16. When someone new takes a prominent job in your area use the internet to check their views/past. Don't rely on prs.

It really can't be stressed enough that whenever possible you should always go back to source.

And that equally applies to people.

A new appointment is often accompanied by a press release telling you everything you need to know about the post-holder.

Or more to the point everything they (note the sinister use of italics) want you to know about their latest appointee.

Frequently there is a whole history out there that no one is telling you about - and for a few taps on the computer or a couple of calls you can dig up a whole page lead length of story...or indeed uncover useful facts.

Take this for example about Cornwall Council's new Corporate Director for Children, Schools and Families. That story appeared in the Daily Mail and, horror of horrors, involves ringing someone outside the patch. But it is a relatively simple thing to do.

As I showed a reporter while editor of a paper in Dorset with the instalment of a new creative director for a local theatre.

Just tap there name into Google and see what happens. The result was a front page splash for the Lyme Regis edition of the paper. (I doubt if the tip was ever used again after I left but it does work).

Not quite sure what it is about theatre directors but I used it in Cornwall as you can see it doesn't always have to be controversial but it gives some idea of the person taking the reins and gives some indication of their intentions based on their previous experience...ok and it got me an extra few pars.

The fact is that by going back to source you can find all a person's friends and enemies - why did they leave? Was it under a cloud or will they be missed? What can the workers expect? Is he a hatchet wo/man or a great boss? What is their philosophy? Actually do they even know what philosophy means?

Essentially what you are doing is taking it one step further than what the normal person would do. You should be informative - simply ripping off the presser and chucking in a couple of "I'm delighted" quotes ain't good enough...or perhaps it is.

But it can mean the difference between a back of the book page lead and a front page splash. It will also help during interviews - background is important, you can expand on themes from previous interviews; see if opinions have changed or been tempered by previous experiences. In short it gives you a starting base that is so much more useful than a press release.

And make no mistake - everyone - who is anywhere even near management in 2012 will have an Internet presence. And if they haven't - start making lots of calls.

Btw. If you read and find useful please RT using one of the buttons below - thanks!

15. If in doubt use a search engine – cross reference websites to make sure a “fact” is right to avoid Wanky Balls disasters

Now don't get me wrong the Internet is lovely and all that. Occasionally - when not being used to browse the Mulberry website, cats in hats or porn - it can actually be helpful.

In fact, as we've already seen you really do need to use it but that is not to say you shouldn't be wary of the errr facts.

If in doubt cross-reference any facts - actually even if you're not in any doubt cross-reference anyway.

Otherwise this might just happen...a Wanky Balls disaster (Pic taken from Laurel Papworth's blog).

I mean that's obvious, right? Surely you have to wonder why they thought the admission of the words "Wanky Balls" was in some way appropriate but honestly, you might think commonsense would come into it.

Evidently not.

To date there are 3,960 - no sorry now this has been published 3,961 - references to it on Google. Mostly berating lazy journalists - and for what? A picture caption.

And they are not alone. Papers are littered with errors culled from the Internet and, in all honesty, newspaper cuts as well.

One mistake can become enshrined in newspaper law forever. Perhaps not so bad for the actress who remains perpetually 30 but not really good for the industry.

(Btw it's always worth asking in celebrity interviews what is the most ridiculous thing they've read about themselves - I once did half an interview with Arthur Smith (not available online) based around this premise.)

So by all means use Wikipedia it is a good and useful source of information...but it is not a primary source of information.

And while we are on the subject don't forget to use books (but you may just want to cross-ref them as well).

14. If you start a story with a person’s home town (ie. A CARDIFF wo/man...) you have the wrong intro.

If you are writing for the local or even a regional newspaper you would rather hope - as would most of your readers - that it might actually contain local news.

So you could, in theory at least, start every story with the person's place of origin along with their sex. Almost. Every. Story.

(Mind you an intro starting: A CARDIFF hermaphrodite... might work).

Now I'm told there's all this stuff about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and that's why it is done. But reading a newspaper and reading online are two - very different - things (Hell! do you think I'd be writing like this if I was writing a book?)

People who read newspapers we must (oh please we must) presume enjoy reading...and believe it or not but they do notice - and they do notice good writing.

