“News conference everyone,” Brigid said and we all scuttled into the front meeting room. There was new face today and she looked like an intern. Turns out she was, and from QUT. She didn’t have any story ideas. She did a week earlier in the year and comes in for a few days a week to help with the weekly edition. She said the QUT degree is quite focused on broadcast. I updated the team on my stories in progress and pitched a new one about a hip hop festival at the local art gallery. It got up.

I then grabbed my fresh edition and went straight to the PM story about the event I attended last night. I was impressed with the write up and photo completed by my colleagues after hours. I then looked at my vox pop efforts. I was disappointed to see the sub had corrected a name from Tompson to Thompson when the actual spelling was Tompson!  So, Zane showed me how to put in a note to the subby (it’s called blind text which isn’t printed) so I could tell the subby it was  actually correct spelling. Very handy.

I was delegated a story about a event which I planned to go to with the snapper (lingo for photographer) at 11am. Turns out the photographer went from another job for travel efficiency so I would be doing the story on the phone. Paul gratefully leant me his Olympus phone recording device and I did a phone interview with the organiser.

In the afternoon, I went out with Dave, one of the boy snappers to do the vox pop. I went to a job with him first about the rising trend of women dying their brown. We went to a cosy little hair salon with two brunette hair dressers and a brunette model. Good source by the journo! (she was away). I am amazed by how many shots they take. They seem like perfectionists. Dave said it’s much better to choose a shot from a wide range. Quite time consuming though, not just a snap and go.

We did the vox pop and I was pleasantly suprised that all the respondants knew about the issue, unlike my experience in the Queen St Mall with the Julian Assange question.

It was interesting to see a local story go national today. It was about a poor mentally ill boy, 12 who got tasered by the police. It was the lead story on Ninemsn when I logged out of Hotmail. Great thrill to know where the story broke. By Andrew, who plays soccer in his leisure time and sits  just over the cubicle divider from me.