumer titles (Viz, Fortean Times) from John Brown Publishing.

I had worked at Bizarre before last June and really enjoyed it. This meant I had some idea of what to expect of this week, and I knew the staff. I would like to add because I get asked so often about this particular point – the staff are all perfectly normal and very friendly. They are not “freaky goth people” or anything of the sort.

The consumer magazine is aimed at men, but also has a strong female readership. In a nutshell, Bizarre gives the reader news and features on anything weird and wacky from the UK and around the world. This ranges from their ‘quirkies’ page called World Wide Weird, from photo shoots with models, to features on trepanning. It’s not for the easily offended.

The editorial assistant asked me to help him with the Ask Bizarre page. This is a column where readers can send in their questions and Bizarre tries to find out the answers. The question I was given to research and write up was “What would happen to those tribal women with rings round their necks if the rings were taken off?”. I did attempt to speak to a medical expert to get a quote, but I couldn’t get hold of one. However, the internet came to my rescue and I found out what I needed to know - read the April 2004 issue of Bizarre if you want to know the answer.

I was also assigned two pages near the back of the mag called ‘Reviewed and Rated’ and asked to come up with something to review and rate that a reader of the magazine might buy. I stress ‘might’, because while looking through previous issues to get ideas, I saw they had reviewed and rated novelty coffins and body armour. After much frustrated brainstorming, I came up with self defence weapons. I found seven weapons on the internet and wrote 200 words for each one, and found relevant pictures for every one. The designers were very helpful in helping me with the pictures as I had to make sure the resolution was correct when choosing pictures.

I also helped out with fact checking for the sub editors, and some nibs on sea monsters for their ‘sea special’.

I had a good time and enjoyed my week at Bizarre. Obviously not recommended for anyone who wants to work on more serious publications, but if you would like to work on a ‘glossy’ and have a laugh at the same time, then Bizarre is the place to go.

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Work experience Chris Deary

UEFA. COM

PG Dip Print 2003-2004

uefa.com is the official website of UEFA, the governing body for European football. They cover all European leagues, but their main focus is on teams competing in UEFA competitions, i.e. the UEFA Cup, the Champions League and EURO 2004. The site is published in six European languages and also, inevitably, Chinese. London is their main office, but there are a few others around Europe.

The office is split into news and features sections, with three or four people working on each. UEFA have a correspondent in each European country and the role of the people in the office is basically to sub the copy they file. The relationship between the two sections is fairly fluid and the roles are not strictly defined. Both the news and features subs are free to think of ideas for features and write them, especially if there is not much news coming in. Similarly, the features subs are expected to help out with the news if it is a busy news day

I was mostly involved on the news side. This included loading articles into the system, which meant creating the relevant links, choosing pictures and writing headlines. At first I was much slower at working compared to everyone else but by the second week I was working a lot faster and they started to trust me with better and more important things. I wrote two features, both profiles, and got bylines for both.

Whenever there was a lull in news a couple of people would prepare things for EURO 2004 in the summer. This is the biggest UEFA competition and it only happens once every four years so they have lots of extra sections on the website, including profiles of every player, manager and country. I had to gather facts for some of the player profiles. This was a fairly repetitive task but it was good practice at checking and re-checking statistics and facts.

On the whole it was a good experience. The people were keen to help me out and offer advice. The atmosphere in the office was fairly laid back, mainly because the editor is based in Switzerland so they do not have anyone breathing down their necks. But they all work hard and they gave me plenty of things to do. They gave me some responsibility and told me from day one that I could make changes to things if I thought they were crap.

The only downside was that it uefa.com is a news outlet tied to an organisation whose primary responsibilities lie elsewhere. I was told on my first day to avoid anything that might make UEFA or football generally look bad. For example, they do not report a transfer until it has been confirmed by all parties involved, because as the governing body they cannot afford to look as if they do not know what is going on in the game. But it also means they rarely break any big news. They also completely ignore some of the more interesting football stories, such as the current situation at Manchester United, and sometimes reading the site you could be forgiven for thinking that football is squeaky clean.

Having said this, it was good to work somewhere that only deals in facts and not the speculation and rumour that discredits a lot of sports journalism. It was also good practice at writing for a very specific and unique style. Making sure you have used the correct full names of obscure eastern European clubs and players was again good practice at checking and re-checking information.

The best part was when they organised a press pass for me for the Carling Cup semi-final between Aston Villa and Bolton Wanderers. I think they were just doing me a favour really so I could go and see how it all works, although it was mentioned that if I could get some good quotes from a well-known player then they might let me do a feature.

Going to the game was a great experience. It was interesting to observe the differences between the national and local journalists. With it being a night match, I guess the deadline for the national journalists was very tight in order to get the report into the morning papers. After the match I went to the managers’ press conference and was surprised to find that hardly any of the national journalists had bothered to turn up. I was also surprised by the lack of questions. Both managers came in and gave a five-minute monologue.

Several of the national newspaper reports the next day did not contain any quotes at all. I presume this was because of a lack of time. Those that did have quotes had been lifted from the interviews both managers did on Sky Sports straight after the game.

Perhaps another reason for a lack of quotes was that there was general disappointment with what both managers said. The referee had had a bad game, sending off one Villa player and turning down several penalty appeals. It was funny to hear the sighs of frustration in the press lounge as the Villa manager David O’Leary failed to say one bad word about the referee.

The local journalists meanwhile were busy interviewing every player they could find and getting as many quotes as possible. The Bolton Evening News has an eight page pull-out supplement after every Bolton game, so their reporter had a few more column inches to fill than the national journalists. I guess he also had more time with it being an evening paper.

It was in this scrum just outside the players’ entrance that I managed to get an interview with Stelios Giannokopoulos, a Bolton midfielder who will be playing for Greece at EURO 2004. I wrote a feature-interview on him and got paid £100 for it, although this only just covered my travel expenses and did not compensate for the loneliness of driving back down to London in thick snow at 1am in a hire car with a dodgy clutch.

Sam Hickman

PG Dip Journalism

Work placement report (PG Dip 2003-2004)

UEFA.COM

UEFA.com is the official website of European football. It offers students the chance to complete placements, learning newsgathering, feature writing and internet production.

I was given ample opportunity to perform several roles at UEFA.com. In fact, it seemed the other staff members went out of their way to offer the more interesting tasks, and then were more willing to help for the more difficult ones.

Despite being a current, news-based internet magazine, a work placement at UEFA.com in January is relaxed. Several European leagues are in winter recess, as is UEFA’s flagship club competition, the Champions League. Editor Adam Szreter warned the work would not be hectic – in preparation for this, I worked one Champions League match night before Christmas, when the office was busy and the staff less able to accommodate a student on placement. While other journalists busied themselves with the important tasks of the evening, I was given the UEFA.com style guide and told to monitor the live match updates, which were often error-prone. While the work was less important, I felt no less involved in the office structure.

Familiarisation with the style guide was all-important. I was given a bible of European football, and an alphabetical list of general points that had to be applied to the site. I would compare the guide closely with that of BBC Online.

With the relaxed environment, no real pressure was applied to the work. Initially I was given one story to sub-edit and submit for publication. Although the site is English language, it is widely read on the continent and pride is taken in ensuring factual accuracy. This raises issues concerning style: names of clubs, players, managers and stadiums have to be correct, and colloquial variances are observed. The stories are submitted by correspondents from around Europe, on a variety of subjects. Reports sent from the various outposts are then heavily editied, as well as being factually checked, jobs I was most concerned with. Most stories also had to be changed into the writing style of the website, and had to be adjusted to fit general English journalistic conventions. In fact, sub-editing at UEFA.com often involved the complete re-writing stories, from a selection of given facts, rather than simply formatting good copy.

Stories of particular British interest were often written on site, such as the recent Chelsea signing of Scott Parker. In these cases, usual journalistic practice was followed, and relevant contacts were made. As a general rule, UEFA.com only seemed to go with a breaking story if it had ‘BBC backing’. If it had appeared on the BBC website, it was considered credible enough to run, a fact noteworthy in the world of football speculation. This was a little surprising, however, and was a common occurance. Despite being comprehensive and informed, many UEFA stories were lifted from other websites, such as the BBC, the Guardian or, more frequently, official club sites. I had presumed UEFA would have more professional kudos and would be well connected. The style guide certainly implied this.

Another feature of UEFA.com was that there seemed to be no obvious hierarchy. Roles were fluid and everyone had responsibilities for making the website.

The second part of my placement was spent in production. I was shown the procedures of the final stages of article production, resourcing and adding pictures, and adding hyperlinks to stories.

While most work was news-related, much of the site was feature-style. An important section was the preparations for EURO 2004, UEFA’s international competition. I was given the job of writing several articles on competing countries, a job that involved beginning a story from scratch, deciding on the angle in discussion with other journalists and then researching and writing the piece. This was the most challenging work I was given, and had a high degree of independence.

I felt more responsible as the placement ended, as the more that was asked of me, the more I felt I should respond. I also began to find my own stories during quiet periods, and was asked to submit any feature ideas I had of personal interest. In this way, my time at UEFA.com was extremely well spent – in fact, I believe the time was more valuable than if during a busy period, where I may have been relegated to a less important role.

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DUODECIM

Review of work experience
Yasmina Dadi (BA Medical Journalism 2003-2004)

I spent three weeks working at the Finnish medical
publishing company's news service. The company is
called Duodecim and it is the leading medical
publisher in Finland, publishing books, a medical
journal, doctor's database etc. The news service that
I worked for submits medical news to various
newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations'
websites and other websites. The news had distribution
of approximately 750,000 people, which is quite a lot
considering there are only five million people in
Finland.
I have been working for the news service since last
May. At first, I was supposed to do a two months
internship in the summer but eventually I stayed for
four months. After I moved back to London in autumn I
continued working for them three to four days a week
as a freelancer, which was quite exhausting, as I had
to go to university as well. Therefore, when I started
my 'work experience' on January I pretty much knew how
to do the job. On my work experience I was actually
covering for journalist Lasse Nevala during his three
weeks paternity leave.
Basically, my job was to write news from the latest
medical studies. A few times a week the editor of the
medical journal Jussi Huttunen and the head secretary
Pertti Saloheimo searched the main foreign medical
journals and suggested which papers would make good
stories. I then picked up and wrote those I thought
were news worthy. It was also my job to choose which
news to publish the next day and send them to clients.
I also chose and checked the studies that we did text
message news.
The work in itself was very independent, interesting
and rewarding. Every single story I have ever written
to Duodecim has been published and I have always been
paid very well. On top of that I had the privilege to
work with such wonderful and intelligent people. All
in all, I could not have asked better place to start
my career in medical journalism than in Duodecim.
Everybody I met and worked with was absolutely lovely
and treated me very well from the start. I'm
especially happy that I had an opportunity to work
with Lasse Nevala who, no doubt, has taught me more
about journalism than anybody else. Jussi Huttunen and
Pertti Saloheimo have given me very useful advice and
feedback that I am grateful for. If there is ever
another Finnish medical journalism student in
University of Westminster I could not recommend a
better place to get work experience than Duodecim. In
future I'm still going to freelance for the news
service but it is unlikely that I will ever work there
full time as I already have other things in mind and,
of course, a medical course to finish.

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Irina von Witte (PG Broadcast 2003-2004)

BBC News 24

My placement involved working as a Broadcast Assistant in BBC News 24.

I attained valuable experience working as a researcher as a part of a team required to produce news up to high national standards.

The placement really was a test revealing if I could be “dropped into the deep end and survive it”. After a rewarding and stressful week, I have to agree that it is the best way to find out if you can make it in a competitive and hectic working environment such as the newsroom.

The placement taught me a lot about television news production and illustrated how hard and time consuming it is to produce a news bulletin with guest speakers from opposite point of views making the programme balanced.

Being a part of a twenty-four-hour television news production team has also made me understand the importance guest speakers for the programme.

As a pool of experts is asked to visit BBC News 24, it aims to provide up to date opinions and analysis. Clearly, it is also considered to be a necessity to sustain an interesting news output.

Doing the job made me understand that arranging people to talk live in television comes with a responsibility. Not only are you expected to use common sense with choosing right-minded and articulate individuals but Broadcast Assistants are also expected to evaluate potential legal risks that might arise putting a spokesperson on air, especially if they are from a “radical group”.

Learning about the practicalities of your future career our placement also reveals your strengths and shortcomings and it gave me a definite opportunity to rule out some of the choices in my possible career path.

I found reassuring that I was able to work in English up to national standards and gained confidence after proving to myself that I could perform well working under pressure.

Another crucial lesson I learned was the importance of detail, an area I developed and became more skilful throughout my placement.

The work experience re-enforced how important is to get accurate information based only on fact. But not until you are put into the real world, where there are real consequences, will you become aware of the fact that the information for live broadcast needs to be immaculate i.e. fast, fair and accurate.

At the start I was not used to handle information with so much scrutiny but my awareness over legal restrictions and how to present a story changed over the two weeks. I became more focused in the way I researched people, news items and organisations. I also got familiar with the different mechanisms BBC uses in inside house researching, the ENPS and the intranet of Gateway. The departmental cross communication is impressive and I was positively surprised the amount of replies I got contacting other staff with inquiries.

The gradual improvement and growth in responsibility throughout my placement made an important impact to my work and gave me continuing incentive to develop myself.

It also gave me strength to overcome situations where you felt that you could not perform well enough.

However, as the placement was not directly arranged through BBC it meant that I did not feel I was in a position to demand extra clarification on any extra issues I would have wanted to query.

I was left between a rock and a hard place by Tracy Hall the BBC placement coordinator after she did not provide me with the placement at BBC Birmingham Radio.

Fortunately, the evening’s editor on BBC News 24 did me a favour by taking me on board.

He was very understanding, supportive and helpful about my situation but nevertheless it put me in a position where I felt that I needed to be extra useful.

As the placement was much about “learning as you go along” there was no proper time to sit down with a designated mentor and discuss the best way of researching the topics at hand. The “trial and error” way of working did not bother me that much but at times I felt that it was holding me back in finding solutions to problems.

Although, many journalists have learned the tricks of the trade “on the job” and it has been said to be one of the best learning methods, my stress level would have probably been lower if I have had the benefit of a designated mentor.

It would have been nice to be able to have someone for further explanations, without feeling that you might create a delay in their work.

Looking back, all the hard work and the unusual circumstances will probably work for me in future employment. I got good feed back about my initiative and productive work and I felt I learned a lot, so over all I would not want to change my experience of the “steep learning curve”.

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Ross Chainey (PG DIP PRINT 2003-2004) Esquire

Securing a work placement with a large consumer magazine such as Esquire is tricky. Invariably they are booked up months in advance, as I discovered when I made contact with their editorial assistant. However, I would advise anyone who desperately wants to get into this area of journalism not to give up; keep hassling them until they have to take you on.

I first wrote to Esquire in November, but was told they had no free space for work experience until August. I emailed again at Christmas to let them know that I was still available and, luckily for me, someone had just cancelled (for something better?) and they pencilled me in for the three-week slot instead. I was told that while there was a lot of proper work I could contribute to, there was also a major amount of admin to deal with as well.

Once I was there, however, I realised I had fallen on my feet. Not only were the staff writers extremely nice (they all knew my name before I had even been introduced), they were also seemingly happy enough to let me get down to some writing. I spent the first morning re-arranging a cupboard full of beer (to which I was allowed to help myself!) but once that mundane job was out of the way, I passed the remaining fourteen-and-a-half days as a member of staff – not as a dogsbody. I still had to answer phones if no one was about and distribute the mail in the morning, but apart from this I was treated with respect and deference throughout my three-week stint.

On the first day they asked me to help with a feature on the 100 most influential men aged under 40 in Britain. The list was made up of small profiles, around 300 words each, and I worked pretty solidly on this until I finished the placement. This involved contacting the footballers, businessmen, musicians, filmmakers and writers who made it onto the list, which was initially quite daunting. However, I found that being able to say “I’m calling from Esquire” got me a lot further than the disappointment of “I’m a student at Westm…[person hangs up]” and the experience proved to be very rewarding.

In between fruitlessly trying to track down Jamie Oliver (pukka!) I also compiled a few sidebars and small pieces on subjects such as Aryton Senna (the ten-year anniversary of his death is in April) and the McGill Pain Index (a chart drawn up by a doctor that measures different levels of pain). For the piece on McGill I put together a similar list aimed at Esquire readers, so I had to come up with things that a male aged between 28-40 would find wince-inducing (constricted testicle anyone?) rather than something which doesn’t really hurt all that much, such as childbirth. A typical men’s magazine feature, but good fun nonetheless, and they were happy enough with the result to put it in the magazine.

As someone with very little magazine experience, the attachment was a chance to learn about this facet of journalism. The atmosphere in the office is much more relaxed than that of a newspaper. The onus is not on delivering a story for ‘today’ or ‘this afternoon’, and there is therefore more time to develop ideas and get constructive feedback on your work. However, it was difficult to adapt to the mindset of thinking months in advance, as opposed to working in the present. Even though I was there in January, we were working on the April edition, and to go into work prepared to write about cultural happenings months before they take place is a real challenge that requires serious research.

The overall experience of working with Esquire was very rewarding. It reinforced the idea that networking is perhaps the best thing you can do for your journalism career. It is one thing to be enthusiastic and friendly, it is another to be erudite enough to talk to everyone you are introduced to, especially the editor, whenever you get the chance. While the writers at Esquire are obviously very skilled and capable, I would advise anyone wishing to break into the consumer magazine business not to be intimidated by their ability; attitude is much more important.

I admired Esquire for the way they actually tried to get me involved in what they were working on, rather than affording me a peripheral role. When I left they gave me a long interview, during which we discussed my period of work placement and the possibility of working with them in the future.

There were also the obvious perks that come with working for such a well-known men’s lifestyle magazine: lots of free stuff. DVDs, beer, cinema tickets, were all thrown my way (just don’t write a malicious article about them).

In three weeks I was allowed to write a considerable amount, was treated well, was given a desk that permitted me to eye up the staff at Cosmopolitan, and didn’t have to make a coffee for anyone except myself. And I got paid, which was nice.

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KatyBienek (PG Dip Print 2003-2004)

ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY PRESS

I spent two fruitful weeks at the Isle of Wight County Press and during this time I got a good insight into the operations of a local paper. I had previously visited the County Press in August 2002 for one week and therefore I partially knew what to expect. The news editor Phil Wolsey met me downstairs in reception on my first day 19^th January and introduced me to the newest addition to the reporters a woman called Claire who took introduced me to the reporters I had not met before and incidentally those I had. She also introduced me to the rest of the team, subs etc I was given a desk with my own computer.

During my two weeks I moved desks depending on which reporter was not in the office. This was actually a good thing because it meant I got to speak to practically all the reporters of which they are approximately ten. Although the Island is relatively small in terms of populace, the papers readership figures are extremely high and it is certainly not a small operation.

Phil the news Editor asked me whether I intended to work on the island or the mainland. I told him that I definitely wanted to work in London and explained that although very interested in Magazine work (I have arranged two placements in June with Red magazine and Art Review) I wanted to gain some more experience on a local paper. He sent me out with a different reporter every day and we did a lot of court reporting; both magistrates and crown court, council meetings, an inquest, a planning permission meeting held in the court and a library birthday celebration and I was always asked to write up everything.

I was expected to literally take everything down from meetings contrary to my belief that I should just get down the good stories. But, with a local paper I do understand that they have a lot of space to fill and only limited news-worthy events taking place, especially somewhere as remote as the Isle of Wight. I tried to use shorthand as much as possible but transcribing it did add time to the writing up of my stories, however as they say practice does make perfect. The County Press said that they would only employ reporters with 80wpm if they reached 100wpm within six months of employment. I think that council meetings are a place where good shorthand is an invaluable skill, without it important points of a meeting can be missed.

I went to a meeting of the full council, which was interesting in terms of the extra pomp and ceremony involved. I lasted over four hours. A presentation was given about raising the profile of the IOW by giving it a branded image which all local business and organizations would adhere to. The political snipes were quite funny between the rather elderly, male dominated and wholly Caucasian council. An amusing moment for me was at a meeting of council members at the Magistrates’ court about whether or not they were going to grant a licence for the 2004 Rock festival on the Island. The issue being that the venue was in a residential area. The London promoter was trying to explain the workings of bass speakers to a rather old Cllr who after a long drawn out speech was none the wiser.

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KatyBienek/2 Workexperience/2

I found the inquest, which I went to very interesting, as this was the first time I had been to one, but a little depressing. It was reassuring to see that all the reporters made sure we checked all the facts and the ushers in the Magistrates’ court were very helpful and friendly. It turned out that I knew the probation officer as I had previously worked with her in Abbey National! The court reporter for that week would be given both full and shortened court lists and a lot of help from the solicitors, clerk and ushers. It was a totally different experience from visiting courts in the London area; a few of the lawyers even engaged in conversation with me.

It was the same with the council meetings a few of the councillors introduced themselves to me and you could tell they were not used to seeing a new person sitting on the press bench. I can understand why people would want to work for a paper like the County press, because it is such a friendly environment both inside and outside the office. I definitely got a great deal out of the experience but I think it was more in terms of making some new friends rather than developing my skills. It would have been beneficial to have gone to a magazine for my second week, but unfortunately I have to wait until the summer, besides magazines tend to want you to be with them for a month.

I was required to write up everything I did and send it through to the news editor, but I didn’t have to answer the phone etc. I have a lot of respect for the way the paper works. It seemed to me that although the diary duties are rotated those who are particularly good at for example court will be sent there more often. The night reporting shift and Saturday shift were also rotated. The reporters are a fairly young team who are very nice people and great fun to work with. It was really good to be able to go out on diary stories with the majority of them and I also picked up some good tips for organizing court stories.

I had a chat with the Editor Brian Dennis at the end of my first week and he too asked me about what my plans where after the course. He also advised me to get some local radio experience and he also gave me the name of a man he knows at the station. I also bumped into a friend of mine who is a producer for a local TV station based on the Island and she gave me her details. I am going to organize this work experience for Easter in order to get a general insight into all types of Journalism. Overall this was a great experience.

