The Sequence on JUS News

This was a programme put together and presented by myself and the MA Broadcast Journalism students at Sheffield University.

Thoughts on Journalism

I'm halfway through my masters course in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Sheffield, and I've come to some conclusions about journalism as a field of practise.

My first observation which I've come to is that a journalist has to be pro-active. We have been given a new assignment this semester which involves going back to our patches (Barnsley for me), and finding a new story to produce a multimedia web piece on.
This piece will no doubt appear on the blog!
Last semester we had to retrieve four stories from our patches, a nightmarish task towards the end of the term. However as the old saying goes,

"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."

In that new line of thought I am preparing to succeed! I'm hoping to get a story sorted as soon as possible so I can relax towards the deadline.

Self-Confidence

I consider myself quite a confident person, but in my opinion a journalist, in order to succeed, needs to be unnaturally confident. Asking people to talk to you and getting responses, chasing leads for stories that people may not want you to report and proving things wrong against popular opinion.
There is no doubt confidence is an essential tool for a budding journalist.

Its been a brilliant semester just gone, but I have a feeling this one will be much more hectic. And it's my goal to prepare as much as I can, saving myself the stress towards the end.