Tag: multimedia journalism

Glyndwr University Field Trip to MediaCityUK

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A sound installation, a star-struck brush with Waterloo Road‘s lead man and a seat on the BBC Breakfast sofa were some of the highlights of a field trip to MediaCityUK yesterday.

Second-year undergraduates on the Broadcasting and Journalism BA spend the day exploring the Salford Quays site, visiting BBC North and Salford University, as part of the Media Business module.

They gathered multimedia content, vox pops interviews and insight into the MediaCityUK development for assessed presentations after Easter. Story angles, developed in advance of the visit, ranged from sustainability in media organisations to the impact of the BBC move from London on local employment.

Students questioned local experts about job and freelance opportunities for recent graduates at the expanding MediaCityUK complex.

Paul Broster, Course Leader for Salford University’s MA Journalism programme, said: “There are very few permanent staff jobs available these days but media outlets are still hungry for quality freelancers with skills and enthusiasm.”

He indicated their courses are now increasingly embracing online journalism as the essential skill for next-generation journalists.

Margaret Burgin, Outreach Manager for BBC North, explained that, while all work experience opportunities are advertised on the BBC Careers website, strong applicants will always shine through.

“It’s passion we look for,” she said. “Do you really want this? If you don’t, we can tell just from your application.”

BBC North currently operates an apprenticeship programme for residents of Greater Manchester and paid work experience under its ambassador programme.

Journalism lecturer David Atkinson, who arranged the trip, said: “This was another useful exercise in taking students out of the comfort-zone classroom and engaging in some real-world journalism.”

He added: “I hope the students benefitted from the practical nature of the exercise.”

“Personally, I fulfilled a childhood ambition to visit the Blue Peter garden, while my esteemed colleague came tantalisingly close to an audience with Stuart Maconie.”

 

Gazeteer

University of Salford

BBC Careers

The Guardian – MediaCityUK

* Feedback from students (2nd year, Broadcasting & Journalism) following the trip:
  • Daniel Lloyd: “I particularly enjoyed having the chance to look around the BBC building. I’d definitely advise doing this trip with future students because overall it was enjoyable and relevant to our future careers.”
  •  Kelton Evans: “MediaCityUK was a good choice of place. It looked to be at the cutting-edge of modern British media, and offered a good insight into how the BBC operates. The BBC security were a bit of a pain too, stopping photos etc. but, other than that, all good.”

Wales Coast Path blog for Visit Wales

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Like most freelancers, I’ve been spreading my editorial wings as traditional commissions get scarcer.

Writing content for travel websites is one of my new directions and the following set of links to five blog posts I created for Visit Wales are a good example of where I’d like to go.

The work was rewarding, the discipline of working online stimulating and the good, old-fashioned principles of angles, accuracy and telling a personal story transferred well to the new medium.

The ideas was simple. To walk sections of the then-forthcoming Wales Coast Path (more about the opening), meet some local characters for human interest and include lots of local colour, combining elements of travel and nature writing.

The feedback I received from Visit Wales indicates that it was well received, generated lots of comments and social-media interaction and, generally, proved to be a good read.

Jane Harris, who works in Media Relations for Visit Wales, said:

“The blogs were produced were beautifully written, well researched and came together with associated Flicker images. I understand that no editing was required before uploading to WordPress. Work from David is always produced with said time frame.”

The five posts, written between February and May 2012, are as follows:

Are you looking for travel content for your website? How did you rate my work on this project?

Post your comments below.

Creative Futures 2013: Getting A Job in the Media

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The Creative Futures event is under way at Glyndwr University. It runs until Thursday.

Yesterday I caught freelance producer Phil Hirst giving a ground-level talk, Getting a Job in the Media.

His message focused on how to break in to a media landscape he describe as, “Fast-moving, fickle and a challenging business to work in.”

It was a rather static presentation lacking visual punch at times, but he did offer some advice to undergraduates keen to find a foot in the door.

“Ask some searching questions about what you want to achieve. How you will turn that burning ambition into getting a job.”

Most noteworthy was a section on the importance of work experience.

He cited a recent BBC news story detailing the findings of the latest High Fliers study.

The report indicates there will be more jobs for new graduates in 2013 but warns that “… graduates without work experience will struggle to get jobs no matter how good their grades.”

I did plenty of work experience myself while at journalism school.

It was a mixed bag – from making tea at the now defunct Melody Maker to trips down to the cuttings library to research stories at the Mail on Sunday.

Some of my cohort went on to get jobs from their work placements. I didn’t. But the experience of being in the newsroom proved invaluable nonetheless.

I spent four months unemployed after graduation. Then I got a few freelance shifts and that led to a full-time job on a magazine.

I moved to London the next week.

Phil offered some top tips for working in the media as follows:

  • Make it count. Get that work experience
  • Make friends. Put yourself about. Open doors
  • Make media. Watch, read, listen
  • Make your own luck. Target your effort
  • Make it to the finishing post. Pick yourself up and go again
  • JFDI. Just flippin’ do it

He said: “These days, it’s what you know, what you can show and who you know.”

Do you agree? Did you find Phil’s talk useful?

Post your comments below.

Blogging the Ffresh Festival at Glyndwr University

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A group of Glyndwr student bloggers featured among the young talent at the ffresh festival at Glyndwr University last week.

The four first-year undergraduate students, Carys Wright, Chelsea Taylor, Jack Hardiman and Wanyi Li, live blogged the student moving image festival of Wales for the university’s social media outlets.

Their articles included a mix of news items, interviews and personal blog-style reactions to festival events.

James Nee, Director of the Ffresh Festival, said he wanted to encourage more students to get involved in the festival.

“If you’re passionate about what you want to say and you try hard, ultimately, you’ll create something you’re happy with,” he said.

One of the most popular guest speakers was documentary filmmaker, Jes Benstock. He spoke of his enthusiasm for working with young talent from all walks of life.

He said: “I like working with non-mainstream characters, probably because I’m one of them myself.”

David Atkinson, Lecturer in Multimedia Journalism, who co-ordinated the team, said, “This was a great opportunity for journalism students to get a taste of a real-life editorial exercise.

“They worked really hard to create some excellent content,” he added.

Read more of the students’ work at the Glyndwr tumblr blog.

And read the day-by-day blog for the ffresh website by a Glyndwr NCTJ student.

What was your favourite events at the festival?

Post your comments below.