You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
-Eleanor Roosevelt
This is my last blog for my internship. Over the past few months I had many great experinces and learnt a great deal. While there were difficult times I tried to learn from my mistakes and take on any advice anyone gave me.
I learnt how to write stories both constructing them and how to get ideas for stories. I learnt how to use industry tools such as writing programs. I met new people and built my confidence by being thrown in the deep end from day one. I worked in both features and the news room which was a learning curve. I also went out with photographers most days and gained many great tips from them.
However anyone wishing to have an internship at any print company should just be prepared it is a lot of working generally writing three to four stories a day. By the end I did find the internship to be quite stressful and draining. I loved meeting new people and learning something new all the time. I enjoyed the interaction between sources as well as staff.
I think further improvements to the internship could be made such as clear working times and may be a little more guidance in the way of structuring an article. I did find this was my weakness the structuring of a basic news article. However by the end of my internship I felt confident in writing a news article, speaking to sources and using writing program. The internship also let me produce some great articles for my portfolio. Experiencing a print workplace has let me consider my further job prospects. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed my work experience while learning and experiencing many journalistic skills.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Never work with animals and children- especially at the same time!
The media is too concentrated, too few people own too much. There's really five companies that control 90 percent of what we read, see and hear. It's not healthy.
-Ted Turner
Today was a busy day as I had three stories to cover one after the other. the photographer and I headed to our first story about a dog competition. The contact had a 10-week-old puppy and his two young grandchildren. I was able to get some great quotes but when it came time for the photograph it was very difficult. The poor photographer spent about an hour trying to get one decent shot as the puppy was all over the place and the young girl was finding it hard to take directions. Due to this type of photo shoot we were running late to our next job.
The next job was about a charity fun run. I sat down with the contact and asked a few more questions from information that was not in the press release. The contact didn't really seem like she wanted to talk too much and didn't have much information apart from the information in the press release. So I then acted as assistant to the photographer which was interesting.
Next was to the army base as they were having a little press conference about the upcoming Salvation Army Doorknock Appeal. We had to sign in with I.D. then travel around the base where I did not have much time to talk to anyone about the event as we had limited time that was taken up by the photographs. I did get some quotes from the Salvo people and I had a press release.
I was told I would have a fourth job but the COS never mentioned it so I assumed I would just be focusing on my three stories. I was wrong. Apparently I did have a fourth job that nobody wanted to mention to me. But I had no information apart from a contact number. So I chased up a press release and phoned the contact only to be told she was out of the office and would call me back. After an hour I decided to call back as I couldn't spend anymore time waiting around. The contact was there and able to speak to me and give me some quotes.
I had finished my articles and waiting for them to be checked before I could leave. Eventually I was called back and fourth to fix my mistakes and chase up some details by calling my contacts back. For the fun run story I was told I should have spoken to the women that were competing but I had no contact details for them so I rang the participating gym owner instead. I had learned from my mistakes and realised there was always something to be edited in a story.
-Ted Turner
Today was a busy day as I had three stories to cover one after the other. the photographer and I headed to our first story about a dog competition. The contact had a 10-week-old puppy and his two young grandchildren. I was able to get some great quotes but when it came time for the photograph it was very difficult. The poor photographer spent about an hour trying to get one decent shot as the puppy was all over the place and the young girl was finding it hard to take directions. Due to this type of photo shoot we were running late to our next job.
The next job was about a charity fun run. I sat down with the contact and asked a few more questions from information that was not in the press release. The contact didn't really seem like she wanted to talk too much and didn't have much information apart from the information in the press release. So I then acted as assistant to the photographer which was interesting.
Next was to the army base as they were having a little press conference about the upcoming Salvation Army Doorknock Appeal. We had to sign in with I.D. then travel around the base where I did not have much time to talk to anyone about the event as we had limited time that was taken up by the photographs. I did get some quotes from the Salvo people and I had a press release.
I was told I would have a fourth job but the COS never mentioned it so I assumed I would just be focusing on my three stories. I was wrong. Apparently I did have a fourth job that nobody wanted to mention to me. But I had no information apart from a contact number. So I chased up a press release and phoned the contact only to be told she was out of the office and would call me back. After an hour I decided to call back as I couldn't spend anymore time waiting around. The contact was there and able to speak to me and give me some quotes.
