Research
Anxieties (what worries/concerns you), Wellbeing (how I improve my wellbeing) - self fulfilling prophecy, how to prepare for an interview, dream job - S.T.A.R., 10 questions, showreel research and notes, formal letter, telephone skills
To ensure I fully understand the job role of a broadcast journalist and what it entails I did some research online to discover more about it. Here are some of the key points that I learned:
Career path and progression:
With experience, you could become a studio-based presenter or a special news correspondent e.g. political editor or health editor for a news organisation such as Sky or BBC News.
You could also move into programme making, producing, or management. In fact I learnt on an open day to London Southbank University, that many journalism degree students also go into content production for services like the NHS.
Typical qualification requirements
Most broadcast journalists enter the job after doing a degree or postgraduate qualification in broadcast journalism.
Many of these courses are accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council
To get into Universities that require this degree you usually need 2 to 3 A Levels or equivalent Level 3 Course e.g. Level 3 Creative Media Production & Technology.
(Nationalcareers.service.gov.uk, 2019)
Here was another job that had similar aspects to broadcast journalism:
Press officer
Day-to-day duties might include:
Career path and progression
With in-house PR officer experience, you could be promoted to PR manager, social media manager or head of communications.
Typical qualification requirements
You could carry out a University degree in Public Relations and journalism at the University of Winchester example
Here was another job that I thought looked interesting and also had a similar skillset to the previous jobs I looked at:
Portfolio research
As I will be making a portfolio to show of my work relevant to journalism, I am going to look at other portfolio's and analyse them. 2222
This one worked well as it showed off the students work - all relevant to broadcast journalism. That being said I feel like it was too long at over 4 minutes - I believe 2 minutes would have made the show reel more engaging. One of the problems that I have is that I don't have as much work as this student that relates to broadcast journalism - as after all he is a university student studying this subject. However I still have quite a few pieces that relate to journalism such as interviews, news pieces, radio broadcasts.
I also liked the look of this journalists portfolio - this was a website.
The website was very organised and had different pages such as ones dedicated to the articles she has written, her work she has done for the BBC and other Broadcast work.
The website demonstrates her skills - she can write articles and create, edit and present news packages.
Although I like the website - this journalist has got a lot of journalistic work. Therefore if I was to do a website I believe their would not be enough work on it whereas I have enough work for a short show-reel (I will create some more content in the next few weeks for this).
Competencies within interviews
Political/War corespondent at BBC
1. Research services, products, customers, competition
2. Look sharp, man - tie, clothes that are not creased, feel good about your clothes
3. Be prepared - have a C.V. ready, have in mind who you are going to for references (respected people)
4. Be on time e.g. 10 mins early - recce location day before
5. Show enthusiasm - shake hands and speak clearly
6. Listen carefully to whats being said - reading between the lines
7. Answer the question asked (seek clarification - clarify what they they mean if you don't understand)
8. Examples x3 e.g. experience - show success and uniqueness
9. Ask questions - gain valuable information
10. Follow up - set up a meeting e.g. ask them about the interview - what were my weak points etc... find out traits that are needed
S.T.A.R.
Situation - set the scene, where?
Task - Role (Team)
Action - my response, avoid jargon, involve team? Difficulty, person, equipment.
Result - positive, what you learnt, how I have changed and how this will be I the future
Practice interview
Dream Job
(Study.com, 2019)
BBC War/Current affairs corespondent
During wartime, the public usually depends on war correspondents to bring them images/video reports and written accounts of major events. War correspondents prepare reports by examining official documents, investigating tips, and interviewing sources, which can include military commanders, civilians, and soldiers.
Qualifications and experience:
University BA degree in Journalism is preferred. Employers often require and prefers correspondents to have journalism experience, such as university newspapers/radio/ news shows - which will help to practice and sharpen your reporting skills. Many organisations also prefer/require candidates to have completed work experience/internship at a media organisation which will help develop their journalistic practices.
Pay and conditions
The salary varies - its often reliant on experience. The average broadcast journalist salary is £37,635. However top journalists with lots of experience at the BBC can earn salaries of more than £150,000. For example the Middle East editor for the BBC - Jeremy Bowen who often reports from war zones, earns between £150,000 to £199,999.
The world is as dangerous as it has ever been for journalists and war correspondents. Kidnapping, murder, and torture are the risks facing those trying to get us the information from the front line. You need to be mentally and physically fit. This job also requires travel from all around of the world and long times spent away from family and friends. Its mentally and physically demanding.
