University Challenge...

So, it's the end of term. I've survived. Hurrah!

I seem to have made it through the first term relatively unscathed: all my assignments have been handed in on time, I passed my law exam, I am up to about 70wpm in shorthand and I managed to avoid getting ill until this last week. I have managed to gain three work experience placements at both national and local publications and have another in the process of being organised and have had work published online via The Kingston Courier. I also have interviewed someone from Strictly Come Dancing, learnt to tango, been chased by a rutting stag and performed an enthusiastic rendition of Abba's "Dancing Queen" with one of my tutors.

Thus I declare this term a success.

But I know that, even though I may have found this term a challenge, that the next term is going to be a step up in workload, difficulty and stress levels. I am therefore vowing to continue to work hard, do my best and try to keep a positive attitude and a smile on my face - even when I would rather be eating my body weight in chocolate, drinking lots of red wine and sobbing into my pillow.

The hard work starts here. I have taken on new challenges and learnt new skills this term but now it is time to actually put that all into practice.

For starters, this blog.

So far, it has been all about my experience on this course and any endeavours I have taken on, but now I want it to change my focus for this blog. It will still include posts about interesting interviews or exciting news stories I have covered but I want it to have a more journalistic focus, blogging about current affairs, political developments and national stories. I hope that this will help me to develop a more critical way of thinking about the news and perhaps widen my audience by linking to other relevant blogs.

I also want to try and tackle more "serious" stories, whether news or features. So far, although my writing has developed in structure and skill, I feel that I have been covering more frivolous stories - such as deer chasing people up trees and how to make ginger bread biscuits. Rather than just volunteering for stories, I am going to make the effort to find my own and do research on them before presenting them at conference.
Hopefully my work experience will help me with this - I hope to be able to have several bylines in a few publications by the time we come back to uni.

I will also refuse to be nervous of voicing my ideas in conference and I will apply for a different, more involved job on the Kingston Courier when the opportunity arises.

I refuse to let the thought of all the assignments, exams, expectations and new challenges frighten me.

My first challenge of the year will be my work placement on The Independent on Sunday and yes, I am nervous. But I am going to embrace the challenge, do my best and try and make an impression. Hopefully a good one but if it all goes horribly wrong then I'll try to take it on the chin and look forward to the next opportunity.

Wish me luck...

"Getting my tango on" in the name of Journalism...

This week, as well as having to learn hideous phrases such as "substantial risk of serious prejudice" and "subject to a reasonable letter of explanation and contradiction" for our law exam and try and get up to 60 w.p.m in shorthand, I also had the joy of conducting my first proper face to face interview.

Dance classes have become incredibly popular over the last few years following the success of the reality TV show and, with the current series in full flow, I wanted to see if there are any budding twinkle-toes in Kingston.

Rather than a news item, I wanted to write the piece as a feature article for the Kingston Courier - a new form of writing for me! Primary research for features is obviously just as essential as it is for news and one of the main ways in which to do that is through interviewing - again, another skill that I have had little practice in and one that I am keen to practice and improve as much as possible.

However, rather than just relying on an interview and a few quotes, I decided that I needed to experience Strictly Fever for myself to see what exactly inspires people to join a dance class and, after the initial novelty dies off and the sequins from the Strictly costumes have been packed away, how many keep going back?

In the past, I have tried several styles of dance, including tap and salsa and although I enjoyed them it was pretty obvious that I was never going to be the star of the dance floor. While I can stay in rhythm and manage to pick up steps fairly quickly, throw another person into the mixture and it is almost guaranteed that I will fall over, kick my partner or - as I did taking part in one embarrassing salsa lesson - get too carried away and spin into another couple, sending them flying.

As luck would have it, one of the professional dancers from Strictly series 3, Izabela Rai, runs a popular dance class in the Kingston Working Men's Club on a Thursday night. She was kind enough to agree to both an interview and much to my delight - and sheer terror! - letting me participate in her beginners class.

Although I have conducted interviews over the phone before, I have never attempted one face to face and it is a completely different experience: trying to take legible notes down with someone watching you is incredibly nerve wracking as is trying to remember all the questions you had planned on asking! I'll admit, I did attempt to write my notes in shorthand for all of about 10 seconds but gave up and reverted to an interesting mixture of italic longhand, text-talk, smiley faces and underlining.

But for my first interview I could not have chosen a better interviewee: Izabela was lovely, incredibly funny, charismatic, chatty and a delight to interview; she spoke freely about her experience as a professional dancer on Strictly and how she felt it influenced her class numbers and popularity without too much prompting from me, allowing me to concentrate on what she was saying and getting it down on paper without having to panic about my next question. An added bonus was that she, very kindly, didn't mind or complain about my lack of professionalism when I got nervous giggles halfway through my interview!