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Elizabeth Sheahan (PG Dip Print 03-04)

Wanderlust travel magazine – 2 weeks.

I was looking forward to going to Wanderlust as I would get to combine my love of travel with writing and researching. Just like the Echo, I was thrown in the deep end from day one, sub-editing a contributor piece on Peru. I also had to do plenty of admin jobs, but even they were fun: looking at reader entries for a ‘give us a sign’ competition to find the weirdest signs around the world, and believe me there are some comical ones.

On the Thursday of week one the whole team, Editorial and Marketing, de-camped to Earl’s Court for the Destinations 2004 travel show. I worked on the Wanderlust stand talking travel all day and selling subscriptions. It was also a great place to do a bit a networking around other travel publications. I was really lucky to be able to work at the show as I got to know the Editorial team and make an impression on the Editor, Lyn. I also worked Friday and Sunday and was rewarded with a 10am start on Monday.

Most of my time was spent researching for reader’s letters for travel advice, fact checking contributor articles and logging new travel guides that arrived on the doorstep each morning.

At one point I was asked to use Quark Express by Hayley, the picture editor, and told a little fib when I said I’d used it before; but it meant I got to play around with the programme and familiarise myself with it. Luckily, I didn’t destroy anything.

Overall the placement was fun and challenging. It was a completely different experience from the Echo and it did take a couple of days to get used to the much slower pace of a bi-monthly magazine. But I loved the fact that I could do a little bit of everything: writing, research, photos and the show. I also found the style quite challenging and I had to study the style guide thoroughly each day. Again it was completely different to the newspaper. Not better or worse, just different. It was my first magazine placement and was a positive experience. Before going on it, I was convinced that I wanted to work in newspapers, but now I’m not so sure.

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Phillip Kemp Broadcast Pathway PGDip Journalism 2003.

Reading 107FM has been on air since September 2002 so everyone involved is very enthusiastic and flushed with the success the station’s achieved so early on. Advertising revenue is apparently very good and it’s already staking its claim as a useful community broadcaster. Links with both Reading FC and London Irish who play at the town’s Madejski Stadium are very strong although the obvious consequence of this is that the station relies heavily on listeners with an interest in sport and so alienates a potential audience even at this stage.

The news desk appears small, (only three) but the third journalist is an invaluable advantage over rival stations. The shifts work weekly, two newsreaders covering morning/lunch and afternoon/evening with the extra body reporting and generating the stories for the following day. With only one reporter at any one time, the opportunity to get out for quality audio is minimal. Most interviews are conducted by phone, (where possible on an ISDN line) and the stories invariably spring from press releases faxed into the office. Often this is little more than cheap advertising but given the dearth of any local news, it will get aired.

The station runs hourly three minute bulletins with half-hourly headlines at breakfast and drive-time. It also airs a fifteen-minute news round-up called Reading Tonight which re-runs the major local stories of the day with clips and includes two packages. These invariably come from IRN and are re-voiced by the reporter or early newsreader with additional local clips if available. Local packages are often lifted from the late edition of Reading’s daily paper which is part of the same group as the station. This connection has obviously been well exploited by the News-team who frequently draw on the specialist knowledge of the Evening Post. But as the station becomes more established the relationship will be more reciprocal.

The size of the team meant that I had plenty to do during my three weeks. For the first couple of days, they wanted to see if I was able to write in their style. The simplest word is always preferred and a favourite method of starting a story was a brief sound-bite such as “You don’t have to stop eating chocolate to lose weight – that’s the message from…”They take on quite a few freelancers to cover holidays, sickness and every other Sunday shift but DJs were often sceptical about the quality of them. There was a specific commercial tone of news-reading that was favoured and the freelancers were criticised for being too “BBC”. I had to get to grips quickly with both the written and the broadcast style. After the first week, I was used as a full-time journalist and I had to cover sickness and holiday leave during my placement.

I began news-reading on the Monday of the second week and did eighteen bulletins in total during my time. Listening back to the first of them I can tell I lack the animation and drama that I’d worked on by the last few. Commercial news-readers have to impart the urgency and importance of the news not so much by what is said as how it is said. I was given useful advice about how to vary my pitch at the beginning of each new item.

One of the most useful aspects of the placement was having the chance to conduct so many interviews. These are so vital to the news day at a station which relies on having at least two local stories with clips. The time pressure dictates that there’s usually only time for about a two minute interview from which the reporter has to find forty five seconds of audio, three cuts of around fifteen seconds. This means that there is little point in asking purely factual questions that will be covered in the copy anyway. I learnt that opinions will play best as cuts and so always designed my questions to elicit responses that sound genuinely interested and not just part of the rehearsed press-release. With so many interviews to organise in a day, you have to be disciplined about remembering what the story actually is but it simply isn’t possible to prepare questions for individual items.

My experience of actually reading the news threw up some valuable lessons, first of which was the importance of getting acquainted with my weak points. Any authority or gravitas a news-reader may establish from the initial sound of his or her voice is immediately lost with the mispronunciation of a known word, person or place. My particular weak points were sports personalities and companies in the business news. Again, time constraints on such a small team are such that you are interviewing or cutting up audio and writing copy right up until being on air so the opportunity for a read-through is limited. I always tried to finish at least five minutes before to acquaint myself with the script.

I couldn’t have hoped for a more full three weeks of placement. By the end of my time I could say I had read the news regularly, carried out my first live two-way and written and produced several packages. I had also been offered more paid freelance shifts if I wanted them. But I did leave the station wondering what it would be like to work on a news team that was well-staffed and more specialised. I was able to write in a commercial style by the end of my three weeks but this always felt like I was following someone else’s rules rather than writing in the language I would have chosen. But for experience, my time couldn’t have been better spent.

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Review of work Experience

1. The Lawyer (2 weeks)

I spent two weeks at this weekly trade paper/ magazine for the legal profession, which goes to press on Fridays and is published on Mondays. The Lawyer is published by Centaur Publications, an independent publisher, which also publishes various other legal magazines such as Lawyer2B.

As a former lawyer, I had been in touch with Catrin Griffiths, editor of The Lawyer, before changing career and embarking on the PG Dip in Print Journalism course. It was an obvious place to do a work attachment as, although staffed predominantly by non-lawyers, my knowledge of the industry was always going to be an advantage.

The first week started well. I had my own desk, phone and PC and by the end of day 2 I had contributed two pieces to the “copy basket”. Both were for regular feature slots: one a profile of a law firm, the other a sort of “ask the experts” feedback column on an issue in the news.

Frustratingly, most of the rest of the week was taken up with research for a news story that did not quite come off. This involved me compiling a whole raft of City law firm employment statistics and putting them into a table. One of the journalists at the paper had received a tip-off that a particular firm was laying off staff and it was hoped that the survey, although useable in itself, would also lead to a news story. Unfortunately I found that the firm in question, and a few others, simply refused to cooperate. Quite a few firms did release figures but, funnily enough, there was nothing in them that could be classed as a news story.

But the hours that went into my non-story were not entirely wasted. It had involved dealing with the press offices of the ten largest law firms in Britain – some of the largest in the world - and it was interesting to see their differing approaches. These varied from friendly assistance to outright hostility and non-cooperation. It did not take long to be reminded that PR people are often the enemy of good journalism: there were a lot of requests as to what my angle was to be and refusals to allow me to talk to anyone outside the press office – ie to the people who would actually know the answers to my questions.

In the second week I contributed a short news story, based on a report on proposed changes to the (internet) libel laws, for Lawyer2B. I also contributed another two firm profiles (these were getting a bit more lively as I found my voice) and a couple of news stories which came out of press releases. Some of these had to be written up quite speedily for the website as The Lawyer has a policy of not running a news story if it has already been covered by its main competitor, Legal Week.

By far the most enjoyable work I did in the two weeks was a news story, which I found for myself, about the law firms whose roles had been questioned in a confidential report on Enron’s dodgy deals. I was asked one afternoon to look at the internet and at the national newspapers to see if there was anything that would do for the “international news” section, which was looking a bit thin. I found an article in a Washington-based American legal magazine, which was based on leaks from the above report implicating some major US law firms in the Enron affair. The article said, almost in passing, that Linklaters, one of the UK’s largest firms, was also implicated in the report. This had not been picked up in the UK press and I thought it would be of much interest to readers of The Lawyer. I followed the story up and got a statement out of Linklaters. I got pretty excited by this story and hoped for a bit better than page 7, which is where it appeared! I saw a story in the Sunday Times business section the following week which looked like it was closely based on my article and that cheered me up a bit.

I really enjoyed my fortnight at The Lawyer and learned a lot. The editorial staff there were friendly and helpful and I am hoping to do some freelance work there in the coming months.

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2. South London Press (1 week) Harry Keegan, PG Dip 2003

I had to postpone my week at the SLP after my wife went into a premature labour. The editor, Hannah Walker, is on maternity leave and she is being deputised for by the “content editor”, Shujaul Azam (or “Shuj”, as he is known), who was very understanding.

The SLP is almost a regional paper in that it covers four London boroughs (Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Wandsworth) and is found in newsagents all over central and south London. It is the only twice-weekly newspaper that I know of and is published on Mondays and Fridays. The SLP is owned by Trinity Mirror and a number of other local papers are produced by the same staff with eg the SLP Lewisham desk also writing for the Lewisham Mercury.

The SLP is defiantly tabloid in style - the use of terms such as “cops” and “caged” rather than “police” and “imprisoned” was discussed at a news meeting I attended - although it has a more serious agenda than the national tabloids. It covers a lot of crime stories as well as local issues such as transport and the environment and a sprinkling of infotainment stories with a south London angle.

During my time there I wrote up some crime stories from the wires and did a few shortish features, including a couple for The Pulse, the SLP’s impressive Friday review section. I didn’t get the opportunity to come up with a news story of my own. The people I met were helpful and it had the feel of a classic, traditional newspaper in a way that The Lawyer didn’t quite (and perhaps no trade paper could).

I was surprised that most of the staff do not have email, voicemail or internet access – the operating system was described to me as “very old fashioned” - and this seems to be a hot topic there at the moment.

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Report – Student BMJ/BMJ Mareeni Raymond BAMJ

STUDENT BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL - 2003

I happened to be in touch with the student editor of the student BMJ – in fact I was getting numerous rejections from he at the time! – when we had to start organising our 2 week placements. I mentioned in passing to her about wanting to do it at the BMJ – and she told me the deadline for applications was the following day! I hurriedly filled out a lengthy application form, emailed it to her, and was very pleased when I got a place at the busy offices in Tavistock square. The BMJ offices are in the same building as the BMA offices, and conveniently, the building is just next to my medical school, UCL.

I was not at all sure what to expect but Anna, the editor made me feel very welcome straight away, and aware of my previous submissions and my editing experience she asked me straight out what I would like to do. I wanted to write articles of course, but I also wanted to do some editing and see how a magazine goes through production – In the two weeks there I certainly fulfilled those goals. On the first day Anna gave me some articles to edit as the magazine was due to be finished on Thursday. She also allocated a news story to e, which I was very pleased to do –I had to read a BMJ paper and summarise it, which wasn’t very difficult and was very satisfying! The editing work included proof-reading, subbing and even style changes. It was great. I have stated editing a magazine myself, and wanted to get more practice at doing it well,; this proved an excellent experience.

The firs day was so busy, but Tuesday was less so, simply because a lot of the work had been done, and there were lots of meetings. In the morning, we had an sBMJ marketing meeting, where the production and editorial team got together discuss marketing strategies, advertising and collaborations with the IFMSA, as well as the new student advisors. 50 or so advisors for universities all over the count have been recruited by the magazine to critique articles submitted to the sBMJ, via the web, and to accept or reject them. This allows the sBMJ to be more reader-oriented than just editor-lead. The meeting described ways to use the advisors to pull in readers and writers for the sBMJ, who actively encourage students to write.

In the evening there was a BMA research presentation meeting for three hours, which included presentations of studies on readability and submitting papers, plus peer review of papers – a lot of which went right over my head!

Wednesday at the BMJ is the first day of the magazine production wee, so is a day full of meetings. The morning meeting is the mini hang, where papers which are being considered for the BMJ get critiques and discussed for appropriateness for the next issue of the BMJ, or for further review. This was another meeting, which was quite hard to understand, but in actual fact I did remember the off bit of statistics and the use of Clinical Evidence from my medical course! After that there was a planning meeting, which was as the name suggests, a meeting to plan out the weeks work, what avenues to pursue in news and features, and in some cases to argue a little. Finally there was a student BMJ meeting, basically discussing the current issue of the sBMJ, the web version etc.

On Thursday, the magazine was supposed to go to press, but unfortunately we realised we would be a day late. This day was spent mostly proof-reading a final time, and watching the magazine layout man, Gordon, design the pages for the magazine. It was mesmerising to watch him deftly create excellent pages. A lady called Jan is in charge of finding pictures for the BMJ and SBMJ – it was funny how we could ask her for anything from a fried egg to a Thai ladyboy and she would come up with the goods. Pictures really make a magazine special, I found.

The next day I was starting to find that watching the magazine being designed was interesting, but I started to miss editing and writing. Luckily, the BMJ Editorial registrar, Jocelyn, asked me to help her write some “TWIBS.” This stands for “This week in the BMJ.” They are small journalistic style summaries of the papers, which appear in the first few pages. Jocelyn said it was sometimes very difficult to read a paper and come up with a decent TWIB. As well as that you have to decide on an eye0catching picture idea for the TWIB. Authors are asked to submit their own, but some don’t bother, and most are dull to read. I had fun playing around w9th TWIBS (which I fondly stated to call twiblets!) and creating new ones form reading the BMJ papers. Thinking of a good picture idea was also fun, and I cannot wait to see the TWIBS page in the next BMJ as almost all my ideas were received positively, as well as the TWIBS

After that Jocelyn who was working on a piece about doctors opinions on the war with Iraq. Asked me to help her by doing some research on the web. This was also really exciting, and it was such a pleasure to work with Jocelyn as she really appreciated all my help!

The sBMJ went to press on Friday.

On Monday Jocelyn asked me to read over her piece on Iraq and edit it, which I did. I also went through the next issue of the sBMJ with Anna, deciding on what to put in and what to ignore. Anna had a lot to organise for Wednesday’s meeting with the advisors. I read over the 38 article submissions that the advisors would be judging and also judged them myself that day. I had a few ideas for articles to write for the next issue and followed them up.

On Tuesday, I had food poisoning so took the day off! The next day I heard I had been in demand! Trevor, who is in charge of reviews, wanted me to write Website of the week and/or an article about refugees, health and the media. I chose the latter and worked on this all day, doing a bit of investigative reporting into the Daily Mail’s stories. I found out some things, which I can’t even write about! It was really exciting. Funny how people are more willing to talk to you if you say you are from the BMJ! I even had a bit of an argument with a Daily Mail reported about asylum seekers. In the process, I realised that some journalists are just…disgusting. That is my personal opinion of course.

I spent the day and the evening on the article. Trevor said he would see how much I got out of the story before he decided to go ahead with it – I wasn’t at all bothered about being rejected or accepted, because it was a productive exercise and something active to do! In the afternoon there was a three hour meeting with the student advisors, which I attended half of (a few friends of mine were there) before I went back to work on my piece.

The next day I finished my piece off. I spent the day following up and checking up facts. I also wrote an art review of Anish Kapoor’s excellent exhibition in the Tate, which I submitted for consideration in the Student BMJ and the BMJ.

I was pleased with my refugees article. Trevor saw my piece - the first draft was too full of my own personal opinion – and I pointed this out. He agreed that it was dangerous to include opinion, so I had to rewrite it, using simple quotes of what people said and very basic facts. It still came out to be an interesting article. And it was accepted into the BMJ! I could not believe it, getting an article into the student BMJ was great, but the actual BMJ – I was really chuffed!

The next day I spent in the BMA press office. The BMA staff were a good laugh. I wrote a few press releases, which were used, and I helped to update databases – this was a bit dull – but I was also asked to give feedback on the new BMA website for students. It was a site to encourage students to write to their local MP about fees. It was interesting, and I gave my comments to the Parliamentary BMA person – she was very interested in what I had to say, surprisingly!

On my last day I went out with the BMA for drinks at the local pub, this was great! A perfect end to a great week!

Mareeni Raymond, BAMJ 2003

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Work Experience – Local Government Chronicle

Gil Myers

BA Medical Journalism January 2003

Local Government Chronicle is a weekly magazine published by Emap. It going out to those involved with the. It covers a variety of areas including: Local and central government and the public sector policy (policing, health and safety, education). It really is, however, a lot more interesting than it sounds.

I have to say I got this placement because a friend of the family knew the Managing Director of Emap Public Sector. I’m not saying this to show off – though I expect you are pretty impressed by my connections – but because I know others who applied and were turned down because they said they were too busy. I really don’t think they are too busy it’s just that they don’t think that there is enough to occupy a work experience student for two weeks.

The basic week at LGC follows a set pattern: The magazine comes out on a Friday so deadline is Wednesday evening. This meant that everything I had wanted to file would be in for Tuesday so that it could be ‘properly checked’.

If you start on a Monday you will have very little to until Thursday. The reason is that by the time you have settled in (Tuesday) everyone is already gearing up to the next deadline and too busy to really help much. On Thursday I was able to convince people to give me work – and more importantly the password to access their intranet.

After that they were happy, with prompting, to allow me to write various small pieces – mainly ‘News in Briefs’, A regular Inspector column and sorting out the letters page. These aren’t the most glamorous of jobs but they did allow me to use all my newly minted journalistic skills and the majority of the pieces went into the magazine. They didn’t get a by–line but I knew they were mine.

I received good feedback on my work and people were helpful in explaining what I need to improve the articles and then where to get the information. At no point did they make me feel that I was “only a student” or that I was out of my depth. Its helpful that the style and level of the magazine is about the same as the course teaches – not too tabloid or specialised.

After showing that I could be trusted with the simple tasks I was given the exciting prospect of going to City Hall to report on a prospective budget meeting. This meant getting there for 9am with the meeting expected to last all day.

The day itself was a lot more fun than I expected. I was treated as a “proper journalist” by which I mean I was shown into the press room, given all the pastries I could eat (6 in all – they were great) and I was constantly being introduced to various Press Office staff for the different political parties. It seems that the LGC is a respected magazine within this field.

The meeting itself turned out to be more interesting than anybody had expected. There was a Lib Dem and Labour rift towards the end of the day forcing Lib Dems to form a collation with the Conservative group. This caused a whole flurry of exchanges which I was able to dutifully note down in my 90% accurate shorthand.

By the time all this had happen the majority of the other journalists had gone home (this was at about 5pm) which left me alone in the press gallery. I was happily chatting away with one of the press office people when the main guy came in and asked if I wanted to have a word with the Mayor about the day’s events. I couldn’t say no so I was lead off to meet with Ken for a quick chat.

I don’ t think that I asked any ground breaking questions but I did managed to get some nice quotes from him and not make an idiot of myself. As this was a Wednesday (meaning the magazine deadline was that evening) the office asked me to phone in with my report, relevant quotes and colour from the day. I don’t think they were expecting much but in the end I got a quote from Ken onto the front–page (though still uncredited).

The main difficulty in writing for LGC is that they have an efficient and full set of freelancers who come in for different parts of the week. Each of these has their own series of regular articles/subjects. This means that often I was left having to do my own thing (i.e. email my friends and play about on the internet) if there weren’t any news pieces to be written. Its not that there aren’t things to be done its more that someone will just do them unless I kept asking and suggesting things that I could help with or do myself.

In terms of a work environment, LGC was good. Although there wasn’t much of a social life (no drinking after work or going out for lunches) the people were friendly and helpful. I worked at one desk which meant I could keep things over night that I wanted to do the next morning and post–it notes of important numbers. I was given my own phone and a computer with full internet access. Plus they get all the major newspapers so I could spend constructive time each morning reading.

The work day was from 9.30 to 5.30 though not particularly strict. I had an hour for lunch though nobody seemed to mine that I took longer on occasion. The office is in Mornington Crescent, the building has all the Emap publications so there are lots of other random journalists to chat to and the coffee machines are set on ‘Free vend’ permanently.

Overall, I had an interesting and useful time at LGC. It wasn’t the most exciting it could have been and I wouldn’t say I was every overworked but I enjoyed what I had to do and felt I benefited from having done it. I would recommend this to others though its worth taking on board the points below.

Tops Tips for working at LGC:

· Start on a Thursday – that way you can actual work for the next issue (with guidance) rather than waste your first few days sitting about while others rush to the deadline.

· Get the password for LGCnet as soon as you get there – this gives you access to the new press releases and allows you to search past issues.

· Make sure you ask them to let you write the regular columns early on – often these are left to the last minute because nobody wants to bother with them

· Make sure they include your name in the longer pieces (as they don’t often use by–lines). Apparently I should have used the “blah blah, writes Gil Myers,” approach

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Hospital Doctor Newspaper

January 13 – January 31, 2003, Lojana Chandrarajan BAMJ

I spent three weeks working for Hospital Doctor Newspaper, which is a weekly paper for (surprisingly) hospital doctors. The paper is based in Sutton, Surrey, in a 20 storey red building a few minutes walk away from both the train station and the town centre.

Throughout my placement I was kept very busy. The editor Paul Smith had the foresight of setting me an on-going task of going through 2 years worth of Hospital Doctor back issues to find potential follow-up stories. Although I was rather bemused and disheartened when I first saw the tower of newspapers, this job proved to be truly valuable; not only did I have the ultimate twiddling-thumb stopper, I also mastered the ability to critically analyse stories, which proved useful when researching and writing my own. My knowledge basis improved dramatically too. In the end, I only managed to get through four months worth of back issues, since the news editor Funmi (Olufunmi Majekodunmi) took care to bury me with press releases and general news stories.

