Journalist profile

By Alena | Published: Thursday, 13th October, 2011
In just three years as a journalist for the Brisbane Times, 22-  year-old Marissa Calligeros has already achieved so much  both on the job and in her personal life.
Born and raised in Brisbane, Marissa has built up a big list of  achievements dating right back to her younger years in  primary school.
Discovering her love for public speaking and more specifically speech writing Marissa was able to obtain school captaincy during primary schooling which helped her win the ‘In-School Public Speaking competition in years five, six and seven.
During her later years in High School Marissa was also elected as a Prefect and participated in the Schools debating team as well as competing regularly in the Rostrum Public Speaking competition.
Marissa realized that she may pursue a career in journalism after she wrote a feature article on West End culture, which was published for the online news site the ‘Westender’ when she was in year 11.
“When I saw my work on the front page I thought, I could do this and I could get paid for this, so that was very much a light-bulb moment for me,” Marissa said.
“I definitely never considered myself a story writer, but what I did love was making observations about society and delving deeper into certain issues, investigating things and also the idea of not being stuck in the office all day.  Journalism really ticked all the boxes as far as that was concerned.”
During her time  at the University of Queensland studying a Bachelor of Journalism, Marissa obtained a job at the Media Entertainment Arts Alliance in her first year and through that organisation was able to attend  seminars for budding-journalists.
“I went along to one of these seminars and there was a panel of second and third year students and they said anyone who is serious about Journalism has got to start doing work experience and to get out there and begin to build up your portfolio.”
So, it was in her second year at Queensland University that Marissa undertook internships at Quest, ABC Radio National and Channel Ten during her holiday breaks.
During her time at ABC Radio National Marissa was able to produce a package that went to air as well as receiving the opportunity to work in the call centre for the talk-back shows.
In doing two weeks with Channel Ten, Marissa was also able to go out with a camera man and cover stories as well as having the opportunity to do reader voice over pieces.
“Doing all those work experiences did honestly give me a lot of confidence and I think it was a nice eye-opener into Journalism and what it is all about. It also really confirmed for me that this was what I wanted to do,”
“Just from those work experience week’s people learn your name and it really does help.”
Upon graduation in November of 2008 Marissa was offered a full-time job at the Brisbane Times and since then she has been been fortunate enough to go out and cover stories in New Zealand, around Brisbane and even during the thick of Cyclone Yasi in far north Queensland.
“Covering Cyclone Yasi was one of the scariest experiences, I was sitting in the four wheel drive with our camera man and I was literally bargaining with God for my life,”
“Despite how scary it was outside it was a great experience, I had the laptop on my lap and was doing a running commentary of what it was like to be in the Cyclone while we were stationed in Proserpine.”
Marissa is really enjoying her career at the Brisbane Times and looks forward to developing more as a Journalist.
Marissa’s advice to budding journalists is to “become an internship-hound.”

 

 

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Interview Christina Ongley – Bundaberg News-Mail Editor

By Mitch | Published: Tuesday, 4th October, 2011

Few would argue that some in this world are destined to do a certain job, as if they were put on this earth for one specific purpose.

For a select few that purpose is played out when winning a gold medal at the Olympic games in front of 80,000 cheering fans, an important moment no doubt.

For others it’s busting a gut in a shed, shearing sheep all day so the kids have dinner on the table that night, commendable no doubt and important, equally.

Christina Ongley is one of those people with a purpose. She had a script and walked her path and now happily sits behind the editor’s desk of the Bundaberg News-Mail.

It’s a long way from, as a child, making rudimentary newspapers for her dad to read, which Ongley readily admits makes her a bit of a “journalist nerd.” But it’s what she was born to do.

She was editor of her high school newspaper in grade 11 and co-student editor of the Queensland Independent while at university.

Then after working with the News-Mail for four years, she boarded a plane and travelled around Europe ,before accepting a job as editor of a newspaper in Essex, England.

The 33-year-old says it was her experience working five years in England which landed her the editor’s job with the Bundaberg News-Mail, a job she loves and would struggle to leave.

“When I graduated from uni I had great stars in my eyes. I wanted to work for metropolitan papers and I guess scale the big heights of journalism,” Ongley says.

“But I think after having worked in local papers for such a long time, I really value the role that they perform, and I really object to the idea that if you work for a local paper…you do a lesser kind of journalism.”

She says having a good mix of hard news, human interest stories and public information is the key to keeping local readers happy.

And when looking for story ideas, never discount the local shopkeepers or next door neighbours – “If they’re talking about it, chances are most people are too,” Ongley says.

