After the previous few months, continuing my studies was extremely refreshing. I found that seeing the handbook at the beginning of the year, I no longer looked at things with the same apprehension as before. However, when putting certain skills into practise, I certainly found it harder to act as fluently as I was at the end of last year. For example, interviewing people I didn't know felt exciting, but actually typing their words into an article felt unnatural and difficult. 

The first task, I thought, was a chance to push myself back out of my comfort zone. I tried this by using a contact I'd made during the summer at the NHS and managed to secure a phone interview with an NHS Director in London. Whilst I was nervous at first, it seemed he was in a good mood and the interview flowed nicely; writing up what he said later on was a different story.  I was always with the understanding that writing was the easy part of journalism, but this whole module has so far proven otherwise. Even though it was 250 words, actually composing sentences that stuck true to what he said was extremely difficult; I was either underplaying what he told me, or completely overplaying it. Luckily, I managed to find a middle ground, but reading the article back now, I'm still not 100% happy with it. The article did cover the topics that I set out in the interview, and explored the story in some depth, although I doubt what I wrote would end up in any newspaper any time soon.

George Orwell has always been an interest to me. Since reading Animal Farm and 1984 in high school English, I've been enticed by, not just his writing, but his life too. I did find editing a 5,000 word essay to just 800 words difficult, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe if it was another writer, I might have felt slightly different. One technique I finally learnt here, however, was ruthlessness. To begin the task, I was picking out the odd word from his essay and managed to get the count to 4,000 words. The real change in word count occurred when I started ripping whole paragraphs from the excerpt. Ironically, I ended up following Orwell's own advice in that essay, and removed padding and less necessary phrases/examples.  Reading the sub-edited essay back, I do believe that I retained the important points, though reading the original will always be more informative.

Interviewing was a skill that I really wanted to hone during this year. I did manage to practise slightly in the first week, and again for the PlastiMould story, but I hadn't had such an in-depth conversation as I had for the third task. The way in which this fell was I interviewed my subject after the week 4 assignment and therefore could take certain aspects away from the press conference and apply them to this interview. Originally, I had set up an interview with a lady named Sofie from The Refugee Community Kitchen in Calais. Once this had fallen through (due to COVID), we rescheduled for a video call.  As the interview unfolded, and we continued to talk about her reasons for wanting to volunteer, it occurred to us both that we'd had similar experiences in the past.

Luckily for me as the interviewer, Sofie was exceptionally open, despite it being our first time talking with one another. As the lead changed in my head, the conversation shifted to her simply needing escape from the lockdown due to her mother's suicide attempt when she was young. I had asked her if it was okay to use in the article, but we both came to an understanding that this is what the article should be about. The topicality for me was really important, as just the day before I interviewed her, I read about a student who'd killed themselves as a result of COVID stress. 

This was a really difficult thing to talk about, but it was made much easier as I could empathise with her on a personal level. I'm not sure if this is exactly professional for a journalist, but I do think it made for a really important article. I know that there are issues with the way that it's written up, but for me, just the interview itself was extremely educational. Being able to talk to someone about such a macabre subject successfully, without causing harm to her, proved a lot to me. It completely dispelled the myth in my mind that journalists shouldn't cover such stories.  It's just the way in which they do that needs to be morally respectable.

One area of journalism that I never thought I'd be interested in actually made for one of the most fascinating weeks.  Headlines. I always knew the construction of headlines was more than writing down the first phrase that came to mind, but I never knew just how strict different news outlets can be. I don't think I'll ever work towards a role as a subeditor, but as I understand it, more journalists are tasked with constructing their own headlines so this could be something I look to improve over this next year. 

Finally, one area that I'm certainly going to build on is writing of the opinion/topical piece. This was also a task that I struggled with the most. I found it very difficult articulating my opinion in such a way that sounded respectable but also informative. I've always been interested in writing and even wanted to be an author as a child, so whether I build on my skills in creating articles or books, I know I want to improve my ability to write stories.   

On a side-note, I understand that no media outlet is always going to perfect, but I do usually stick to papers and broadcasters with similar political outlooks to me. This module has made me see further than the usual Guardian or New York Times. I did dabble in media plurality last year, but during the US Election, for example, I found myself watching Fox and reading the New York Post. Whilst I'd never want to work for these types of publications, I've have a newfound respect for the opposing side. I've also, as a result, questioned my own political beliefs. This module alone has made me want to take a step back and throw away my opinion. As Carol Marin stated in 2014, as a journalist, you must 'be ready to give up some of your normal rights as a citizen. You don't belong to a political party'. 

I completed this first component with a much greater understanding of how material is repurposed and enhanced for different types of publications, though again, putting this into practise will require some more work. Overall, I have really enjoyed this last couple of months. Where before I knew I wanted to work in documentary filmmaking, I now know that I want to work in documentary filmmaking but with am emphasis on discovering truth. I understand that isn't necessarily writing, but the stuff I've learnt in this module will be applied to the way I go about filming in the future. 

Certain skills, such as sub-editing, will always come in handy. Whilst I've enjoyed this module so far, I would really like to work on each aspect learnt, from writing to editing and interviewing. Hopefully, I can push myself more in the second component and continue to build on these foundations.

Marin, Carol (2014) Lessons in investigative journalism: Carol Marin at TEDxMidwest [Online video], 5 March. Available from: [Accessed 10 November 2020].