Kirstie's job log: 34
Kirstie Nicols
- November 2008.
The story so far... Kirstie gave up her job in sales to pursue her dream of a career in journalism with a Masters at Westminster University. Parties on the timetable It’s getting darker earlier, it’s colder throughout the day and the first snow of the winter has already hit the country. Now I’m living in London it was great to be able to witness the snow falling in the middle of the city. Suddenly it started to feel a lot more like Christmas! In the local shopping centre near my university, they’ve started to sell roasted chestnuts and the Christmas tree lights have been turned on. All this means it must be the beginning of the Christmas party season, and there are already four parties booked to come over the next few weeks. While this is a great excuse for a shopping trip and some new party outfits, it doesn’t leave much time for studying! Broadcast news Luckily, we have finally moved on from our module on the theory and practice of journalism, onto the practical side of things. As I am expected to be a multimedia journalist, we are currently learning the basics of radio, including recording interviews and editing. We have also started to have voice coaching lessons, which are being taught by a freelance journalist called Charles Carroll. He has on occasions spoken on both Radio 4 and Radio 2 for various reasons, and it’s very odd to be sitting next to the man behind the voice! This week we start looking at layout and photo editing, which is the start of what I am really interested in. The radio stuff is actually very interesting, but it does mean carrying around recording equipment all the time! Good evening The great thing about moving on from theory and onto the practical side of things, is that there is a lot less writing essays and research to be done! As long as I can edit any interviews or recordings to a level that I am happy with and can be played out on one of our mock-up ‘newsdays’, then I can leave. It’s great to have the evenings to myself again! The only two classes that are still hard work are shorthand and media law. As I was ill last week, I missed two of my shorthand classes. You wouldn’t think this makes much difference, but as it turns out, I am now way behind everyone else, and struggling to understand all the rules that the class learnt in just one week. As for media law, this is the only class for which we have an actual exam, so it’s time to start revising. The exam is just before the Christmas holidays, so the next couple of weeks are going to involve a lot of late nights. The great thing about this exam is, however, that if and when I pass it, it means I will be officially a qualified journalist!
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