Since I was based at the news desk, my first job of the day was to go through the daily newspapers and pick out health stories. The rest of the day would be devoted to researching or writing stories. Initially I found writing articles demoralising - there was nothing wrong with my style or ability to write, the problem was that all those writing rules that we had learnt during the last few months no longer applied. Every publication obviously has its own way of “doing things”. For example, I was told that the “when” of a story would often appear in the last paragraph, if not dropped from the piece altogether. This took a few days to get used to. Funmi was very helpful and spent a great deal of time explaining the writing style of Hospital Doctor, where I was going wrong, and how to improve. Thus I was able to edit my work myself, rather than have it re-hashed by the subs. Gradually, the amount of red ink on my copy reduced.

The hard work evidently paid off, since some of my articles did go to print. There is something quite satisfying about seeing your own by-line. Best of all I actually recognised the words in the articles as mine. It was not an easy skill to learn – the ability to re-work a piece simply on your editor’s say-so. We are so used to handing in work and getting a mark, but generally never need to tackle that piece again. I never appreciated how frustrating it is to have to re-work a piece that you deem is complete until I did this placement. However I am glad I was given the opportunity to edit my own work, since it made seeing the final piece that much more pleasing.

Other than simple press releases most of the stories required further research, be that digging out past articles and reports, or speaking to specialists for quotes and information. The former I found easy but the thought of the latter was initially daunting. Medical school had given me the mentality that background knowledge is essential when facing specialists if success without embarrassment is to be achieved. I quickly realised that having such a comfort blanket is not always possible in journalism. How can you read a 40-page document prior to interviewing the author if your deadline is within the hour? I spent one week trying to maintain the medic mentality, but as the deadlines got shorter and shorter I gave in to blagging or admitting ignorance whenever I got stuck. Of course it was all fine – the specialists I spoke to were no more likely to get annoyed with my ignorance than a doctor would by that of a patient. As my confidence improved so did my interviewing skills.

Telephone interviews, as I soon discovered, pose other problems too. Personally I rely a lot on non-verbal communication in both expressing and interpreting conversation. For the bog-standard telephone interview this was not an issue, but dragging out information from an unwilling subject on the telephone was harder than I imagined – it is too easy for the interviewee to simply hang up. I only had one such interview; with the rest generally being successful – whether that was pure luck or skill I cannot say.

Shorthand, despite my reservations about it, was very useful. I developed a permanent crick in my neck from wedging the telephone between my shoulder and ear so that I could write, but despite the awkwardness was able to take down accurate quotes. At first the proportion of reporter’s speech to true quotes was high, making story-writing rather difficult. However by the end of the placement the shorthand practice obviously paid off and I handed in an almost perfect article (Funmi’s words, not mine!) with chunky good quotes. It certainly gave me incentive to improve my shorthand speed, since I had experienced first hand how useful it could be.

I went to one conference during my placement – a press conference in Westminster about the consultant contract fiasco. It was interesting from an observer’s point of view – not only because it was my first press conference but because it was intriguing to see the internal politics of journalism at work – sexism, ageism (against younger people interestingly) and sucking up. My shorthand completely failed me, but then everyone had a Dictaphone anyway, which reassured me somewhat.

During my time at hospital doctor I was never made to feel like “the work experience” – I was involved with all aspects of the news desk including news meetings. I also spent some time on the subs’ desk, working with Quark Express to do some subbing of my own. I have been invited to return to work for Hospital Doctor in the summer, which I intend to do. The working environment appeals, and it is a great opportunity to practice what I have learnt, whilst getting paid for it.

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Work Placement – Nursing Standard Ellen Welch, 2003

I had heard of Nursing Standard before I went to do my work placement there, but I had always thought that rival publication Nursing Times was the thing to read in the nursing world, judging by shelf space occupied in WHSmiths. I was very wrong. According to latest statistics, the biggest selling nursing journal in the UK is Nursing Standard, its sales being 5% higher than its nearest competitor NT. Over 200,000 nurses from ‘every grade, sector and speciality’ read it each week, meaning it reaches 40% of the working nurse population. Most copies are sold by subscription and as a result, it has the highest subscription base of any UK Nursing Journal.

Nursing Standard is a weekly magazine, available to the public every Wednesday and is split up into several sections making it entertaining, informative and educational. News, analysis and features take up the first section, followed by ‘perspectives’ – pages of personal nursing issues interspersed with regular ‘funny’ columns, book reviews and readers letters. ‘Arts and Science’ makes up the second half – and this includes research papers and a “continuing professional development” (CPD) section, featuring educational articles relevant to the clinical practice of nurses. The CPD articles are accredited by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and actually contribute towards advancing the careers of British nurses,

Nursing Standard House – the home of Nursing Standard, is conveniently located 5 minutes walk from the Westminster campus, on Peterborough Road, Harrow on the Hill. It is owned by the RCN and oversees the production of 12 specialist-nursing journals, such as Emergency Nurse and Cancer Nursing Practice as well as Nursing Standard.

I spent a fortnight in the open plan Nursing Standard office drifting between the many different sections of the journal, getting an idea of how it is put together and what everyone’s jobs involve. I was supervised by the friendly deputy editor Tim Madge, and on the first day he gave me a tour of the building and an overview of the ‘flat-planning’ system they use there to plan the weekly layout of the magazine. I attended an editorial meeting to discuss the content of the live week and found myself caught up in a discussion about junior doctors working hours, which was fairly scary seeing as a substantial proportion of the staff are ex-nurses.

Most of the first week was spent with the news team – going through the daily newspapers searching for medical related cuttings and writing several ‘In brief’ news stories from the press releases the news editor gave me. I got the chance to be a ‘real’ news reporter, and went along to an anti-smacking conference held in Westminster by the ‘Children are Unbeatable Alliance’. There were over 100 people there, from MPs (David Hinchcliffe and Baroness Walmsley) to agony aunts (Claire Rayner) all speaking out against smacking children, and seeking ways to tackle the government to change the current laws (which say smacking is fine in certain circumstances). I was there as the representative of Nursing Standard and was even listed on the programme as ‘Ellen Welch – news reporter from Nursery Standard’ heh heh. It was a chance to brush up on my shorthand skills, and interview techniques – I had to get some quotes from Claire Rayner as an ex-nurse, meaning I had to ask questions through a microphone in front of the whole conference. Nerve wracking, but good practice. After being used to getting shrugged off when fighting for quotes as a student, it was quite strange having business cards pushed into my hands by people desperate for some media coverage. Back in the office, I spent some time writing the story up and chasing quotes, but it never made it into print!

The majority of the rest of my time was spent with the clinical team, who had the task of selecting and editing research papers and educational articles for inclusion. I learnt about the many stages in the editorial process and became familiar with the house style, reading through several articles, checking the information, and editing them using the subbing symbols taught to me by the team. All of the CPD articles include multiple choice self assessment questions based on information in the article, so I had the task of coming up with a few of these.

It was an enjoyable fortnight. Everyone was friendly and helpful, despite being busy, and I was pleased to experience several different sections of the publication. I had a day with the design and photo desks, and found out how they collected all their images – and they let me have a play around on QuarkXpress. I also spent some time with the subs and learnt their ruthless ways. Hopefully I won’t feel too offended in the future when my work gets edited to pieces, now that I’ve visited the subs desk.

I was only bored once, when everyone was busy in an ‘ideas’ meeting (which was top secret!) so I had to man the telephones, and edit some of the readers’ letters - but most of the time there was something for me to do, and they’ve even commissioned me to do a clinical article and a book review for a future issue.

If anyone were looking for a placement in the future, I would recommend Nursing Standard. They are very accommodating (if you want to spend the whole time with the news desk instead of seeing every desk, that could be arranged) and I had fun working with them all. Contact Tim Madge, deputy editor for more information.

Tel: 02084231333

E-mail: tim.madge@rcn.org.uk

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Simon Lau - Work Attachment Report 2002/03. PG Dip Print – COMPUTING magazine

My first two weeks were spent at Computing – a trade paper for IT managers that was sold nationally.

It looked promising from the outset because the company was quite a big operation and I thought that I would be learning a lot of things that I haven’t had the chance to do so far. The problem was that I don’t think they had ever taken on anybody to do work experience before and the editor was at a loss as to how I should have been employed.

One mistake I made was that I set up the work attachment via the Human Resources department of VNU Business Publications and they were quite keen to take me on. Because of the HR manager’s enthusiasm I thought everything would be fine and it would all be taken care of.

What I should have done was speak to the editor before accepting their offer and judge for myself on whether it was suitable for me. When I arrived for my first day at work he clearly forgot that I was coming and so was working out what to do with me as the day went on. The strange thing was that he did not even bother to properly introduce me to the other journalists who were all very friendly once I had introduced myself to them.

The paper did not have re-writes of press releases as journalists there tap their contacts for news and so therefore writing up press releases was out of the question. He then asked if I had any expert knowledge in IT which of course I did not have. So no contacts and no specialist knowledge meant that I was of no use to him at all unless I got lucky.

For the first week I looked through all the national papers for any IT related stories and chased them up to see if there is any other angle I could come up with.

I researched a few ideas but what usually happened was that the editor said the story had already been done before or it wasn’t right for the paper. Sometimes I would have a good idea and I would discuss it with the editor but I would never get far because he kept changing his mind about what angle I should use.

I eventually found something new about Wi-fi hotspots and wrote a news story that was published in the next edition. One story in one week – hardly great use of my time.

If there was anything good that came out of my time there it had to be when I took lunch with the other journalists. They gave me a lot of useful advice on making contacts and what direction I should take. One guy told me about the three levels of familiarity with contacts and I should eventually be in a situation where your contacts can call you up at any time for a drink and he or she would confide in you as if you were their best friend.

The second week was better as the journalist in charge of the networks section had come back and gave me case studies to follow up. One was on Virtual Private Networks and the other on Voice over Internet Protocol. I knew nothing about both technologies but the trick I learned from the other journalists was to read up about them from a certain website that explained them and then ring up the IT managers for quotes.

After completing those stories from then on it was more or less the same as the first week with very little direction from the editor.

What I could not understand was why he had accepted me to work on that publication even though I lacked experience. If I had known earlier that I was not going to get much guidance (something you would expect to get from an unpaid work attachment) then I would have tried somewhere else.

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SURREY MIRROR – Simon Lau, PG Dip Print 2002/03

My other week was spent in the editorial section of the Surrey Mirror. This was a local paper for The East Surrey region and was owned by Trinity Mirror.

What a difference a new editor makes! He too was busy but always made sure I had work to do and spent some time explaining things to me. I did a lot of NIBS to start with and then was given press releases to write longer pieces.

The stories may not have been as interesting as those on Computing but the people I interviewed were very co-operative and willing to talk.

Most of the people were elderly and were happy to have their name mentioned in the paper – one even went as far as turning up at the office to give me a picture of herself to publish.

A lot was learnt just from constantly writing and copying their style. There were plenty of times when I was stuck for words and so I would just look up a similar story to see how it was written.

There was a good atmosphere in the office with a lot of piss taking going on. They had the odd argument but that was all quickly forgotten after a few drinks down the pub.

My advice is then to choose a local paper if you want to practice writing everyday even though the stories can be a bit dull. But choose a trade/specialist paper carefully and find out as much as you can on what you will be doing so that you are sure you won’t be wasting your time.

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Guardian Unlimited (1 week)

The team that produces the best newspaper website in Britain is about 50-strong and is housed in a slightly run-down walk-up on a side street next to the main Guardian building on Farringdon Road. However, the office itself is fresh and comfortable, I got a desk of my own, a warm enough welcome and an open invitation to the morning editorial conference.

Each site (news, media, sport, travel) has its own editor and is more-or-less self-contained, although if a story cuts across the boundaries, there’s some collaboration to cut down on duplication. Most of the content comes from The Guardian itself, other newspapers or the wires. The journalists will tweak the stories for an angle, or add background or a companion piece, but there’s very little ‘real’ reporting going on, even on the news site.

I was working on the politics site (editor, two journalists and sub-editor) and so our stories were coming through the GU news team, were diary events (PM’s questions, news conferences), or were gossipy or ‘personality’ pieces. Also, a lot of the content of the politics site is made up of ‘backgrounders’ – feature-type material to give depth to the issues in the news. I spent most of the time writing these backgrounders, including pieces on Iraq hawks and doves, the Labour Party and its attitude to various wars since 1945, the run-up to this May’s Scottish elections and a Clause 28 timeline.

Although it was nothing like as exciting as working on a story, the research was interesting, involving everything from picking the brains of Guardian correspondents to trawling the archives for contemporary leaders on Suez and Vietnam. I got to do a lot of writing and it was very satisfying to see each piece appear on the website almost within minutes, complete with byline.

Also, it was very satisfying to be able to correct an error spotted after publication with just a word in the sub-editor’s ear. The advantage of virtual journalism.

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James Merino – 2002/03 Travel Weekly (1 week)

Travel Weekly is a magazine for the travel and tourism industry, published in glossy newspaper format. The newsdesk employs six full-time reporters in addition to the news editor. The features department is much smaller, with perhaps three staff writers. The magazine is produced from the headquarters of Reed Business Information (Sutton, Surrey), which houses most of Reed’s trade titles.

It was the first time I’d visited a magazine or trade title and the atmosphere was noticeably different from any newspaper. Although the office itself was rather clinical and corporate (instead of a kettle, in the kitchen they had a hot/cold water dispenser), it was extremely relaxed, even as Thursday’s copy deadline approached. Reporters generated stories mainly from their contacts and on Monday morning they already had a clear idea of what they would cover that week. The experienced reporters had better contacts and therefore better stories, while the others took what came up.

The best part of the experience was that the news editor actively tried to make my week interesting and varied. Twice I accompanied a reporter to a press conference. The first was Kuoni’s annual report and buttering up of travel trade journalists with drinks and lunch at a restaurant in Pimlico. Great canapés, cheeky wines and lots of shorthand practice. We compared ideas on the train back to the office and I got two stories out of it. The other was an early morning presentation by an alliance of major airlines. My brief was to use it as the peg for a news-feature on airline partnerships. It was very interesting, once I got up to speed on the background.

Otherwise, I was writing up press releases and looking through other papers for travel stories. Sometimes there wasn’t much to do, but the reporters, a friendly, laid-back group, didn’t mind me asking them if I could help and were happy to let me get quotes for their stories. And, yes, they do travel a lot, but the week in the Maldives is reserved for the chief reporter and even she has to earn it with a few weekends in Birmingham.

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James Merino -

Harrow Observer (1 week)

Part of the Trinity Mirror group, the Observer offices are found in the town centre, near Harrow on the Hill station. There were seven reporters on the newsdesk, all quite young (a couple were doing NCTJ courses while working. They produce two weekly editions, one for Harrow and one for Brent. Some stories find their way into both editions, but most of the news content is different.

The news editor warned me that starting on a Monday was not the best idea (press day is Wednesday). It’s true. I would strongly advise anyone else to work Thursday to Wednesday (and do two weeks if possible). I arrived with some good ideas for local angles on national stories, but other reporters were already working on them. By Monday, most of what will appear in the paper has already been decided.

So I was given the stuff no one else wanted to do – vox pops, essentially. I wrote two features (four actually, since they were different for the Harrow and Brent editions). The first, called Over the Counter, is a regular inside-cover feature where someone who works in a high-street shop or business gives their take on national and local issues. Good practice chatting people up and getting it all down in shorthand.

The other was a new feature called Up My Street. The idea – to choose a street in the borough and interview a few people about what it’s like to live on the street (make contacts, find stories). At first, this was a nightmare. It was snowing, so no one wanted to stop and talk, or open their door. But it got better and, in the end, I learnt a lot about persistence and also got a real insight into how local stories are generated. Taking refuge from the cold in a local school, I met a teacher who had put together a pop band of kids aged 10-15 and just paid for and produced their first single.

Apart from that, I wrote up a few crime reports (the ‘anyone with information should contact…’ type), which are faxed through by the police, and also helped with a routine phone around of contacts. Overall, I feel as though I got a good feel for the office politics (constant moaning about low salaries), the working environment (basic – only one computer has internet access) and the unglamorous but strangely seductive world of local newspapers.

ends

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TOM LUTZ, PG Dip Print 2002/03

The Sunday Times Magazine

I spent three weeks at The Sunday Times Magazine. I was assigned to the section that produces Life in the Day, Best of Times, Worst of Times and Relative Values. This wasn’t brilliant news as all of these columns are based around interviews with celebrities. I was told there was no chance of me attending any of the interviews as it would distract the writer and interviewee. And there was absolutely no chance of me conducting any of the interviews. This was understandable really. I don’t think Quentin Tarantino would have been pleased about being interviewed by the work experience boy.

Talking to the writers was very interesting though. None of them used shorthand in their interviews. Instead they taped their interviews and transcribed them at a later date. Subjects of the columns are usually young as ‘people don’t like seeing too many old faces in the magazine’ and interviews are quite often kept in reserve for months and published when the interviewee has something to promote.

I was allowed to write pieces for smaller features . One was a column that profiles the next big thing in certain areas. It is called The Next Big Thing . This was the best part of my work experience as I followed the whole process of making the column. I was given the names of the future stars of moutainboarding and handbag design. I then had to phone up their PRs to get background information on them, interview the subjects themselves and write the article. Writing about mountainboarding was easy enough. Handbags were a bit more difficult as I know nothing about them. However, I came up with something that sounded sufficiently pretentious and the staff were satisfied with it and said it would go in. I was also allowed to go along to the photoshoot for the article and stare at the models in the next studio.

Sitting in on editorial meetings was very interesting. I was surprised at how informal they were. The meetings consisted of people sitting round in the editor’s office and shouting out ideas which he usually took the piss out of. Some of them were rubbish though: “What about an expose on Feng-Shui?”, “Something about MPs, I mean, what do they do anyway?”, “What happened to Timmy Mallett?. And this from the greatest journalistic minds Wapping has to offer.

A lot of my time was spent doing research. This involved checking background information on people or companies being profiled. I realised how essential the internet is to journalism . Nearly all the research was carried out on the internet. When I did talk to people it was amazing how willing they were to help me when I said I was from The Sunday Times. Their reaction was in stark contrast to the way people treat me when I open with the line “I’m working for a university magazine.”

Rupert Murdoch should be complimented on making The Sunday Times offices look as much like the headquarters of a sinister corporation as possible. The lobby is dominated by a huge painting of the great man that just screams “I am a super villain”. The receptionist’s desk is in front of a huge bank of TV screens displaying Murdochcasts from around the world. No cash is permitted to change hands in the canteens where the leader’s minions gorge themselves (on live flesh). Instead you have to spend credits that are loaded on to your security pass. I also spent ages wondering where I recognised the mirrored elevators from. Then it struck me. I had last seen them in a particularly good scene from one of my favourite porn films.

Despite the fact that I was working in the heart of darkness everyone was really nice. The staff at the magazine, from the office assistant to the editor were always happy to stop and answer any questions I had. It was interesting to hear their views on working for News International. I was told that it was forbidden to discuss salaries with each other and if you wanted to last in the company you didn’t speak out against its policies. One more thing. Rupert Murdoch may be evil but he is also extremely rich.. As a result I was payed £50 a week for my work experience.

Although I got the opportunity to gawk at models, see how articles are put together (and even write them) and play out stupid James Bond fantasies in my head there were several disadvantages to my work experience. Many of writers for the magazine never come in to the offices so there was no chance to talk to them. Any opportunities for me to write were always going to be limited to small pieces. I was hardly going to be commissioned to write a 5000 word feature on the crisis in Zimbabwe.

The atmosphere in the office was also slightly unreal. Because many of the articles are written months in advance there was no sense of rush or panic which was very pleasant but probably doesn’t prepare me for life in an everyday newspaper.

I’d definitely recommend work experience at The Sunday Times Magazine for a week. I can legitimately put on my CV that I have written for The Sunday Times. However, three weeks there was probably too long. If I’d spent one week at the magazine and one week at a newspaper my work experience would have been more balanced. I’ve been invited back over Easter but I think I’ll spend my time somewhere a little bit more frantic.

[ends]

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Leah Bruer, BAMJ 2002/03

Work Experience Report

Here’s Health · Natural Health · Total Wellbeing

Emap communications

16^th – 20^{th December} 2002

10.00-17.00 with all expenses paid cool!

Helen sent me the nicest letter, confirming my place, where they were found and that all my travel expenses would be paid for. I would be working closely with the editorial team and be treated as another member of staff.

After a quick hello and a small tour around the Greater London House in Hampstead, office of emap, I was shown to my desk. I had my own desk (!), with chair, computer, fax, printer, and four hefty folders of work to get on with. I was in charge of three pages of the April magazine, which would include writing short pieces, commissioning pictures, ringing people for interviews and searching the internet, their library and millions (or just a few hundred) press releases for new ideas that I could use. The pages would all feature my name!

· Food For Thought – a brief introduction on the cookbook of the month, with a good recipe, a health orientated food quote

· Calendar - interesting holistic events in the month of April. Items would include, Yoga/massage/alternative health seminars, weekend and Easter breaks to holistic health spas, courses in massage and reiki etc… I thought this would be the easiest page to do, but finding some mention-worthy events, making sure that all the details are correct, obtaining consent and pictures to go with the writing, turned out to be a lengthy process especially as some of the events in April took place in South Africa! Keep it Fast, Fair and Accurate seemed to apply. People were great to talk to and were really thankful for the free publicity they would receive from the magazine.

· Homes and Gardens – two experts give advice on these two pages. I would have to come up with interesting quotes and pictures and environmentally friendly items for the home and garden.

Here’s Health gets in a constant supply of work-experience people to do these pages for them. It is great experience and I worked in close contact with the whole staff. There were also loads of chocolates and cakes around-it is surprising how many complementary items they get sent over Christmas time.

On Thursday, the features editor Charlotte Haigh, commissioned me to do an over the phone interview on one of the magazine’s panel experts for a new page called My Inspiration. Ingrid Collins is a spiritual healer and psychologist who were amazing to do an interview on.

