Journalism

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Journalism

NCTJ Student Council

February 25th, 2013 · No Comments · News, Uncategorized

by Lesley Roy, MA student

Each year as part of our accreditation from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), both the MA and BA Multimedia Journalism courses are invited to send a representative to the Student Council meeting in London. I, along with the undergrad rep Sahil Jaidka and our course leader Claire Dean, travelled down to the Big Smoke on a flight that was far too early to comprehend so we could  air our views with fellow students as well as network with editors and alumni at the MSN conference centre near Victoria Station.

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GCU Student Scoops NCTJ Video Journalism Award

February 25th, 2013 · No Comments · Broadcasting, News, Online, Sport

Kenny Crawford wins national Video Journalism award

We’re celebrating again…this time toasting the success of another one of our MA students.

Kenny Crawford, who graduated in November, has won the Archant award for top performing videojournalism student.

It was presented by Archant group editor Malcolm Starbrook at the NCTJ Student Council at MSN in London.

Kenny impressed adjudicators with his performance in both the editing exam and his coursework.  His footage was praised as “well structured, clear and communicative” as well as being “highly accomplished” and editorially strong.

Now working for BBC Scotland as a freelance sports reporter, Kenny completed the BBC Kick-off Sports Reporter Scheme and spent time with BBC Radio Cumbria.  He writes feature pieces, sports news and match coverage for the BBC sport website.

Kenny said: “I enjoyed putting these video packages together while at GCU and I always tried to achieve the highest standard. Hopefully it’s a side of journalism I can remain involved in as the years go by, thanks to the skills I acquired at GCU.”

Archant chief executive Adrian Jeakings said: “We are delighted to sponsor this award as it highlights an important element of what we can offer readers of our news websites. Good video enriches our online audience’s experience and makes our content more engaging.”

We’re all very proud of Kenny, who worked extremely hard, embracing every challenge and opportunity with great enthusiasm.  He was very quick to pick up the concept of creating a strong visual narrative to engage viewers with the story and spent time using the facilities here to develop his film and editing skills. He has a very bright career ahead of him and this award proves he has the full set of multimedia skills needed to thrive in the fast changing journalism industry.

 

 

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GCU and STV To Launch Glasgow’s First Local TV Station

January 14th, 2013 · No Comments · Broadcasting, News, Uncategorized

GCU and STV combined for the successful bid

Champagne corks were popping this week with the exciting news that GCU and Scottish Television (STV) have won the licence to deliver Glasgow’s first local television station.

GTV, broadcasting through Freeview, will be the first of a new type of hyper-local TV channel and is set to provide valuable front line experience for the university’s Multimedia Journalism students.

Working side by side with STV’s seasoned professionals in a live broadcast environment, students will contribute to peak-time news and current affairs programmes as well as magazine shows with special features and local guests.

Julian Calvert, Media and Journalism leader at GCU said the winning bid had placed a lot of emphasis on helping local communities make their voices heard:

And the type of programming that is being planned further enhances the University’s reputation for community engagement and reflects GCU’s commitment to the common good.

GCU’s Principal and Vice Chancellor Professor Pamela Gillies was equally delighted with the news from Ofcom.

We have always placed great emphasis on employability and the launch of GTV will give our talented and committed graduates even more of a head start.

GTV is due to start next October. Expect many of our students to become household names.

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MA Multimedia Journalism – Class of 2012

December 3rd, 2012 · No Comments · Uncategorized

MAMJ Class of 2012

Congratulations to the Glasgow Caledonian students who have been awarded Masters degrees in  Multimedia Journalism. The class of 2011-12 graduated on November 28th,  the majority having already secured full time positions in print, radio and television with top British media organisations. Employers include STV, SKY, Clyde & Forth Press and the BBC. Pictured from left to right: Stephen Walsh: Reporter,  Clyde & Forth press; Craig Telfer: Corporate Communications, Glasgow Caledonian University; Craig Turnbull: sports reporter goal.com; David Lyons: reporter, Highland New; Maria Smith, reporter, MediaScotland; Andrew Chamberlain: freelance;  Sian Davies: Communications and Marketing, Besdforshire University SU;  Nicola Shepherd: freelance at BBC Scotland;  Harriet Brace: reporter, Carrick Gazette; Rachel Fulton: reporter, STV online.  Also successfully completing their Masters degrees were Naomi Mills currently working with SKY news in London, and Collette Cullen, now a full time  reporter at Central FM. Kenny Crawford secured his diploma in Multimedia Journalism and is now freelancing for the BBC.