The dance class that Izabela had told me to come to was her beginners class, which runs on a Thursday at 6.45, with students of all different ages and of both genders - it was a pleasant surprise to see so many male students: in previous dance classes I have been to men have been so few that many ladies end up having to learn male steps, which adds to great confusion when changing partners.

Beginning my ballroom experience with a tango and the rhumba was daunting but Izabela was just as easy to learn from as she was to interview; knowing that I had very little dance experience, she was incredibly patient and happy to show me steps over and over, bearing with me when I lost my balance or forgot which foot was my left or right. The man who was brave enough to partner me too was incredibly kind and patient and didn't seem to mind when I burst out laughing or got out of time with the music. Considering that I had essentially crashed his dance lesson, I am so grateful to him for his help and patience. However, as I picked up a few steps my confidence grew and by the end of the lesson I was almost there and ended up really happy with what I achieved.

I spoke to a few of the other students after the class, asking them about their reasons for starting to dance and found out a few interesting things about peoples inspiration for taking up lessons - but you'll have to read my article to find out more! (See the Kingston Courier website for updates over the next few weeks.)

I hope to do a bit more research in the coming weeks and have been invited back to Izabela's dance class for their Christmas Party - at which Izabela herself will be performing, as well as members of her class - so hope to include that in the piece as well.

In terms of my first experience of interviewing, I think that perhaps I lucked out by finding someone so willing to talk to me - I'm certain that all of my interviewees wont be as chatty or as responsive as Izabela! - but at least it has given me some things to consider and think about for next time.

For more details about Izabela's classes or to join one yourself, please go to her website at www.izabeladance.com or twitter at @IzabelaDance and as always keep an eye out on the Kingston Courier website for more articles and news written by me and my fellow journalism students.

My fellow journo also "got her tango on" this week - check out her latin experience.

Three work experience placements; madness or an opportunity too good to miss?

After weeks of relentless and seemingly fruitless phone calls and emails, of being passed between departments and editors and left on hold, I have finally managed to secure work experience. But not just at one publication but three!

Like buses - cliché I know - I waited for weeks and then received three replies in the same day, from Press Gazette, The Maldon and Burnham Standard and The Independent on Sunday, all from editors inviting me to complete a placement with their publication. Being rather overexcited, I accepted them all, thinking that each offered me different experiences and the potential to increase my experience in one hit.

It is only now that I have realised how potentially mad this is.

Not only will I be experiencing different aspects of journalism in a short, intense space of time and trying to prove myself to the reporters and editors that I will be working with - in the hope that they may offer me other opportunities in the future, but I will be experiencing commuting for the first time, trying to keep up with university study and current affairs while I am not at uni and attempt to continue working part time too.

Madness.

I'm looking forward to all of my placements but especially the one at the Maldon and Burnham. Having written an article for them before, I seem to have created a good impression already. They have assured me that they will be able to provide lots of interesting activities and opportunities for me, including stories and by-lines if my writing is up to scratch. I'm also hoping that I may be able to get a foot in the door there for when I am qualified and searching for a job. Fingers crossed.

Journalism.co.uk says that: "Work experience has always been a part of getting into journalism, and in today's tough jobs market, it is more important than ever. The benefits to work experience are many; something that looks good on a CV while also giving you real, practical skills that will serve you well as you break into journalism." and most publications agree with this, valuing previous experience and by-lines almost as much as qualifications.

So while I may have been a bit rash in trying to complete nearly four weeks of work experience placements during my Christmas break, I am hoping that it will be worthwhile. Hopefully, rather than just stressing me out, getting me lost on the underground and financially bankrupting me when I give up my job to concentrate on the placements, it will increase my knowledge of newsrooms, hone my writing skills and maybe, just maybe, open up an opportunity for the future.

Bring it on...

When we arrived at Kingston University on the 13th of September for our introductory day, all of our tutors stood up, introduced themselves and told us all how difficult this year would be. They told us that we should wave goodbye to our social lives, buy ourselves a good diary and  resign ourselves to being hassled, exhausted and completely and utterly committed to our course for the next 12 months.

At the time, I accepted this as a challenge. "Bring it on," I thought. I found my BA difficult - not only the studying but having to deal with housing problems, awkward flatmates, financial troubles and medical issues - but got on with it. I seemed to have a knack of just getting on with everything and managed to balance my study with two part time jobs, a boyfriend, a few glasses of wine during the week and still come out with a decent 2.1 degree. So yeah, I'll admit I thought I had it sorted.