 

 

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Interview with SA’s Sunday Mail Editor Megan Lloyd

By Brittany | Published: Tuesday, 4th October, 2011

As you walk into Megan Lloyd’s glass-walled office, you know you are in the presence of someone who has made it.

A room with a view, one wall is covered with the front page of past Sunday Mails while every desk surface is hidden under three inches of paper.

Megan Lloyd herself, the Sunday Mail Editor for almost three years, is another almost permanent fixture in the room – when she’s not in a meeting of course.

“A newspaper editor has to be a marketer, an advertising representative, a circulation manager, have to understand print side of the business. In a way I’m a retailer too,” she said.

And while Lloyd said she misses her work as a reporter, she said her appointment to editor for the largest selling paper in South Australia was an honour.

“It’s an enormous privilege,” she said and explained readers placed a huge amount of trust in all those who work in the media.

“We are a guest in people’s homes.”

South Australia’s Sunday Mail enjoyed a loyal readership of 593,000 but Lloyd said there was still a distinction between telling their readers how to think and what to think about.

“Newspapers can campaign and they can set agendas… As long as they are clear with their readers.”

Lloyd, who studied a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at the South Australian College of Advanced Education, now known as UniSA, said journalism was based on trust, with the cardinal sin in journalism being getting something wrong.

“The first time you spell someone’s names wrong and it gets in the paper wrong you’ll never do it again because it’s the worst feeling in the world,” she said.

But novice journalists had to remember they would always make mistakes, she added.

“By all means be enthusiastic and push yourself forward but you need to be mindful of the fact that at times you are going to make mistakes.

“Learn from them, don’t let them get you down.”

During her first cadetship, three years with South Australia’s community paper The Messenger, Lloyd said she embraced the opportunity to learn.

“My first editor said to me that I was a lemon and that he had hired a dud.

“I respect the candid comment, critical observation because instead of giving up… I set myself a task of working harder longer hours. I turned myself around.”

She said no matter your formal qualifications, nothing is beneath you when you are an aspiring journalist.

“You will have to start at the bottom and work your way up. Be prepared for that and relish the fact.

“You have to be a really inquisitive person… And fixated with the word why.”

She said all new journalists had to be sponges and constantly practise the craft of writing.

“This is not a 38 hour job,” she said firmly. “You have to live and breathe it.”

This includes reading newspapers, listening to radio news, analysing front page stories and mastering the basics of writing.

“Grammar and punctuation are like the playbook on which you build your game around,” Lloyd said.

She compared the process of writing to learning a musical instrument, the key to both being practise.

“People think they can say they can write but in fact they can’t… I always say to [them] – you do have to practise!”

She said this would stay true, even in the next ten years as journalism becomes more digital.

“Two years ago we didn’t even have ipads – who knows what sorts of platforms we will be reporting journalism on in 10 years.

“But I’d still like to be a journalist.”

Despite the popularity of blogs, she said websites that collect other people’s information and do not produce their own content would never replace genuine news outlets.

“For all the bad things journalists can do… it’s still better off to have us doing what we do and holding the powerful to account.”

 

 

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Internship Editor Interview: The QT’s Stuart Sherwin

By Luke | Published: Monday, 3rd October, 2011

During my internship at Ipswich’s daily newspaper, the Queensland Times, the editor Stuart Sherwin wore his sunglasses in the office.

Was this a rock star turned news hound? Or an alcoholic red-eyed hack?

We entered his barely-used official office and with his glasses perched on his head, I learnt that he was just nursing a sore right eye.

Sherwin turns out to be a straight shooter and not one for flowery conversation like you would expect from a rock star or wino.

Our interview was short and sharp, similar to the daily news conferences he leads, where he doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

Sherwin emigrated from the UK six years ago after visiting his wife’s family in Brisbane and getting tired of the rain in the motherland.

Beginning his Australian career with News Queensland, he worked on the Courier-Mail and the Sunday Mail.

He was one of the online news editor for the revamped CM website, when Fairfax launched the Brisbane Times competition.

He made the move to the QT in 2009 and I questioned his motivation.

“I wanted to be my own boss…I always aspired to be an editor,” he said.

The Queensland Times has a rich history and is the state’s oldest surviving provincial newspaper with a Monday to Friday readership of 19,000.

Sherwin’s inspiration for the news began at home.

“I brought up in a house where we always had tons of newspapers,” he said.

His Dad was a humble plumber, who bought at least two national daily newspapers and the three paid-for weeklies of the local area, plus an evening newspaper.

“I always had a fascination with papers and the news.

“What I always been interested in what’s going on in the world,” he said.

Sherwin studied history at university and began his career at a weekly paper in the UK roughly 15 years ago, then progressed to Chief-of Staff at a evening newspaper.