Many journalists also go freelance and choose their contracts.
Portfolio projects idea
As I have identified from research verbal communication skills such as interviewing is very important therefore I have decided to conduct a mock interview for my portfolio but in a interrogative style. As I am very interested in politics - I thought that a political interview would be really effective, and allow me to demonstrate high quality verbal communication (important aspect of journalism as identified in my research).
I want the interview to be a similar style to this one:
I plan to carry out an interview like this, with one of the members of my college group playing a politician.
Interview questions
Describe a time when you have had to over-come a big problem?
So back in November, I was shooting a multi-camera production project as part of my college of west Anglia project in Kings Lynn. My multi-camera production was a news broadcast, however I encountered a major problem. I had only hired the camera's out for 1 hour and I was rapidly running out of time, therefore I had to ensure that I completed my production in time. To ensure I achieved this as production manager I briefed my camera operators team throughly on the different shots, that I wanted them to achieve, such as telling one camera operator to get a medium-shot and the other one a long shot and also about the different camera movements such as panning an tracking. By ensuring that I briefed them thoroughly and giving them all the details we managed to shoot the news broadcast in only around 3 takes, and therefore completing the project just before I needed to hand back the camera's to the production company I hired them from. The main thing I learnt from this project was the importance of briefing my production team throughly and giving them all the details they needed - being organised like this saves time and makes the production process dunmore smoothly.
Describe a time when you learnt a really important skill that will be relevant for this journalism course?
So back in July I was creating a radio show podcast for my final major project at the college west anglia in Kings Lynn - I study a Level 3 in creative media production. When I was creating the show I needed to find content to fill it with. As I as going to present this show it was vital that I had content to fill it with. Therefore to achieve this aim I carried out extensive research and listened to shows with similar target audiences to me such as Radio 1. I found out lots of useful information - such as how Radio 1 shows feature a phone-in from a listener of the show. Therefore after learning this I acted upon my research and put a phone in - this received a lot of positive praise from my target audience which confirmed to me that it was successful. This really did teach me the importance of research, and as you know research is also a really important part of journalism - its vital that journalists are well researched into the topic they will be reporting on.
Tell us about a valuable lesson you have learnt from work experience?
So back in September of last year, as part of my level 3 creative media production course at the college of West Anglia in Kings Lynn I carried out some work experience as the Corn Exchange - performance venue near the college in the centre of town. We had to film a higher education graduation event using multiple different camera's - this meant that we had to work as a team as each crew member had to film a specific shot. The crew that were operating the vision mixer, told each camera operator when they were switching to their camera, and also told us what shots to film.This involved clear communication from the vision mixer and also from me as one of the camera operators - we used headsets to communicate with each other. For example I was told many times to get a long panning shot of the venue - without clear communication this wouldn't have been achieved. To conclude I learnt the importance of team work and clear communication skills - something that will be important for my future.
Mock interview
Career path and progression
Cover letter and C.V.
I can send a formal letter even if there is no vacancy -Ceremonious language.
Authorities
Dignitaries
Colleagues
Not to friends and family
Their Official Name Your name
Receiver's address
Sender's address
Date
Dear Sir/Madam,
Mr. or Ms
Subject paragraph
Body 2 or 3 paragraphs - respectful and considerate and concise
Closing paragraph
Yours faithfully,
Signature
Mr. Joe Bunker (Name)
Examples of cover letters
My formal cover letter
This is a cover letter for a BBC Journalism Trainee Scheme.
Communication
Social media/messaging
Telephone
Do not panic- food and drink
(Great place to open up is in a car)
Instagram messaging, Facebook messaging, Snapchat, Text, WhatsApp, Discord, Skype/Facetime, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest
Pros for social media in the workplace
1. Morale, trust, breaks, love
2. Branding- cause buzz
3. Impress clients - using phone helps you become media savvy
4. Internal communication - remote workers - you can query and reply. This improves teamwork.
5. LinkedIn - keep you up to speed with my posts
Cons for social media in the workplace
1. Bullying, trolling, addictive - negative effect, opinions
2. It is there for ever - there is no context
3. Online viruses, revenge porn
4. Time wasting
Verdict
Local social media for our company seems to be the best option
WeTransfer and email - great computer tools in the workplace
Overall I think social media can be very useful in the workplace, if it is utilised in the right way. For example a great way a company can use social media in their workplace is creating a workplace social media site - which means the employers can easily communicate with their colleagues - this will help you work as a team and also query and reply to any problems that you may come across. The problem with using non -workplace social media such as FaceBook is that it can cause many distractions and cause workers to become less productive. For example, workers could experience bullying and be subjected to trolling which will have a negative impact on their mental health. Furthermore social media sites like Facebook and Instagram can have links to viruses which could then mess up the workers phone or laptop they use for their work - thus causing more issues.
