What else, getting on with everyone well now. Have made my pocket of cronies but unfortunately I have to move desks every day and have to try and charm a new bunch.
Hmm, what else, oh yes, my last vox pop in the next couple of hours! Sweet Deliverance! I won’t be missing the sixteen-year-old toothless mummies smoking crack in the Swich Mall.
Oh I have labelled Goodna Stab City after 2 murders by stab in the last 2 weeks. Nothing like a good old fashion stab for a headline.

So I’m still waiting for two comments for my last two stories for the Tiser due at 5pm. All under control, everything going be all right.

So summing up, it has been a positive experience, once I managed to get my reeling ego under control from the slug-in-the-face concept of working for free, and I have learnt a lot. I’ve learnt on a regional paper, you are required to cover community news and this has to written in a much more colourful way than the hard news writing we have been practising. Although the tasks are sometimes uninspiring and menial on the surface if you dig a little deeper there is always an interesting angle to take or character to interview.

I’ve also learnt the Journo’s are a hugely different job from stockbrokers,,, but similar in some respects. The similarities would be, they both thrive under pressure, work well to deadlines and tend to be outgoing. Similarities end there. Stockbrokers tend to be a much more homogenous and aggressive bunch where the diversity in personalities in the office here (including the greater staff –photographers, subs etc) is much greater, and dare I say it more interesting and less one dimensional.
 
 What else.. oh yes, Localize, Localize, Localize… that’s the ticket.

All right that’s a wrap.

Raul Duke

What I have learnt is that vox popping is the equivalent of making coffee… And I can now make any type of coffee in the world. I find the best method is to physically block people’s path so they have to stop for you, and then have them understand that it will be quicker for them to get on their way if they answer the question and smile for the camera!

No, I am being facetious, it has been an interesting week. I’ll admit I have been a little ill at ease, as its so weird being at work and not having anything to do except what you can find for yourself. I would agree with Adrian’s roundup being an intern is very different to being an actual employed journo. I would much prefer to be told off at the news conference for not having any ideas than sitting there like a rookie!

Given all that, it has been quite an eventful week and quite busy and exhilarating (if sporadically). I think I will quiet like being a journo in a rural setting as it’s great to get out of the office and meet some characters. I’ve quiet enjoyed it.

Monday we had a robbery, that we billed Bonnie and Clyde, Tuesday was at the courts for a granny bashing trial, which I must say to his credit the editor managed to beat up even more than the convicted granny basher! Wednesday was the dust storm where I managed to get a couple of photos in. Thursday I was covering a bunch of mentally impaired children learning CPR (I love public service initiatives). Today I did a shameless advertorial which would make the Proff and Desley wince! Yes down to the local pokies club to ramp up their $4 steak special!

In between that I got a good by-line for a Fuel pricing story that I managed to get stats for using some complicated mining algorithms in excel and took a photo for it, so that was good. I’ve got three in the weekly next week, deadline is in 10 minutes but I’ve already finished.. That’s they way I roll!

Many of my ideas have been done to death and I guess the only way to avoid that is to trawl through the back issues. I got approval to follow up a piece on returned veterans from Afghanistan living in Ipswich and their experiences re-integrating back into society… Sounds awesome and pitched it well, but now the god-dam privacy act has come and bit me on the ass…. I’m getting the run around massively by the defence media team, and my one source I was counting on refuses to put his name to it… So I have doomed myself a bit, but I will take no mercy on Monday and potentially could get a nice spread for it.

Ok stay tuned,,, who knows what will happen next…..

DR Gonzo

The course so far is based on practical skills with the emphasis on- no surprise- writing articles. Desley our news writing teacher is proving to be a very shrewd editor with a treasure trove of practical knowledge.

The work load is a little on the light side although there is plenty of extra reading and areas of knowledge to pursue, which suits me down to the ground.

All in the all, the first month has laid a good foundation upon which I feel everyone is keen to build upon throughout the year.