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GCU Journalism graduate shot at point blank range – all in a day’s work at STV Local

November 7th, 2012 · No Comments · Broadcasting, News, Online

The life of a journalist is certainly never dull.  One of the best things about the job in fact is that you usually never know what the day ahead holds for you…as this STV Local video report by Rachael Fulton (MA Multimedia Journalism 2011-12) proves.   Enjoy…

Special Effects with Rachael Fulton

P.S. Rachael…perhaps you should rethink heading off to a war zone!

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Students test Scottish Parliament

October 24th, 2012 · No Comments · News

Colin Stone, Stuart Martin, Calum Leslie, Rebecca Williams, Karen Thomson and Colin Armstrong in the Chamber at the Scottish Parliament

A team of six journalism students from GCU enjoyed putting top civil servants from the Scottish Parliament under pressure this week.

Two 3rd years, two 4th years and two post-grads took part in a live Business Continuity exercise in which they played the role of professional journalists reacting to a disaster – bombarding the media team with calls, demanding interviews and attending a press conference.   The final participant to be grilled by the students was Paul Grice, the Parliament’s Chief Executive.

Putting the pressure on during a press conference

Prior the event managed by business continuity consultants Glen Abbot, students had prepared media inserts which were broadcast during the exercise to provide new information to the Incident Management Team, continually testing the resilience and response of the Parliament staff.

While the exercise was designed to test the Parliment staff, it also proved to be a test of the determination of the journalism students as they tried to keep “the public” informed.  Everyone who took part agreed it was a great experience and they had learned a lot.

Following the exercise, Senior Media Officer, Eric MacLeod, gave the student team a tour of the press facilities in the parliament and took questions on the relationship between journalists and the parliament’s media team.   The day finished with a tour of the whole Scottish Parliament and the chance to take in the incredible architectural features of the still controversial building.

In the Press Gallery at the Scottish Parliament

 

 

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Covering International News

September 24th, 2012 · No Comments · Broadcasting, News, Uncategorized

Sam Robertson, News Editor, AP TV

Kabul Cops, a documentary on Kabul’s Criminal Investigation Department for BBC News Channel’s Our World series, was screened at the opening of a special One World Media workshop this week.

Post-graduate and third year multimedia journalism students were challenged by AP TV News Editor, Sam Robertson, to log the programme and consider the characters, the sequences, news angles and the difficulties faced by the crew when making such a programme.

While using the example of a foreign documentary, Sam explained all the same editorial and production processes apply when working on domestic news.  He also encouraged students to think more about how to cover global stories from within the UK.  He ighlighted the importance of using contacts abroad (especially NGOs and charities) and social media to source the story, and stressed the importance of keeping the story relevant to the domestic audience.

After the workshop,  Sam spoke to MA student, Calum Leslie…

samrobinterview (1)

Thanks again to One World Media for providing this special workshop.

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News Conferences

September 24th, 2012 · No Comments · Broadcasting, News

Paul Hughes

by John McCarthy, 3rd year BA Multimedia Journalism student

Paul Hughes, former GMTV news editor, paid a visit to Glasgow Caledonian University’s 3rd year journalism students to talk about the purpose of a morning news conference from an editor’s point of view.

After leading the class through his impressive CV in which many famous faces featured, he hammered home the difficulty an editor has selecting lead stories to engage viewers as well as the importance of newsroom hierarchy and team cohesion.

Using live dispatches the students had to select the running order of stories for GCU TV. This exercise required them to recognise news of a relevant tone and locality.

Mr Hughes also shared many witty and sometimes surprising insights:

·         Lorraine Kelly was the most intelligent presenter he has worked with.