And given the staffing levels of local newspapers these days - your writing does make a difference...a big difference (and getting bigger every year).

However it is perfectly acceptable if say a story happens outside your immediate patch for example:

A CARDIFF holidaymaker told last night how they narrowly avoided being blown up by terrorists in Thailand.

Lots of geography but it can't be helped. Note also I've avoided mentioning the person's sex - so if you must say where the person is from at least try and be more descriptive in who or what they are.


Unlike this example...can someone tell me where they think the action is taking place:


A parish council has slammed Norfolk County Council for ignoring their objections to a thermal waste treatment plant near a Norfolk village and voiced concerns the plant could be used for incineration.


But where is the parish council? Perhaps it is in Norfolk but they don't say. Fortunately they also manage to get the words council and plant as well as the county name in twice. Lovely.

13. Most journalists, esp on locals, aren’t well paid. Don’t take a job then whine about pay. Be good at it and find another

Some things happen by chance. One being that just as I am about to start writing about journalists' pay I read the brilliant Simon Kuper in the FT's Weekend Magazine (I'd suggest it's worth a read but at £3 an edition the FT is probably out of your price bracket...I get to claim it back).

But just in case the link goes down or it gets squirrelled behind a pay-wall this is what your average reporter - and he's talking about nationals not regionals or locals - has to contend with:

In 1947, Winston Churchill wrote a story about an imaginary conversation with his father’s ghost. Churchill tells the ghost that he writes books and journalism. “Ah, a reporter,” the ghost replies. “There is nothing discreditable in that. I myself wrote articles for the Daily Graphic when I went to South Africa. And well I was paid for them. A hundred pounds an article.” Churchill’s father visited South Africa in 1891. If he wrote those articles for certain newspapers today, he would still get £100, or maybe nothing.

If you've read the full article he is wrong about one thing - in locals lots of what you write can make a difference...even that week.

In the UK the average salary is £26,200. If you are earning this or possibly even more - congratulations you must be the editor (perhaps you could be kind enough to suggest this blog to trainees or mention it if you give a talk journalism students).

The fact is you are not going to be earning anything like this. Now I could talk about how unfair it all is...or why you should go on strike, but I'll leave that up to the NUJ (these are practical tips not Never Never Land).

Quite frankly if there were a lot less of you so keen to get into this job my pay would go up because there would be a shortage of reporters - so bugger off.

Since you are hell bent on becoming a reporter - stop complaining. The one sure fire way of getting anything like a decent pay increase is to leave the paper - and if that's to stay in journalism it is to move to a bigger one. Either that or get promoted.

So don't - whatever you do - move to your first paper and think that's it. Keep flexible at least for the first few years (unless you are fabulously wealthy and just slumming it or your partner happens to be).

And don't whine about the pay. If you're not a reporter don't bother becoming one if money will be an issue - you've been told. Even if you become a senior in two/three years time the chances are you'll only be on £20,000 - and probably only £18,500 if you are at the same paper you were a junior at).

Loyalty - quite honestly - doesn't pay. But you are still there to do a job. So do it because the best way to get another job is to have great cuts and know what you are doing. And then you can keep moving up.

Tomorrow: Where and tear....

12. At least feign enthusiasm when doing work experience on local newspapers – even if you don’t actually feel it

In a newsroom people's impressions of you are made very quickly.

It is filled full of people making snap judgments through years of interviews and doorsteps.

So one mistimed word, an ill-conceieved phrase, an insolent look can ruin your chances of ever working in that newsroom again.

Do everything - without complaint. Better do - and offer to do - even more.

You see it's very well turning up to a newsroom believing it to be staffed with cynical seen-it-all hacks.

Nothing could be further from the truth, he lied.

Sure there are a lot of reporters who see out one day to the next - occasionally (but not always) bothering to stir when something suitably big or exciting comes along.

And then there aren't. There are the ones that can get up each morning and know that what ever is going on in their patch that day they will get to see or experience the best and the worst of it.

I must confess after returning to local newspapers - following a decade long stint on the nationals - I did wonder how so many (but certainly not all) reporters end up the way they do.