I had finished my articles and waiting for them to be checked before I could leave. Eventually I was called back and fourth to fix my mistakes and chase up some details by calling my contacts back. For the fun run story I was told I should have spoken to the women that were competing but I had no contact details for them so I rang the participating gym owner instead. I had learned from my mistakes and realised there was always something to be edited in a story.
Early bird gets the worm
Television has a real problem. They have no page two. Consequently every big story gets the same play and comes across to the viewer as a really big, scary one.
-Arch Buchwald, 1969
I was lucky to arrive a little earlier than usual as I was sent off to two jobs before 9am. One of the jobs was out to the Cowboys as they had helped fund a trip for a family with sick children. I was told to interview the mother but as obvious as it sounds it was a lot harder to interview the mother as she was chasing after her children. I did get to talk to her for about 10 mins but I found it hard to word my questions as I did not want to offend her.
The next job was at the Palliative care as they were having a morning tea to start the Palliative care awareness week. The photographer and I were running a bit late so I called the contact to inform her and I asked if we could try and arrange the photo before we got there. But she said it would be impossible to get a patient in the photo. After I had finished the call I conversed with the photographer and he told me to call the PR officer to try another route for the photograph. She also said there was not much they could do about it. So we had to change the whole angle of the story as more of a promotional angle instead of a story of a patient.
Once I was back in the office I received two phone calls from the mother from the Cowboys story. I was a bit worried as to why she would be contacting me. But luckily she just thought we should talk a little more as the morning was a tad rushed she also wanted to mention some people that helped her. She asked me to put them in the article and I did but not promising that they would stay in there. As we all know only the chopping block anything can get cut.
-Arch Buchwald, 1969
I was lucky to arrive a little earlier than usual as I was sent off to two jobs before 9am. One of the jobs was out to the Cowboys as they had helped fund a trip for a family with sick children. I was told to interview the mother but as obvious as it sounds it was a lot harder to interview the mother as she was chasing after her children. I did get to talk to her for about 10 mins but I found it hard to word my questions as I did not want to offend her.
The next job was at the Palliative care as they were having a morning tea to start the Palliative care awareness week. The photographer and I were running a bit late so I called the contact to inform her and I asked if we could try and arrange the photo before we got there. But she said it would be impossible to get a patient in the photo. After I had finished the call I conversed with the photographer and he told me to call the PR officer to try another route for the photograph. She also said there was not much they could do about it. So we had to change the whole angle of the story as more of a promotional angle instead of a story of a patient.
Once I was back in the office I received two phone calls from the mother from the Cowboys story. I was a bit worried as to why she would be contacting me. But luckily she just thought we should talk a little more as the morning was a tad rushed she also wanted to mention some people that helped her. She asked me to put them in the article and I did but not promising that they would stay in there. As we all know only the chopping block anything can get cut.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Names, names, names
Most magazines have become wallpaper, they're all the same, all the same celebrities. It's really an abysmal time in American journalism right now. But occasionally one story or two will pop out.
-David Talbot
Today was a busy day I had my first job at 9.30 which I went to with a photographer. It was a picyarn about quilts. When it came time for the photograph everyone wanted to be in it, which was fine. But later the photographer was telling me how usually there shouldn’t be more than eight people in a photo. I thought this was a good point to make because there is not much room in a newspaper so the less people in the photograph the better it will turn out.
She also told me that I should start bringing my own camera, because you never know when you might be able to grab a shot of an interesting subject. She also said that it would be helpful to keep in mind the type of photograph that would accompany the article. Whether it should be a group shot, where it should be taken and who should be in the shot. Most times the people in the photo are the ones who have spoken in the article which seems pretty obvious. As the journalist we can assist the photographer with ideas and how the shot would be more effective.
Once I was back at the office I was given another story about a local high school who was receiving a special accreditation. I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get the press release. But before going out with the photographer I did a little research of my own by looking up the award on Google©. I was lucky enough to find a website although it was quite basic. This just made me think about how important it is to not rely on press releases. If you can do your own research and gather some information, it is better than knowing nothing at all.
The article I had trouble with today was a fundraiser. I wrote the article and thought I did a decent job only to be told to re-write it. I had to relate the theme of the fundraiser back to the sporting club. So I had another go adding a bit more colour which was something I was definitely lacking at the end of the day. My last interview of the day was a phone interview with a TAFE student. Having interviewed a student before I know how shy they can be. So this time I was not going to make a mistake by not grabbing decent quotes. I wrote some open questions and tried to listen to what the student was saying so I could get ideas for questions from her answers.