·         The opportunistic reporter can gatecrash run of the mill events with heavy hitting questions.

·         If you look like a chubby Michael McIntyre you will be banished into the production team.

·         Finally, there is always a drunken bearded guy in the editor’s meeting room.

After finding out the students’ individual career aspirations Mr Hughes advised them on how best to achieve their goals, at times, heavily hinting that London is the place to be for anyone wanting to break into the media.

Once asked the inevitable question: “why journalism?”,  Mr Hughes admitted he drifted into journalism almost by accident, waiting for his rock ‘n’ roll career to kick off.  The students are thankful it did not;  his advice was invaluable and will help them for years to come.

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New Term – New Faces for MA Multimedia Journalism

September 9th, 2012 · No Comments · News

by Lesley Roy, MA Multimedia Journalism student

Toasting the new MAMJs on the Roof Garden of the Saltire Centre

RoofGardenSept12

Thursday saw the start of yet another academic year and the first steps on the road to becoming professional journalists for this year’s Masters in Multimedia Journalism cohort.  I am Lesley, one of the eleven new affectionately named MAMJs, who are about to begin what we have been assured will be a thoroughly exhausting yet hopefully rewarding year.

Thursday and Friday were the first two induction days of the course and besides trying to take in a whole host of new information about the university and more particulars about all of the ups and downs we can look forward to over the next year, it was a great chance for us all to get to know each other a little better.

After assigning each other alliterative nicknames and discovering that in a group of eleven there are no less than THREE Callums (Cool, Crazy and Clumsy) we took to the bright lights of the TV studio for some ‘Induction Chat’.  Complete with awkward questions and getting tangled in the mics, we found out a lot of random facts about our new MAMJ family – these included such insights as two of our members having met the legend that is Carol Vorderman, knowing we can maybe get some mates’ rates in Pizza Hut and that one of our classmates who works in a certain Glasgow shoe shop regularly deals with a man with a fondness for stilettos…

Corrie Martin, News Editor, Real Radio

On Thursday we were also joined for a short while by Corrie Martin, Deputy News Editor at Real Radio. She gave us a real insight into what we can expect from the broadcasting industry and in some ways scared a lot of us into action. She reiterated how difficult it will be for us to find a job at the end but also said that with a lot of hard work, enthusiasm and determination nothing is impossible and that a lot of the time, it is merely our own attitudes that are the barriers to our own success.

Friday allowed us to all to talk to Collette, Craig and Nicola, some of last year’s MAMJs. Their honest accounts of the past year left us under no illusions – this year is going to be difficult!  However, when asked if they would do it all again they said “definitely” and Collette claimed that the course has changed her life. I don’t think any of us needed any further endorsements to be honest.

The two days of induction ended with a lovely drinks reception on the roof garden, despite the dark cloud and chilly breeze that often accompanies Scottish September. There was much chat over wine and nibbles and it gave us the opportunity to mingle not only with our lecturers but also with several other postgraduate students. I think I speak for everyone when I say that I think we are lucky to have such a good group of people, since we are basically going to be spending every waking moment with each other over the next twelve months. Proper proceedings start tomorrow so all that is left to say is: MAMJs, let the fun commence!

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Darren Joliny Prize for Journalism

August 22nd, 2012 · No Comments · News

1st Darren Joliny Prize for Journalism

Click here to see video highlights

The department welcomed the family and classmates of journalism graduate Darren Joliny to an awards ceremony to present the first annual prize in his memory.

In January, everyone was so shocked when, just months after graduation,  Darren collapsed and died from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome during a game of football.  He had been such a popular student among both staff and peers that everyone wanted to do something positive to remember him.  And so the idea of a prize for the best final year student was born.

The first winner, Catherine Ritchie, 21, who graduated with a BA in Journalism in June, had excelled in her coursework, her NCTJ exams and had completed an impressive number of very successful industry placements.

Presenting Catherine with the Darren Joliny Prize, Darren’s sister, Maria, spoke of his many friends, and his love of both  journalism and martial arts.

Former class mates also enjoyed sharing anecdotes and agreed the award would be a fitting tribute to the larger than life character they so sorely miss.

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