I put my blog firmly on the back burner last week, as I was neck deep in the world of journalism. Not that I'm complaining - it's probably the best thing I've done in a long time. I was lucky enough to get accepted onto a week long journalism course, that took me on a whistle stop tour of the ins and outs of print, broadcast and online journalism. By the end of the week, I'd helped produce a ten page newspaper, a 20 minute radio news show, a 25 minute TV news show and ran a live news website for the whole day. So what did I learn from my time in the journalistic bubble?

Seeing yourself on TV/hearing your voice on radio isn't that bad

I was really apprehensive about appearing on radio and TV broadcasts, purely because I'm still trying to tackle a confidence crisis. But at the end of each day, I was so proud to see my end product and didn't actually mind watching/hearing myself back. 

Treat your editing software like you would the Queen

I quickly got used to using a Mac to edit with, but it took some time to realise that editing software would only be kind to you if you were kind in return. So don't prod buttons repeatedly, work to fast or expect miracles from the software. Patience will get you the results you need.

It's impossible to escape the news, so embrace it instead

Prior to this course I did take an interest in news. But now I'm borderline obsessed with it. Every morning we would start with an editing conference, and we were expected to know news stories in depth. I was reading the news when I woke up, on my way to uni, and constantly had one eye on sky news throughout the day. I'm still doing this now, and my course has finished. I feel so much more informed on more than just Swiddleston's unfolding love story!

The news you're working on at 11am will evolve into a different story by 2pm

Whilst writing for print and online, I spent most of my time tweaking articles I had already written or updating published work. It's a journalists job to update the public no news it has not heard, so reporting on yesterday's events is a big no!

Journalism isn't as hard as you would think

Nothing about being a journalist is inaccessible. As long as you can digest news, use a computer and have a passion for reporting, you can be taught all the ins and outs. 

I had a phenomenal time this week and cannot wait to apply for a journalism MA and one day my dream job as a radio news broadcaster. One week ago, I didn't think I would ever get the opportunity to become a journalist, but this just shows that if you have a passion for something, and are willing to put in the hours, the opportunities will come your way.

(If you want to check out some of the work I did this week, please do head over to our online news site Kent Now! http://centreforjournalismprojects.co.uk/kentextra/newsday/) 

Beth x