-David Talbot
Today was a busy day I had my first job at 9.30 which I went to with a photographer. It was a picyarn about quilts. When it came time for the photograph everyone wanted to be in it, which was fine. But later the photographer was telling me how usually there shouldn’t be more than eight people in a photo. I thought this was a good point to make because there is not much room in a newspaper so the less people in the photograph the better it will turn out.
She also told me that I should start bringing my own camera, because you never know when you might be able to grab a shot of an interesting subject. She also said that it would be helpful to keep in mind the type of photograph that would accompany the article. Whether it should be a group shot, where it should be taken and who should be in the shot. Most times the people in the photo are the ones who have spoken in the article which seems pretty obvious. As the journalist we can assist the photographer with ideas and how the shot would be more effective.
Once I was back at the office I was given another story about a local high school who was receiving a special accreditation. I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get the press release. But before going out with the photographer I did a little research of my own by looking up the award on Google©. I was lucky enough to find a website although it was quite basic. This just made me think about how important it is to not rely on press releases. If you can do your own research and gather some information, it is better than knowing nothing at all.
The article I had trouble with today was a fundraiser. I wrote the article and thought I did a decent job only to be told to re-write it. I had to relate the theme of the fundraiser back to the sporting club. So I had another go adding a bit more colour which was something I was definitely lacking at the end of the day. My last interview of the day was a phone interview with a TAFE student. Having interviewed a student before I know how shy they can be. So this time I was not going to make a mistake by not grabbing decent quotes. I wrote some open questions and tried to listen to what the student was saying so I could get ideas for questions from her answers.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
In the real world, nothing happens at the right place at the right time. It is the job of journalists and historians to correct that.
-Mark Twain
Today was my eighth week at The Bulletin and I felt I was finally feeling comfortable in these hectic surroundings. Fridays are considered as ‘slower’ news days so for me to have my internship day fall on a Friday can be inconvenient. But luckily for me there will always be picyarns that need to be written.
My first job was out with a photographer to interview a local hairdressing salon about some awards they had done. After booking in the photo I did a little background research and then it was out to the salon for an interview and photo. I had already written my questions but I found that it is really important to have the five basic who, what, where, when and how questions before talking to the subject. So then you can ask other questions from their answers. I asked all the questions I wanted to and the hairdresser was very helpful. When I got back to the office I wrote up my story. I thought that this may be my only story on the day- it wasn’t.
The next story I had to chase up was about a school Mother’s Day pampering session they were doing. I didn’t get to go out with the photographer so I rang the contact while the photographer was there. He couldn’t speak to me and said he would call me back later so I asked if I could speak to the mother in the shot. I did and I asked her a question, which she didn’t seem to understand. She came across as a bit rude and I was trying to think of how I could re word the question. So I did and eventually she became more open and I got a few good quotes. The first contact said he would ring within a half hour but didn’t so after an hour and a half I called him back. He was a great source to talk to though he spoke quite fast which only let me think of how easier it would have been with shorthand…
My third story for the day was to re-write a media release. It wasn’t about anything too interesting but it had a lot of information which made it a bit easier. I learnt that this was something that I did not enjoy- rewriting something that had in a sense been already written. So I continued on and wrote it hoping that the one I had written didn’t sound too much like a press release. Overall today was a quiet day and by 3pm I was tired and ready to crawl into bed. Today I learnt I could work on my question writing skills and maybe phone manner having been at the company for awhile I feel I am learning a lot and how it helps to have someone who is willing to help you.
-Mark Twain
Today was my eighth week at The Bulletin and I felt I was finally feeling comfortable in these hectic surroundings. Fridays are considered as ‘slower’ news days so for me to have my internship day fall on a Friday can be inconvenient. But luckily for me there will always be picyarns that need to be written.
My first job was out with a photographer to interview a local hairdressing salon about some awards they had done. After booking in the photo I did a little background research and then it was out to the salon for an interview and photo. I had already written my questions but I found that it is really important to have the five basic who, what, where, when and how questions before talking to the subject. So then you can ask other questions from their answers. I asked all the questions I wanted to and the hairdresser was very helpful. When I got back to the office I wrote up my story. I thought that this may be my only story on the day- it wasn’t.
