As I read the latest email from a BBC radio station telling me that my application for work experience has been unsuccessful, I have come to the conclusion that my University course is not going to get my foot any further in the door than anyone else.
This realisation becomes even more depressing when I tell you that I didn't even plan on studying the course, I was quite happy to sit on the fence and grab a joint honours degree in Media Studies in Sociology but no, after spending much of the interview with the course lecturers noses wedged tightly between my buttocks I actually thought that I had some sort of talent. I actually thought I would be able to graduate and at the very least enjoy studying Broadcast Journalism.
It was not one of my best decisions I have made (accepting their offer to have me on the course) but I always thought that having a degree accredited by the BBC would always make me stand out from the crowd in the eyes of future employers. Now sadly I fear that this may be more of an embarrassment, to have this qualification if I am forced to pursue a career as a toilet attendant. The whole idea of the course being accredited was supposed to make more attractive to the BBC, but after spending 2 years waiting for an opening to come along at a BBC Radio Station, and then applying twice, and being rejected twice, I am starting to question whether it is accredited by the BBC matters at all!
These are not my only concerns. The course itself has to be said is a let-down. For an MA course it would be rewarding as you are learning everything at once and there is less time to forget because you are always there where you’re suppose you should be, in a newsroom. As a full-time student one Newsday one a week is all you will get with masses amount of that time spent 'training' or 're-familiarising' ourselves with equipment. To be honest, as a child of the computer age, we rarely read instructions, and tend to pick things up as we go along. There approach is to explain in detail what everything does leaving with you with 30 seconds to use it for its actual purpose.
My perceptions of journalism is finding out things, telling the public the truth, and exposing what the big boys at the top don't want us peasants to know. But this course appears to be confused in its own hypocrisies. Politics modules are my favourite modules, hear you are encouraged to think outside the box, be daring, be shocking, we are taught the values of true journalism yet when we get in the newsroom it seems that 'churnalism' is all that is goes on. It is hard to be a true journalist when you spend one day a week trying to piece together news packages that may have happened days ago to the format of 'traditional' BBC standards. Think BBC News style for TV and BBC Radio 4 for Radio and that’s what you will be working with. Don't get me wrong there are good days, but this is when we have put together a bulletin that has had no mistakes. Even then I leave feeling like I haven't broken any boundaries. It's more of a performance than a news bulletin.
Within the three years of the degree we are required to spend three weeks in a 'real-life' newsroom gaining work experience. As I prepare to start my third and final year, I have received no acceptances from any nearby station or publication for work experience. Work experience is something that I desperately want and need. I need to know that there is real, true journalism out there that goes in to the news bulletins we see and hear and the stories we read. I want to see how a real-life newsroom operates, where journalists are passionate about what they do and inspire one another. I want to see how different formats work best for different audiences and different publications. I want to see a better side to Broadcast Journalism, not in the dull light that I see it in every Newsday.
This realisation becomes even more depressing when I tell you that I didn't even plan on studying the course, I was quite happy to sit on the fence and grab a joint honours degree in Media Studies in Sociology but no, after spending much of the interview with the course lecturers noses wedged tightly between my buttocks I actually thought that I had some sort of talent. I actually thought I would be able to graduate and at the very least enjoy studying Broadcast Journalism.
It was not one of my best decisions I have made (accepting their offer to have me on the course) but I always thought that having a degree accredited by the BBC would always make me stand out from the crowd in the eyes of future employers. Now sadly I fear that this may be more of an embarrassment, to have this qualification if I am forced to pursue a career as a toilet attendant. The whole idea of the course being accredited was supposed to make more attractive to the BBC, but after spending 2 years waiting for an opening to come along at a BBC Radio Station, and then applying twice, and being rejected twice, I am starting to question whether it is accredited by the BBC matters at all!
These are not my only concerns. The course itself has to be said is a let-down. For an MA course it would be rewarding as you are learning everything at once and there is less time to forget because you are always there where you’re suppose you should be, in a newsroom. As a full-time student one Newsday one a week is all you will get with masses amount of that time spent 'training' or 're-familiarising' ourselves with equipment. To be honest, as a child of the computer age, we rarely read instructions, and tend to pick things up as we go along. There approach is to explain in detail what everything does leaving with you with 30 seconds to use it for its actual purpose.
My perceptions of journalism is finding out things, telling the public the truth, and exposing what the big boys at the top don't want us peasants to know. But this course appears to be confused in its own hypocrisies. Politics modules are my favourite modules, hear you are encouraged to think outside the box, be daring, be shocking, we are taught the values of true journalism yet when we get in the newsroom it seems that 'churnalism' is all that is goes on. It is hard to be a true journalist when you spend one day a week trying to piece together news packages that may have happened days ago to the format of 'traditional' BBC standards. Think BBC News style for TV and BBC Radio 4 for Radio and that’s what you will be working with. Don't get me wrong there are good days, but this is when we have put together a bulletin that has had no mistakes. Even then I leave feeling like I haven't broken any boundaries. It's more of a performance than a news bulletin.
Within the three years of the degree we are required to spend three weeks in a 'real-life' newsroom gaining work experience. As I prepare to start my third and final year, I have received no acceptances from any nearby station or publication for work experience. Work experience is something that I desperately want and need. I need to know that there is real, true journalism out there that goes in to the news bulletins we see and hear and the stories we read. I want to see how a real-life newsroom operates, where journalists are passionate about what they do and inspire one another. I want to see how different formats work best for different audiences and different publications. I want to see a better side to Broadcast Journalism, not in the dull light that I see it in every Newsday.
I want to be inspired by journalists who actually do what they do because they love what they do, rather than be judged and groomed by two people who think we should all be the same and will only get good marks if we live up to their idea of what they think a broadcast journalist should be and look like. In that case a narrow-minded condescending fool with an aristocratic accent from the 80s.
My only plan now is to look for Masters Degrees or courses in PR or something. Living in Manchester is my dream right now so getting some work experience at a magazine would be ideal.
So, rant near enough over. Next Academic year will involve; arse-licking, alcohol, pro-plus, and possibly wearing a sandwich board outside a radio station reading 'EMPLOY ME!'
So, rant near enough over. Next Academic year will involve; arse-licking, alcohol, pro-plus, and possibly wearing a sandwich board outside a radio station reading 'EMPLOY ME!'
