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What a Journalist Isn't

I'm sick and tired of the abuse journalists are getting at the moment. They don't deserve it, at least real journalists don't - ...

28 February 2014

The Hunger for News

The hunger. You either have it, or you don't - and it's the defining characteristic, in my 20 years of training broadcast journalists, of those who are going to succeed.

I can guarantee that ahead of other important factors such as work ethic, determination, voice and craft skills the first trainee from each class to be employed will be the one who really needs their fix of news, has a yearning to find out more and gets a buzz from doing so. Certainly the degree classification doesn't come into it.

I was reminded of the fact listening to Nicola Furbisher give her talk on the final day of Leeds Trinity's Journalism Week. Some of those in the theatre felt the hunger too, you could see it shining in their eyes. Her words were food and drink to them. They might just make it. Others were detached, heads-down. They still have time to learn. Some weren't there at all, preferring an extra hour in bed before coming in mid-morning to be entertained by the day's star name off the telly. They'd be well advised to start researching careers in retail right now.

I'm also bemused by the number of young people who apply for Journalism degrees without any discernible interest in journalism at all.

24 February 2014

There'll Be Another One Along in a Minute

Technology can do wonderful things for broadcast journalists. With near-universal 3G coverage and extensive superfast wifi the old issues of getting material back to the newsroom are gone. One click and the audio or pictures ping up on an editor's workstation - and those shiny, shiny smartphones can do audio, HD quality video, texts, email and Twitter all in the palm of your hand.They can point you to the nearest Starbucks even if they can't (yet) make a brew. And it's even possible to make the occasional phone call on them.

My trainee journos at Leeds Trinity are well clued up on the possibilities, and over this week they'll be putting theory into practice, producing multimedia web pages as they follow top industry speakers taking part in our annual Journalism Week. If it moves or squeaks within a hundred metres of the Mary Hallaway Lecture Theatre it'll be on the web within seconds. Just watch the hashtag #ltjw go global.

There is, however, something in all this that worries me.