On my last day, to my complete surprise I got a bag of presents of all the freebies they had received from Charlotte and the team, thanking me of coming in and doing the work! Really great work experience, I got so much to do in a great working place.

End of January they phoned me to ask whether I would like to come back to do another two weeks. I think I will take up their offer over Easter.

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BBC Radio 4

Bush House, The Strand

13^th – 17^th January 2003

I did not hear anything back from BBC Radio 4 so the week before Christmas I phoned Deborah Smith, Editor of the Science Unit of Radio 4 to see if she could remember my pleading letter. Luckily she did, and after much deliberation and promises that no one else but Gill and me were applying for some work experience did she say that it probably would be ok and she would let me know by the end of next week! I must say I was very excited.

I was Sarah Empey, Researcher and Assistant Producer for Material World presented by Quentin Cooper shadow for the week. She comes up with all the ideas for the show, which runs every Thursday from 3.30pm. I was going to help her find ideas, write up a two-page brief on the subject and find people who could be interviewed on it.

My ideas were “light bending headlights for cars” and is it is coming on the market in March, Material Worlds will run it at the same time, and “space sheepdogs”, a new way of cleaning up debris in space! I had to find speakers who were either directly involved in research or who had knowledge on space debris in general, usually University Professors. They had to be able to speak clearly and be able to explain everything in layman’s terms. I would then write out questions with answers, which I got from the phone interview, send the script to both the guest and to Quentin. They would then give some feedback if necessary on what changes need to be done, but this would be the basic script for the show.

Apart from that, I spent nearly every day that week in a studio watching how each show was scripted and produced within the studio. I had a great time chatting to every member of the team finding out exactly what they did and how they got where they are now. Having worked in many offices before, I must say that the BBC World Science Unit has got one of the best working environments I have experienced. The people seem to be relatively happy with their jobs and each other, and it seems that once you have your foot in the BBC it is easy to have a job for life. Everybody seems to have started at the bottom i.e. my stage and is now at a good job level. One presenter told me that he started here as work experience! Cool.

Shows I watched:

· Monday: Go Digital – This is one of the only shows which is still broadcast live and also can be watch over the internet. It gets about 1000 hits and was really good to see how the script was written, how the pre-taped extracts are fit in with the live presentation. Timing was essential.

· Tuesday: Case Notes – Dr Graham Easton, a GP who is now making his name as a Journalist, is the presenter and writer of this show on medical ailments. He gave me loads of advice and check out his life story in the pharmaceutical BMJ by a previous medical journalist student Deborah Cohen. We exchanged lots of ideas on what his next topic could be.

· Thursday: Material World with Quentin Cooper – finally I saw how this show is actually set up and done. Very interesting how he communicates with all the guests, some in the studio and others over the phone from America.

I realised that research is not my strong point and that while others thrive at seeing the end result, I enjoyed the whole sound engineering process and actually being part of the team.

Through the work experience I have now got a weekly job answering phones for the show Check Up, where I feel like Roxy out of Fraser: “Quick Fraser, I’ve got a call on line 1!” I really enjoy this job as I get to talk to loads of patients and also get to work with sound production. I like to work in the background as the show is going out live.

[ends]

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Helen Crump – Dorset Echo, 2002/3

PG Dip Print

The Dorset Echo is a very traditional regional newspaper. Every day except Sunday, sea breezes can sandblast the day’s headlines off green boards up and down Weymouth’s esplanade and in the summer, street sellers’ cries of “Echooooo!” ricochet around the town centre along with the sounds of excited children and the occasional burst of amusement arcade music.

The smallest regional daily in the country, the Dorset Echo has a circulation figure of 20,950 and an extremely loyal readership. As the sole paid-for local title covering Weymouth, Portland, Dorchester and parts of rural Dorset in depth, the Echo is one of the best recognised brands in the places it serves. I suspect that most people in its catchment area will have had a picture in the paper at some point and controversial stories can generate huge amounts of post, most of which falls into one of two categories; outrage or delight.

When you flick through the paper it becomes instantly obvious that the staff have an intricate understanding of exactly what local people are interested in. It’s equally obvious that one of the Echo’s principles is to cover the news in a fair and balanced way as much as possible. The newspaper doesn’t need to worry too much about splashed exclusives and sensationalist headlines as it doesn’t really have any local rivals.

The newspaper’s offices are located on an industrial estate on the edge of Weymouth. The editorial department shares a building with the printing facilities which means that you can follow the entire process from researching the stories to watching them appear on paper. It also means that the offices vibrate gently between about 11am and 4pm.

I had gone to the Echo expecting two weeks’ worth of church fêtes and missing cats. What I got was rather more sinister. The day before I arrived, terrorist suspects were arrested on the edge of the newspaper’s patch. A few days later the Echo received information about a proposed reception centre for asylum seekers in the heart of its territory. Locals were outraged and filled the letters page with rants about illegal immigrants for days afterwards. And one morning in my second week, boxes with the word “Anthrax” on them began to wash up on a nearby beach.

The Dorset Echo’s reporters seemed as surprised as I was at the unusual mirroring of the national news agenda and salivated at the material. As this was pretty big stuff, I didn’t get to work on any of the anthrax/terror/immigrant stories, but found a niche for myself answering the newsdesk phone. Some of the phone-calls were very odd indeed. One man rang to blame the Dorset Echo for the death of Diana Princess of Wales. Another complained that the published sunrise time was incorrect. However, a lot of the phonecalls generated stories of one kind or another.

One phone-call which I was given to follow up was about a boy recovering from cancer who had had his BMX bike stolen. I wrote a story and we sent a photographer round to take pictures of the boy looking sad. I also reviewed a pantomime and worked with another reporter to investigate a story about a man who had been charged £500 in parking fines in just over a month (he’d been persistently parking on double yellow lines). In addition, I buttonholed “Voice of Formula One” Murray Walker at a visit to a local technology park by the Duke of Kent. This was very exciting for the Echo’s sportsdesk as the people of Weymouth are currently outraged/delighted about proposals to build a speedway track in the town and we were able to get Murray’s views about the sport.

I was also able to see how the more routine news stories are gathered. I accompanied the crime reporter on a visit to the local police headquarters for a briefing on the latest law and order issues in the area and I got to spend some time in court, where the reporter’s immaculate shorthand notes showed me the need for top quality shorthand and high concentration levels. I worked through press releases from local schools, councils, driving instructors, bee keeping associations and amateur dramatics groups, and I went out around the local area getting voxpops on subjects ranging from “What are your views on asylum seekers?” to “What is your biggest fashion mistake?”

Working at the Echo for my two week placement was a pleasure. The staff were incredibly helpful, friendly and supportive and despite clearly being very busy, took every opportunity to help me out with questions and contacts, as well as passing on lots of practical advice about writing up news stories. They also invited me along for work nights out and by the time the fortnight was up, I genuinely felt like part of the team. I was given a byline every time I wrote a story and they seemed to trust me, sending me out to do voxpops and encouraging me to have a crack at finding my own off-diary stories.

And what about the anthrax and asylum seekers? The washed up boxes turned out to be full of ampoules of anthrax vaccine which had at some stage been issued to the armed forces. The asylum centre story became national news when the local outrage made it into the broadsheets. And a few days after my stolen bike story was published, various Echo readers had offered the boy who had lost his BMX four new bikes between them. I mentioned to one of the reporters that I was quite surprised at the generous response. He raised his eyebrows and said: “Never underestimate the power of the Echo.”

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Chris Bourn PGDip (Print)

Work Attachment Report

8/2/03

Work Attachments: Trade Magazines

My first week was at Inside Housing, the leading trade magazine for the social housing sector. Having worked for a housing association for two years I was already familiar with the title, especially the jobs pages. But the scale of its circulation surprised me – more than 22,000 copies are sold every week, and it is the flagship title for publishers Inside Communications. According to a member of the sales team, the revenue generated by Inside Housing props up the other more niche titles in the publishers’ portfolio which includes magazines on motorbikes, weddings, and house-building.

The editorial team was larger than I expected for a trade magazine, with four full-time reporters, two production staff and an editorial assistant all working to a news editor, deputy editor, and the editor herself.

Since there was a reporter on leave that week the editor set me to work straight away. I was included in the daily editorial meetings and expected to discuss stories I was working on. This came as something of a shock on my first morning when I had been on the news desk for little more than an hour. Fortunately I had already come across a story in the Times about a pensioner who had been evicted for feeding pigeons in her garden, and so had something to say for myself.

Following the ‘bird lady’ scoop, which appeared as a picture story in that week’s edition, the news editor seemed happy to let me get on with sourcing and writing my own stories during the rest of my time at the magazine. I was also kept busy following up press releases and writing captions and nibs.

I found I was able to unearth stories surprisingly easily given my lack of contacts and 12-month absence from the housing scene, and I managed to have at least one new story ready for the editorial meeting each day. Trawling local newspapers’ websites was the best way to discover social housing stories, but national newspapers and the radio were also good sources. BBC Radio London provided one story about Southwark Council re-launching a shelved regeneration scheme in Elephant and Castle, and I was able to interview the regeneration project manager before the council’s press office had put together a press release.

My previous experience in housing was useful in terms of understanding the jargon and issues pertinent to the sector. But much of the national news, in particular that relating to government policy and the Housing Corporation, was highly technical and somewhat beyond my grasp. My experience as a Unison shop steward proved invaluable, though, when I found a story about the postponement of a Walsall council workers’ strike. Having been involved in a similar dispute (over the transfer of employees and contract protection) two years previously, I felt I was in a knowledgeable position when interviewing union representatives and the leader of the council.

By the end of the week I had contributed six news items to that Friday’s edition, together with two longer stories and a by-lined 500-word feature (an interview with a housing association chief executive) for the following week. Throughout my time at Inside Housing the staff were extremely supportive, and offered me a great deal of encouragement and advice. Though I felt painfully slow in comparison to the other reporters, I felt I had acquitted myself well in terms of enthusiasm and news-finding, and I was made to feel a genuine part of the team.

I spent the next two weeks at Mash Media, a relatively new company that publishes two (soon to be three) monthly titles which cater for the exhibitions and conference industries, Exhibition News and Exhibitor. The company also produces industry directories and handbooks, and publishes a regularly updated website, http://www.expo24-7.com

Although Exhibition News is strikingly similar to Inside Housing in terms of its layout, format, and news style, it differs hugely in the fact that it is an outright sales-led publication. With a monthly circulation of around 5000 it has to rely on the revenue generated by advertising space, rather than that brought in by the £5 cover price.

The effect of this on the magazine’s editorial values was immediately noticeable. At Inside Housing it had been clear that the final say on all the content, advertising or editorial, rested unequivocally with the editor, but at Mash Media editorial decisions were often taken in consultation with the sales manager and managing director. This meant that some of the content, while not advertorial, was perhaps compromised by the need to maintain the goodwill of regular advertisers. While I was there, for example, the magazine adopted a trade association’s ‘newsletter’ as a regular feature at the insistence of the sales manager.

This sales bias was reflected in the staffing structure of the company: the sales team was double the size of editorial which consisted of two editors (responsible for a magazine each), two production staff, and an editorial assistant. The editors had their work cut out as they also had to act as their own reporters, photographers, and webmasters across all the company’s publications.

They were understandably glad of my assistance for a fortnight, and gave me range of different tasks, which left me with a broader understanding of the different elements that go into successfully compiling a magazine.

While I was at Mash Media I wrote the nibs for the news section of the website. The site demands twelve new stories twice a week, and while most came from press releases, I often had to glean stories from the internet in order to fill the space. I also worked on a number of news stories for Exhibition News, which I found far more difficult than when reporting for Inside Housing; I discovered that exhibition organisers, as marketing professionals, tend to employ press officers who are shrewder and much more inscrutable than those in the public sector.

I was also entrusted with two of the regular features, ‘People’, a page on new high profile appointments in the exhibition world, and ‘Winning Business’, a section devoted to contract awards. These followed a strict format and were thus fairly straight forward, but as the editor had warned me, obtaining quotes which were interesting and not simply bland self-promotion or advertising proved something of a challenge.

While I was there I did a great deal of research for a new title aimed at the conference organising industry that the company plans to launch in April. I also had the chance to get involved in layout design, working with the production specialist on mapping out a three-page feature.

My experience at Mash Media was valuable as an insight into working under pressure and coping with a number of titles at once. Time was even more of the essence here, despite the deadline being monthly as opposed to weekly, and it was again clear that I would need to learn to work at a faster pace if I was to succeed in a real job in journalism. Again, the editorial staff were extremely accommodating, going out of their way to ensure my time spent there was worthwhile. I felt I learned a great deal during my two weeks, and overall I was pleased with the contribution I made.

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Sita Shah PG Dip Print 2002/03

East London Advertiser

The East London Advertiser is a weekly paper that covers areas such as Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Streatham. It shares the same office as the Hackney Gazette and Streatham Express and the group editor is Richard Tidiman.

On my first day Richard was not there to greet me because he was off sick and had not told the rest of the staff that I would be coming in for two weeks. So while everyone searched for a spare desk and computer I was left to read the paper.

The East London Advertiser is a tabloid, in terms of length and style. Attributions like “he said” became “he fumed” and exclamation marks were everywhere, the opposite of what I had learnt in class. But many things we had learnt about news writing were reinforced, like keeping a tight structure and making stories relevant to the readers, in this case East Enders.

My first story was a nib about a course for business women. It was not exactly a news story worthy of the front page and I hoped my two weeks would not be spent writing up press releases. The afternoon was better because I wrote a story on pot holes in East London and got to speak to people rather than just make contact with my keyboard. Although the working hours are 9.30-5.30pm I was a bit eager and stayed till 6pm but was disappointed I had not achieved much.

The next day began with musical chairs as staff looked for another desk for me to sit at. Just before lunch my news editor, Mike Brook, received an anonymous phone call from a shopkeeper saying stall holders at a nearby market were being forced off their pitches and on to the main road. I was sent to the market place to make some contacts and see what was going on. This turned out to be a really good experience. Most of the stall holders and nearby shopkeepers were willing to talk to me and I got to use my shorthand. That was the easy part. The next bit was getting a reaction from Tower Hamlets Council which was more difficult than I thought. It was frustrating because I had a deadline by the end of the day. Although the paper comes out every Thursday most stories are finished off on Tuesday or at the latest by midday Wednesday.

Eventually after some pestering, the council sent a statement on the market situation. Soon I was speaking to press officers as if I had always known them. It was satisfying to see the story in print with a by-line. My other by-line for that week was a story on Cockney sparrows. I had tried to start it with a drop-intro but the news editor was more in favour of a journalese style.

As the week went on other reporters passed on stories they were too busy to cover. Many residents on a housing estate in Bethnal Green had been without water for several days and had received no prior warning. After a lot of door-banging and people saying they did not speak English I came across a mum who agreed to have her photo taken, posing in her dressing-grown. She even had to keep her two children at school because they could not have a bath.

The water story, or lack of it, got even better when we found out that another housing estate had been affected by the same problem. With a little perseverance we found a woman whose husband had been on drip-feed for four years and needed water to clean his tubes. I thought I had hit the jack pot when I came across this couple but off course it was too good to be true. Just as I was about to leave the estate Thames Water arrived to turn the mains back on. We still ran the story the following week even though the Newham Recorder had printed their article before us. Our story concentrated on the human aspect and the pictures made it more powerful.

But not all stories had a direct local angle and I had to turn them around so they were relevant to the readers. I was given a press release about trade skills shortages across London but without figures relating to the East End it would be a pointless article. I rang employment agencies around the area but with little success. But the council came to my rescue because I learnt they were funding a series of workshops for schoolchildren in Tower Hamlets about skilled trades. I was pleased with this story because in the beginning it looked like I had hit a dead end.

Although my work experience began with a shaky start by the end of the two weeks I had enjoyed working at the East London Advertiser. The two weeks were certainly better than I had expected. The staff were really friendly and I was not confined to the office writing up press releases. Bethnal Green was a particularly good place to work in because there was always something going on. This included the office. One afternoon some nutter came into the reception saying he had committed a murder.

I had a good laugh but there were times when I felt I was in the way because I had no where to sit or no work to do. I was not impressed by the dingy offices and limited internet access and did I mention the pay? A starting salary of £11,000 for a reporter. But I would recommend work experience at a local paper because of the variety and scope of the work. The more enthusiastic you are the more you will be able to do. It was disheartening in the beginning to see that half of my work had been re-written. But after the initial shock I learnt not to take it personally and was more determined to show I could write a news story.

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Helen Groom PG Dip Print 2002/3

2 weeks at Spiked www.spiked-online.com

I spent two weeks at a website called Spiked. It’s based in a tiny office in Farringdon and has about 7 full time staff. Everyone was extremely friendly and very welcoming. I was asked to go for an interview before they accepted me for a work attachment place, just so they could check that I wasn’t a total idiot/liability. As they are a fairly small operation I think they were pleased to have someone ask to do work experience in the first place.

Most of the content of the website is twice-weekly columns written by the full time staff. These tend to reflect on current news and often invite further debate. The website also organises online debates on a variety of subjects and usually gets a broad range of experts to contribute to them. For specialist areas they try to have people with insider knowledge writing for them. For example, their chief medical writer is a doctor, and one of their regular education contributors is a teacher. In the same office as the website is a company called the Institute of Ideas who organise conferences and debates. The work of both companies often combines and is cross-promoted.

My first day and a half I spent doing research on the Internet, finding contacts for an online debate about waste management. This was fairly boring but straight forward and time consuming. On the second afternoon I was asked to write an article on education, not exactly my area of expertise. I did, however, find it very interesting and with guidance from my editor managed to write something which sounded vaguely knowledgeable. I found it very interesting to write for someone outside the course because the aim of the assignment was to produce an interesting article, not to practice writing techniques or styles.

The rest of the first week continued in much the same pattern, doing research for contacts and background research for articles that others were working on, then having a go at writing articles. The website is updated every few days so it was interesting seeing articles that I had done research for being posted on the site.

In my second week I had a bit more variety in the things I was given to do. I continued to do research for both Spiked and the Institute of Ideas. I was also asked to go to ULU and interview students on the subject of top-up fees. Most of them seemed more interested in my very rusty shorthand than in the subject of top-up fees. I then wrote that up and it was also posted on the site.

I also helped to sub some scientific articles, which I had never done before. I found it quite difficult because I also had to add HTML commands to the article so that it would be properly formatted when it was uploaded to the server. Once I had been given some very basic instructions I managed to do it all correctly. I enjoyed doing a bit of subbing, although the grammar of the scientist in question was not brilliant.

I would say that my time at Spiked was very enjoyable and it is an interesting website that I would recommend people visited. I was a bit disappointed that I did not get to see more of the technical side of running a website as most of the articles are put in a format and then directly uploaded. It meant there was not much to see on the technical side, unlike at a local newspaper where you sometimes see the subs creating pages.

If my work attachment had been longer I think I would have been given more writing to do, rather than just research. I did learn a lot but at times found it rather frustrating that I was not able to practice what I had been learning. When I did write something I found the comments my editor gave me very helpful. I was never ignored and always had something to do, so I would say that going to a smaller publication is a good idea.

I was also given tips on how to be a successful ie. employed journalist: avoid lawsuits and write as much as you can. I have made some good contacts at the website and I hope to write more for them in the future. I have also offered to help at some of the conferences they are organising and hope to meet further contacts there.

I would recommend that students next year go to Spiked for their work attachment, but I think that it would be good to do another week somewhere else to get an idea of the production side of journalism.

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WORK ATTACHMENT REPORT - Christina Boyle, PG Dip 2002/03

NORTH LONDON NEWSPAPERS

I spent two weeks at North London Newspapers. They are based in Crouch End and publish five weekly local newspapers - The Islington Gazette, The Camden Chronicle, The Tottenham and Wood Green Journal, The Hornsey and Crouch End Journal and The Muswell Hill Journal. I feel my time there was really productive and got several by-lines in the newspapers, including a front page story.

My first few days were spent writing press releases and picture captions. Since the newspaper goes to press on Tuesday evening there wasn’t a huge amount for me to do. But, I did write one story about a missing girl who was believed to be in Tottenham which ended up on the front page of the Tottenham and Wood Green Journal. This was really exciting and I was very surprised, especially since I had only been there for 2 days, but throughout the two weeks was never any dispute about giving me a by-line for a story I had written.

I did three vox pops during my two weeks. Two involved going out on the streets with the photographer to get quotes off people about a particular question. It was pretty cold on the days I went out and took quite a bit of perseverance to not get disheartened after many people either ignored me or said they were in a rush but, it felt very satisfying when it was completed. The other vox pop involved phoning people who had already agreed to give their say on a topic on a weekly basis and asking them a particular question. This was obviously a lot easier and both were good practice for the shorthand!

I also got the opportunity to write quite a number of news articles. This happened either because someone asked me directly to write something or because I picked up the phone and ended up with a story on my hands. This again was where people were really nice because rather than take the story off my hands and do it themselves they always let me do it. I had to interview a local girl on the phone who is hoping to become a pop star and has a single out soon. I also wrote a story about an old lady who’s council flat has been leaking for three years which involved hassling the council for a quote and arranging for the photographer to go to the lady’s house. I wrote another story about Highgate Choral Society’s 125^th anniversary, and one about a couple getting married where Mohammed Al Fayed paid for £3000 worth of wedding attire for the bride. I was also sent me to see Bombay Dreams the week after I left and wrote a review of it.

The most exciting thing in the whole two weeks happened on my last day when I was sent to spend the morning with the crew of Islington Ambulance Service. The station was one year old and they had invited the paper along to see what they do. I had to be at the ambulance station at 6.30am where I was shown how everything worked and spent five hours in the ambulance with one of the teams while they attended various incidents. While I was with them we were called to a road traffic accident, a house where an old lady had broken her hip and finally to Old Street station where a man had collapsed. This final call was quite shocking because they were unable to resuscitate the man and he died right there in front of me. It was a pretty eye-opening experience but one I certainly wouldn’t have missed out on for anything and I had to go back to the office that afternoon to write a story on it.