Phone skills
1. Positive tone (smile)
2. Clear enunciation
3. Be sincere - say your company mane, my name, offer assistance, thank you goodbye
4. Use their name
5. Leave the customer satisfied
Record a telephone conversation
Audio only
Upload to production page
canva.com
Bibliography
Nationalcareers.service.gov.uk. (2019). Broadcast journalist | Explore careers. [online] Available at: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/broadcast-journalist [Accessed 9 Dec. 2019].
Study.com. (2019). War Correspondent: Job Duties, Salary and Requirements. [online] Available at: https://study.com/articles/War_Correspondent_Job_Duties_Salary_and_Requirements.html [Accessed 15 Jan. 2020].
Useful links:
Career information: https://www.screenskills.com/media/1791/tv-careers-map_editorial-and-production-roles.pdf
To ensure I fully understand the job role of a broadcast journalist and what it entails I did some research online to discover more about it. Here are some of the key points that I learned:
(Nationalcareers.service.gov.uk, 2019)
Day-to-day duties might include:
- following story 'leads', or generating story ideas
- researching stories, using the internet, archives and databases
- writing scripts, and website or social media content
- preparing and conducting live and pre-recorded interviews
- presenting in TV or radio studios or on location, and recording voice-overs for recorded material
- asking questions at briefings and press conferences
- directing a small camera or sound crew, or operating recording equipment yourself
Working environment:
The working environment varies. A broadcast journalist could work at a TV studio, from home, in an office or at a film studio. Many broadcast journalists travel often to report on stories and in all weathers.
Skills and knowledge needed:
- knowledge of media production and communication
- knowledge of English language
- the ability to use your initiative
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
- excellent verbal communication skills e.g. interviewing
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- customer service skills
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device e.g. writing notes and emails on an iPhone
With experience, you could become a studio-based presenter or a special news correspondent e.g. political editor or health editor for a news organisation such as Sky or BBC News.
You could also move into programme making, producing, or management. In fact I learnt on an open day to London Southbank University, that many journalism degree students also go into content production for services like the NHS.
Typical qualification requirements
Most broadcast journalists enter the job after doing a degree or postgraduate qualification in broadcast journalism.
Many of these courses are accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council
To get into Universities that require this degree you usually need 2 to 3 A Levels or equivalent Level 3 Course e.g. Level 3 Creative Media Production & Technology.
(Nationalcareers.service.gov.uk, 2019)
Here was another job that had similar aspects to broadcast journalism:
Press officer
Day-to-day duties might include:
- planning PR campaigns and strategies based on research
- monitoring and reacting to the public and media's opinion of your client or employer
- writing and editing press releases, speeches, newsletters, leaflets, brochures and websites
- creating content on social media and responding quickly to user comments
- arranging and attending events like press launches, news conferences, exhibitions and open days
- developing good working relationships with the media to promote your clients
- arranging photo-shoots and production of promotional videos
- public speaking at presentations, conferences or radio and TV interviews
Working environment
The working environment is usually an office.
Skills and knowledge needed:
- knowledge of media production and communication
- knowledge of English language
- the ability to use your initiative
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
- excellent verbal communication skills
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- customer service skills
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
With in-house PR officer experience, you could be promoted to PR manager, social media manager or head of communications.
With agency experience, you could progress to senior account executive or account manager.
You could go freelance or move into advertising, marketing or journalism.
Typical qualification requirements
You could carry out a University degree in Public Relations and journalism at the University of Winchester example
Here was another job that I thought looked interesting and also had a similar skillset to the previous jobs I looked at:
Data analyst
Skills and knowledge needed:
• maths knowledge
• analytical thinking
• skills to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• knowledge of computer operating systems, hardware and
software
• excellent verbal communication skills
• thinking and reasoning skills
• the ability to read English
• the ability to think clearly using logic and reasoning
• to be able to use a computer and the main software
packages competently
Working environment:
Most often in a office
environment
Day-to-day duties might include:
• looking for trends and patterns
• to help companies make business decisions
• analysing market research and trends in consumer
feedback
• opinion poll analysis
• predicting demand for services or goods
• checking quality control standards in areas like drug
and food testing
Career path and progression
With
experience, you can progress into management, move into academic research or
work as a freelance consultant.
