As we reach the end of teaching for our first semester, I thought that it is a good time to reflect on how I have found my first semester as a journalism student at Birmingham City University.
Over the past eleven weeks, I have gained and expanded on skills that I did not know I have. One of the biggest skills that I have developed in my time so far is my confidence. This has come in part to getting quotes for the various news stories that I have had to write so far, especially when it comes to our live news days. On a live news day, I have to call people relevant to my story. This means that I have had to become a lot more confident when I phone people to make sure that I sound professional.
By doing the live news days, it has also shown me how important resilience is as a journalist. This is because, when writing a good story you need to make sure that there is a quote in there. Sometimes getting a quote can be difficult (especially in a short time frame) however, to ensure that I have a quote for my story, you have to have multiple enquiries open. Not only this, I have to make sure not to give up in order to get the best possible quote for my story.
When it comes to the stories that I have been writing, I have leaned heavily towards local stories. This has its pros and cons, a pro being that I am able to get unique stories that others may not have "spotted." One of the cons that I feel personally is that some national news pieces are not as "light". This means that I currently do not have as much experience with this as I would like, so this is something that I am going to pursue during my study.
Another area that I want to improve on is making sure that my work has the clarity that it needs. Sometimes when I read a piece to myself, it will make sense however, when it comes to reading it out loud there are errors that I have missed. This I feel will be one of my biggest challenges to overcome but I feel that with using my resilience this is something that I will tackle throughout my study.
Overall, I have been enjoying my study so far study and it has opened my eyes into what it takes to become a journalist in the 21st century.
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