I definitely felt I had to prove myself when I first arrived at North London Newspapers but as the two weeks went on they gave me more things to do and more responsibility for my own work. I made sure I always asked for something else to do when I had finished what they had given me and always tried to be keen. This was made easier because the staff were friendly and if I ever had a question about how to approach something or how to phrase something, they always had time to explain. This was really reassuring and meant that I was never nervous about asking for help.

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GUARDIAN UNLIMITED

Christina Boyle, PG Dip Print 2002/3

The Guardian Unlimited was a completely different experience to the local paper. I enjoyed my time there and found it really interesting to see how online news operates but, because they cover national news stories, there was less opportunity for me to write articles myself and people had less time to explain things to me.

I went into the editorial meetings with the team each morning where the editor went through the news agenda for the day. People from every online section were there too (Society, Media, Finance) who also spoke about what they were planning to do. I went across to the main Guardian offices twice and sat in on the big daily conference meeting for the whole newspaper. This was fascinating since representatives were there from every section of the newspaper to talk about their news agenda for the day.

During my week at the Guardian Unlimited I wrote the news quiz each day. This involved reading the news wires in the afternoon and finding 10 questions based on various light-hearted news stories. I also wrote some net notes on the Chinese New Year. This is a list of 10 points, each with at least one link to an external site, which provide a guide to what the Chinese New Year is all about. This went up on the site on my final day working there. I also did two audio reports – one with Julian Borger in Washington and one with James Meek in Kuwait. I had to ask them three or four questions about a specific topic, record their answers on a minidisc and then cut out my questions and edit it down to make a 3 minute sound bite that is posted on their website for readers to listen to.

Overall, I got a lot out of my work placements and really enjoyed being able to put what I have learnt on the course into practice.

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Paul Chandy K. PgDip Print Journalism, 2002.3

Hot House Media – Study Zone, London

Hot House Media provides trade magazines for agents in the language training industry. Initially I had thought I would be working with a large team but there were only three journalists, two of whom were editors. There were about nine people working for the publication. The office was roomy, modern and light and looked more like a graphic designer’s studio.

Everyone made me feel welcome and worked in close proximity of each other and there was no tension. The owner of the business was working very near me but I never felt intimidated in any way.

My job was to update the website Study Zone, an additional service by Hothouse Media that provides information regarding visa regulations, travel information and entry requirements for students wishing to study abroad. My own background in language training meant that I was familiar with a lot of the acronyms and jargon.

It was easier to find information for the European countries on the internet but more difficult for South American countries. Some sites offered different facts and figures so I had to choose the site that had the most kudos, for example the British Council was a good source. Whenever I was stuck I used information from Hothouse’s magazines.

I enjoyed my time at Hothouse Media because the work environment was so relaxing and everyone was productive. The advantage of working for monthly or quarterly publications is that you do not have daily deadlines to meet so there is not a lot of stress.

A journalist who had graduated from City University told me that the advantage of working with a small team is that you get to report, write features and sub editing.

However you are limited in exposing any scandals primarily because the magazine is a trade publication and furthermore it lacks the financial resources to fight any battles in

court.

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Paul Chandy K. PgDip Print Journalism, 2002.3

BBC Good Food, London

BBC Good Food was in a huge complex like a little town. There were so many publications at the print headquarters. Once inside the building it took me ten minutes to find myself around the maze.

On my first day the editor of BBC Good Food knew me by name without me even having to introduce myself. I always had the impression that editors were broody types who remained recluses in their private offices. But Orlando Murrin, the editor was very outgoing and encouraging towards all members of his team.

On my first day, Orlando Murrin asked me if I had any allergies- a feature editor was writing a piece about allergies – I replied that because of changes in my diet I no longer suffered from allergies. The editor was quite amused and said: “Well get a letter in then!”.

One of my main tasks was to sort out letters and surveys. I compiled the results of an allergy survey into a table and handed over the data to the features editors. I did research on behalf of readers who had enquiries about availability of ingredients and prices of items.

I did research for feature articles. I phoned or faxed press officers to check prices and ingredients contained in a certain food items. Every morning I also cut out any articles from newspapers relating to food for other members of the editorial team to use.

I enjoyed working for the magazine because everyone was passionate about food. The magazine had an extensive list of contacts for stockists for any kind of food. I asked the chief editorial assistance some advice about where to find decent Belgian chocolates and was given a seminar on the matter. I met a man who had invented a revolutionary baking tin and was amazed that the BBC Good Food Magazine could always contact celebrity chefs, such as Anthony Worrel Thompson, whenever it needed. One of my job requirements was to sample food but for the sake of my tummy I sneakily avoided doing this.

It would be fun to work for BBC Good Food. you have time to fully research features two months in advance. But it is hard to get full time position unless you are willing to work for free for a number of years. Freelance writers do most of the work.

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Paul Chandy K. PgDip Print Journalism, 2002.3

The Northern Echo, Darlington

I was scared about working for a daily regional newspaper. I had visions of the editor pulling me by my hair and bashing my head against the wall for the slightest mistake. I imagined it to be like a Stalinist Gulag full of cheerless souls slaving away to meet unrealistic deadlines. I was very surprised. The atmosphere at the Northern Echo was calm but the reporter’s quarter was messy with papers strewn everywhere but reporters had time to talk, joke and banter. Furthermore I got the chief reporter to check my pieces and she had time to give useful hints.

For my first two days I had to rewrite press releases and research and write stories regarding poor transport or charities. I had no problems in researching stories. Press officers and officials were helpful and always rang back. Most of the leads were supplied to the reporters by the news desk and reporters had a common supply of contacts. So the job of a reporter was made a lot easier. The deadline for stories was 5pm and midnight at the latest so reporters did not feel under pressure.

The editorial conferences gave the editorial team the chance to crack jokes, discuss football, wind the editor up and discuss any stories. The editor accepted stories as far as Harrogate. He was always attempting to expand his readership base. The editor threatened a journalist to take his column on sega games away if his writing became too violent. The journalists laughed and in his defence said grannies thanked him for his column.

For my last three days I worked alongside the business editor researching and writing stories. Sometimes we lifted stories from the Journal, a rival newspaper and refined them. The business editor was a good mentor and gave many useful insights. Nearly everyone had a proficient speed in short hand and had NUTJ qualifications. Journalists from different departments helped each other and cooperated on stories thus lightening someone’s workload.

Maybe I was spoilt at the Northern Echo. The paper has a large staff and plenty of resources. I may not have a realistic idea of a fast paced news environment. I learnt a lot and enjoyed myself because people had time for me.

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Harrow Observer – 13^th – 24^th January 2003

Martin Ashplant, PG Dip Print 2002/03

After two weeks at this weekly paper, I feel as though I have gained a valuable insight into the good and not-so-good side of working on a ‘local rag’.

My initial acquaintance with the Observer was of a definite sink-or-swim nature. As the editorial deadline was on Tuesday afternoon, people simply did not have the time to take me aside and show me the ropes. Instead I was asked to organise two interviews with local people who worked with customers, for the weekly Over the Counter section. The newspaper covers both Brent and Harrow boroughs and I was required to obtain different interviewees for each version. I made inquiries via telephone and in person, obtained a number of rebuttals and finally conducted the interviews and organised for photographs to be taken.

In my first few days I was asked to read through the national press for local angles, follow up a couple of press releases and ring around schools in the local area to see if anything newsworthy was occurring. Although I did pick up a few nibs from the latter, I spent most of the time laughing at school secretary’s jokes about it being a slow news day, as if it was the first time I had heard them. I managed to get my first byline about a school in the area putting able students in for GCSEs at 12, which was not a bad achievement being as I had only been at the paper for a day-and-a-half before the copy deadline.

With Thursday came the news-agenda meeting and a distinct relaxing of the office atmosphere post-deadline. I was assigned to do two more interviews for the Over the Counter section – more traipsing around in the rain listening to the various reasons why people did not want to appear in the paper – and to organise the paper’s planning section. This entailed going through the council’s planning applications, picking out anything which looked interesting and attempting to get a couple-of-hundred words out of a few of them. The main result of this was in establishing quite how little most council press officers knew about each application and quite how long they would take to get back to you.

My most worthwhile assignment of the first week was in following up a new course introduced by a local business firm in partnership with a borough university. I visited the company’s head office, conducted a few interviews and wrote a five-hundred-word piece for the paper’s business section. The most challenging part about this was in trying to make a rather uninteresting subject sound remotely interesting to anyone other than a company employee.

As the days went by, I began to realise that far from the young easy-going people I originally thought they were, the paper’s small staff were in fact over-worked, over-stressed and underpaid. The overall editor was a constant source of anxiety for asking them to do more whilst ‘streamlining’ the work-force, and the pressures of the job meant that everyone, including me, worked in excess of their set hours. It brought home to me what I already knew to be true – that working on a local newspaper is not easy and is certainly not an environment where you are likely to be highly rewarded by your superiors or your pay-packet.

My second week consisted of much the same as the first, although there seemed to be more occasions when I was in search of something to do. It is quite a challenge to be pro-active in a situation like this because you are somewhat reliant on what people let you do. I came up with a number of ideas based on pieces in the national press or follow ups to other stories, but it was often the case that similar things were already being done. It was also difficult to obtain stories from the usual sources as most of these contacts were already in close liaison with other reporters.

During this time, I found out first-hand how frustrating the sub-editing experience can be for reporters. The way the newspaper was set up meant that all copy would go to the news-editor by midday on Wednesday, she would lay it all up and then send it to head office in Uxbridge where headlines were added and subbing occurred. What this resulted in was no opportunity for reporters to see the final copy until it went to print. Frequently, headlines did not convey the story – one particularly sensational one led to a colleague being called ‘a tosser’ by a local councillor – and copy was changed so that it made no sense. One of my articles had ‘more than half a decade’ changed to ‘50 years’ which completely altered the meaning of a sentence and made my work look sloppy. This was a common complaint made by all reporters in the office.

Overall, this was a very beneficial experience for me, not least for the ‘reality check’ it gave me about what it is like in local news. My previous work experience placements had been in the online sport environment which had carried significantly less pressure and more enjoyment. It was therefore very useful for me to get a feel for the more fast-paced and varied life at this level. I left having received four bylines, a number of uncredited articles and an invitation to give the editor a ring when I was looking for a job. I could not really have expected anymore from my fortnight at the Observer.

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SUNRISE RADIO

Work Experience Appraisal – Nadeem Butt, PG Dip Radio 2002/3

Sunrise Radio is an Asian radio station which covers London and the south east. It also has a franchise in Bradford too. It is an established radio station for the Asian community and has been around for ten years.

I wanted a placement at Sunrise because it was local to me as it was based in west London. Also, I was brought up being forced to having to listen Sunrise when I was growing up.

I was working in the news room. Like the rest of the radio station, Sunrise due to its commercial nature is restricted and constrained by the lack of financial investment from its owners. The News editor and my supervisor made no attempt to hide this, when talking to me about the station.

The news team therefore is quite small. Made up of the News editor, David Landau and two other broadcast journalists who assist him, Sumedha Mane and Dominic Mason.

The way the news is gathered at Sunrise is different to other Radio stations due to the financial constraints. The news is specifically geared towards the Asian community, although there is a three minute IRN national and international segment which makes up a big chunk of each news bulletin. The local news is basically ripped of from other news website. Sunrise use Ananova, BBC News and Teletext. The team also have to go through the newspapers every day, taking relevant Asian stories. As well as using IRN for the national and international news, Sunrise also use them for packages and also use the IRN cues. The news from the Indian subcontinent is also gained from websites and newspapaers. They also get emailed stories from media groups in India.

The main news bulletins are every half hour but the whole day is geared up to the Infocus programme which comes on at five and lasts till half five. This is where packages are used and where all the news is read. The news team also make there own packages and do a lot of telephone interviews.

I really loved the Infocus programmes. It was a chance to hear my name on the radio everyday. It also, on a more serious note, acted as the platform where the news team could really showcase there talent and abilities. Although producing the Infocus programme was stressfull and demanding, it was very rewarding.

A normal bulletin is much shorter and last for five minutes. The news reader says the three Asian headlines and then the IRN news is featured before the pre-recorded Asian stories are played out. I was initially quite surprised by the fact that most of the news reading is pre-recorded . In fact the only live reading is for the headlines and cricket. Considering the cricket world cup has just started, i think the news team are going to be very busy for the next month or so.

I wouldn’t say I learnt too much on much placement. I mainly sifted through newspapers and the internet too find good news but I would like to think I was more than capable of doing this previously. I wrote a lot of news for the bulletins and I think I learnt how to make the copy tighter and do now understand the difference when writing for radio.

One of the other things I learnt was how to work quickly to meet a deadline, without comprimising the quality of the work. Sometimes I would have to do thing immediately in order not to miss the bulletin.

The placement has been very good and I have enjoyed it very much. I got on well with the other members of the team and they took a lot of time to make me feel part of the team and involved in the whole process.

In terms of it being good for my development as a broadcast journalist, I would say yes and no.

I really liked getting the news and writing stories. Lots of fun Most of my stories went out on air and it was a great feeling to write the actual news. I was also treated like a member of the team and therefore was made to feel the pressure of time constraints and I really had to work at speed in order not to let the others down.

I liked the fact that I was given enough trust and responsibility too. David, the news editor had no qualms about sending me out to do vox pops, surveys or going to conferences. This meant that I was doing more than just writing stories and meant I was able to learn about other aspects of being a broadcast journalist.

In addition, I was shown the procedures and learnt the correct way to arrange interviews and came close to doing an interview many a time. I finally managed to do one on my penultimate day with Beverley Bernard the acting chair of the Commission of Racial Equality. Which was great fun because I saw her at the CRE conference the previous day. The interview was the top story on the Infocus bulletin and it was a great feeling to hear myself on the radio.

The disadvantages were that I wasn’t allowed to do anything interms of reading the news or headlines.

Also the fact that the Sunrise team is relatively small and under funded means that the prospect of me doing a wide range of stuff was unlikely, because what the others in the team did was also limited.

I did enjoy the work placement though, although I’m wondering if I got the same breadth of experience as my colleagues that went to the BBC etc. On the other hand, I did feel like a member of staff rather than a work experience boy and that can only be a positive thing.

I think I found the placement easier because i was Asian, purely becasue I had an interest and prior knowledge of the important issues in the Asian community. Having said that two of the three in the news team were white so, Sunrise could be for anyone.

I was also told I could have a job there if i ever needed one, which was nice to hear. I could see myself at Sunrise at the begining of my career and use it as a stepping stone towards better things.

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Charlotte Moore – PG Dip Print Journalism 2002/03

Work placement at Financial News

Financial News is a weekly newspaper targeted at the securities, investment banking and fund management community. It also has a website, www.efinancialnews.com, which is updated daily with stories. This website is now subscription only.

I applied for work experience at Financial News because I worked as investment analyst, specialising in the pharmaceutical sector, from 1995 to 2001 and plan to be a financial journalist.

Financial News is not used to having students applying for work placements with them; probably because financial journalism is considered too specialised. Despite this, they found a range of interesting tasks for me over the two week period that I was with them.

I was given four news stories to write for the website. These were published with my own byline. Three of these stories were based on press releases, and one on a recently published report. Writing these stories involved making up follow-up phone calls for additional quotes. I was extremely glad that I had done the five-week news reporting course before I was thrown into the deep-end by the on-line editor, Juliette Pearse, requesting: “250 words with some follow-up quotes in an hour, please.”

I was also asked by Juliette to check the Reuters news wire several times a day to see if there were any major news stories that anyone was missing. Although this was hardly rocket science, it gave me a good chance to get up to speed with the issues of the day and gave me a sense of news flow.

The assistant editor, Will Wright, also gave me a project that was not particularly interesting but gave a good insight into the way that the website worked. He wanted me to count the number of web stories that each journalist had been contributing over an eight week period. Each particular sector, for example, fund management, has a team of journalists covering it. That team has to submit a certain number of web stories each day in addition to the articles they must write for the weekly edition of the paper.

At Financial News there was an informal editorial meeting everyday to discuss the stories that would be filed for the website. Twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, there were more formal editorial meetings discussing the newspaper content and any other major issues. I found these interesting since they touched on a number of hot financial topics (although that admission may make me sound rather geeky).

I was given my most interesting task in my final week. The Higgs review with its guidelines for the composition of corporate boards and the future role for company chairmen was published at the beginning of the second week. For the next week’s edition I was asked to phone the chairmen of the FTSE 100 companies and try to get their reaction to Higgs’s recommendations. Luckily I had already compiled a list of all of the chairmen of the FTSE 100. It was then just a matter of cold-calling each company and seeing which chairman was prepared to speak to me. As is the way of journalism, I was convinced on Thursday evening that I would not find even five prepared to talk to me but it seemed to somehow all come together at the eleventh hour. Although I did not write the article, the journalist who did and used my research, gave me a byline.

This project was very satisfying on various levels. There was the sense of achievement of managing to persuade various chairmen to speak to me just from a cold-call and the excitement of interviewing people like Sir David Lees and knowing that their comments were going to make for a very news-worthy story. And the delight in realising that the story would all come together despite having been convinced a few hours before that it would be a non-starter.

Overall, I found Financial News both a friendly and professional place to be for two weeks, and certainly a far less political place to work than an investment bank. The editors were willing to give me interesting work and advice and the journalists were also happy to talk. I found the two weeks very instructive and interesting and would not hesitate to recommend to another student.

The editors seemed quite keen for me to come back to do some more work experience, probably over the Easter vacation. The two weeks has also given me some useful journalist contacts.

Students should not be put off applying here because they do not have the in-depth financial experience that I have. The news editor, Rosemary Unsworth, said that she would be happy to take students that do not have a financial background as long as they some interest in the sector. Given the lack of competition, it would be considerable easier to find work experience here than at a local paper. And it is worth remembering that a job in financial journalism is bound to be London based and pays considerably better than at a local paper.

Future journalism students at the University of Westminster should bear in mind that they can make a good supplementary income by working at the Financial News compiling the Press Gazette over the weekend. You would work one Saturday out of every four from around 7pm to 1am and earn £75. If anyone is interested, then contact me via my e-mail/website the PG Dip Print “contacts” section contact details.

907 words

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SUNDAY EXPRESS

ANDY CHAPMAN, BAMJ, January/February 2003

I managed to get a chance for work experience at the Sunday Express, working with the papers health correspondent Lucy Johnston. I had only spoken to her on the phone before my first day and was pleased when I met her that she was as easy going and pleasant as I might have hoped. Lucy was keen to allow me to do as much or as little work as I felt like and I was given a fairly free rein.

I was set up at a computer, linked to the internal system and given a phone extension. After that I was effectively working on my own. In the mornings, me and Lucy would discuss what stories we were working on, offering each other help if it was needed ( I would often do some of her research and she would provide me with some much needed tabloid influence to some of my dryer stories).

As the paper is only out on Sundays it obviously has certain advantages and disadvantages over a daily. While you do have more time to write stories and do research, it is often tricky to find stories that won’t be reported during the week by rival papers, quite often I found myself getting a little too excited when a juicy press release had the words “embargoed until Sunday” emblazoned at the top. Also your stories have more time in the editorial staffs hands so that several rewrites may be demanded, or a story that was “certain” to get in on Thursday finds itself on the spike by Saturday. I found myself disappointed when some of my fantastically insightful reports were bumped by such nothing stories as a tube derailment or a UN dossier, but such is the life of a would-be tabloid hack

I would certainly recommend a stint at the Sunday Express for anyone interested in the workings of the national papers but with a few caveats. It isn’t a paper particularly noted for its health coverage and stories that seemed important to me were often not seen in the same way by the editor. Being a tabloid, the paper was far more keen on sperm donor websites for lesbians than DoH cover-ups over haemophiliacs. But here again was a useful learning experience, several times in the first week or so I found myself writing for my benefit rather than the supposed audience (described by one reporter as being like eight-year olds who like tits), a habit that had to be broken. But even with this problem overcome the chance of stories getting in, from me or Lucy, was pretty slim. Only two health stories got into the main paper in the three weeks I was at the SE, while I wrote at least twelve. This may be a testament to my poor journalism rather than the paper’s willingness to include health but I was assured it was the latter (maybe they were just trying to make me feel better).

All the staff I met were very friendly, and I was sitting just behind the gossip columnists (the Night and Day girls) so the days were never boring. It gave me some idea as to how many stories are known but never printed and also into how much earlier journalists know information. My three weeks were in the middle of the Pete Townsend, Matthew Kelly debacle and I was privy to lots of the names several days prior to their entrance into print. While this is a fairly minor perk I was also invited to the premiere of About Schmidt by one of the gossip girls (unfortunately I had another commitment) and given about sixty free condoms by Lucy (a little bribe from Durex).

There was also the joy of arguing over films with Pete, the paper’s resident reviewer, a man very wrong about Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, a fantastic piece of cinema, but still a nice chap for an afternoon debate when you should be finishing a story.

All in all I had a great time at the Express and learnt a lot. The hours were fairly long, I often stayed until eight or nine, but I started fairly late (around eleven) so it made up for it. I’d recommend it as a learning experience but would say that if someone was desperate to see their name in print maybe this wasn’t the place for them. In fact my main problem with the paper was that the only coffee available was from an in-house Starbucks. This very nearly made me break my Starbucks embargo on one hung-over morning but my principles managed to stay intact over the three weeks.

Andy Chapman

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Work Experience Assessment January 13- 31, 2003

Christina Marker

PG Dip Broadcast Journalism

February 10, 2003

I approached APTN (Associated Press Television) to ask about possibilities for work experience the beginning of October. A few weeks later I was invited to an ‘interview’ by the Managing Editor of APTN, Louise Bamfield to discuss opportunities. She was very nice, in fact, one of the few friendly female journalists I have encountered so far, which frankly says a lot about women in the Media. Louise explained that while APTN did not have a formal work experience programme, past interns who had been willing to “get stuck in” had done well for themselves and come back to work for them as freelancers. Which I took as a good sign. She promised to give me a mix of newsgathering and production experience, but in the end I was mainly based at the newsdesk.

