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.
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