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.

Despite the fact that mid-morning felt a little like mid-afternoon by the time we arrived, we soon got in to the swing of things. Being sat at tables with people on similar courses to ourselves gave us the chance to compare the different ways of doing things at all the NCTJ institutions across the UK and I can safely say that even if I were applying for my postgrad now, GCU would still be my first choice.

After hearing from MSN editor-in-chief, Dominic Eames, as well as the chairman of the NCTJ, Kim Fletcher, one of the ex-MAMJs Kenny Crawford was presented with an award for Videojournalism. Afterwards I got the chance to interview Kenny, who is now working at the online sports desk at BBC Scotland, and it brought home to me that if you put in the hours and work hard over the course of the year, there is no reason why your dream job could not be yours.

The short Q&A session with a team of representatives from the NCTJ gave us all the opportunity to pose questions on areas of the course where we feel more could be done. I mentioned that in the period after Christmas, ie. when we begin to sit our shorthand exams, there are very few exams at 70 and 90 words per minute. Although the NCTJ say the core speeds are 60, 80 and 100, for those people who are maybe finding shorthand a little difficult, increasing your speed by 20 words is no mean feat! Hopefully they’ll maybe address this issue next academic year.

A few NCTJ alumni also spoke to us about their experiences before lunch. Another ex-MAMJ, Jo Wilson, is now working at Sky Sports News after being selected for their graduate scheme, was one of those chosen to speak.  She was yet another great inspiration for all of us wanting to go into broadcast journalism at some point in the future and overall just a lovely person!

During lunch we discussed in our groups what we liked, didn’t like and put forward suggestions for the future with regards to the NCTJ. Our views were mixed on this as, of course, we all had different experiences.  But we did all agree that the NCTJ provides a gold-standard in journalism training, unequalled in the UK,and that it is always forward-thinking, for example with regards to broadcast and online media examinations.

Finally, we had the chance to put our questions to Andy Cairns, head of Sky Sports News, Dominic Eames, editor-in-chief at MSN UK, Malcolm Starbrook, group editor at Archant London and Karen Swayne, features editor at Prima. Although the number of questions a group of over one hundred people  could ask were limited, Sahil and I were lucky enough to be able to  carry out on –camera interviews with both Andy Cairns and Malcolm Starbrook, to get their opinions on life in the industry, what they look for in potential candidates and of course, the importance of the NCTJ.

It was a tiring and action-packed day but one that was incredibly rewarding I think for everyone involved. I gained a lot of new contacts within the industry (as well as sussed out the competition) and now know fully understand what is expected when I leave the classroom this summer. All the travelling, walking and blisters were worth it! Now back to the shorthand…

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.

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.

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.

Special Effects with Rachael Fulton

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.