Jschool Student Blog » Andrew

Brisbane News

Andrew — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 07:53:18 +0000

So, here’s a bit of a rundown of my time at the Brisbane News. Being a weekly publication, there was a bit of a different vibe to the place. Each day just sort of petered out, rather than ending in the flurry that daily papers do. Mind you, things got a bit frantic on Friday afternoon as deadline loomed.
The staff consisted primarily of fairly glam ladies. Being neither glam nor a lady I worried I might not fit in.
I was, however, relieved that I had opted not to wear my reliable stubbies, singlet and thongs combination.
As it turned out everyone was pretty nice to me so that was good.
In terms of work: i started out sourcing “high profile” Brisbane identities for the little sections that are attached to the gardening and cooking sections.
I hope to never again have to ask a company director what their greatest kitchen triumph is.
Somewhere in the bowels of the News Limited computer network, there now lies a folder with about eight thousand of these interviews in it.
I did some other stuff as well. I interviewed Karen Knowles — She used to be on Young Talent Time. I hadn’t really heard of her so Google came in handy with that one.
I also wrote a health column about boozing and cancer, A local hero piece about a chap who volunteers for the RSPCA and an interview with a girl from a jazz band. I also wrote a few other odds and sods.
On Wednesday I sat in on an in an interview with Richard Bonynge. That was pretty interesting. He has led a pretty impressive life.
I also watched a home wares shoot and went along to a couple of property inspections.
It was an interesting week. I tried my hand at a few different things and learnt a bit more. Apparently they will be using some of my pieces in the coming weeks.
Well that’s about it for now. I’ll see you all to tomorrow.

Back in action

Andrew — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 10:03:58 +0000

Hello folks. Yep it’s me. I realise I have been a bit Lazy McSlackenstein in my offerings so I’ll try and make up for it now. I was fairly exhausted last week, but I’m feeling a bit more energised. Anyway, here is a bit of a rundown of my week at the Australian.

Day One: Showed up at ten as asked. Was introduced to the boss, Sean Parnell. He was much younger than I expected but he was a nice fellow indeed. He said he would try and get me to do as much writing as possible, so that was good. The operation itself was more low key than I expected, but because it’s a bureau they seem a just have a few senior journalist covering the big Queensland stories. It was a good environment but I wasn’t immeadiately hopeful for a byline.
The first task I was given was to make inquiries about a press release on Queensland trying to poach NSW tradespeople through seminars in Sydney. The first call I made was to Morris Iemma’s office. I was a bit nervous but it seemed to go ok, cos the guy said the big Moz was actually holding a seminar in Brisbane on the same day. Lo and behold a story materialised. I wrote a bit of a silly peice on the rivalry and by the end of the day it looked like it would get a run. As i was leaving Sean Parnell said it would probably get up so I was pretty pleased as I headed home.

Day Two: The story didn’t end up getting a run. (insert journalism cliche here). It was ok though. As soon as I showed up in the morning I was sent down to parliament house, on my own, to cover question time and the launch of some bit of puff from the department of child safety. Luckily my experiences from the press gallery with Jschool meant I was more than up to the task (John do I get a commission?) I ended up with a strange story from question time about the banning of duck and quail hunting (awesome redneck Queenslander angle). I also covered the Child safety launch and wrote a peice about that but there wasn’t an awful lot to the whole thing. Unfortunately neither of them got up either but I was pleased to get out and about. So far everyone in the office had been friendly and helpful. Most importantly nobody had gone bannanas yet.

Day Three: It was parliament again for me. I sat through a bit of question time. There was a funny feel about the place because everyone was waiting for Beattie to call the election. Nothing really came of the whole thing. After that I followed the media scrum and watched Beattie sign an agreement with Ron Clarke on the desalination plant at the Gold Coast (Zane where were you?). The Australian already had a journalist there so i just watched the whole thing unfold. I had been asked to cover the opposition press conference but there wasn’t one that day. When I got back to the office i was asked to look into a press release on the opposition’s train safety policy (apparently they’re for it). I tried to get some angle on the whole building a strong policy for the upcoming election. I guess it wasn’t considered general enough, either that or i submitted a peice of rubbish.so that didn’t end up getting a run either.

Anyway. That’s about it for me for now. I’ll keep you all updated from now on. I hope you are all enjoying the second week and I’ll see you round no doubt.

What a disaster

Andrew — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 07:00:04 +0000

Following our appearance at the student day we headed to the Regatta Hotel in Toowng for a Walkley forum with a focus on Journalists covering traumatic situations.
While common sense tells us most people who witness horrific events are bound to be effected, apparently this attitude has been seen as a weakness in many news rooms untill quite recently.
Channel TenÂ´s Cathy Border moderated the event at which a number of Journalists in various fields discussed their experiences in disaster and trauma situations.
Courier Mail photographer Rob Maccoll opened proceedings with a slide show of powerful and sobering images from time spent in, East Timor, Iraq, Bali and Thailand after the Asian tsunami.
Philip Williams from the ABC gave an emotional account of his time covering the Beslan school seige in Russia. Visibly still effected by the experience Mr Williams said the confessional nature of the forum was like being: “at an alcoholics anonymous meeting.”
There was a much emphasis placed on the fact that even today itÂ´s somewhat unusual for journalists to candidly discuss events they had covered.
With this in mind it appeared speaking at the forum was quite cathartic for the ABCÂ´s Lisa Millar and Mr Williams in particular.
As a student it was daunting but reassuring to know that attitudes to trauma seem to be on the up around the industry.

Student day 27/07/06

Andrew — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 05:17:54 +0000

As you will have gathered from my clasmates’ entries, last Thursday saw Jschool attend the MEAA’s student day.
Held at the Brisbane Art Gallery, the series of forums gave Journalism students the chance to meet and get advice from industry insiders.
Not wanting to repeat my classmates’ observations, i found the day interesting, useful and somewhat overwhelming.
There was plenty of information to grapple with, so in no particular order here’s what my overfed brain managed to digest:

-When starting with and organisation be prepared to go wherever they want to send you.
-Once you get a full time job it’s easier to stay in the business.
-Be up to date with the news (who would have thought).
-Show some initiative, look for different ways to use your skills.
-Don’t be in it for the money.
-Keep a contact book.
-Get published whenever you can.
-Be proud of your work.
-Get a good super fund.
-If you want to freelance it is better to have established a professional relationship with whoever it is you plan to sell to.
-Don’t limit yourself and be prepared to try anything.
-Dress well for internships and job interviews (undies on the inside etc…)
-There are jobs in the industry. All the people who spoke to us seemed to be gainfully employed.

So there you have it. I may have missed some valuable information, in which case i look forward to a successful career as a possum catcher.

My next entry will be about the event at the Regatta following the student day, unless, something majorly newsworthy happens in Taringa in the next five minutes.
If that happens I will tell you all.

Blog’s away

Andrew — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 02:00:47 +0000

Hello everybody, Andrew here. This is the first time I’ve ever been published on the internet. It certainly marks a milestone in my life. Stay tuned for more fascinating insights.