The next story I had to chase up was about a school Mother’s Day pampering session they were doing. I didn’t get to go out with the photographer so I rang the contact while the photographer was there. He couldn’t speak to me and said he would call me back later so I asked if I could speak to the mother in the shot. I did and I asked her a question, which she didn’t seem to understand. She came across as a bit rude and I was trying to think of how I could re word the question. So I did and eventually she became more open and I got a few good quotes. The first contact said he would ring within a half hour but didn’t so after an hour and a half I called him back. He was a great source to talk to though he spoke quite fast which only let me think of how easier it would have been with shorthand…
My third story for the day was to re-write a media release. It wasn’t about anything too interesting but it had a lot of information which made it a bit easier. I learnt that this was something that I did not enjoy- rewriting something that had in a sense been already written. So I continued on and wrote it hoping that the one I had written didn’t sound too much like a press release. Overall today was a quiet day and by 3pm I was tired and ready to crawl into bed. Today I learnt I could work on my question writing skills and maybe phone manner having been at the company for awhile I feel I am learning a lot and how it helps to have someone who is willing to help you.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Lessons Learned
''The news media are for the most part, the bringers of bad news…and it’s not entirely the media’s fault. Bad news gets higher ratings and sells more papers than good news.''
-Peter McWilliams
As I strolled into the ad features department at 9am I was advised I would be in the newsroom today. I wasn’t sure how to react so I said okay before heading into the news department. After having a browse through Friday’s Bulletin and a few of the other papers, I was summoned. Lendl told me of one story I had to cover about a charity walk as well as a jetty upgrade and a quirky feature on street names.
I was off, but with what? I was not going out report today so I felt I was left with very little information about my stories. I had one media release about the charity walk which was little help so I contacted a few sources. For my jetty story I had nothing! I was told to look up previous stories and gather information from them. So I tried my hardest to write the jetty story from about three or four articles all which were not overly informative. I tried contacting the island’s mayor and council with no reply at all, I kept trying all day. To my disappointment I had no source in my article which I knew meant it kind of fell to the bottom of the importance list.
My street story was just as bad Lendl told me it had to be quirky but when I called a councillor he was in a meeting and the other councillor did not even answer. I rang the city council and got the media department and after explaining to them what I was doing I got an ‘I’ll call you back’. So I was left with two complete stories at 2pm while waiting for contacts to get back to me for my third story as I felt I had reached my limit on decent sources to talk to.
Another I noticed early on in the morning was a few of the journalist’s who received complaints about articles. While not trying to be nosy I did hear how someone was complaining about a photo of their shop appearing in the paper and another complaint about the content of an article. This scared me in a way that someone could complain about what you had written and how there really was no solution. But I guess this is something I may have to deal with eventually- I will not be looking forward to it. A lesson learned- be confident in your stories, check spelling and if you have doubts talk to your editor.
-Peter McWilliams
As I strolled into the ad features department at 9am I was advised I would be in the newsroom today. I wasn’t sure how to react so I said okay before heading into the news department. After having a browse through Friday’s Bulletin and a few of the other papers, I was summoned. Lendl told me of one story I had to cover about a charity walk as well as a jetty upgrade and a quirky feature on street names.
I was off, but with what? I was not going out report today so I felt I was left with very little information about my stories. I had one media release about the charity walk which was little help so I contacted a few sources. For my jetty story I had nothing! I was told to look up previous stories and gather information from them. So I tried my hardest to write the jetty story from about three or four articles all which were not overly informative. I tried contacting the island’s mayor and council with no reply at all, I kept trying all day. To my disappointment I had no source in my article which I knew meant it kind of fell to the bottom of the importance list.
My street story was just as bad Lendl told me it had to be quirky but when I called a councillor he was in a meeting and the other councillor did not even answer. I rang the city council and got the media department and after explaining to them what I was doing I got an ‘I’ll call you back’. So I was left with two complete stories at 2pm while waiting for contacts to get back to me for my third story as I felt I had reached my limit on decent sources to talk to.
