Sustainable Journalism

Cardiff Journalism School is all over for me now so it’s time to get into the real wide world of work. To kick things off I spent a couple of days with BBC Radio Derby where they had me out straight away reporting for them.

The first piece I did was about the ongoing problems the multi million pound Westfield Shopping Centre is having with its roof, in that it’s struggling to keep out the rain. I was sent out to cover the piece for their breakfast programme Phil Trow’s Breakfast Show. Have a listen below.

Then on my second day I was sent out to interview the work colleagues of local lass Rachael White, who has just entered the Big Brother house for its final series.

I went to Bonds hairdressing salon in Derby City Centre to get the lowdown on what Rachael is really like. This was broadcast on Colin Bloomfield’s Drivetime show on Thursday 10th June.

It was a great couple of days, and is a personal milestone in that they were the first two pieces I have done that have gone to air. I learnt a lot in the process, with some things I could do differently for next time, but thanks to the news team at Derby who gave me plenty of constructive feedback the experience has further galvanised my confidence for reporting out in the field.

Some days I panic, some days I don’t. Yesterday I had somewhat of a momentous wobble, fearing everything beyond the end of the week let alone what will happen when I finish this course. The profession myself and my colleagues are aiming for seems as if it’s in a perpetual state of flux, in all three disciplines. I take some confidence that we are at one of the best institutions in which to be learning the craft of journalism, but seemingly these days such a skillset is simply not enough.

In order to survive we are going to need thicken our respective skins and become resilient and tenacious freelancers. Never before have journalists had to market themselves as a singular product, or all need that ruthless entrepreneurial streak running through their veins. Gone is the day where you can expect to become a BBC lifer and look forward to getting a pension. Gone is the day of fortress journalism, where the bastions of print and broadcasting fought it out against one another for the best scoop with a stranglehold on audience or readerships of a tripartite medium- print, the wireless and the tellybox. The internet has destroyed these fortresses, gradually eroding them like a dry rot rather than a cataclysmic meltdown. However, as I’ve been banging on about since the birth of this blog – the ramifications have been huge. It’s a tale of espionage by the citizen journalist and blogological warfare.

I read yesterday about the Postgraduate Journalism students of Goldsmiths in South East London, who have been working on the EastLondonLines magazine. What a great idea, a website to serve the commuters of the soon to be reopened tube line. From this they’ve already had some of their stories go national and they are really immersing themselves in the community in which they are studying. Maybe studying broadcast is a bit different, but it’s a shame we’ve been slow off the mark on this one and not combined our work as a whole, to try and market our own journalistic product.

I’ve been giving it a go with a couple of my environmentally geared colleagues with Welsh Green Dragon, but not to the extent of EastLondonLines. It’s time to get my business head on. How can I make it pay?

The deeper we get ourselves in, the more it seems like we’re on a reality TV show. I’m thinking at the moment it’s like a mixture of The Apprentice and Dragons Den. Goldsmith’s are on course for an offer from the dragons. We need to make sure we keep Margaret and Nick from getting us fired.

I dunno who Suralan (or should I say Lord Sugar of Clapton) is going to be yet but when I find out they’ll be getting my CV.

Usually Radio 5 live in the morning ends for me at 9 – the phone in subjects don’t normally warrant making me late. However yesterday was different, as listeners could have their say on the BNP’s forthcoming appearance on Question Time.  I don’t think there has ever been as much anticipation for the BBC’s flagship political programme as this, well not in my adult lifetime anyway. And its developing by the hour with opinion very much divided. The main dissenter is Welsh Secretary Peter Hain who’s latest move has been to lodge his objections to the BBC trust to try and convince them against letting Nick Griffin on the programme. Hain fears giving the BNP such a platform will award them political credibility if Griffin is allowed to appear on primetime television alongside the main parties.

All this on the subtext of last weeks court case that the BNP had broken the race relations act in not allowing non-white members to join the party, which therefore made them ‘illegal’. Apparently they will be recruiting non white members – I don’t reckon they’ll be inundated with applications, do you? Here’s Peter Hain being interviewed on Newsnight by Jeremy Paxman.

The phone in itself was fairly compelling, and there were surprisingly very few callers who thought that it was wrong for the BNP to appear. Arguments for included the fact that as soon as Mr Griffin gets going it’ll become clear what his party stands for; he’s going to need to spin their ideology to within an inch of its life to avoid being verbally ripped to pieces by the audience. Also that if you try and silence fascism it will only come back stronger, as happened historically with the rise of the Nazi’s in Weimar Germany. But the most poignant of contributors was a black muslim caller from Coventry, who said that freedom of expression and tolerance to hear their viewpoint should pervade in this case. It’s about 20 mins in, all makes for an interesting listen.

Anyway you haven’t got long until it disappears forever, or until i learn how to record off iplayer! Yet this morning the plot thickens, the Guardian (them again) have got their hands on a supposed database of BNP members, which has yet to be authenticated. It has been leaked online to the site Wikileaks who say they’ll be publishing it tomorrow, with an apparent snapshot of how the BNP’s membership stood in April this year. Most surprising in this for me is that the East Midlands seems to have the highest concentration of party members. All but my home county of Nottinghamshire appear in the top four including Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Leicestershire. How have people become so disillusioned in the midlands?

Also today a number of former Army chiefs have denounced ‘extremist groups’ who hi-jack the success of the British military for their campaigns. ‘Stolen Valour’ have not named the BNP outright, but its obvious who they are targeting.  So if its downright campaigning for them not to appear, or undermining them before they do, there are plenty of attempts at derailment. The BBC are being extra cautious in terms of security for thursday night’s broadcast and are carrying out extra checks on the live audience before they arrive to ensure that protesters do not sabotage the recording, that itself taking place within the confines of television centre for the first time in 4 years.

I’d have to agree with Jon Snow though; if they have been elected democratically then it’s a broadcaster’s responsibility to report on it demonstrating impartiality and fairness. Nick Griffin may gloss over and give well rehearsed answers, but the majority of the room will be against him including the rest of the panel, so it’d be a miracle if he comes out of it on top. And moreover I think it’d be more damaging if it doesn’t go ahead, the sooner we face the BNP head on, the sooner they will crumble.