Typical qualification requirements:
You'll usually need a qualification in mathematics
Portfolio research
As I will be making a portfolio to show of my work relevant to journalism, I am going to look at other portfolio's and analyse them. 2222
This one worked well as it showed off the students work - all relevant to broadcast journalism. That being said I feel like it was too long at over 4 minutes - I believe 2 minutes would have made the show reel more engaging. One of the problems that I have is that I don't have as much work as this student that relates to broadcast journalism - as after all he is a university student studying this subject. However I still have quite a few pieces that relate to journalism such as interviews, news pieces, radio broadcasts.
I also liked the look of this journalists portfolio - this was a website.
The website was very organised and had different pages such as ones dedicated to the articles she has written, her work she has done for the BBC and other Broadcast work.
The website demonstrates her skills - she can write articles and create, edit and present news packages.
Although I like the website - this journalist has got a lot of journalistic work. Therefore if I was to do a website I believe their would not be enough work on it whereas I have enough work for a short show-reel (I will create some more content in the next few weeks for this).
Competencies within interviews
Political/War corespondent at BBC
1. Research services, products, customers, competition
2. Look sharp, man - tie, clothes that are not creased, feel good about your clothes
3. Be prepared - have a C.V. ready, have in mind who you are going to for references (respected people)
4. Be on time e.g. 10 mins early - recce location day before
5. Show enthusiasm - shake hands and speak clearly
6. Listen carefully to whats being said - reading between the lines
7. Answer the question asked (seek clarification - clarify what they they mean if you don't understand)
8. Examples x3 e.g. experience - show success and uniqueness
9. Ask questions - gain valuable information
10. Follow up - set up a meeting e.g. ask them about the interview - what were my weak points etc... find out traits that are needed
S.T.A.R.
Situation - set the scene, where?
Task - Role (Team)
Action - my response, avoid jargon, involve team? Difficulty, person, equipment.
Result - positive, what you learnt, how I have changed and how this will be I the future
Practice interview
Dream Job
(Study.com, 2019)
BBC War/Current affairs corespondent
During wartime, the public usually depends on war correspondents to bring them images/video reports and written accounts of major events. War correspondents prepare reports by examining official documents, investigating tips, and interviewing sources, which can include military commanders, civilians, and soldiers.
Qualifications and experience:
University BA degree in Journalism is preferred. Employers often require and prefers correspondents to have journalism experience, such as university newspapers/radio/ news shows - which will help to practice and sharpen your reporting skills. Many organisations also prefer/require candidates to have completed work experience/internship at a media organisation which will help develop their journalistic practices.
Pay and conditions
The salary varies - its often reliant on experience. The average broadcast journalist salary is £37,635. However top journalists with lots of experience at the BBC can earn salaries of more than £150,000. For example the Middle East editor for the BBC - Jeremy Bowen who often reports from war zones, earns between £150,000 to £199,999.
The world is as dangerous as it has ever been for journalists and war correspondents. Kidnapping, murder, and torture are the risks facing those trying to get us the information from the front line. You need to be mentally and physically fit. This job also requires travel from all around of the world and long times spent away from family and friends. Its mentally and physically demanding.
Many journalists also go freelance and choose their contracts.
Portfolio projects idea
As I have identified from research verbal communication skills such as interviewing is very important therefore I have decided to conduct a mock interview for my portfolio but in a interrogative style. As I am very interested in politics - I thought that a political interview would be really effective, and allow me to demonstrate high quality verbal communication (important aspect of journalism as identified in my research).
I want the interview to be a similar style to this one:
I plan to carry out an interview like this, with one of the members of my college group playing a politician.
Interview questions
Describe a time when you have had to over-come a big problem?
So back in November, I was shooting a multi-camera production project as part of my college of west Anglia project in Kings Lynn. My multi-camera production was a news broadcast, however I encountered a major problem. I had only hired the camera's out for 1 hour and I was rapidly running out of time, therefore I had to ensure that I completed my production in time. To ensure I achieved this as production manager I briefed my camera operators team throughly on the different shots, that I wanted them to achieve, such as telling one camera operator to get a medium-shot and the other one a long shot and also about the different camera movements such as panning an tracking. By ensuring that I briefed them thoroughly and giving them all the details we managed to shoot the news broadcast in only around 3 takes, and therefore completing the project just before I needed to hand back the camera's to the production company I hired them from. The main thing I learnt from this project was the importance of briefing my production team throughly and giving them all the details they needed - being organised like this saves time and makes the production process dunmore smoothly.