He has a well-rounded skill set, also wearing the sub-editor and page designer hats.

“A lot of editors don’t have production as well as the news thing.”

This helps him give direction to his staff as he has been in their shoes, apart from the photographers.

He paused for a moment when I asked him about his vision for the QT.

“Good stories told well, and that’s basically it…that’s essentially what people want from a newspaper,” he said.

“You don’t want to be entertaining people to sleep,” he said which made me chuckle.

“Ipswich is a very good news patch. The best news patch in Queensland.”

The parent company APN has a group editorial director who also has a vision for the stable of papers, but Sherwin said he concurs with his ideas.

He believes the area has a bright future, with a motivated mayor, Paul Pisasale leading it.

His wisdom for green journalists is to go the extra mile.

A recent job opportunity attracted 100 applicants.

“Get as much work experience as you possibly can,” he said.

Write off your own back, do the unpaid stories, they will pay off in the end – this was displayed by the successful candidate.

Just doing a course and working in a coffee shop won’t cut it.

Sage advice indeed from the mock rock star editor.

 

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Chris Tinkler interview – Herald Sun Chief of Staff

By Siobhan Baillieu | Published: Monday, 3rd October, 2011

Chris Tinkler, who is one of the Chief of Staffs at Australia’s biggest selling daily newspaper the Herald Sun made his splash into journalism back in his homeland of England while working post graduate as a researcher for a politics tutor.

“We were working on a book about attitudes and activities in conservative party members and the research manager was looking at doing a course in journalism and I was thinking about what career I’d do and after I had a chat with him I thought it would be a good fit for my skills and after attending the National Council Trainee Journalist college I learnt how to write a story, structuring, interviewing, law, public affairs and shorthand.”
This experience confirmed that he was interested in becoming a journalist and with more hard work, he got there.

“You needed to get a degree at one of these colleges before you could work in a newspaper. So I applied, did the degree, passed and then started blitzing newspapers.” he said.

Persistence was the key as Tinkler applied to 200 newspapers and eventually landed a job at the Burton Evening Mail which was the smallest daily newspaper in England with a circulation of around 25,000.

After spending about three or four months there, Tinker moved on to a paper called the Evening Herald, a regional daily paper of a higher circulation of about 80,000.

“I worked there for around three or four years, also spending some time at the regional daily’s before I found an Australian girl and found myself moving there.” he said.

And like many journalists before him, finding a job in Australia was hard so he found himself at local rag Leader only being allowed to work at a paper for six months at a time before looking elsewhere for work.

“The likes of the Herald Sun won’t take someone on for six months at a time so I found myself at Leader who were able to sponsor me as I didn’t have Australian citizenship. I ended up staying there for a year and a half before I made it over to the Sunday Herald Sun.” he said.

From 2001 to 2010, Tinkler has seen many historical events occur whilst at the paper including the devastating bushfire’s.

“Black Saturday was pretty full on. I was CoS at the Sunday Herald Sun and obviously because it happened on Saturday which is our breaking news day we actually had people on standby overnight in case the fire lines broke and I got a call from one of the reporters who was calling emergency services every hour to get updates that about 4am the containment lines had broken around the State Forest and we got our first team out at about 4.30am to get them on the road,”

He remembers the day being a frenzied day where reporters were risking their lives to report the facts.

“It was literally chaos with reports coming in of new fires and people panicking. A lot of misinformation being spread around.” he said.

“There is a famous picture of a fire truck driving away from a wall of flames coming toward it and that picture was taken by our team who were with the fire truck trying to outrun this fire which was just terrifying.” he said.

And with such events being so emotionally traumatising, does he take his work home with him to speak?

“Yeah you can’t ignore that sort of thing and all those sorts of story affect you. The recent story involving four year old Ayon Chol who died from the pit-bull attack and how Ayon was just hanging off the mother’s leg as the pit-bull attacked her really is hard as I am a recent father and you just think what if that happened to me?,” he said.

“When you get the personal story about children such as the Daniel Morcombe story it certainly affects you as well as the Black Saturday story. I was in the office managing the resources so I didn’t have the go to interview the families who had lost family members and it certainly takes an emotional toll.” he continues, pausing at times reflecting on such horrific memories.

After such devastating stories to cover, Tinkler does appreciate the lighter news that occurs and talks about how working as a journalist can be difficult at times but it is also the ‘thrill of the chase’ that gets him coming back to work day after day and is something that he would pass on to journalists starting out in the world of media.

“Never assume anything, never take anything on face value, always question things and the more time and effort you put in, the more you’ll get out of it.”

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