Work experience
So, just finished a week's experience at the Surrey Mirror. To be honest, I really wanted to get this one out of the way to get on to "more exciting" placements at consumer magazines. I was pleasantly surprised.
The first day started off pretty slowly, just flicking through the nationals looking for relevant stories, but by the afternoon, I was out doing the dreaded voxpop. This was really the first time I had done this, so I was pretty nervous. I was assigned to go to the local park with a photographer to speak to people about a proposed exclusion zone. It turned out that as soon as you say you are from the paper, people are more than happy to chat, and I ended up getting some really good stuff and actually enjoying it. Back in the office, I sent them off to the editor and they were published.
I found that the more enthusiasm you have, the more willing people are to take notice and give you other things. Press releases and phone interviews followed and I was finally able to put all that theory into practice.
I really enjoyed my week at the Surrey Mirror and even ended up with a front page splash "local yobs terrorise pensioners in bongo fiasco"! The placement turned out to be a lot of fun and has really made me think that I could happily work for a local paper.
This week I'm at First magazine. So far, it's been pretty slow. The office is pretty big, but because there are two of us on work experience, there's not really enough work to go round. So far, the work has mainly be admin and writing a few problem page entries (oh my god - they make them up?!), but hopefully my constant badgering should pay off soon.
The first day started off pretty slowly, just flicking through the nationals looking for relevant stories, but by the afternoon, I was out doing the dreaded voxpop. This was really the first time I had done this, so I was pretty nervous. I was assigned to go to the local park with a photographer to speak to people about a proposed exclusion zone. It turned out that as soon as you say you are from the paper, people are more than happy to chat, and I ended up getting some really good stuff and actually enjoying it. Back in the office, I sent them off to the editor and they were published.
I found that the more enthusiasm you have, the more willing people are to take notice and give you other things. Press releases and phone interviews followed and I was finally able to put all that theory into practice.
I really enjoyed my week at the Surrey Mirror and even ended up with a front page splash "local yobs terrorise pensioners in bongo fiasco"! The placement turned out to be a lot of fun and has really made me think that I could happily work for a local paper.
This week I'm at First magazine. So far, it's been pretty slow. The office is pretty big, but because there are two of us on work experience, there's not really enough work to go round. So far, the work has mainly be admin and writing a few problem page entries (oh my god - they make them up?!), but hopefully my constant badgering should pay off soon.
posted by Mary-Ann at 9:44 am
2 Comments:
Hey Mary-Anne, well done on the vox popping! It always fills me with dread, but once you get going it's not so bad. the worst part has to be when people completely ignore you, or look through you. I think they must just think you are trying to sell something. Good luck with the next placement x
hey. thanks for the comment - i'm glad my picture made you smile! it took me a ridiculously long time to do, but all the same, i'm considering illustrating my blog like this in the future!!!
not sure when we should all get together again - maybe at the end of feedback week???
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