After all journalism colleges churn out thousands of bright, young things all with dreams of becoming the next Woodstein or Burnward or - holy of bloody holies working for The Guardian - and within a year they are as depressed and depressing as even the oldest hack.

(Which is largely unfair to old hacks - many of us retain some interest in our chosen trade.)

(Scene from The Paper - features the word "art" they mean photographs)

It has  to be the newspaper industry itself which weighs upon them. Uninspiring leadership, the churn it out, finish at five attitude (at least for the editor...everyone else can stay until the paper is finished).

But clearly I'm going off on a tangent. The point is that as a young reporter you are expected to rise above all this. You haven't got a mortgage to worry about, you haven't seen half the staff disappear from the newsroom like some Stalinist purge, you pay levels kept to near subsistence levels for four years on the trot, or senior reporters replaced five months after they left with a green junior - a bit like yourself (on three-quarters of the pay because if it was any less it would be beneath the NMW), or good stories spiked because the editor doesn't want to upset someone, or put up with good editors replaced with cheap and nasty versions. Or indeed just become fed up with the fact

You've yet to see any of these things so don't think for one minute you can walk into a newsroom and have the same world weary cynicism that even the office junior is allowed to adopt...because no one will thank you for it.

Indeed, you'll have plenty of time to be cynical later on in your career.

The truth is newspapers rely on the young and enthusiastic (in other words the naive, cheap and stupid) so don't think playing the hard-bitten reporter is going to wash with anyone - because the jolly chap in the corner cheerfully writing about the W.I. meeting might just be a former national man with more experience in their back pocket than you shall ever have in your entire career (btw I was not that reporter - bloody hated WI reports and can be seen moaning in a corner...very loudly).

So what people want is the enthusiasm. This is not to be confused with going up to news desk or bothering the reporters every 10 minutes asking for something to do...see earlier point.

Later I'll go on to other ways you can fill your time productively while doing work experience.


Tomorrow: Don't get too settled. The (bad) pay in local journalism.

11. There is nothing clever about not using Twitter, Google, Facebook, MySpace &c. they are useful tools for reporters.

It is really quite amazing how many journalists resist using social media...actually scrap that because we know how much information can be farmed from social media and obviously are exceptionally wary of it all.

But really it can't be ignored and the sooner you get to grips with it the better. In fact it is probably no small exaggeration to say that, as a junior reporter, you have no place in a modern newsroom if you don't "get" social media.

And yet there are many that don't - it seems they walk into a newsroom and immediately think that the large screen in front of them is purely a rather flashy typewriter.

The number of 20ish year olds I've had to tell to use Google to look something up is mind-boggling (this being the most computer-literate generation ever).

By the time you enter a newsroom you should be at least able to Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. But also be aware of others such as MySpace, FriendsReunited, Bebo and so on...although less popular they still contain information - and photographs - about a great deal of people.

Plus you should be learning any new systems that set-up.

They won't always be able to help and they certainly do not replace traditional newspaper skills - certainly not the doorstep.

But these are useful and transferrable skills (and part of the reason I'm trying out this blog).

Btw any other suggestions as must-know please feel free to let me know.

Tomorrow: It may be the dullest newsroom or you could get dumped in a corner and forgotten about for a week...but smile, smile, smile....

10. When starting work experience, a new job or going to an interview bring in a story or idea – editors will be impressed.

I can tell you what it's like to work for a newspaper. Imagine a combine, one of those huge threshing machines that eat up a row of wheat like nothing, bearing right down on you. You're running in front of it, all day long, day in and day out, just inches in front of the maw, where steel blades are whirring and clacking and waiting for you to get tired or make one slip. The only way to keep the combine off you is to throw it something else to rip apart and digest. What you feed it is stories. Words and photos. Ten inches on this, fifteen inches on that, a vertical shot here and a horizontal there, scraps of news and film that go into the maw where they are processed and dumped onto some page to fill the spaces around the ads. Each story buys you a little time, barely enough to slap together the next story, and the next and the next. You never get far ahead, you never take a breather, all you do is live on the hustle. Always in a rush, always on deadline, you keep scrambling to feed the combine. That's what it's like. The only way to break free is with a big story, one you can ride for a while and tear off in pieces so big, the combine has to strain to choke them down. That buys you a little time. But sooner or later the combine will come chomping after you again, and you better be read to feed it all over again. --Ray Ring
from the novel Arizona Kiss
(Taken from: http://www.schindler.org/quote.shtml)

And it's true. Newspapers need constant filling and it is a grind. You can make a good impression by actually bringing a story in.

