Posts Tagged skynews
Summer has come and passed…
Posted by Alan in Journalism on August 26, 2010
If I needed any further indication that the summer is coming to an end, the pitter patter of rainfall on my bedroom window provided it.
After near enough three months off my thoughts are starting to turn back towards Medway and the University of Kent. Read the rest of this entry »
Two down, one to go
Posted by Alan in Journalism on June 7, 2010
Before I started university I remember saying to a friend in the pub one night that it would most probably fly by. That’s exactly what has happened.
Last week I finished my second year studying journalism at the University of Kent.
This time next year I’ll be entering the big wide media world, looking for a job and aiming to ascend to the top of the greasy pole. Read the rest of this entry »
Resolutions
Posted by Alan in Journalism on January 3, 2010
Around this time of year everyone makes resolutions that they swear they’ll keep: lose weight, join the gym, give up smoking etc. I’m not usually one for New Year’s resolutions but perhaps I should pledge to make mine this: write on here more. Read the rest of this entry »
Portfolio update
Posted by Alan in Journalism on August 26, 2009
I’ve just finished a second update of my portfolio. You can now view my work at Sky News and Kent Online on my ‘Portfolio‘ page.
The sky’s the limit: my time at Sky News
Posted by Alan in Journalism on August 6, 2009
Journalism.co.uk asked me to provide them with an account of my month with Sky News, which I finished last week.
The first part of my account was published on Tuesday and can be read here. The second part, which has been published today and includes some reflections on my time with Sky, can be viewed by clicking here.
Goodbye to Sky
Posted by Alan in Journalism on August 1, 2009
Well, that’s it. My four weeks at Sky News are over. It seemed to go much too quickly but I had a wonderful time and it was a great experience. I’m certain it will stand me in good stead for the future.
My last week was spent with the Sky News website, and after I managed to get my head around the content management system, it proved to be a particularly fruitful week – I managed to get two bylines on the site. Read the rest of this entry »
If Gordon Brown tweeted…
Posted by Alan in Journalism on July 28, 2009
Civil servants and ministers have been advised on how to use Twitter.
In light of this I wondered what Gordon Brown would tweet if he was on Twitter…
Sky News: week three – Five News
Posted by Alan in Journalism on July 24, 2009
This week I’ve been at Five News, which is produced by Sky News and based in the same building.
The difference in terms of what makes up a Five News bulletin compared to a Sky News bulletin is stark: there is hardly any international news and the stories are much lighter and fun. Despite these differences I’ve had a great time working there and got heavily involved.
On Monday I did two interviews which were used in the 5pm bulletin. The first was with Rich Cline, a film critic, on the news that Harry Potter is set to overtake James Bond as the highest grossing film franchise of all time.
The second interview was with Leigh Purves, a showbiz journalist. This was for a piece on David Beckham and the travails he has experienced since his return to LA Galaxy from AC Milan.
For the rest of the week I’ve been office bound – one of my colleagues remarked how quiet it was – but I still managed to set up plenty of interviews, move stories along, help the planning desk out with research and pitch ideas.
I also spent some time in the gallery watching the 5pm show and also shadowed Simon Vigar as he put together a package on some very generous children.
One story I worked on this week was regarding lottery winners who have not necessarily experienced happiness as a result of their windfall.
I read up on some cases and managed to track a number of them down. One of them was Mark Gardiner, who won £11 million in 1995 and was happy to be interviewed for the piece. He is being interviewed on Monday and it should air sometime in the near future.
On Monday it will be three years until the 2012 Olympics starts. To mark that date I arranged an interview with Rachel Christie, niece of Linford, who has just won Miss England and is aiming to compete in the games, to talk about how she is preparing for them. That is on Monday and fingers crossed it will air in that day’s show.
Edit: I’ve uploaded the swine flu package I mentioned in my last blog post to the site. You can listen to it here.
Sky: week two
Posted by Alan in Journalism on July 18, 2009
My second week, like my first, has gone very quickly. I’ve been on the Home Planning Desk from Monday to Thursday and with Sky News Radio on Friday.
At times it has been quiet, but I’ve managed to get a few pieces of content done. On Thursday I did an interview with Jay Nagley, a motoring analyst, and this was used on Sky News the next day as part of graphic wall presentation. You can view the interview here. (Nagley is the first person).
Yesterday I was tasked with producing a package on Swine Flu. The angle was the effect it is having on businesses and I interviewed a spokesman from the Federation of Private Business, and also did some digging and found some statistics to add some meat to the story. I’ve got an MP3 version of the file which I will upload when I get the chance.
This week I also managed to set up an interview with Will Greenwood, the former England rugby player, for a package about Manchester City. Turns out he’s a City fan. Alan Carr, however, is not. A quick Google search informed me that he was, despite my suspicions. Anyway, I gave his agent a ring and it turns out Google was wrong.
This week I also spent a day shadowing reporter Sara Merchant. First we went to a briefing on swine flu. It didn’t really herald a new angle on the story, just what we have all heard before. A number of journalists at the briefing tried to get a discernible new angle amidst the deluge of statistics, but it wasn’t there.
Afterwards we headed back to Osterley where I shadowed Sara and helped out as she produced a package on the assisted suicide of the composer Sir Edward Downes and his wife Lady Joan Downes at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland
Next week I’ll be at Five News, which should provide a bit of contrast to my first two weeks, owing to the difference in styles between the two. The only thing I’m not looking forward to is starting at 8:15am every morning!
Sky: the end of week one
Posted by Alan in Journalism on July 11, 2009
It has flown by – my first week at Sky News is over. So far it has been a very enjoyable experience, with plenty of variety.
On Thursday I shadowed the Live at Five team from planning the programme to it being broadcast. First up I attended the meetings and watched the producers start to lay the foundations of the programme: the running order, timings of the headlines and other segments etc.
I also wrote 3 NIBs for the programme – a shooting in Manchester, a Chinese man dangling his baby from an eighth floor window, and a man dying in rather unfortunate (and morbidly comic) circumstances by falling into a vat of chocolate in the US.
Then I spent some time with Enda Brady while his package on phone tapping was put together. He’s a thoroughly nice guy and passed on plenty of tips. I finished my day by going to the gallery and watching the programme being broadcast.
Yesterday my time was divided between radio and online. I was on radio in the morning, and helped out Verity Geere, Magic’s news reader, by recording an interview with Cllr Alan Bradley of Westminster Council, which is selling off 30 of its road signs. This was used in the 1pm bulletin.
My afternoon at online proved to be particularly fruitful. I managed to get an article on the Sky News website, about Brits tipping on their holidays, and a 17-second NIB about a man being killed in the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
They say time flies when you’re having fun, and in this case it definitely appears to be a truism.