Describe a time when you learnt a really important skill that will be relevant for this journalism course?
So back in July I was creating a radio show podcast for my final major project at the college west anglia in Kings Lynn - I study a Level 3 in creative media production. When I was creating the show I needed to find content to fill it with. As I as going to present this show it was vital that I had content to fill it with. Therefore to achieve this aim I carried out extensive research and listened to shows with similar target audiences to me such as Radio 1. I found out lots of useful information - such as how Radio 1 shows feature a phone-in from a listener of the show. Therefore after learning this I acted upon my research and put a phone in - this received a lot of positive praise from my target audience which confirmed to me that it was successful. This really did teach me the importance of research, and as you know research is also a really important part of journalism - its vital that journalists are well researched into the topic they will be reporting on.
Tell us about a valuable lesson you have learnt from work experience?
So back in September of last year, as part of my level 3 creative media production course at the college of West Anglia in Kings Lynn I carried out some work experience as the Corn Exchange - performance venue near the college in the centre of town. We had to film a higher education graduation event using multiple different camera's - this meant that we had to work as a team as each crew member had to film a specific shot. The crew that were operating the vision mixer, told each camera operator when they were switching to their camera, and also told us what shots to film.This involved clear communication from the vision mixer and also from me as one of the camera operators - we used headsets to communicate with each other. For example I was told many times to get a long panning shot of the venue - without clear communication this wouldn't have been achieved. To conclude I learnt the importance of team work and clear communication skills - something that will be important for my future.
Mock interview
Career path and progression
Cover letter and C.V.
I can send a formal letter even if there is no vacancy -Ceremonious language.
Authorities
Dignitaries
Colleagues
Not to friends and family
Their Official Name Your name
Receiver's address
Sender's address
Date
Dear Sir/Madam,
Mr. or Ms
Subject paragraph
Body 2 or 3 paragraphs - respectful and considerate and concise
Closing paragraph
Yours faithfully,
Signature
Mr. Joe Bunker (Name)
Examples of cover letters
My formal cover letter
This is a cover letter for a BBC Journalism Trainee Scheme.
Communication
Social media/messaging
Telephone
Do not panic- food and drink
(Great place to open up is in a car)
Instagram messaging, Facebook messaging, Snapchat, Text, WhatsApp, Discord, Skype/Facetime, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest
Pros for social media in the workplace
1. Morale, trust, breaks, love
2. Branding- cause buzz
3. Impress clients - using phone helps you become media savvy
4. Internal communication - remote workers - you can query and reply. This improves teamwork.
5. LinkedIn - keep you up to speed with my posts
Cons for social media in the workplace
1. Bullying, trolling, addictive - negative effect, opinions
2. It is there for ever - there is no context
3. Online viruses, revenge porn
4. Time wasting
Verdict
Local social media for our company seems to be the best option
WeTransfer and email - great computer tools in the workplace
Overall I think social media can be very useful in the workplace, if it is utilised in the right way. For example a great way a company can use social media in their workplace is creating a workplace social media site - which means the employers can easily communicate with their colleagues - this will help you work as a team and also query and reply to any problems that you may come across. The problem with using non -workplace social media such as FaceBook is that it can cause many distractions and cause workers to become less productive. For example, workers could experience bullying and be subjected to trolling which will have a negative impact on their mental health. Furthermore social media sites like Facebook and Instagram can have links to viruses which could then mess up the workers phone or laptop they use for their work - thus causing more issues.
Phone skills
1. Positive tone (smile)
2. Clear enunciation
3. Be sincere - say your company mane, my name, offer assistance, thank you goodbye
4. Use their name
5. Leave the customer satisfied
Record a telephone conversation
Audio only
Upload to production page
canva.com
Bibliography
Nationalcareers.service.gov.uk. (2019). Broadcast journalist | Explore careers. [online] Available at: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/broadcast-journalist [Accessed 9 Dec. 2019].
Study.com. (2019). War Correspondent: Job Duties, Salary and Requirements. [online] Available at: https://study.com/articles/War_Correspondent_Job_Duties_Salary_and_Requirements.html [Accessed 15 Jan. 2020].
Useful links:
Career information: https://www.screenskills.com/media/1791/tv-careers-map_editorial-and-production-roles.pdf
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