The last three days were the busiest days of my internship. Since I had started I had done only features stories and it wasn’t challenging enough, so I asked for some hard stories. Something which would seem easy for you guys may be stressful for a non-native speaker like me. Indeed, I had to call(…)

So as I write this, journos and photographers dine on pizza and beer behind me. The editor said he would buy pizza and booze for my going away, I thought he was joking. It isn’t all for me anyway haha, but it was still really nice. I’m sad to leave the Bully, I feel as(…)

I’m not really the type who enjoys writing about themselves. I’m not a teenage girl with a livejournal blog. I prefer to write about other people and the world around me, so I’ve been fairly lax on the blogging thing. At the start of last week I was sent to property at Quest. Despite not(…)

I have a confession to make. Sometimes, when I’m in the car and the news bulletin is drawing to a close, I’ll pretend I’m the journalist reading it. I don’t just imagine I’m sitting in the studio, covering off the day’s major stories. I actually speak to an invisible audience and sign off. “Melissa Archer, ABC(…)

Be sceptical and don’t take no for an answer are just two of a raft of useful tips from ex-ABC staffer Ray Moynihan on how to be a good journalist. Joining the ABC in 1986 Mr Moynihan worked with Radio National and Triple J, in addition to doing a five-year stint with Four Corners. Formerly(…)

After having a day off from the internship on friday, I cam on Monday saying I would start fresh and a new outlook to my slow days (if you remember my last blog, I had to get myself known). But I was so worng, for a few hours I was looking around for small stories(…)

One thing I have noticed in my internships, when you want a story idea of yours published the best thing to do is say this: “If Iwas a reader I would want t know why.” I’ve found myself saying this as well, by no means is it a sure fire way to get a story(…)

It’s been a busy few days for me since I touched down in Sydney on Sunday night. I was fortunate to fly down with the wonderful Qantas (no product placement here), although I will have to mark them down for serving spinach for dinner, which would be my least favourite food in the world even(…)

Another week has begun and new stories are coming up, well I hope! Yesterday I’ve done two stories, one was kind of hard news, which I thought would have been published today, but unfortunately did not end up in the newspaper. First of all, because there are so many stories done by day that it(…)

To anybody who has seen the film then you will probbly see where I’m going with this. So I just finished doing a story about the iPhone 5. So I wrote the story, and then wrote an opinion piece to go with it (my top five phones of all time). But anyway, so I wrote(…)

My two final days at the Queensland Times had the most pace: final wrap-up of my stories, pic stories, vox pops, and an interview with the editor. It was a thrill to finish the final interviews and write-ups for three stories I had pitched last week. I’ve not had active feedback on my earlier work(…)

CHANGING PERSPECTIVE An Idiots Guide:Part 2 My inability to do nothing has been a problem throughout my life, the biggest symptom being boredom. Luckily for me, there is almost always something to do in a newsroom with an editor, a journalist and a sports journalist who is there twice a week.  On my first day(…)