However, I am beginning to feel a slight sense of panic. There just do not seem to be enough hours in the day all of a sudden. Where has all the time gone?!

With two exams looming, I am sure I am not the only student on this course to suddenly - to put it mildly - be freaking out about how much there is to do and how there literally just does not seem to be enough time to do everything.

And I really am trying: I carry my law books around with me, I see Teeline special outlines every time I put a pen to paper and I am constantly on the lookout for potential stories for the Kingston Courier.

Still, it seems that our tutors warning were true; hello, hassle, hello exhaustion. Commitment... well, personally I would love to tell my commitment to sod off for a few hours so I can get a decent nights sleep without dreaming about the requirements for an Fair Comment Defence (media law has well and truly got to me)but despite all the fear and the anxiety and the mind boggling amount of items on my to-do list, I love my course too much.

Thankfully, despite the fact that this week my brain wants to shut down completely due to media law overload and my writing hand wants to resign due to serious "shorthand-claw", I am loving every terrifying second. I am learning new techniques of writing, fine tuning things I already knew, discovering multimedia aspects of journalism that I never knew existed - live blogging was an eye opener - and how to avoid creating "substantial risk of serious prejudice."(Get that, McNae's) .

All in all, although I am finding it difficult at the moment, I know that my passion and enthusiasm will get me through to the end of this course. I know that I have the ability to do well at this course and I know that it is going to take a lot of hard work and determination and I am sure that I will at some point shed some tears about something or another. But I also know that it will all be worth it in the end.

So, again, I say, "Bring it on." Bring on the assignments, bring on the exams and the stress and the panic because I know I can take it, I know that its going to be worth the effort and that in 12 months time there will be a silly graduation cap out there with my name on it .

First articles online at kingstoncourier.co.uk

This week, I got to experience the thrill of seeing two of my articles published on a newsite.

The articles were written for and published on our university newsite, The Kingston Courier , and have given me a taste of the whole experience of publishing an article online; Although I have been published online before, (Keeping in Touch and Just Get On With It) I have never had anything published on a news site before, or been involved in the entire process of publishing a story – having the idea approved, general research, interviewing, reviewing, rewriting etc)

One of the articles was a joint effort between myself and my fellow journalism student Ellie Chambers (whose work you can also find on www.kingstoncourier.co.uk) and was a report on a drugs bust in Kingston that uncovered £10,000 worth of unlicensed sex drugs This was the first story for which I have conducted primary research – ringing up the press office for The Medicines and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency to speak to a spokesperson about the raid while Ellie spoke to the Police. Interviewing the spokesperson was a challenge; while we had looked at the press release online, there was not much information available so thinking up worthy questions was difficult as was stopping myself from crying with laughter at the names of some of the discovered drugs, which included “Stiff Nights” and “Weekend Prince”. Although neither source could give us any more information other than what was in their standard press release, it was a good experience and helped me get over my fear of interviewing someone over the phone!

The other article was written in response to viral video footage of a man being chased by a stag in Bushy Park. The video, watched thousands of times in the last few weeks, prompted a response from the Royal Parks, who had established a safety campaign before the incident. During my interview with a spokesperson from the park, they insisted that the parks were still safe to use as long as you followed the safety guidelines that were available in the park. Wanting to expand the story, I decided to focus on the angle of the campaign, rather than the “stag attack” as it had been covered by both local and national press already, thanks to the footage going viral on youtube.

So, wanting to get some photos of the deer and see the campaign for myself, I took an early morning stroll down to Bushy Park, armed with camera. On the way, I picked up a few bits of Sainsbury’s shopping to save myself some time on the way back. I also bought a pair of really pretty ballet pumps and, being a typical girl, decided to wear them straight away. While they looked pretty, let me tell you now, it is really not a good idea to wear new, dainty shoes when you are trying to stalk deer in a muddy park. Also, as I’d been told only a few hours earlier by a park representative, it is really stupid to get too close to the stags.

But, the zoom on my camera is a bit rubbish and wasnt up to the job of photographing deer, in shadowy woods, from the recommended distance of metres away. So, ignoring all the advice that I had spent the last few days typing up and researching, I crept closer and closer.

Just before I was able to snap a perfect photo, one of the stags noticed me. Not wanting to run away and cause a scene (and admittedly still hoping to get a good shot on my camera) I froze, hoping that the stag would realise I wasn’t a threat and go back to happily feeding. But no. He turned, ROARED and began to charge at me.