APTN is a news agency owned by Associated Press, the result of a merger between APTN and WTN in the 1990s. The company provides newsrooms around the world with pictures from their producers in the field who send the pictures back to the London headquarters, sometimes editing them before sending them out to subscribers via the global newswire. Every day there are around fifteen news bulletins containing pictures from the day’s events which are regularly updated as new material comes in.

The APTN planning diary acts as the organisations ‘bible’. This is where you can see the expected activities throughout the day, and night, because this is after all a 24-hour, global operation. The diary provides a real insight into the way a news agency works. Next to several entries such as a Kashmir, were the words, ‘Only cover if major violence or casualties.’ This is obviously both a reflection of the nature of the news agenda but also the reality of running a global agency where the cost of a camera crew, feeding the pictures back to London and on to clients has to be taken into account.

Next to other entries were the telling words, ‘Do not send xxx outside the capital with out consulting Sandy or Christine,’ the latter two being the big chiefs. In the past five years two APTN correspondents have been killed while reporting and the company takes the security of its employees very seriously. Getting pictures in is never worth risking the lives of a colleague.

It took me a few days to learn the ropes and get to grips with ENPS. For those of you interested in useless trivia, ENPS was developed by the BBC in association with Associated Press. The system was originally intended to have an in-built editing system, first for radio and then for television. Needless to say this never happened and it was a very expensive project.

The amount of jargon flying around the room was really quite confusing at first. During my first week I was asked to ‘Tell the DNO (no one seemed to know what this stood for but it’s the satellite people) that the MCR (Master Control Room) was ready the TOKO (a way of sending pictures from far flung places). Oh and could you place this tape in the Flexi?’ The Flexi is a machine which looks like a cupboard where all the tapes which are going to be included on a feed are kept, with a barcode along the side each tape so that a programming system can line up the tape when it has to be fed. Fascinating stuff.

Once I had a vague idea of what I was doing I did the same work as the other news assistants (NA’s). There were two NA’s a day, working 11-hour shifts overlapping in the afternoon. The work we did was not journalistic per se. Tasks included dealing with subscribers who would ring the office to hear when a story would turn up on a bulletin, information which they had been sent but hadn’t bothered to read. We were also often the first point of contact for the producers in the field who would pass on messages such as, ‘My pictures will be delayed an hour because our cameraman has only just been released by the Israeli army,’ which really gives you a sense of the conditions they were working under.

Getting shotlists and stories from the producers in the field was another aspect of my work. They would often not have e-mail access and therefore had to describe the pictures coming through over the phone. If they had a story to go with it we would get the details and redraft it afterwards, other times the story was already on the Associated Press newswire. Personally I found it fascinating having someone on the other end of the phone who was in Baghdad or the Ivory Coast. You always had to make sure you got all the details down while you had them on the line because you never knew when you would be able to get a connection to them again. Accuracy was key, which can be difficult on a terrible mobile phone line with an appalling echo.

Sky News provided APTN with their UK coverage so we had to keep an eye on Sky throughout the day to monitor any stories that might be of interest to global, and not just UK, clients. Anyone who watches the channel will know that Sky has the worst adverts on earth, particularly the Irish, no-budget ones, and sadly I now know most of them by heart.

Getting pictures to clients before Reuters did was a major driving force for the organisation. Apparently there are often struggles at the feed point in the field when Reuters would try to grab a satellite slot from APTN if the latter was running late. Apart from journalistic competition, the motivation was pure business: the more exclusives APTN could get than Reuters, the better when negotiating fees with clients.

I really enjoyed my three weeks. The main problem with my work experience was really that with two news assistants at the desk during the afternoon, there was not always enough work for all of us, particularly on a ‘quiet’ day. Quiet incidentally is a word banned from the news room, because its utterance is usually followed by a bomb in Israel or an assassination attempt somewhere else.

I realise that some of my colleagues on the PG Dip Broadcast were given a lot more journalistic work on their work experience at BBC local radio stations. Nevertheless, because my main interest is international news, I want to be based in London, and I am mainly interested in television, APTN suited me very well. There is a fairly clear path of career progression. The news assistance start working there on a freelance basis during which time they freelance at other networks, and may or may not get a permanent job as news assistant. After a while, they get trained as production assistants and eventually become producers and get sent abroad. The newsroom co-ordinator rang me at the end of last week and offered me two freelance shifts for March so hopefully I am headed in the right direction.

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Eleanor Turpin – BAMJ

Work Placement 13^th January -24^th January 2003

Health Service Journal

The Health Service Journal (HSJ) is a weekly journal read mainly by NHS managers. It is published by emap.

As I entered Greater London House, passing between the two formidable black cats, I wondered what the next two weeks would hold for me. What I wanted was plenty of writing to do, to gain confidence in my abilities and hopefully have some of my work published. My worry was that I would spend the next two weeks filing and photocopying and feeling generally quite bored.

I need not have worried. On my first morning the deputy editor, Nick Edwards, discussed with me what I would be doing. I was relieved to hear that his background wasn’t in medical writing and he had been at the journal just a couple of months- I wasn’t expected to have a vast knowledge of the management side of the NHS. I was given plenty to be getting on with; mostly stories that may be used for their health inequalities supplement in March. That first day went in a flash.

The next day I went with Nick to a primary care conference at the Grosvenor Hotel. It was a big event, with 1100 health care workers and I was sent off to the parallel sessions in search of something newsworthy. The big surprise of the day was the guest speaker- Mr Tony Blair! He speaks very quickly- my shorthand really wasn’t up to it! Nick phoned in the story but suggested I write an article on the speech to compare. It seems it takes practice to read between the lines of a politician’s speech- but of course if you are not sure, it’s best to stick to what is said and not libel the PM!

On Wednesday I attempted to go to a select committee meeting with one of the freelance journalists, but unfortunately we ended up in Portcullis House instead of the House of Commons (through no fault of mine I might add!) and we missed the meeting. The select committee meeting on Thursday was more of a success. I was there by myself and was pleased I had been given that responsibility. The meeting on sexual health was a far cry from the usual dull drivel- it was very entertaining. The two panels of teenagers had plenty to say and weren’t afraid to say it. Some of the MPs were laughably out of touch. Many ‘sketch’ articles appeared in the newspapers the next day and the news editor set me the task of writing a 'news report'. The article was in the 6 February issue.

After my hectic first week, where I felt I had been given plenty of responsibility and had plenty of writing to do, I felt a little demoted on Monday. I was set the dull task of phoning up chief executives in the NHS and at local authorities and trying to get them to fill in a questionnaire about health inequalities.

I did however have the more challenging job of interviewing a couple of NHS finance directors about problems with recruitment of finance managers. It’s not an area I know a lot about and so it was important to clarify what I wasn’t sure about. My write-up of the interviews should appear in a future article about finance managers.

I went along to the Houses of Parliament with the deputy editor, who was interviewing Conservative health spokesman Dr Liam Fox. Although I didn’t conduct the interview, I was given the task of writing a short news article on their new website for whistleblowers. I phoned his PA to find out more details and frankly the more I heard the more rubbish I thought the whole thing was. It was very difficult not to be overly scathing in the article!

I got my first experience of using QuarkXpress when I spent some time on the subs desk. I was asked to write ‘in person’, a task involving selecting press releases about people’s new jobs and writing a short summary. So I had a bit of experience in subbing, getting used to checking and double checking names, dates, facts and figures and using their style book (which is a little different from the BBC stylebook).

Unfortunately I got another dull phone job: phoning publishers to update their contact list and get them to increase the variety of books they send us to review. That was a very slow day.

On my last day the news editor gave me a bunch of press releases to write short ‘news cuts’, a task I feel very familiar with. These five articles appeared in the 30 January issue.

All in all I had a great two weeks at the HSJ. The staff are a friendly crowd and I was given plenty of responsibility- but always felt I could say if I was out of my depth. I loved being busy and my writing began to flow more freely than it has done over the past few months. I got plenty of practice interviewing over the phone, which is something I previously dreaded. I learned the importance of clarifying points with people - especially when it comes to the names of health service bodies, which frustratingly change all the time and frequently no one really knows what they are talking about! It was frustrating not being able to get through to people on the phone but I found it was much easier to get people to talk to you when you write for a respected journal, rather than when you say you are a student!

I was very pleased to have some of my work published, especially the report on teenage views of sexual health, and I hope some of my other articles will appear in the health inequalities supplement in March.

The HSJ agreed to refund my travel expenses and also kindly said it will pay me for any work of mine that is published. So there’s a worthwhile piece of advice – there’s no harm in asking!

I intend to continue working for the HSJ as I have been asked to contribute to a new column aimed at young managers and clinicians.

Contact details at the HSJ:

Nick Edwards, Deputy Editor

Tel: 020 7874 0268

nick.edwards@emap.com

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Gilly Hamill

Newbury Weekly News – 3-Week Placement (Jan/Feb 2003)

As one of the most well established local newspapers in the UK, The Newbury Weekly News has been covering stories affecting West Berkshire residents for over 130 years. It is still to this day owned by the family-run business, Blacket Turner & Co. Being an ex-Newbury resident myself, I habitually read the NWN during my school years and was familiar with both its content and readership. The general news pages of the broadsheet belied the stereotype of a local country newspaper. While softer stories of village life and school events still padded out some of the pages, harder news stories were there to be found, and I was given the opportunity to write some of them myself.

My three weeks on the newsdesk began with a gentle warm up of 200-word picture captions that involved researching the finer details of both a village hall pantomime production and a Royal British Legion variety show. After a few other charity fundraising nibs, I was able to get my teeth into something a bit more controversial. Bouncing off a Sunday Times article stating that mobile phones with built-in cameras had been banned in a school in Hertfordshire due to fears that it would be used to take indecent photos in school changing rooms, I phoned around local head teachers to gauge their views. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the general consensus was that although such abuse of the technology was unlikely, schools would be adjusting their policies on mobile phones accordingly, which warranted a call to local employer Vodafone to see what it thought of being associated with perverts. To my delight, the article was published the following issue.

A designated court reporter attends West Berkshire Magistrates Court every Thursday and Friday, as everybody is far too busy to do so during the rest of the week. I was able to tag along on many occasions and write up some cases myself. Court visits highlighted my need for some intensive shorthand practice. Unfortunately, the newspaper used an agency to cover the Crown Court in Reading, so the cases I heard were mostly petty crime. It seemed the most interesting action had taken place a few weeks before, when the reporters challenged a reporting restriction in a truancy case, whereby the magistrate did not want the newspaper to reveal the names of the parents as the identity of the children would be exposed. After much reference to dusty law books, the reporters managed to overturn the restriction.

I also attended an inquest, which was an eerie experience. A teenager had committed suicide, and her devastated father and grandfather were in my direct line of vision. I felt almost embarrassed to be there, like I was intruding on their grief, but I put this down to it being my first ever inquest.

One of my favourite stories was about flooding at an elderly animal retirement centre out in one of the villages. The centre called to say half of its fields were underwater and the animals, including South American alpacas, may have to be moved. Apparently, moving the animals would be just as traumatic as evacuating residents of a human retirement home. The centre explained that the council had put water pumps in a nearby village to prevent flooding, but the pumps were now directing the water straight to the centre. While the photographer went out to get some appropriately anxious pictures, I got some terrific responses from the council and the environment agency, which both explained in great detail that they had no extra funds to do anything about it. These responses gained a prominent position for the article in the next issue. We later discovered the power of the press in follow up, as a JCB appeared at the centre to dig some trenches the morning the paper came out.

I was able to practice writing different types of stories. For example, I had to find a story amongst statistics on how many heart attacks occur in each UK region, and wade through an upcoming council meeting agenda to find an angle. The same editorial team produces several other local newspapers, including a freesheet called ‘The Advertiser’ and a tabloid-sized newspaper for a nearby town, ‘Thatcham News’. There were opportunities to write for these publications as well, when stories were more relevant for the different readerships.

My final contribution to the paper was a diet book review as part of a round up of the latest releases for the New Year’s resolutions market. Much to the amusement of my newsdesk colleagues, the reviews co-ordinator asked me to take the perspective of an anorexic teenager, despite my explaining that I had left my teenage years a while back and found it hard to relate to those with eating disorders. After several false starts, I chose to review it from my own perspective, a 24-year old caffeine addict who sometimes succumbed junk food. Fortunately, my review went down well, and appeared in this week’s edition.

From day one, I was made to feel like a ‘real’ journalist. The team was friendly, patient and willing to make time to help me. There was never a shortage of stories for me to write and I came away with a healthy pile of cuttings. I worked closely with several of the reporters and found many valuable opportunities to pick their brains on all aspects of journalism.

Despite leaving the feast of gun crime and daily muggings that London has to offer a reporter, I enjoyed finding stories in a small Berkshire town. I would recommend this work attachment to any future student, as the less hectic atmosphere allowed for plenty of feedback and opportunities to tackle different types of articles. And if you are worried that rural England might extinguish your social life, country pub life can be just as entertaining, and remember, London is only 50 miles away…

If anyone is interested in a work attachment at the NWN, contact reporter Andrew Pennington, who also co-ordinates work experience, at andrew.pennington@newburynews.co.uk or telephone 01635 524111. The newspaper’s URL is www.newburynews.co.uk and the editor is Mrs Brien Beharrell (brien.beharrell@newburynews.co.uk).

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Brendan Thomas PG Dip Print Journalism – 3 / 2 / 02

WEEK 1 – The Mirror

WEEK 2 – The Argus (Sussex)

WEEK 3 – The Epsom Comet & Guardian

My week at the Mirror began slowly with two days on the letters and ‘for the record’ (corrections) page. Extremely boringly, I attempted to read letters from semi-literate Mirror readers (opened elsewhere because of Anthrax). I had to separate them into three piles: good, bad and TV.

Surprisingly no one (usually) makes up any letters at the Mirror, unless Piers Morgan decides to take a stance, e.g. against the ‘war on terrorism’. I did have to edit them though and turn them into something short and vaguely readable (which none of them were to begin with).

By Wednesday I was thrilled to leave letters and move on to finance. Suzie in the City turned out to be friendly and my time with her was informative, although she would not let me write anything because I was just a student. This was the general consensus at the Mirror, no matter what I said in my defence.

It was interesting to see what went on at the news desk, but again I could not convince them to let me write a word. When I asked if I could just write up something fairly menial, they insisted that none of the stories the Mirror printed were menial.

It was quite amusing watching Piers Morgan striding around self-importantly and ranting about Zola’s wonder-goal, which he insisted was the best goal ever scored, ever. In fact, he decided, several pages of the paper would be devoted to the best goals ever scored.

I tried to convince the sports desk to let me cover a few games, unsuccessfully.

It was a good experience – just spending a week on the 22^nd floor of those amazing offices was probably worth it.

My second week was far more productive though.

The Argus arranged for me to be a reporter for the week. I had my very own desk and computer. I was entrusted with whatever press releases I grabbed from the news desk, which was a lot because I was desperate to actually get something in print during my work attachment.

I had lots of articles published. And a byline, which I think was very well deserved: I uncovered a story about some parking policy changes the Brighton council had kept quiet.

It was also good going to the launch of a new bitter called ‘Iron Horse’. They had not actually managed to have any Iron Horse ready for the launch day, but they gave us lots of other beers, so it was okay.

The only down side of being at the Argus was one reporter who, I was amazed to discover, tried to pinch my byline. I confronted him about it and, after looking a bit uncomfortable for a moment, said that he had thought I would not be able to have my name on it because I did not have an email address with the newspaper. I got the byline but was surprised that a reporter who had been at the paper for several years would even care about getting his name on an article – especially enough to lie about it to the news editor.

My third week was at my local weekly paper. They had a reporter away, whose place I filled for the week.

I had about 15 articles printed in various Surrey papers edited at the offices. I have only been in the Epsom area for a few months, since beginning the course and this caused a few difficulties at first. I had to learn quickly about the various borough councils and local organisations.

At the beginning of the week, the editor told me that the course I was doing was not an NCTJ one so I could not necessarily walk into a job with them at the end of it. I was surprised at this and tried to explain, but she seemed fairly inflexible about it. I told her that she would see I could already do the job.

On Wednesday, the editor said she liked my writing and did not have to change very much that I had written before it went in the various papers. I got a good lead story myself about a big festival in the area, which had been kept quiet by the council because it would upset lots of local people. (A local theatre owner was involved in the organisation and leaked it to me in an attempt to get publicity.)

By the end of the week, I had enthusiastically worked long hours and had lots of stories published, which generally went straight into the papers as I had written them. I asked the editor if she would take me on in the summer, but she said it was the newspaper’s policy to only take people who had done an NCTJ course. She said it was not impossible to work for them without it, but might cause me difficulties because my competition would be likely to have the qualification. She added that I could send in as many local stories as I could find and that might help my chances. I thought that that might also help her to fill her papers, and would be less costly than paying a freelance.

Overall it was a good three weeks, in which I learned a lot about working in local, regional and national newspapers.

Also, I have just received an email from the Argus asking me to interview in the summer.

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SHAPE magazine - Claire Hughes BAMJ, February 2002

I didn’t know quite what to expect when I went to SHAPE magazine, but what I got certainly wasn’t what I expected!

When I entered the Dennis Publishing building near Goodge Street I was greeted by one of my favourite things – an eight foot long tropical fish tank under the reception desk. I began to think that SHAPE would be far too posh for me.

The staff were friendly towards me, although there were not as many as I’d expected. There were only about twelve people working on SHAPE. Most of these were on the production side, and there were only about five writers.

I was very quickly shown which computer was mine, and how to use the phone. I really thought I’d been thrown in the deep end when I was told to research for an article on ‘food hangovers’. When I asked about the angle of the story I was told just to find whatever I could about the subject on the internet. Well, how hard could that be? After all it is the worldwide web, but I was amazed to find hardly anything. Most of my first day was spent phoning universities and associations (mostly in vain) to get ‘expert’ opinions.

My illusions were shattered when I was asked to make up letters for the problem page. I’ve always had my suspicions that they’re not real, but I was still pretty disappointed when I found out just how manufactured the page is.

I spent a few days researching, and an afternoon writing short news pieces, but the only thing I got in print was my photo next to a comment I made about a readers ‘true’ story about her alcohol problem. Seeing as they made me out to be a member of the public I wonder how many of their other comments by ‘members of the public’ are genuine.

The scariest thing that was offered to me (as well as to all the other girls in the office) was the chance to appear in a feature on body image. Sounds good in principle, but the thought of having to pose in my underwear and then have my body mocked by some testosterone overloaded men from another Dennis magazine, Maxim, was not my idea of a laugh, so I politely declined.

The best bit was my freebies – shampoo, hair gel, hair spray, hair wax, perfume, mascara, anti-wrinkle cream (what were they trying to say - I’m only 21!) and body moisturiser. I even got my hair cut by a potential ‘hair dresser of the year’ for nothing.

The worst bit was the tidying, and filing, and rearranging, and sitting down and doing nothing that seemed to occupy most of my time.

The placement did not enable me to do as much writing and creative work as I would have liked, but I certainly got a good insight into the way the magazine is produced, and how the writers work. If anyone is interested in going into magazine work then they should apply to SHΛPE because the staff are very willing to take students, and there is a lot to learn, even if it is only as an observer.

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Sarah Cowell.

Work experience, February 2002

19 Magazine.

19 magazine are part of IPC Media. Their offices are based just over Blackfriars Bridge. The magazine is aimed at girls age 16 – 23 and is basically a fashion and lifestyle magazine. I only managed to book a placement for one week beginning 21 January, but this turned out to be enough as I did not find the work very challenging or interesting.

When I first arrived I underestimated the level of high security they had in place in the building. This turned out to be a problem for me as I could not walk around or do anything by myself very often. Despite this, the work, although not particularly interesting, was enjoyable.

I spent around three hours a day looking through the papers cutting out stories which could be made in to features suitable for our readers. I also had to look out for any celebrity quotes in the papers that could be dotted throughout the magazine. This was not a particularly interesting task, but was essential as most of the features were taken from the papers and given a new angle.

The deputy features editor allowed me to carry out research for her stories. One of these stories was about prostitution. Throughout the week I collated facts and figures for her and interviewed researchers from the Home Office on this subject in order to find out, for example, the age of the average prostitute and how many prostitutes there are working in Britain.

On a daily basis I was invited, by the fashion editor and pictures editor to attend castings in the building in order to find suitable models for the pictures and see how the clothes looked on each individual. This was quite interesting, although I underestimated how long each casting can take.

I did not enjoy this placement and by the end of the week I was ready to start writing and producing some newsworthy and interesting material.

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Sarah Cowell.

Work experience, February 2002

Wanstead and Woodford Guardian and Gazette.

This local paper is a weekly local paper with offices based in Walthamstow. They cover stories in Wanstead and Woodford. This placement was much more fast-paced and interesting. I have done work experience for this paper about four years ago and so I was familiar with the offices and felt much more included in the team.

From the moment that I arrived the editor gave me a pile of press releases to write up. But before I did this I had to check that the quotes were actually said and see if there was any more information I could get for our readers. This was a task that I had to do every day but I enjoyed it because it was good practise for me, particularly in order to speed up my writing. Also on a daily basis, as with the magazine placement, I had to scour the national papers for stories that could be relevant to our readers, get an angle and follow it up.

Midweek I was able to shadow a reporter and a photographer along to a fancy dress parade that was happening around the local area. It was to raise money for charity and was enjoyable because I was able to interview the children and the organisers involved, although we did get soaked and nearly swept away by the wind. The headline was ‘Don’t Rain on my Parade’, very witty.

