It actually went very quickly and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I produced video and audio content as well as getting a number of bylines on the website. I also managed to get one of my pieces into the Medway Messenger yesterday. There’s just something about seeing your byline in a newspaper that can’t compare to seeing it on a computer screen.

Yesterday I spent the day with radio, doing interviews, cutting audio and writing cues for the news on KMFM. It was a change of pace from working on the website, and gave me some good experience.

But now it’s back to student life and end of year exams. Yay.

This week I’ve been notching up some more bylines and also got a video package put up on the site. Here’s what I’ve been getting up to over the past few days.

Tuesday: I put the finishing touches to my Channel Tunnel feature, which includes a video interview with Paul Clark, MP for Gillingham and Rainham, and John Keefe, a spokesman for Eurotunnel.

After that was done and dusted I was sent with another reporter to a house in Gravesend which police were searching in connection with the disappearance of a man 16-years ago. I got some GVs of the house and an interview with the head of Kent Police’s Cold Case team. I then cut the footage, recorded a voiceover and made a package which can be viewed here.

Wednesday: Following on from a piece in the Medway Messenger last week, I interviewed Simon Green of the Groundwork charity about his idea of making the River Medway a transport hub. I also talked to the head of Medway Council, Councillor Rodney Chambers about the plans. You can read the article and listen to an interview with Cllr Chambers by clicking here.

The second story I covered was about 200Mb broadband being tested in Ashford.

Thursday: Today I picked up a further two bylines. The first was an article on a woman from Sevenoaks who was given a makeover as part of a TV show. The second was on a number of beaches in Kent being awarded ‘Blue Flags’ for international standard beaches.

I worked on the video side of the website on Thursday, and was sent out to get some GVs and vox-pops on the idea of making the River Medway and ‘aqua motorway’. Getting the GVs was the easy part, persuading the residents of Chatham and Rochester to speak to me was an entirely different matter. I really do think the camera puts them off. I always find it’s much easier with a notebook or Ediroll.

After a fruitless couple of hours it was back to base where I was handed a second feature to work on: the 15th anniversary of the Channel Tunnel.

I spent the bulk of Friday working on this. In the morning I headed down to the office of Paul Clark, Labour MP for Gillingham and Rainham to do an interview which went well.

Then me and Laura were sent to the Isle of Sheppey to cover the celebrations to mark 100 years of aviation in the Royal Navy. When we eventually got there we shot the service, the fly past and then got some interviews with people there.

Back to the newsroom we went, where I then recorded a telephone interview with a spokesman for Eurotunnel for my feature.

That was about it for my first week. I’ve had audio, video and text content published on the website, been sent across Kent on various different jobs, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope the second week is the same.

The first was an idea I pitched to my editor – new designs for hospital furniture that aimed to stop outbreaks of superbugs. A topic with some importance in Kent due to the C.diff outbreak at Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells hospital which killed 90 people.

However this was quickly cast aside as no solid Kent link could be established: none of the hospitals which would be trying out the new furniture were in Kent. Although the hospital I was born in – Lewisham – would get to try them out.

The second story concerned declining beer sales. Jonathan Neame, from local brewer Shepherd Neame was unavailable, and so were a number of managers in pubs across the county.

Then news broke that there had been an explosion at a house in Kemsley, near Sittingbourne. I was put on standby to go down there. Then the call came and I was sent  to get footage of the house and speak to whoever I could. After managing to find my way down there I set my camera up and got a few minutes worth of footage.

But amidst all of the chaos I was accused of moving a rather large cameraman’s tripod. Then I got an interview with the Incident Commander from the firefighters dealing with the blaze. Once that was all done it was back to base. The footage was cut and included in the site’s video bulletin, and the original article on the fire.

I spent the bulk of Wednesday working on the Gurkhas story. In the morning I got an interview with Jeff Brazier, Conservative MP for Canterbury. Then, at around 5pm, the news broke that the government had lost the vote on their plans for Gurkhas wanting to settle here in the UK. In a very welcome stroke of luck, Hugh Robertson MP, who I had tried to interview earlier – got back to me and I was able to get his reaction to the vote within minutes of the news breaking.

Tomorrow I’ll be working solely on video, and then on Friday it’s back to the website. And then a long weekend which I think I very much need.

In the morning I was tasked with covering a fire at a garden centre in Sidcup. I managed to get an audio interview with one of the people at the centre and also wrote an article on the blaze, which contains a snippet of the audio interview.

Then I was put on the story about animal owners abandoning their pets in increasing numbers due to the recession. I set up a video interview down at the RSPCA centre in Leybourne, West Malling.  However my interviewee was busy (with no less than the BBC) and tied up for the rest of the afternoon so that fell through. I did manage to get some stock footage of some dogs in their kennels which can be used by the site at a later date though.

By that point I was absolutely soaking so it was back into my car (and its blissful blast of warm air) and then back to base to do some research on potential stories to follow up.

All in all a good day, and I look forward to what tomorrow has in store for me.

Everyone else from the CfJ who has just finished their placements (and are no doubt glad to now have a hard-earned two week break) seemed to enjoy it and get some bylines from it, including a front-page story.

So no pressure there then!

From speaking to Nick (who has just finished his placement there) it seems I will be worked very hard, but should get some bylines to add to my portfolio, which is still in its formative stages.

The only thing is, I’ll have to spend two weeks at Peak House (to avoid paying an insane amount in petrol), my (very) humble student abode. But then again no one ever said journalism was easy!

No doubt I’ll be blogging throughout my placement, Peak House internet connection permitting.

For more info about me just click on the ‘About’ page at the top and if you wish to contact me my email address is on the ‘Contact’ page.

Mainly I intend this site to be a showcase for my work, both through posts on this blog (such as the match reports I write for various websites) and also through my portfolio, which contain the aforementioned reports and any other material I have and will produce in the future.

I’ll also comment on any stories that are currently in the news agenda and pieces of journalism that I found particularly interesting and/or well written. You can check out my Delicious feed on the right for my favourite links.

At the moment I’ve got a bit of down time from university and today I visited Sky News in preparation for my month long placement there in the summer. It was a lot to take in in terms of the technology used and the way things are run but everyone seemed friendly and accommodating, and I can’t wait to start there in July.

Later on this month I go out into the big wide world on my first real work experience placement with Kent Online, the online and radio section of the Kent Messenger group.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but it should be a fantastic opportunity to get some experience and bylines. No doubt I’ll be blogging my progress on this site over the two weeks that I am there.