Believe me bringing in even a half decent story will get you noticed - bring in two or three and you're practically in the door.

But watch for the pitfalls...we've all done them. Before suggesting a story idea check that it hasn't been done before. Hopefully you will have been taking note of the earlier tips about reading the paper first but it's worth double checking the paper's website too.

Secondly don't get disheartened if your idea isn't taken up. There may be reasons, not immediately obvious, why the paper won't run it (there may be legal issues with previous stories, you could be writing about the editor's best friend, could be something to do with advertising).

However the very fact that you bring in something will at least be noticed.

Don't wait until you start the job/work experience to write it up. Write as much as you can - you may want to leave the official comments until later (many press offices will refuse to talk to people who are not bona fide journalists - so calling from the paper's offices does have an advantage).

If you are very organised try putting in a Freedom of Information request weeks beforehand. Don't make it too complicated and don't expect a reply within the time - a general rule of thumb is six or seven weeks before.

For ideas check the brilliant David Higgerson blog. So what if it's a rip from a successful FoI in Dundee, if you are in Surrey the same idea can be used. The chances are no one in the newspaper office has had the time to do it.

Alternatively use your local knowledge. Listen out for stories - and check them out to make sure they will work.

There is no point putting up a great idea and then watching it fall apart after you've told the news editor.

And really don't take offence if he wants a staff reporter to help you with it. It means it was a good idea and they want to make doubly sure.

If nothing else bringing in an idea shows you are a go-getter.

Being a smart Alec I once turned up to an interview bringing in 67 ideas for stories and follow-ups based on that week's newspaper which I'd written on - quite literally the back of an envelope. (Note I can say literally because it was on the back of envelope as opposed to a cigarette packet which, if I had done and I hadn't, would mean I have very small hand-writing....or perhaps short ideas....ok let's just park that and move on).

So back to ideas. Bringing in your own story/stories also helps because in the vast majority of cases no one knows what to do with you or what you are capable of....be that for good or ill.

But if you do it and do it well, you are more likely to be entrusted with more work - perhaps even proper work...it sure beats sitting twiddling your thumbs and being offered the chance to join a real reporter at the Magistrates' Court if you are very lucky...

So a quick recap. Make sure it's not been done, make sure it's doable, don't promise anything you can't deliver.

Tomorrow: Why being cool or curmudgeonly doesn't work.

9. The real story doesn’t always come out at meetings. Spot key players for background details and off the record briefings.

Parish council meetings can be the most tedious events you will ever have to deal with - if you are unlucky you will find uninteresting characters, resentful that you have had the temerity to turn up.

They will be guarded, jealous of their village secrets, ensuring that everything they say and do will be as dry as humanly possible...and believe me with some of those agendas it can be more arid than the Arizona desert, on a particularly hot day, during a dry spell, in high summer.

(Scene from Norman Wisdom's film Press For Time: The most unusual thing about this is the fact there are TWO local newspapers at a council meeting.)



But worse, they will see you there with your notepad and start talking...if politics is showbusiness for ugly people, than parish councils are the provincial am drams and you are the critic. (And like all amateur dramatic groups they expect to see a good, non-critical write up in the local paper).

Never encourage this.

All which is very unfair. It's easy to dismiss most parish councils - I know, I've done it, ostentatiously putting my pen down when a councillor has gone on a little too long about the planning history of a bungalow.

Most though know their patches and local people very well. But it's not always the bloke who speaks the longest or the most eloquently who has the most valid points or reasoned arguments. Indeed I've seen councillors rambling on, only to read back my notes and find they've said virtually nothing.

Now putting aside the legal advantages of public meetings for just a minute (which should give me time enough to forget all about it as I haven't got a copy of McNae's Essential Law for Journalists to hand) most points can be perfectly summed up in a brief conversation after the meeting.

