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| Pounding the dog-poo beat - a great grounding for a life in journalism | Pounding the dog-poo beat - a great grounding for a life in journalism |
| (2 months later) | |
| I want to keep this brief but I believe the biggest problem with many up-and-coming journalists who are fresh out of university is they are looking to justify excessive tuition fees. | I want to keep this brief but I believe the biggest problem with many up-and-coming journalists who are fresh out of university is they are looking to justify excessive tuition fees. |
| I'm 23 now and a full-time local newspaper journalist in Merseyside. While in my final year studying journalism at university, I was lucky enough to secure a two-week unpaid work placement at the Daily Mirror in Canary Wharf, London. It was an unbelievable experience and I still don't think I have ever crammed so much learning into such a small space of time. I remember being amazed by how thick-skinned the journalists were, being able to detach themselves from the news stories while still emotively engaging with their interviewees (and I am sure it is also the case at the Guardian) But I also learned that I was, at best, a good few years of experience away from their level and ability. | I'm 23 now and a full-time local newspaper journalist in Merseyside. While in my final year studying journalism at university, I was lucky enough to secure a two-week unpaid work placement at the Daily Mirror in Canary Wharf, London. It was an unbelievable experience and I still don't think I have ever crammed so much learning into such a small space of time. I remember being amazed by how thick-skinned the journalists were, being able to detach themselves from the news stories while still emotively engaging with their interviewees (and I am sure it is also the case at the Guardian) But I also learned that I was, at best, a good few years of experience away from their level and ability. |
| When I returned home, for two and sometimes three days a week, I would turn up at my local newspaper, the Southport-based Champion Newspaper (O2 North West free newspaper of the year), and started to learn the trade from the ground upwards, unpaid, literally writing about smidgins of dog poo to overgrown hedges (yes, people do still care about these things). I harassed the editor for three months solid and I think that by then it had progressed to the point where employment law meant they had to start paying me. | When I returned home, for two and sometimes three days a week, I would turn up at my local newspaper, the Southport-based Champion Newspaper (O2 North West free newspaper of the year), and started to learn the trade from the ground upwards, unpaid, literally writing about smidgins of dog poo to overgrown hedges (yes, people do still care about these things). I harassed the editor for three months solid and I think that by then it had progressed to the point where employment law meant they had to start paying me. |
| So funnily enough three years ago this week, I was offered my first full-time contract as a junior news reporter. Since then I have picked up several industry accolades, have my own news patch and have also started sub-editing, while submitting the odd piece to the national newspapers. The main problem, as I see it, is that over the past 20 years, revolutionary technology has made our lives so much easier, but it has also had the adverse effect of making some young people - especially the ones that have just spent £9,000 per term on university fees - seeing ground work such as volunteering at local newspapers as 'menial tasks' that are below us. | So funnily enough three years ago this week, I was offered my first full-time contract as a junior news reporter. Since then I have picked up several industry accolades, have my own news patch and have also started sub-editing, while submitting the odd piece to the national newspapers. The main problem, as I see it, is that over the past 20 years, revolutionary technology has made our lives so much easier, but it has also had the adverse effect of making some young people - especially the ones that have just spent £9,000 per term on university fees - seeing ground work such as volunteering at local newspapers as 'menial tasks' that are below us. |
| These are generally the type of students that think: | These are generally the type of students that think: |
| Why should I waste an hour cooking home made spaghetti bolognaise if I can just bung a ready meal in the microwave for 3 minutes? Why should I waste time using correct grammar in a text or Facebook post when I can jus typ lyk dis? Or why would I waste 60 minutes running around the block exercising, when I can score goals, fly planes and solve world wars on my games console? | Why should I waste an hour cooking home made spaghetti bolognaise if I can just bung a ready meal in the microwave for 3 minutes? Why should I waste time using correct grammar in a text or Facebook post when I can jus typ lyk dis? Or why would I waste 60 minutes running around the block exercising, when I can score goals, fly planes and solve world wars on my games console? |
| And it is because graduates - not all might I add - are thinking about the minimal amount of effort required to achieve their short term goal. I was pushed by both of my parents and my tutors at King George V college, into signing up for a journalism degree at Edge Hill University with a hefty pricetag of over £9,000. Now when I look back, the real hard work started after uni and I could have easily just achieved my NCTJ exams at a fraction of the cost and not be paying off my university debts for the next 10 years and be still where I am today. | And it is because graduates - not all might I add - are thinking about the minimal amount of effort required to achieve their short term goal. I was pushed by both of my parents and my tutors at King George V college, into signing up for a journalism degree at Edge Hill University with a hefty pricetag of over £9,000. Now when I look back, the real hard work started after uni and I could have easily just achieved my NCTJ exams at a fraction of the cost and not be paying off my university debts for the next 10 years and be still where I am today. |
| On the whole I sympathise with Glen Keogh and his post in the Northerner: journalism is mainly London-centric and it is hard to get your foot in the door, but my advice to the next generation of would-be journalists is to forget justifying degree fees, forget trying to make yourself an overnight Trevor McDonald, get your NCTJs, get your head down and be prepared to work for free. Trust me there's enough dog poo and overgrown hedges for all of us! | On the whole I sympathise with Glen Keogh and his post in the Northerner: journalism is mainly London-centric and it is hard to get your foot in the door, but my advice to the next generation of would-be journalists is to forget justifying degree fees, forget trying to make yourself an overnight Trevor McDonald, get your NCTJs, get your head down and be prepared to work for free. Trust me there's enough dog poo and overgrown hedges for all of us! |
| Read all about it: David Raven takes his paper to the summit of Snowdon during the Three Peaks Challenge. He is a reporter on the Southport Champion and Tweets here. | Read all about it: David Raven takes his paper to the summit of Snowdon during the Three Peaks Challenge. He is a reporter on the Southport Champion and Tweets here. |
| You can read Glen Keogh's Northerner post here and Grace Newton from the Retford Times here. More posts on this issue are warmly welcome from other would-be or trainee journalists. We can't pay and we apologise for that, but we can give you a platform and a modest loudhailer. And we have some interesting - and interested - media people reading. Please email us on northerner @guardian.co.uk. | You can read Glen Keogh's Northerner post here and Grace Newton from the Retford Times here. More posts on this issue are warmly welcome from other would-be or trainee journalists. We can't pay and we apologise for that, but we can give you a platform and a modest loudhailer. And we have some interesting - and interested - media people reading. Please email us on northerner @guardian.co.uk. |
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