Three days during the week that I was on this placement I had to go to the local magistrates and crown court to see if anything newsworthy was occurring. This was not very exciting but I took the opportunity to brush up on my shorthand.

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Youreable.com (16^th - 18^th January 2002) Stephen Portlock, 2002

This three-day placement with an online disabili8ty magazine required me to write profiles of two competitors in April’s Paralympics, along with their manager. This entailed preparation of the questions, carrying out telephone interviews and writing profiles of roughly 700 words each.

Difficulties overcome included a laptop that needed adapting to my visual needs and a hard drive that lost my prepared questions overnight – not the first time this has happened, according to colleagues. Then it became increasingly difficult – impossible in one case - both to arrange an interview and catch the interviewees at the specified time.

By the end of Friday, my first profile was complete and I was well into the second. However, my supervisor, whilst greatly liking my profile, suggested including more direct quotation – despite this being a ‘profile’. Thus, I volunteered to finish / rewrite them at home and e-mail them through. This offer was accepted and I did as agreed.

Many of the staff at Youreable.com seemed to be able-bodied but there was nothing philanthropic about the atmosphere and there still seemed to be a radical edge. I was invited to come back again or to freelance for them.

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Rutland and Stamford Mercury (21^st – 25^th January 2002), Stephen Portlock, Feb 2002

Given that it early in the new year when I first contacted my supervisor Suzanne Moon, I was not expecting much when I arrived here. However, whilst the non-arrival of a colleague stopped me attend Magistrates Court as was hoped would happen, this placement was a pleasant surprise, not least since the largely female staff seemed truly unperturbed by my partial sight.

Work largely consisted of writing a number of nibs along with several longer news items and features. I was invited to read national papers in search of local stories, and I made suggestions, at least one of which has subsequently been followed up. Additionally, I attended a Council meeting with a colleague, although it was him not me who was to write the related news story.

Both Suzanne and Tor Clark, the editor, were impressed by my work and portfolio, but admitted that openings were few and largely taken by Stamford locals with a good knowledge of the area. A good reference was guaranteed, however.

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Disability Now (28^th January – 1^st February) Stephen Portlock, Feb 2002

This was surprisingly challenging. I had written mainly features for the disability press, and never for DN. The tabloid style here required me to condense material from press releases into very short – 70 to 200 words – sexy, unstuffy text aimed at a mainstream audience.

This proved frustrating as features were written and rewritten time and again, but by the end of the week I was definitely getting the hang of the newspaper’s style. It was necessary to double-check all the facts, keep related notes and arrange accompanying photos. I only wrote four pieces and despite a very small staff, I sometimes had little to do, but I kept myself busy reading the newspaper.

I knew Mary Wilkinson, editor, prior to this placement, and she invited me to come back again, but said that opening were very rare. However, she would very likely contact me regarding freelance arts reviewing.

Conclusion

I wanted to avoid the disability press since, while it is an area I am happy to write about, I feared it would not pose a sufficient challenge. However, while in all three cases I would have benefited from a longer placement, they all offered valuable experience.

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The Independent (newsdesk). Staffan Thorsell PGDIP (Feb 2002)

At the newsdesk of The Independent, work attachment is not a matter of using the time to work with reporters and editors to learn about the news process and the work methods at this particular newspaper. The staff at The Independent offer work placements to be able to unload the things that nobody wants to do or the things that do not really matter whether they get done or not.

The first day we (there were about ten students in all doing work attachments at the newspaper) were told where to sit; close to a specific desk. We were told to bring a good book or other things to keep busy, as there would be “quite long periods of time when there will be nothing for you to do”. It made me feel like I should have brought my colouring book, crayons and crackers. Also, we were told which people we might introduce ourselves to, and they were the news editor, the education editor and a deputy editor. I introduced myself to the deputy reporter, and he said that I should come over every now and then to remind him that we were there as he tended to forget that we were. He also said there would be long periods of nothing to do but then “something might come up”. When I tried to introduce myself to the news editor (in his early 30s), extending my hand, he looked at me, waved his hand majestically and said: “I don’t have time for you right now. We’ll have to speak later.” At the time, he was leaning against a wall with a cup of coffee in his hand, not talking to anyone. He never introduced himself. We were not shown around the newsdesk floor, or any of the other floors, and were not told where different things were or where different people sat. We were not given door passes, so every time we had to walk through a door we had to knock. But, after a few days notes were put up saying we were no longer allowed to knock. From then on, we had to stand by the doors, waiting for someone with a door pass to come along.

I completely realise that those doing work placements are at the bottom of the hierarchy, if at all members of it. I have absolutely no problem with the staff joking around about it or even “using” students who do work attachments for less important tasks. I completely realise that students have to “pay their dues”. Both studying in Los Angeles and at a previous work placement in London I had a great time with the staff. Even if they did occasionally take advantage of the fact that it was unpaid work experience, I got to work with “real” tasks as well. At The Independent, we were completely ignored. On a few occasions, I actually thought a staff member would walk right into me because they simply did not take notice that we were there.

I was asked to help four times. Three times it was research that needed to be done, once on regional foods for a feature, and twice on background material for news stories. The fourth time I was asked to do secretarial stuff, typing up a list. My research stuff ended up in the newspaper. Put together, it was about four hours of work spread out over two weeks. The rest of the time we sat around doing nothing but reading or looking on the internet.

We tried several times to take the initiative and asked if we could help with anything. This was difficult. As we had not been given door passes or been shown around it was hard for us to move around and to know who was doing what. When we did ask, we were told every time that there was “nothing right now”.

Although the staff at The Independent did not let us participate, it could have been useful to, at least, sit close to one of the journalists to follow the work and maybe that way learn something. At least, we could have been told how things were done on the newspaper and been shown around.

I have another two-week work attachment at The Daily Telegraph’s online edition (The Electronic Telegraph) during Easter and hopefully that will not be such a waste of time.

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Shola Adenekan, February 2002 – The Independent

On a cold Monday morning, January 21, 2002 I found myself inside the impressive building of The Independent in the concrete jungle that is Canary Wharf – to begin what I presumed would be an exciting introduction into the world of ‘serious’ journalism. Like the climate, the reception from the staff was cold. It’s as if snobbery was the byword for the place. I started the same time and day, as Staffan Thorsell and we were both advised by the deputy-editor’s PA to bring novels and magazines to pass the time. Boy this is going to be one hell of an internship.

We tried to introduce ourselves to the staff but we were completely ignored, while the news editor unashamedly rebuked Staffan’s attempt at introducing himself.

Welcome to The Independent, the home of ‘serious’ journalism!

I was hoping to be kept busy at the news-desk instead I was bundled off to ‘Special Projects’ to spend my first three days inputting data onto a magazine database. If this is the life of a ‘workie’, then I don’t want to be part of it.

I decided to find better things to do than data entry- like reading FHM and New York Times’ book reviews for example. I abandoned my ‘special’ assignment and scuttled back onto the news-desk but nobody seems to notice or care. On the fourth day it was a relief to be given some tasks. The environmental desk wants yours sincerely and Staffan to dig out information on some obscure regional delicacies such as Black Country faggots and Leicestershire Hunt Cake. Oh, the joy of journalism! We did the write-up but failed to get the by-line. The following day it was Feng Shui, and still the joy of seeing my own by-line eluded me.

The first two days of the second week were even less productive; we spent our time reading magazines and surfing the Internet. But on the third day the Independent on Sunday people rescued me from boredom. The news-editor and his team introduced themselves and asked us to do some research work for them. The people on the Sunday paper were at least friendlier than those on the dailies. At the end of the two-week I felt that I had picked the wrong place to do my work placement.

Would I like to go back to the place? Yes, on one condition; that I’m made the editor of The Independent. But then if wishes were horses beggars would certainly ride.

West Africa Magazine

My reason for going to West Africa was purely sentimental. Among middle class West Africans, and students of African history the magazine has a special place. It is Africa’s oldest news magazine with almost a century of history, but its reputation as an indispensable guide to my native region certainly belongs to history as years of neglect by the Nigerian government who once owned it had left its toil on the magazine’s editorial might.

The West Africa magazine’s office is located in Kilburn and I spent three days of the third week at the place trying to recapture old magic. Subbing articles for the short-staffed editorial team and helping out with phone calls. At the end of the three days I have had enough and ready to resume my life as a trainee journalist.

I began my internship full of hope but ended it wiser and knowing that I should not count my chickens before they hatch.

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Report by Gavin Pearce – email: gavin.pearce@orange.net, PG DP, Feb 2002

Government Computing (Editor Mark Say)

Kablenet.com (Editor: Mike Cross)

Government Computing is a monthly trade magazine that includes news articles and features about the way information technology affects central and local government. The publisher, Kable, also runs a website at www.kablenet.com containing daily news stories and weekly features. The address is: The Courtyard, 55 Charterhouse Street, London EC1M 6HA, UK Tel: 020 7608 0900 Fax: 020 7608 0901 email: info@kablenet.com

Most of the work consisted of turning press releases into stories for the website, fighting through PR slant, government-babble and a lot of computer jargon. This presented a constant challenge when attempting to translate it all into plain language so the average reader would be able to understand. I was also encouraged to look through the national papers for stories that could be put on the web site and usually anything about computers or the internet could be adapted.

Fortunately, I was not confined to a corner in the office, as they let me out to report on two occasions. The first was to attend a press conference at the Department of Trade and Industry, where the e-Government Minister was launching an initiative to help small businesses trade online. Being a press conference virgin, it was a great experience to ask a question and then have a swarm of PR people around me at the end. What a bunch of nice people they were too.

Next was reporting on a conference about managing public sector IT projects more effectively. Faced with this intriguing task, I listened to the day’s speakers and tried to get stories. Mike Cross, web editor, had given me deadlines of lunchtime and at the end of conference. So it was up to me to take down the speeches and transform them into useful copy. This meant I had to work to tight deadlines and dictate clearly on the phone to Mike.

On Thursday the office was a man short. Avi, at his first job since his postgraduate diploma in journalism, was in Amsterdam to cover a conference hosted by computer company Oracle. According to Mike Cross, travel was a regular perk of the job.

By the end of the week I was grateful to have been kept busy doing a number of stories each day. Although the subject matter doesn’t sound very sexy at dinner parties, it’s surprising how interested I became while I was there. Anyone for the e-government interoperability framework?

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The Harrow Observer Gavin Pearce,PG DIP 2002

(Editor: Aaron Gransby, News Editor: Jonathan Lawn)

The Harrow Observer is a weekly local newspaper covering Harrow and Brent. The office is at: 326 Station Road Harrow Middlesex HA1 2DR, which is in the town centre opposite Burger King. Tel: 020 8427 4404

This was a great insight into the hamster-wheel of the local rag. I worked on the newsdesk with three other reporters and news editor, all of whom were surprisingly young and easy going despite the deadlines. They also liked the odd pint of beer.

Each day began with the routine of reading national papers and looking for stories that could be given a local angle. Later I had to turn a series of press releases into stories, usually for the news in brief section. I often had to call people for quotes and make enquiries at Harrow Council that were usually about planning decisions.

As with my previous placement, work was not confined to the office. On the first day I went to the library to read the archives of the Observer’s coverage of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. I then used the research for an article to support a story on the council's decision to waive fees for street parties. Thursday involved a trip to Wealdstone to get so-called community stories, although most people were moaning about traffic wardens and road works. Friday saw a spot of shorthand practise at Harrow Crown Court.

During my time I saw first-hand how important it is to have good relationships with people like the councillors and those from local organisations. I expected the pressure of deadlines to be constant, but after deadline on Wednesday afternoon the atmosphere was very relaxed and the news editor from the Wembley Observer even did a bit of impromptu busking on his guitar. Although working conditions were quite poor (only one computer had access to the internet and there was a very drafty fire escape nearby), I enjoyed working in a team of young hacks and seeing the fruits of our labour on Thursday (did I mention the beer drinking?).

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Kinesh Patel, BAMJ, Feb 2002

GP magazine

GP Magazine was a last minute placement for me. I had originally wanted to go to the Lancet (one of the best international medical journals in the world).

However, the two weeks’ work experience at GP proved to be both insightful and educational, and I am now glad at the way in which everything worked out.

In the first week, I was assigned to news writing. Thrown in at the deep end, I had to take clippings from the national papers and search for any stories pertinent to general practitioners throughout Britain. GP is delivered free of charge to every surgery in the country, so has to retain a national focus as much as possible.

I was also given press releases and told to write stories on them, with my own desk, computer and telephone to boot. The response I received when looking for quotes differed markedly from what I had been accustomed to, with sources being far more amenable to being questioned for an ‘official’ magazine.

I had two stories published in the first week. The first recounted the efforts of a Manchester GP in making information about cervical smear testing available in a multitude of languages to encourage women from ethnic minorities to come forward for screening. The other related to a study which found that most people rang their GP rather than an ambulance after experiencing symptoms suggestive of a heart attack.

Needless to say, I was very pleased to see my words in print. After I had completed these assignments I was sent to the Royal College of General Practitioners’ 50^th anniversary celebrations. Even though this did not prove particularly newsworthy, I was able to meet some of the great and the good in medicine, including 10 minutes with Sir Donald Irvine, the outgoing president of the General Medical Council. And I was even given a rather good lunch!

The second week was given over to features. The editor and I thought that a feature about medical students’ views on general practice would be novel and interesting. I spent a considerable amount of time ringing my friends for quotes to include. After I had finished it, it was ‘suggested’ that I organise a photo shoot in the grounds of Charing Cross Hospital to provide some artwork to accompany the feature.

The photographer took three rolls of film for one shot! It took an hour and a half to shoot in the cold cemetery adjacent to the hospital: I have much more sympathy for models now!

In the end, it proved worthwhile. My feature was given an entire double page spread with a picture of my friends and I, as well as a photo of me on the front cover.

The staff at GP were helpful, friendly, and always obliging. I enjoyed my two weeks there immensely and would not mind returning. While I was there I also managed to persuade the editor to publish a regular column by my father, which I am sure I will help with writing in the future.

All in all, a very productive fortnight. The editorial team are always looking for material to publish and welcome ideas sent in. However, I found it important to always ensure that the angle of the story/feature highlighted the relevance to general practitioners rather than the medical profession as a whole.

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Sarah Spencer BAMJ – work placement January 2002

Hospital Doctor

Hospital Doctor is one of the many trade magazines published by Reed Business International based in Sutton, Surrey (a lovely part of the world and where I’m from). It’s a weekly newspaper targeting hospital doctors, strangely enough.

My first naïve presumptions of the busy newsroom were shattered on the first day as I found that there were very few staff that worked on the publication, only 3 reporters, news editor, and a shared features editor and clinical editor, with their sister paper, Doctor. I really thought it was going to be quite cut-throat and I would be twiddling my thumbs a lot of the time, but this was really not the case. I was also surprised at how quiet it was in general in the ‘newsroom’.

The first couple of days when I was settling in, I felt a bit like a loose end as I didn’t have much to do; everyone was very busy coming up to the deadline. However, once I started pestering people for work to do, they were more than obliging and I soon got into the pattern of ringing up people and getting quotes, which I found I spent most of my time doing.

I was given many news stories to write up, and also two features – on new draft consent forms and a taxi service for tired doctors; which I found quite challenging, as I have not had much practice. I was mildly surprised once I found out that mentioning I was from Hospital Doctor and not a student that people were willing to talk to me! It was also equally refreshing to have a good idea of who to actually call about certain articles and have the Hospital Doctor contacts book available.

As the end of my placement approached I found I was really busy everyday, if not chasing up calls for news stories then I was working on my features. Both the news editor and features editor (Ray and Funmi) were really helpful and (if they had time) were able to explain why they had changed some of my work.

I didn’t get to see much of the editor (Tim Burrowes), but he did have a long chat with me on my first day to give me some orientation of what the paper was about and what its aims were etc.

It seems my hard work paid off as I managed to impress them enough to publish several of my articles, and also have been invited to work back in the summer! I was also quite disheartened though when my work did appear in print, as I found that some parts were re-written, although this is really to be expected at our level and was pleased I got my byline!

I would thoroughly recommend this as a work placement for future medical journalists – it was actually very surprised at how much work and responsibility they gave to me and felt really part of the team; everyone is very friendly and willing to help. This placement is very much what you make of it; you have to keep on at the editors to keep giving things to do, or you would end up doing nothing.

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Work Placement Report.
Jonathan Hyde., February 2002

THE FACE

My work placement was at 'THE FACE' magazine in central London for one week.
Whilst on the placement I worked alongside the features editor, Kevin
Braddock. The Editorial staff consisted of about 15 people with about
another 10 full time staff members working on the advertising and design of
the magazine.

I was met at the door by Kevin and introduced to the staff that were in the
office on the Monday morning. The Editor of the magazine explained to me the
time scale that the staff were working to in order to complete each edition
of the magazine on time and also gave me a history of the publication to
date, including circulation (between seventy and eighty thousand copies per
issue). The internal communication between the staff on the editorial side
and advertising and design was also explained. This was actually very
helpful as it gave me a much better feel for the running order and
organization within the office.

The working day started at 10 o'clock and went on till around 6 or 7,
depending on the workload and the deadline approaching for the magazine to
go to print. I was given my own desk each day or allowed to use the desk of
one of the staff if they weren't in the office on a particular day. I was
given unlimited use of the phone and Internet to assist me in the different
tasks I was given to do.

Whilst on the placement I acted as an additional features assistant. This
meant I was functioning in a variety of different capacities. Kevin was
working on a feature article that he had written whilst on assignment in
Thailand. The subject of the feature was the affect of tourism on the
islands off the Thai coast and how things were changing as a result of
heightened commerciality. The article was in rough draft form so the first
job I did was to sub-edit this feature and suggest any changes that might
make the article more concise and clear to the reader. I was also asked to
write the standfirst of this article, which was great practice and quite
challenging.

I also spent quite a lot of time conducting research for other articles that
were ongoing, which involved Internet research as well as phoning various
press offices for specific information. The editorial staff were also
working on a survey on cannabis use, relating to the revision of the drug
laws that is currently underway. This meant trawling through hundreds of
questionnaires and making a note of any interesting or amusing responses
that could be used in the article, time consuming but necessary work.
As well as this I was given two reviews to write. The first was a short
music review of about 70 words; the second involved reviewing different
types of cannabis available to the public (not what I expected to be asked
to do).

Overall the placement was highly enjoyable and I felt that I was asked to
do work that was not beneath my capabilities. I found the staff friendly and
helpful, and willing to make sure that I was not left sitting around doing
nothing. I have been asked back to do another week long placement during the
Easter break.

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Sunday Express (15 – 25 January 2002)

Mitesh Desai, BAMJ, Feb 2002

Ludgate House, the first black building on your left as you traverse Blackfriars bridge having left the public urinal (subway) leading to exit 3 of Blackfriars tube station. This is the home of the Sunday Express and her sister papers including the Daily Express and the Daily Star.

I started my placement on a Tuesday, as the working week of a Sunday newspaper is Tuesday to Saturday. At first I was concerned that my social life was going to suffer with having to be in on Saturday but the Health Editor with whom I was working, appreciated my necessity to take Saturdays off. So for two weeks I was able to enjoy a three-day weekend.

For two weeks I worked with Lucy Johnston, the Health Editor for the newspaper. She formed the one-woman Health Desk, which meant that I worked with her 95% of the time. The other 5% was spent cavorting with people from the other floors as I went for my hourly fag break - essential for all budding hacks who can’t spend too much time in the office dealing with incessant phone calls and the chronic hum of a computer.

On my first day, I was given a stack of letters, which Lucy had received over the last 6 months. I had to read the letters and where possible, phone the correspondent to see if there was a possible story. There were a couple of letters which had some interesting leads but all too often, they would collapse as soon as you found out that the letter did not convey the full picture. The letters usually were in response to articles Lucy had written. For example, there were numerous letters complaining about Residential Homes as Lucy had written a piece on Westminster Homes (a residential homes group chaired by one of Tony Blair’s right hand men, Dr Patel). Others were concerning bad experiences with lumbar punctures and spinal blocks.

I quite enjoyed speaking with these people as it was very much speaking with patients, obtaining the facts of a history and identifying how their lives have been affected by their experiences.

On the subsequent days, I found myself surfing the web to see if there were any interesting stories that could be followed up. In general terms, finding health stories was not difficult. I probably found around 5 good stories a day, well; they would have been good if I was working on a daily newspaper. The difficulty with a Sunday paper is that you need to find something that will be ‘news’ on Sunday. In other words, has not already been written about in a daily newspaper. Obviously, most press releases are embargoed for a weekday in which case, they are no longer newsworthy for Sunday. I ended up having to speak to the press offices of various organisations and institutions to find stories. Universities, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and medical societies were on my list.

The most bizarre thing about phoning these ‘randoms’ up for stories is that I ended up speaking with them as if I had known them all my life. You introduce yourself, ask them for stories, have a bit of a laugh and a joke, all in the vain of trying to get an exclusive. Well, I did manage to set-up 5 exclusives, but it seems that unless the story is about a starry-eyed blonde 5 year-old, it is just not sexy enough to pass the editor’s desk. Irritable bowel syndrome would just be flushed away with the rest of the ‘crap’. “There was this one time, at band camp I had a fibroid up my…” Ooops, unfortunately the word ‘fibroid’ is not allowed in the Sunday Express. I spent the best part of half an hour thinking of an alternative for this gynaecological growth. However, I was stumped. Everything I could think of would just evoke fear in the reader (unethical from medical and journalistic points of view).

Well both weeks passed in a similar way. I did help with the stories that did get printed by usually phoning up for specific statistics or quotations from various people. As per usual, the Sunday Express was having another “Let’s have a go at Blair about MMR” tantrum. It was interesting to see that the week after Lucy’s article was printed, the TV and Radio started picking up on the leads that we had got, especially in terms of people from Tony’s and Alan Milburn’s constituencies being up in arms about the availability of the single jabs.