Another I noticed early on in the morning was a few of the journalist’s who received complaints about articles. While not trying to be nosy I did hear how someone was complaining about a photo of their shop appearing in the paper and another complaint about the content of an article. This scared me in a way that someone could complain about what you had written and how there really was no solution. But I guess this is something I may have to deal with eventually- I will not be looking forward to it. A lesson learned- be confident in your stories, check spelling and if you have doubts talk to your editor.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
From here, there and everywhere
There are only two forces that can carry light to all the corners of the globe... the sun in the heavens and the Associated Press down here.
-Mark Twain (1835-1910)
It was another busy day in the office as I started my day as news reporter. I was informed that I would be writing mostly news stories today. I was comfortable with this as I had already experienced writing news stories. To most people the number three does not seem like much. But when you are expected to write three 200 word stories- it is. After completing a career profile I was give two media releases. One was about Napoleon Perdis’s visit to the town and the other about the new umbrellas on Flinders Street. So I began looking for as much information as I could from the releases. It turned out that I could write a whole story from the Napoleon Perdis media release but not from the umbrella release.
I had an interview lined up at 12.30pm to meet with a source for the umbrella story. I double checked the photo diary to make sure I had the time correct. A photographer and I drove to Flinders St to capture some shots and talk to my source. After waiting for over half an hour we decided the source was going to be a no show. Which I thought may have been my fault as I could have misread the photo diary. But when I got back I checked and I hadn’t made the mistake. But I still had one major problem no story!
I contacted the media number I had and told them no one had turned up. They then said that someone had gone there earlier but the chief of staff assured me that we had rescheduled an appointment. All I wanted was someone to contact me back. Having previously had little luck with the council I didn’t have high hopes. Within an hour I had a councillor call me back to answer my questions. I had both on record and off record answers. As I continued to ask my questions I couldn’t help but feel his answers were scripted. I guess that is what you get when you interview a councillor.
My next story seemed to be quite a boring one. But I headed out with a photographer where we learned the importance of directions. As we were told we weren’t allowed to park on the grass, which was near where the interview and photo shoot was going to be. I thought I would be conducting my interview with the source that was there but it turned out he was not even aware we were coming. So I got a few quotes from him and then had to contact another source for the rest of the quotes.
Today was a busy one! Along the way I learnt many lessons and I have realised the importance of feedback and taking note of the little things in my articles. If these simple things were fixed it would may my editor’s job a whole lot easier. But I think it is the trouble with learning a new writing style, which is turning out to be a lot harder than I expected.
-Mark Twain (1835-1910)
It was another busy day in the office as I started my day as news reporter. I was informed that I would be writing mostly news stories today. I was comfortable with this as I had already experienced writing news stories. To most people the number three does not seem like much. But when you are expected to write three 200 word stories- it is. After completing a career profile I was give two media releases. One was about Napoleon Perdis’s visit to the town and the other about the new umbrellas on Flinders Street. So I began looking for as much information as I could from the releases. It turned out that I could write a whole story from the Napoleon Perdis media release but not from the umbrella release.
I had an interview lined up at 12.30pm to meet with a source for the umbrella story. I double checked the photo diary to make sure I had the time correct. A photographer and I drove to Flinders St to capture some shots and talk to my source. After waiting for over half an hour we decided the source was going to be a no show. Which I thought may have been my fault as I could have misread the photo diary. But when I got back I checked and I hadn’t made the mistake. But I still had one major problem no story!
I contacted the media number I had and told them no one had turned up. They then said that someone had gone there earlier but the chief of staff assured me that we had rescheduled an appointment. All I wanted was someone to contact me back. Having previously had little luck with the council I didn’t have high hopes. Within an hour I had a councillor call me back to answer my questions. I had both on record and off record answers. As I continued to ask my questions I couldn’t help but feel his answers were scripted. I guess that is what you get when you interview a councillor.
My next story seemed to be quite a boring one. But I headed out with a photographer where we learned the importance of directions. As we were told we weren’t allowed to park on the grass, which was near where the interview and photo shoot was going to be. I thought I would be conducting my interview with the source that was there but it turned out he was not even aware we were coming. So I got a few quotes from him and then had to contact another source for the rest of the quotes.
Today was a busy one! Along the way I learnt many lessons and I have realised the importance of feedback and taking note of the little things in my articles. If these simple things were fixed it would may my editor’s job a whole lot easier. But I think it is the trouble with learning a new writing style, which is turning out to be a lot harder than I expected.
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