202MC RAO-Reflection

June 10, 2011 nicole169

RAO Project Reflection

 

I thought that the RAO was very successful, I think it was down to having a small group of people to work with, and that we could trust each other to get the work completed on time, and to a high standard. I think that we worked well because we had a range of skills. I personally felt the task challenging as I undertook the task of seeking out stories in the Health and Life sciences department, a department of which I knew nothing about. I had to get straight on to emailing and ringing people from the department because of the short deadline, but this meant it gave us experience of how real daily newspapers work. The people I spoke to were very helpful, and I even managed to get two stories out of one interview. So in total I had three written articles in the RAO, as well as sub-editing the other stories before they were sent to editor so they could dropped into the design. I found that when sub-editing, and writing my own work, I had to re-purpose the material for print, as many of the stories were written for broadcast, which was a vital lesson in future writing.

 

This has impacted on my view of journalism practice by understanding how much you have to work as a team and trust people to get the work done. It also gave me the experience of working to a tight deadline, and how you need to have the right contacts to get a good story. It has confirmed my feelings that I suit writing and feel more confident writing for print, rather than broadcast, because I am not confident in the technical skills.

 

Working in a group for the RAO has helped me identify some gaps in my skills, again I need to learn to get into the habit of writing more for print than broadcast and cutting unnecessary content to give the story more impact and make it more clear. I also need to be more critical of other peoples work and not to be too nice when sub-editing other peoples work. However I think once I got into being critical I excelled in working as a team and sub-editing work to re-purpose the material for the intended audience.

 

This experience will feed into my final year because I now know how to work confidently in team and working to a tight deadline, and now have the determination to go out and find a new story. As I want to work with crime reporting I think that these skills and practice will help build up my confidence in going out and finding a story. However the areas I need to concentrate on is learning to design for papers and magazines as I haven’t done this to my full extent yet and need to practice, and will also need to learn photography skills in my final year so I am an all-rounder and will be more employable with the amount of skills I have.

 

By the end of my final year, I want to be in the right place to go out and find a job. I will be looking at the job market throughout the year and this will let me know what skills I need to build upon, and I have already started making an action plan from my professional experience and from working on the RAO. My evidence to be in that position will need to consist of a range of skills, including the shorthand I already learn, and a well purposed portfolio that will show off my work to its best potential. This will only happen by writing as many stories I can, and becoming critical of my own work. I will need to explore what the employees look for in crime reporters and make sure I organise I strategic exit plan to make sure I can achieve this.

 

Entry Filed under: 202mc

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