If nothing else this will help establish contact with the parish councillor - although no doubt our heavy handed police will arrest you for this on the grounds of some spurious corruption charge...so watch out.

But, moving on, parish councillors are better than 99 per cent of "community correspondents" those poorly paid (yes, there is someone in local journalism who is paid worse than you)  locals who write about the Yellow Pages being delivered to their village (I have read this in a paid for newspaper).

They understand what is going on with the community and with judicious cultivating may even share it with you.

However first you've got to know them - so don't be dismissive. See who the real players are and speak to them after the meeting. Don't be put off if they ignore you the first few times...they have no idea who you are.

So how do you win them over? It's simple, good journalism (it really does work).

Monday: How to impress the editor - or news editor (since so many newspapers feel editors are unnecessary) from day one.

Search Results

8. Use a newspaper’s in house library system. It can provide important background information to improve your story

The chances are when you start at a local newspaper - even if you've been very good and been reading it for weeks - you won't be from the area.

And even if you are it doesn't mean you will have a grasp of every planning application, political row or even change in the High Street.

This is why you should familiarise yourself with the in-house library. The system which - on theory at least - all the clippings and photographs are stored...well at least for the past decade or so.

Unfortunately in the rush to save space in the dawn of the computer age many newspapers threw out their clippings libraries - and newspapers have been suffering ever since.

But let's work with what we have. The in-house library helps with giving background which can improve your stories no end.

The obvious and most basic example is the on-going story, looking back gives you important background information.

It can also help with finding taking heads - see the previous blog on quotes - who can assist you.

If you are writing a backgrounder - rare on most locals in this age when a lot of editors seem to have a fear of stories that take more than 10 minutes to write up and are longer than 250 words - the information is invaluable.

It provides a first source.

As I warned you I would use examples of some of my old stories - not because they are particularly good - but easy to find.

Here you can see how using the newspaper's library helps fill in details and provides a starting off point for interviews with his family and friends.

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Self-man-thought-law/story-11415826-detail/story.html

Secondly libraries also include photographs which proved essential - see you took them, they may be able to help with your story.

Tomorrow: Making contacts - what to watch out for at meetings.

7. Photographs are very important. Always ask for them, don’t think your job is just words

Photographs (or "art" as it's called in America, at least from what I can figure out from The Wire - reporters call them smudges in the UK reflecting our differences and giving you some idea of how we value our colleagues with cameras) are as important than words.

And don't go believing that if you write 1,000 words you've painted a good enough picture - you haven't.

In theory every page lead should have a photograph to illustrate it - although this isn't always possible.

But don't make the mistake, as many reporters do, that your job is simply words.

These days your job includes everything - including securing the picture. Always ask for them.

Of course social media has helped a lot - the days of banging on lots of doors may not quite be over but it is very close. (This is not necessarily a good thing as we shall see at a later date.)

More importantly don't even take it for granted that your local newspaper even has a photographer any more...or at least one available.

For despite the fact that newspapers are made up of just two things words and pictures - the pictures side seems to being slowly forgotten. Many are working on eradicating the words side too.

Ah yes! but photographs still appear in newspapers. Indeed they do - usually taken by the readers themselves on cheap cameras, with red-eye and no composition, badly lit or slightly out of focus.

Most of the time these pictures are pointless - they get dumped under "community news" the catch-all phrase for putting in any old crap that people submit to the paper.

But once in a while that blurry shot taken half in the dark with the side of someone's head disappearing off the edge is...well, is gold dust.

It could be the perpetrator or the victim of a crime, the local lad who is now a star, the health guru with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth...the local MP on a protest march as a student.

And always be on the look out for potential pictures to use (oddly many local paper editors don't understand their importance but it is good to maintain an eye for these things).

Some years ago as editor of a local newspaper I was sorting through some boxes of old photographs one was a wonderful wide black and white shot of the local hunt meeting outside the town hotel with protesters and supporters.

A few weeks later the hunt announced it would be returning to a town for the first time in years - suddenly this historical photo taken 15 or 20 years before was the perfect illustration...a look back for older readers, a novelty for younger readers and a historical reference to others.

