My week of internship is over and all up it’s been a good learning experience. I’ve written some briefs, some property ads, vox pops, three stories and helped out with other stuff.

I went and watched the Lord Mayor did up some dirt out at Wacol – very exciting amidst the trucks and dust of a busy intersection! There was only us and someone from the Satellite but got to check out the Lord Mayor’s ‘media watchdogs’. They thought they were pretty cool.

I noticed that the journalists in the office spent most of their time on the phone, either chasing people or doing interviews, only going out once or twice to do interviews. Shorthand will be really useful for doing phone interviews in a busy office where you can’t use the speaker and record.

Yesterday after interviewing the editor, Alan Welburn, for my assignment I got some unexpected feedback from him. He said, amongst other things, that I had exceptional talent and if he had a job on offer I wouldn’t be leaving the office without it. All day yesterday I had been questioning whether I was cut out to do journalism and so it was great to get feedback like that. It’s funny, what Alan sees in me I struggle to see in myself. I guess that will just come with confidence. I made sure to ask if he would be a reference for me in the future, I couldn’t let that get away, I might need him!