So there you have it. I didn’t write anything of my own but I still got a kick out of seeing articles in print which I had helped research or even helped write in some shape or form. I also learned to appreciate why doctors get bad publicity. It’s not really newsworthy to hear about the good guys, especially when they’re expected to be that way anyhow. Big deal, another doctor saves a 7 year old but what about the quack who has been in front of the GMC on countless charges of malpractice and putting patients at risk. Now that’s the story!

Lucy was great to work with. Had to do lots of boring research on the internet but we managed to have loads of fun doing so. My puns went down well!!

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Susie Parkes

PG Dip Journalism-Broadcast

Work Experience Evaluation

During my work placement I spent three weeks at BBC Radio WM in Birmingham. For the most part I was working as a general reporter on the news desk, although at times I did work specifically with the producers of the Breakfast and Drivetime programmes. My work included doing telephone interviews, editing, writing copy stories and intros, clipping programmes, researching, voxes, and setting up live interviewees for various programmes. I was also given training on the BBC's interval computer program ENPS, and shadowed reporters for some time.

Possibly the biggest feature of the work experience placement was seeing the difference between the theory as we are taught at University and the way that is applied to a real life news room. Immediately you are struck by the difference in speed - with two bulletins an hour there is an insatiable demand for stories. Every reporter, including me whilst I was there, is expected to produce three stories an hour, and at Radio WM there is quite a large news gathering team, with six or seven reporters on duty at any time. Even on a news day at university it is impossible to simulate the constant pressure of a radio newsroom, and so it is very good to have experienced it first hand - to know what you are getting yourself into!

One big thing that I noticed was the lack of packages - during my three weeks at WM I was not aware of any news packages being broadcast, although a few sports packages did go out. At university there is quite a lot of emphasis within the course on putting packages together, and so I was quite surprised to see that they weren't used. I know that people who went to different stations did have to do a lot of package making, and I'm not sure if that is just a difference in the editorial approach between stations. The impression I got was that WM is more focused on covering a broad range of news, rather than a few things in depth - and many of the programmes are phone-in shows. This may be due to the area covered by the station - Birmingham is the second largest city in the country and so there is never a shortage of news or listeners to phone in.

Another big difference between work at University and work within the BBC is the way that the emphasis is different. The nature of university course means that there is a concentration on achieving good marks which automatically gives someone a fixed idea of what they are or are not good at. At a radio station the emphasis is different - the important things are to be fast and to be accurate. As long as you manage that you will be given the opportunity to develop other aspects of your work - aspects which will automatically improve with practice. The absolutely worst thing you can do is to get it wrong, and as long as you manage not to do that then you will be given a great deal of encouragement.

The thing that I found most rewarding about the placement is the enormous amount of confidence it has given me. To actually have an editor who is willing to put your work on air really is amazing, and that is an experience that can never be gained in any simulated news situation. Radio WM has a regular audience of one and a half million people, and they were all listening to my work. The sense of pride that gives is brilliant. From the beginning of my second week my work was being put straight to air without being checked and I was producing the same number of stories as the regular reporters. Maybe even more importantly I was being trusted to find and chase my own stories and, even if the story was a big one then it would be my responsibility to put it together, rather than it being given to a more experienced reporter. To be given that level of responsibility and working as a full member of the news team can convince you that you really can do this job! The confidence also helps when you get back to university. It can be difficult to motivate yourself to come back, as you are already out there doing the job. But now I am back and starting on my documentary project, I've found that I'm now confident enough to just pick up a phone and ask someone for an interview, which is something I wouldn't have been able to do beforehand. Unfortunately it is somewhat easier to get people to give you an interview if you can say you're from the BBC, but still!

Careerwise my time at WM has helped to focus me on news reporting. I have always thought that I might like to go into sports journalism, but there are a few factors which have turned me off that now. The sports reporters at WM seem to be mostly involved with match reports and results, with very little other journalism. This confirmed my earlier thoughts that I may not find sports journalism exciting enough and would in time get bored. But working as a news reporter really seemed to suit me - I enjoyed working under pressure and now I also know that I am capable of doing the job. There were some minor down-points to my placement. There is a tendency to deify the BBC and think that everything will be terribly organised and well-planned. In fact I found this to be the exact opposite of reality. I was never shown the fire exits (and we did have to evacuated at one time) or the toilets, or given any formal supervisor. There will always be times when you are left to you own devices and can fell ignored. That's the nature of the business - everyone else is working to the same half hour deadline and don't always have time to show a new person the ropes. The best thing to do is prove yourself as useful as possible to as many people as possible and pretty quickly you will find yourself with too much to do. In fact that would be my other criticism. There are times, when you are on your tenth ten hour day in a row, when you would like to remind people that you're actually not getting paid! It is true that they are doing you a favour by letting you be there but it's also true that they get an awful lot of hard work out of you. The best way of fighting such feelings of resentment is to go in with a very clear idea of what you want to achieve - then you can see the tangible results of the exploitation!

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SUMEER KALYANI

BBC RADIO NOTTINGHAM – DAILY DIARY

January

Monday 14^th: Not a busy day at all. Met staff on sports desk and shadowed their duties. Boring for most of the day. Sat in during weekly evening sports programme ‘Matchtalk’ and saw how a live phone-in programme is broadcast.

Tuesday 15^th: Again not a very busy day in terms of sports news. I re-organised and tidied bookshelves that were left messy and then typed up the forthcoming weekend football fixtures. Sat in during live sports bulletin and watched how clips are edited on Radioman package.

Wednesday 16^th: Sat in during sports bulletins again. Producer Colin Fray gave me tips on writing scripts for such bulletins and reading them also (e.g. sounding conversational and emphasising names and figures). Very useful. He also stated that I will get to practice reading bulletins and if all goes well, can read live on air in 2-3 weeks. That evening also saw my introduction to the world of Ice Hockey – I went to see a match, which was lively to say the least. Its very Americanised and pacey. The sport is absolutely huge in Nottingham and I found myself warming to the game. I was assigned to gather vox pops from the fans, which was rather interesting as it was my first such experience.

Thursday 17^th: A slightly more productive day. I edited last night’s vox pops, and got positive feedback from Colin and Chris (a freelance reporter who covers Ice Hockey). I also had a go at editing a interview of a local footballer. I found editing a lost easier on Radioman and Quick Edit than Cool Edit Pro. That evening, I recorded a dummy bulletin and was taught how Radioman works in the studio and how to get clips.

The day was only made more exciting when it was announced that there was to be a change of Managing Editor at Radio Nottingham. People were scurrying around the office asking others whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. The general ethos was one of shock and disappointment because apparently the new editor isn’t exactly Mr. Popular. Most people weren’t very happy with the decision (including the Managing Editor being replaced!). In fact, the cricket correspondent and freelancer vowed never to work for the station again if this new guy takes charge (something to do with a historic personal vendetta).

Friday 18^th: A totally and utterly unproductive day. The highlight of my shift was when I accompanied Chris to interview the Nottingham Panthers manager and their top player for an hour. It was interesting to see such a good and chummy relationship between Chris and the team (I guess its nothing to do with the fact that the manager and half his team are Canadian).

Apart from that, I sat around in the office and read a witty and amusing book called Sporting Blunders. How fitting.

Monday 21^st: After a weekend of anticipation about a lively and work-filled week ahead of me, my early morning arrival at the office was met by non-activity. There was literally nothing for me to do as everything that needed doing was being done. Dave (another freelancer) was really at odds about what I can do. He eventually got me to research information and stats on a opposition team that Notts County were due to play. That activity kept me occupied for the whole of 20 minutes and again I found myself sitting in the revolving chair as if waiting to be approached on Mastermind.

However, all hope wasn’t lost when Dave took me to his interview with the Notts County manager and player.

Tuesday 22^nd: Sat in during their live sports programme Match Night, and watched how drivers operate from the studio as commentary is given live from the football ground. This was interesting as a lot of care needed to be taken on timing things well. Apart from that, the day was again fairly boring. The Managing Editor (the one that’s due to be replaced soon) asked me whether I was getting enough work. In the spirit of positive outlook and improvement, I told him all was fine. Plus I didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the sports staff only after my first week!

Wednesday 23^rd: It was semi-final day in the Challenge Cup Ice Hockey tournament, and the Panthers were playing Ayr Scottish Eagles away that evening. So I sat in the studio again to see the driving work while commentary took place in Scotland.

It was interesting to see how much of the pieces are pre-recorded, although it seems to be a live broadcast.

Thursday 24^th: Slightly more productive day than usual. Accompanied Dave to interview with Notts County manager, and then edited some clips in the studio. Day off tomorrow…. yay.

Tuesday 29^th: Long weekend off. On return, I practised writing the cues for the 5.30pm bulletin, and Colin will give me feedback on these soon.

Wednesday 30^th: Practised more bulletins and edited player profiles for a Saturday sports programme. Got positive feedback on this, which was encouraging.

Thursday 31^st: More editing on above work.

February

Friday 1^st: Enjoyable (but cold) afternoon. I was out and about in the city centre gathering vox pops from Nottingham Forest fans about a player transfer. After having edited them, Colin and Robin (a sports reporter) were pleased with my work. A clip of the vox pops went out on air that afternoon.

Saturday 2^nd: Sat around in the studios for the Matchday programme. Didn’t actually do anything productive except watch and learn how a team of three people deal with outside broadcasts (1 live commentator and two other reporters were broadcasting from other matches).

Tuesday 5^th: I was assigned to conduct a phone interview with the Mansfield Town manager. I was a bit nervous to begin with but was fine after my first question. And the manager being friendly was helpful too. I then edited this interview to create two short clips for sports bulletins, and also wrote the cues for them. Again, I got some good feedback on them.

Wednesday 6^th: I spent some of the day with television. I shadowed Mark (sports reporter on East Midlands Today) when he went to interview the Panthers and collect footage. No crew went with him as he was trained to use the new video equipment. I found it quite interesting as once back in the studio, the reporter sits with the Picture Editor and puts together the piece. It’s naturally a lot harder than radio editing but just as enjoyable. Mark also suggested that I contact him for freelance work after university.

Thursday 7^th: I spent the day with TV News today, and shadowed reporter Carol Hinds. She was absolutely fantastic as she was friendly, and gave me some great advice. We went to cover a story on some lady who’s opened up a Stick Insects business at some unused old Railway station waiting room. As the question of ‘why’ ran through my mind, Carol and myself unravelled the answer to this once we got there and interviewed this lady. Only a person with little or no sense of humour could open such a business. Our hopes of trying to make the otherwise-dull piece lively were shattered due to this lady’s severe lack of co-operation. Even the cameraman’s light-hearted jokes about treading on cockroaches and the sound this makes didn’t seem to change her mind. After this, I helped Carol write a link and she was chuffed at my idea. Due to personal commitments, she was unable to stay behind in the editing room to put together the exciting piece we filmed, and so left it to me to liase with the producer and picture editor to put it all together. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and may just have swayed my interest towards the wonderful world of television. But then again, I will take things as they come and keep my options open. After all, it’s not every day that I’ll get to cover stories on stick insects.

Friday 8^th: This was due to be my last day of placement and I was hoping of at least recording another bulletin and getting some feedback from Colin. But the previous evening, I discovered by e-mail that I had been invited to an interview today for the post of Trainee Journalist for local radio. Luckily, the venue was at BBC Nottingham, but lasted the whole day as we were assigned various assessment tasks as well as an interview. Whether or not I am successful, its heartening to know that I was one of the 12 people short listed for the post.

The day ended after having said my goodbyes and thank you’s to Colin and Robin…Colin took my contact details and said will let me know when they need freelance staff for their weekend programmes.

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Tracey Sturgeon, March 2002

Work Placement: The Independent Online

After thinking about what area of journalism I wanted to get into at the end of this course, I decided that online journalism had the most appeal. I liked the fact that the news is current and that copy can be uploaded instantly. For this reason I ended up doing two weeks work experience at the online section of the Independent newspaper, based in Docklands.

On my first day I was surprised how calm and empty the offices of the online section were. Having spoken with the editor, Dave Felton, I found out that Digital (the section where I was working) had been reduced to just 19 staff – less than half what it was a year ago. The office was apparently calm and quiet as there were no real copy deadlines, unlike the newspaper where copy went to print at six pm and one am. In the online section, stories were uploaded as and when they were relevant. I was also told that the only time the offices get very chaotic was when there was a big news story breaking - such as the American terrorist attacks. When these happened the site was updated as soon as further news came through the wires.

There were two editors on the Digital section; one with technical experience and one with journalism experience. Three shift workers worked either seven am until one pm, nine am until five pm or six pm until two am. In addition, there were people who just focused on uploading the sports and business sections from the paper and others whose job it was to look for relevant images to upload to the site. Other people who worked within the Digital team were the technical programmers and the advertising sales team. After chatting with the editor, I found out that the online section is run as a separate entity from the paper and is therefore responsible for finding its own revenue streams. This is done through advertising on the site and partnerships with companies like WH Smith. For example, in the book reviews section of the site it is possible to order books by linking to the appropriate page on the WH Smith web site.

The mornings in the Digital section were fairly quiet as all the copy had been uploaded from the newspaper by two the previous morning. One of my roles during my work placement was to watch the wires, write up anything of interest and post it on the site. The wires I looked at were PA, Reuters and AP. Independent Digital doesn’t have a license to use copy from Reuters, but it can use PA if it is mentioned in the byline. Copy can be taken from AP with no reference but as it is American there are often huge differences in the language used. During my time at the Independent I wrote articles on Stephen Downing who won an appeal after being convicted of murder, the South West rail strikes, Tony Blair discussing the treatment of prisoners in Cuba, the volcano eruption in Goma, the arrest of several terrorist suspects and the arrest of a man at Heathrow airport after he tried to board a plan with several sharp objects. As these were all taken from PA I didn’t get that elusive by-line, but it was interesting to see how the news could be changed and shaped to fit in with previous articles and the political opinions of the newspaper.

On my first day I was shown how the stories were taken from the Quark pages that had been laid out ready to print, converted into html and then uploaded - via a programme specifically designed for the Independent called Thanotron. I worked the night shift on one occasion so that I could get an insight into how the news is compiled and released and I also got to understand the competitive world of exclusives, which could not be uploaded to the site until the newspaper had hit the streets. Friday was the busiest day as the weekend supplements were all added to the site – which was another job I was able to get involved with. I also updated the Independent’s Enjoyment channel, which contains jokes, quizzes and picture captions. This involved searching the internet for jokes and song lyrics and picking the winners from the previous days competitions.

In my second week I started working on building a new education channel for the Independent. One already exists but it was thought that it should contain careers advice and not just information on university and college courses. My role in this project was to search through specific careers publications (all of which were owned by the Independent) and take the copy from Quark Xpress documents and put it into html code. I then compiled an index page so that visitors to the site could quickly find what they were looking for. I’m told that this part of the site will go live in February.

I very much enjoyed working on the online section of the Independent although I was surprised by how much content is taken from the actual newspaper and uploaded. Apparently the only time ‘journalistic’ writing takes place is during an event such as September 11^th, where there is an obvious need for real-time news updates. I liked being involved in extracting and uploading the news and was surprised how easy it was to take Quark documents and transform them into html. Having said this, I think I would have been quite lost if we hadn’t studied html on the course as when I was working on the education channel the documents had to be transferred into html by hand rather than using a computer programme to do the work. I was also surprised by the fact that all of the stories that were written-up specifically for the site came from news wires and not contacts. As well as using the wires, the Digital team would watch Prime Minister’s Question Time for example and update relevant stories with quotes from Tony Blair. Sky news was also shown on TV’s placed next to everyone’s desk and I found this useful for background information to stories such the Stephen Downing appeal.

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Helen Crydon Virgin Radio PG Dip Broadcast 2003

Virgin Radio is a commercial station aimed at 25 plus age range. Although it revolves around music they have a lot of chat shows and they love phone-ins. Virgin Radio broadcasts on FM for London and AM nationwide. Regulations dictate that to keep a local London frequency, the station must make up so many minutes per day exclusive to London. To make up the number of ‘London minutes’ they split their news bulletins for their breakfast show between 6.00 and 9.00 and in drive time between 17.00 and 20.00. Therefore during breakfast and drive time the bulletins are pre-recorded. The rest of the time they are read live.

The news bulletins are on the hour, roughly two minutes. Although the bulletins are not timed to the second, the London bulletin for FM and the National bulletin for AM must coincide exactly in length. Virgin Radio’s news team has two reporters plus an editor and a sports reader. One for breakfast until 1pm and the other for drive time until midnight. The editor fills in the middle.

They write and read their own bulletins so there is no time for the reporters to go out and record audio. That was down to me. Having soul responsibility for gathering audio was a great leaning opportunity. It was my duty to select suitable stories to pursue. I did however have to put brain into thinking gear quite sharply.

Firstly, until I got to understand the expectations of work experience girl and realised what I could bring to the station, I waited for stories to be delegated to me. They were as keen to give me a Virgin Radio microphone as I was to shoot around Soho pouncing on tourists for voxpops but I realised that no one was going to pick the stories for me. It was down to me to scour the papers, pick a topic and arm myself with a microphone.

Secondly, Virgin Radio News is tabloid based, somewhat different to the conservative approach professionally instilled into us at University of Westminster. I had to ditch The Times and scour through the busts and buttocks in The Daily Sport to find suitable stories. Naturally this took a couple of days to get used to.

All the audio I produced was used in the news bulletins. I’d find a story from the paper, Sky News feeds, Ceefax or a press release from the mail bag. I’d chase a relevant contact for the story, set up an interview, extract a 12 second clip and write a two sentence cue. All that would usually take up about 20 seconds of a 2 minute news bulletin but it would usually be repeated about 2 – 3 times per day. The first interview I set up was a vigilante motorist group spokesman AKA Captain Gatsman who truly believes that slashing down all the speed cameras around London will solve the Capital’s transport problems. I also tracked down the owner of Frank the cat who was run over by a car six months ago. Frank posed so seductively in front of a web camera throughout his entire recovery that the web page in question was the most visited in the whole World Wide Web.

Later in the week I went to a press conference for the launch of a Crack down on Crack poster campaign by the Metropolitan Police and I collected some voxpops on the posters to go with the audio from the press conference.

I had plenty of experience in gathering voxpops, many of which were follow ups of ‘soft stories’ from press releases. One magazine published their research on nightmare customers in restaurants and another dating agency claimed football matches were the best place for love to blossom because it’s a place for ‘emotional bondage’.

I did different shifts throughout the placement. Sometimes breakfast 5.30 – 1.30pm, normal 10am – 6pm or the evening 3 – 11pm. In the latter two shifts I was expected to come in tuned into the day with a few ideas for stories. I had a couple of ideas that the editor didn’t go for – safety ladders provided as emergency exits for otters in reservoirs and Hamley’s court case over a ‘stuff-a-bear’ conflict with an American toy shop who they stole the idea from - but after a few days I soon developed a taste for Virgin news stories.

The interview, editing and chasing was fairly straight forward after all the training at Westminster. The challenge was to find a story suitable for Virgin’s news agenda. I found that sitting back, taking in the atmosphere of the Virgin office and thinking ‘What stories would suit this place?’ gave me the best feel for stories. That’s the sort of thing we can’t learn in the class room.

My style of copy writing has been given the Virgin edge which would make BBC editors grimace. Policemen are now ‘cops’ in my bulletins, children ‘kids’ and I’ve learnt how to dramatise headlines with pure shock value.

One of the major advantages to my placement was that I could use the studio for voice recording. On the first day, the breakfast reporter, who was my primary supervisor let me record a bulletin and then spent a good half hour providing honest and constructive feedback, which I was very grateful for. Inevitably I was reading about half the required speed for the Virgin radio super speed. I went in everyday while it was quiet and read the scripts as they had been read on air. Each day I got faster and more animated - likely to be put back to normal by Westminster voice coaches. I kept a recording of the bulletins where my audio clips were used. A couple with the music bed and a couple without. On the last day, the more senior editor also spent a good half hour with my demo tape and provided priceless feedback.

The biggest highlight from the placement came after I had done an evening shift. Just before leaving the studio I had written a couple of ‘And Finally’ cues for the late night more casual news which likes to include some sex and scandal. It was two minutes to midnight and as I climbed exhausted into my pyjamas ready to tackle the 6am breakfast show the next day, I tuned to Virgin Radio to listen to the final bulletin of the day and there word for word was my six sentence copy informing three million listeners that women on the pill prefer macho men and a lady in an Ann Summers shop in Wales had to be rescued from a pair of handcuffs by some firemen. I was very proud.

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National Newspapers/ Online news services

Financial News – by Tom Evans

Dee 106.3, (Chester) Work experience

NINETEEN

Fran Neagle, PG Dip Broadcast 2003-2004

Painting a snowy picture

Friday 9th January

Monday 12th January

Tuesday 13th January

Wednesday 14th January

Thursday 15th January

Friday 16th January

Monday 19th January

Tuesday 20th January

Wednesday 21st January

Thursday 22nd January

Friday 23rd January

Mary Sweeney PG Dip Print (2003-2004)

PG Dip Print 2003-2004

UEFA.COM

Phillip Kemp Broadcast Pathway PGDip Journalism 2003.

Review of work Experience

1. The Lawyer (2 weeks)

STUDENT BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL - 2003

SURREY MIRROR – Simon Lau, PG Dip Print 2002/03

Leah Bruer, BAMJ 2002/03

Work Attachments: Trade Magazines

Charlotte Moore – PG Dip Print Journalism 2002/03

Andy Chapman

Christina Marker

February 10, 2003

Shola Adenekan, February 2002 – The Independent

Mitesh Desai, BAMJ, Feb 2002

January

February

Work Placement: The Independent Online

Friday 9^th January

Monday 12^th January

Tuesday 13^th January

Wednesday 14^th January

Thursday 15^th January

Friday 16^th January

Monday 19^th January

Tuesday 20^th January

Wednesday 21^st January

Thursday 22^nd January

Friday 23^rd January