Tomorrow: Using the in-house library

This about sums it all up (From stuffjournalistslike.com).

6. Always try to include quotes in stories, they make them come alive. Try and get them in by the fourth or fifth paragraph.

Let's start with the absolute basics when quoting someone in a newspaper the form is this:

Mr Smith said yesterday: "We are making plans for the future to eradicate all cliches by 2015."

Note a) the colon and b) the speech marks and c) the full stop inside the closing speech mark.

While your prose may be beautiful people still want to hear other voices - preferably of people involved in the events you are describing.

Quotes enliven a story. They make it richer, and more vivid to the reader and show you have actually spoken to a real person.

More importantly it distances you (the journalist) from the story - you become a third party looking in.

There are in the main four (this has already gone up from two) types of quotes (this will be amended as people point the obvious that I have forgotten):

1. The witness quote. The person whose experience you are covering.
2. The reaction/expert quote: All important. These are easy or impossible to get depending on your contacts.
3. The insider quote: Everything from whistleblowers to political leaks.
4. The press release/press officer quote: On the whole dreadful.

Now I say fourth or fifth paragraph but obviously it depends on the length of the story - it is however a generally good rule of thumb for most local newspapers with a story length of around 350 words.

Note it doesn't have the full bells and whistles quote - it can be a half quote included later with the full sentence following on later.

Quotes are especially necessary on regional newspapers. The paper is meant to represent the local people and so it is all the more important to have the voices of the people.

Including quotes also removes most of the accusations of bias - believe me you will get this anyway.

This is Andrew Marr on quotations in his exceptionally good book My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism:

Always look for a direct quotation. If a reporter has actually done the work, and talked to people who know things, the evidence will usually be there. Who are the sources? Are they speaking themselves? Are they named? Generic descriptions, such as 'senior backbencher' or 'one industry analyst' (my mate on the other side of the desk) or 'observers' (nobody at all), should be treated sceptically. They can be figments of the reporter's own prejudices or guesses, rather than real people. If you keep coming across well-written anonymous quotes, be highly suspicious these are probably crumbling bricks without the straws of supporting fact.

I'm not sure I agree with everything he says - and especially on locals where local councillors often do not have the power or confidence to raise their head above the parapet... Indeed the same could be said of many MPs now.

5. Always remove unnecessary examples of “that” – you can test if it’s needed by removing it and seeing if a sentence scans

Possibly a controversial one if you read or write the broadsheets which use the word "that" in every other sentence.

Not entirely sure why since it hardly improves the copy neither does it make it more intelligent - no one is impressed by the use of "that".

It is not up there with say osculation in relation to, say, the use of the lips. Not does it have the same pleasingly pompous satisfaction of farrago. Not the simple joy of agog (clearly a word that should get out more).


So unless you've one of the handful of internships on a broadsheet it is probably best to leave out. Without it the copy is faster and cleaner.


Here are some examples where it is unnecessary:


The Home Office argued that he should be detained while officials sought further assurances from Jordan.


While Heathrow said it was confident that it will be able to cope with the next batch of snow...


The family of the 85-year-old founder of the Democratic Unionist party, now officially known as Lord Bannside, confirmed that he was being treated in Ulster hospital on the outskirts of east Belfast.


In each of the cases taken a random and there are thousands of them it is totally unnecessary for the modern reader - and perhaps even less so since many of the "serious" papers have become compacts. In other words space now counts.


But it's not just the broadsheets. Try this from one particularly bad local.


While councillors agreed that the display team is an asset to the town's tourist trade, they said the guild would be treated like any other local organisation that is desperate for cash.


It's a "that" double whammy. And means THREE unnecessary words - without the second "that" you don't need the "is"....and that is from a low rent tabloid.


On one occasion I was able to remove 25 unnecessary "thats" from one feature - a whole paragraph and no facts were lost or meanings changed. It was that simple.

4. When a senior reporter or editor tells you how to write something don’t say “I agree” say “thank-you”

If someone is trying to explain what is wrong with your copy - don't respond with "I agree" as if some how this is a negotiation taking place.