Luckily, although I was too close, I had kept a road in between myself and the deer and just as I was about to completely lose my cool and start crying, a car drove past. This distracted the stag (a Smart Car is apparently more threatening than me) and I took the opportunity to leg it to a safe distance.

Thankfully, I didn’t end up in the ironic position of having to climb a tree to escape a stag while researching a story on how to avoid that very circumstance, but it was a close run thing.

Two rather different reporting experiences, both of which were enjoyable and terrifying at the same time but both of which I thoughrally enjoyed. Seeing them on our site is the icing on the cake. So, have a read , hopefully you will enjoy them but if not, you can instead enjoy the amusing image of me, running hell for leather through a muddy, waterlogged wood, in my ballet pumps, shopping bags flapping, from an enormous angry stag.

The trauma of writing a blog post...

So… blogging. A new venture for me. Having spent the last ten years writing a regular personal diary, I initially felt that blogging was the next easy logical step and one that I would be able to make without the slightest wobble in my usual stupidly high heels.

But.

 

Actually, blogging is quite tricky. On sitting down at my laptop to write my first post last week, my brain decided to wipe its memory clean of any topic that my fellow bloggers might find the slightest bit interesting, with the exception of debating Strictly vs X-factor.

 

Confused as to why I was finding it such a struggle to find a topic that was remotely blog worthy, a bit of research into what a blog should actually do seemed appropriate.

 

Paul Bradshaw and Lisa Rohumaa, Online Journalism Handbook: “If we are to try to define blogging as a genre, it is first, and perhaps above all else, conversational . It is social. It is networked. Two key features to a blog are links and comments. Fail to include either and you risk talking to yourself…Secondly blogging is typically incomplete,open and ongoing. It is about process, not product.”

 

The quote above, cheakily pinched from my University’s MA Journalism blog (http://kingstonma2012.wordpress.com/) seems to sum up what I should be aiming to achieve. Hence the reason I have spent the last 40 minutes attempting to connect my Facebook and Twitter accounts to this blog (not that I actually have very much on here for people to read at the moment but it’s a start!) Another handy hint seems to be that focussed niche blogs attract more followers. (Could be a problem: off the top of my head, all I feel like I am doing at the moment is trying to juggle a new job, my uni work and trying to avoid spending too much money on coffee in the uni canteen.)

 

But I am feeling positive. After scrolling through pages and pages of other blogs, I feel that I have a better grip on what a blog needs. I know I have the ability to write a coherent sentence and I enjoy using social networks too, so linking everything up isn’t a problem. Seems to me, that all I need to do is carve myself a little niche subject in the world-wide web and the words will come.

 

I just need to figure out what it is going to be first…

To print or not to print?

I don’t know about you, but I quite like a newspaper. It doesn’t even seem to matter what newspaper to be honest; I’ll just as happily settle for a copy of The Evening Standard or The Metro as I will The Telegraph or The Independent. It’s not just the content that appeals but also the physical form; being able to flick through the pages, before settling down with a huge cup of coffee to mull over the worlds news is all part of the fun.

But recently, I’ve found that I am switching on my laptop for my daily fix of news. While I hate to abandon my beloved dailies for the internet, it is very easy to understand why this has become such a habit. The convenience of and – let’s be honest – the freeness of the internet is a huge incentive; money stricken students can Facebook The Guardian, businessmen can “app” The Times on the tube and lazy lay-ins have been transformed, with people climbing back into bed with their laptop on a Saturday morning rather than trotting down the road for their copy of The Telegraph.

However, despite this seemingly unstoppable march towards a print free future, most newspapers are now discovering how difficult it is to make the web pay; readers are fickle creatures, distracted easily by weight loss tips and cute kitten videos and most tend to literally switch off at the slightest hint of a pay-wall, no matter how loyal a reader they may be. Compare the readership and predicted revenue of The Daily Mail Online, an admittedly shoddy publication at best, to the prestigious, now fully pay-walled-up Times and despite the obvious difference in quality, the Mail comes out on top.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/29/mail-online-revenue-paywall)

I reckon then, once online sites are forced to bring in more pay-walls, subscriptions and “premium-content-for-paying-customers”, the novelty will wear off. Reportedly, a “survey in April by Deloitte found that 88% of magazine readers in the UK still prefer to consume articles via print” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/03/who-says-print-is-dead) so it seems that all hope for print is not yet lost.

So all hail the humble newspaper, get off The Mail Online and for goodness sake, turn off that kitten.