A Week in a Daily

This week (24/01/11 - 28/01/11) I have been fortunate enough to spend my time at the Birmingham Post & Mail, working as a staff reporter in their editorial department. So I thought I'd share with you all the triumphs and pitfalls of my week at a daily newspaper.


Monday

Arriving at 10am, I was greeted by the ever-friendly and helpful Ms. Davis, who handles all of the work placement students when they first arrive. I did the usual tour of the office, before being assigned to my desk.

I was prepped in how to work the system by John Marsden and given the task of preparing the Post's property supplement - requiring me to phone around local estate agents in a specific area and research house prices, transport links, town attractions and local schools.

After this I was taken out to the Villa home ground in Perry Barr to help with the filming of the Darren Bent mania happening there due to his recent signing.

Not a vastly interesting first day, but they like to test the water with you I think.

Tuesday

A much more eventful day entirely! I was signed over to the hands of the Newsroom team, and Content Editor Andy Richards kicked of the day with an impromptu pop quiz for me by saying:
"So, what news have you got for me then?"

Despite being awake at 6.30am and watching the news whilst I had my standard breakfast of strong coffee and a cheesy crumpet, I literally came over as a deaf mute all in the one moment, and couldn't come up with a single interesting thing to say!

Seriously bad timing for me to actually be speechless for a change, and he advised me to always come prepared with fresh ideas. As he said, even if they don't get used at least it shows that I'm keen and that I'm aware of what's happening in the world. Let's face it, everybody loves a trier...and that's definitely what I'll be from here on out!

I was then set the task of reworking two different press releases into 150 and 250 word stories. This required talking to the PR companies behind the press releases, organising interviews with the people involved in the stories and gathering pictures and background information to fill out the articles with.

Later in the day I was asked to compile a follow-up story on a litter of abandoned puppies from Birmingham Dogs Home. The Mail had published a "Homes Wanted" plea in their Saturday edition, and it had seen a major response from readers who had gone on to adopt all 14 helpless animals. I compiled a 350 word picture lead, including quotes from the head fundraiser at the charity, and the story is due to be run (with my byline) later in the week. Success at last!

My final task for the day was to transcribe a letter from a convicted armed robber, who had written to the paper from prison in order to address some accusations which had been made about him in the media recently. Obviously I cannot divulge any of that information here, but it certainly was an interesting read. It's amazing what they will trust you with on your second day!

Wednesday

A bit of a slow start to the day, unfortunately. I started my day by adding a final quote to the 150 word article on a pie-making contest, before being assigned a 100 word weather report to write. Obviously not front page news, by my work in print is still my work in print! View it here: "Snow could be on the way back to Birmingham"

I went for my third experience of a news conference, held at 10.30am and 1.30pm, involving the editors of all the different sections of the paper. The news conference helps keep the whole team in the loop regarding what content they have already got, what they need to chase up and where each potential story will feature in the newspaper.

Following this, I arranged an interview with a local swimming apprentice for the following day, which would help solidify my 250 word story on her and her successes. I then received some good news from Content Editor Andy Richards, who said that my 350 word story on the abandoned puppies was being turned into a full page story, and he set me the task of tracking down the new owners for a photocall. Apparently the paper want to run a full page story in a few weeks, and then do a recap of the animals 12 months from now, to see how far they've come.

The whole story is a feel-good piece, and brightens up the array of news on offer, and it don't half make the Mail look good as well! Plus, I'm more than happy to have a full page story on my third working day! Even more success at last.

Thursday

Today was spent at Birmingham Crown Court, with the paper's court reporter Ross McCarthy. As many of you will know, I have studied Media Law for the past few months as part of my University course, so I was pretty familiar with the whole procedure any way. However, the main issue I noticed when trying to report on court cases as a student was that the court officials are much less forthcoming with their information than they are when it comes to the press.

Ross was able to stride into the court with a list of all of the main cases for that day under his arm - many accompanied by Police press releases with the main information about the case included - so he was already at a great advantage to my humble efforts previously.

Also, the court usher was more than happy to fill in any blanks he had. Considering I couldn't even get ages and addresses off them half the time, I was glad to see that when you do get your press badge you seem to be taken more seriously as a writer and are privy to better info as part of that.

We got to watch a highly interesting case, involving four men and one woman from across the Birmingham area, who had meticulously planned two armed robberies - one at a cemetery and the other at a bank (both in Hansworth) - both of which were linked.

The clear pull factor in this story was that the gang had stolen the JCB digger used to dig the graves at the cemetery, and driven it into the wall of the bank in order to steal tens of thousands of pounds. I have posted the link to Ross' final article here for you to peruse: "Birmingham gang 'smashed into bank with JCB', court told"

A great story and it certainly was an interesting case to watch.

Friday

My final day at the Birmingham Post & Mail - for now. It was go go go from minute one today, as I had an interview with a local swimming apprentice, who had recently won awards for her academic and vocational successes, to complete and type up to begin with.

After this, I was set the task of chasing up emails, phone calls and photographs that we were yet to receive. It's the little things like this that hold up production in a newsroom, as not having a good quote or a strong image to head the story with can make the article you're working on seem rather incomplete. The story I wrote on Tuesday about the 14 abandoned puppies from Birmingham's Dogs Home was written up and waiting to go, but the lack of images to accompany the full page spread meant that it couldn't go to print until we had them. Nightmare!

I was then asked to draft up a story about a group of organisations in Cannock who had buried a time capsule under the newly built fire station. It was all very lighthearted, accompanied by nice pictures of the school children and the chief firefighter burying the time capsule. Stories like this are hardly front page news, but as I was told by Content Editor Andy Richards, The Birmingham Mail does like to try and keep an even mix between hard news stories and lighthearted stories of human interest - to give the paper a more rounded overall feel.

Usually, the big new is big news because it's bad news - an unfortunate but accurate fact to acknowledge. By including as many little lighthearted filler stories as possible, the paper hopes to give a better balance to what they report on and therefore what their readers have on offer to them.

My final task for the day was to research and write up an 800 word piece for the Birmingham Post's Valentines Day supplement, due out in the second week of February. It was intended to be an informal yet informative article on the best places to eat out this Valentines Day. I chose to include a wide range of different restaurants, in different areas across the city, so that there would be something for every taste and every budget.

My thoughts

Overall, my time at the Birmingham Post & Mail was quite successful. I got to write a fair few stories which are likely to be published, I got to experience what it is like to work in a bustling newsroom environment, and I learnt a great deal about the way a regional paper such as the Mail works to appeal to its core audience.

The only minor issue I had during my time there was finding that I didn't always have enough work to keep me occupied. Obviously, there are only certain articles that I was going to be trusted with, and being a rookie journo I was keen to impress and often blitzed through the work faster than they had expected.

With the newsroom being such a full-on commitment every day, the editors simply don't have the time to work consistently with us students, so I did end up having to find work for myself to do quite often during the week.

Andy Richards did say he would have loved to have spent more time with me during the week, as he was impressed with my writing style and organisational skills, and would have liked to helped me develop those further - but the restraints on his time as Content Editor every day meant that this was just not possible.

I'd happily go back again, and after working there for only a week I can honestly say I would feel right at home in a newsroom environment such as the Mail's. A regional newspaper might be the perfect place to start my blossoming career as a journalist after all.