I once had a reporter do this again and again - despite me asking them  not to. It was infuriating and bad manners.

The idea of saying "sorry" or "thank-you" seemed to be impossible for them to say.

Needless to say they agreed so much  they made the same mistakes again and again week in, week out.

If someone has the patience to sit you down and go through your copy don't see it as a criticism just try and learn from it.

3. During work experience a news editor would rather you do two news in briefs well than 50 stories they have to rewrite.

You may think with the attitudes of some journalism students coming in for experience that their prose is polished to perfection.

Oh you didn't? Well that would be correct. Because for all their looking down their noses at the poor bloody hacks toiling away on the lowliest of weeklies they still don't have the foggiest idea of how to construct even a news in brief.

Which is fine. The whole point of work experience - internships, what have you - is that in exchange for the student's time and efforts they will have exposure to a newsroom.

The fact is that having someone in for work experience is usually hard work for the staff - so please don't ever get carried away with the idea you are being exploited during your week most reporters would rather not have you.

So to the point, one of the constant issues is finding something for the workie to do. Why is it people are so reluctant to hand work over? Simply because it is easier and quicker and less frustrating to do it themselves.

As we shall see later, there are ways to avoid this even before you walk into an office.

But for the time being let us concentrate on your first day. Naturally with someone of your skills and talents and A+ essays about journalism ethics you should be handling the murder that has just come in -but for reasons you can't quite figure you've been asked to write about the fete taking place next week.

You dash it off in five minutes and send it off to the news editor - you fully expecting to be given another story having proved your industry…but nothing happens. This is probably because the news editor is trying to correct the spelling mistakes, literals and gobbledegook you've crammed into the 87 words you bashed out in such a hurry…he, or indeed she, is also inserting the date and time of the event into the newly written 52 word article since it was missing in the original.

No one is asking you spend hours crafting it into a beautiful piece of prose - just succinct copy. If it takes half an hour that's fine (you won't always be allowed to be that slow but this is day one). A news editor will always be more impressed if they can just push it through - believe me they were expecting nothing from you. You have already proved them wrong.

If it helps, dash it off quickly. Then leave it for 10 minutes and read it back - it will give you a chance to see what the reader will be reading. Perhaps you don't need that quote from Proust, maybe the location of the fete would be useful, Sr Pettir's is a rather unusual name for a church - why not double-check it?

2. If doing work experience you MUST read the local paper (yes the paper itself) not online at least a month beforehand

Yes, more reading. Take note: Journalism is full of it. If you are easily bored by words then this probably isn't the career for you.

Even if you are pitching up at the local rag for a week of work experience read the paper beforehand. For just like the nationals you should get a feel for the style of stories and the writing.

I lost count of the number of students who walked into the newsroom who hadn't even bothered to read the newspaper they were about to work on.

Let's put aside sheer curiosity for just a second - surely research must play some part in this?  Apparently not. And again, we are not talking about schoolchildren cajoled into burdening offices up and down the country on work placements - these are students who, say at least, they want to become journalists.

Too many walk into the office and have to be handed the newspaper which they look at as if you've given the instructions to calibrate a spectrophotometer and told them to get on with it.

You might almost think that local newspapers were impossible to get hold of...

You may not think much of it and, indeed, there is often very little to recommend some of the turgid writing that passes for local newspaper journalism — but there are still some stars out there.

So by actually reading the paper itself you will have a chance to figure out what the various reporters do. You can see whose style (presuming there is more than one reporter — not always a given these days) you enjoy. Or perhaps the reporter whose stories are the most interesting, in other words you will have a head start and since a week goes by very quickly you will have saved a considerable amount of time.

(Be warned even the cruddiest reporters can have very good weeks.)

But more importantly, such is the very low standard of preparation for work experience, that actually reading the newspaper and knowing something about it will put you ahead of the pack.

Figure out the roles of the reporters from what they write. See if you can generate follow-ups (see later on in this blog) from their stories that you can take into the paper when you arrive.

As we shall see at a later date this can also save some embarrassment.

However ignoring all of this as a matter of courtesy and professionalism you should be reading the paper you are about to do work experience with from the smallest weekly to the largest daily.