Work Placement Reports

Since I'm getting into the habit of sharing with the world I thought Id let you in on the reports of my work placements from early 2007 at two local newspapers, The Wokingham Times and the Reading Evening Post.

Wokingham Times - Sally Bryant:

"Todd is very highly thought of here - he writes quickly, accurately and stylishly. His interview technique is fine and he is very pleasant to work with.

His time-keeping is excellent, we can't really fault him and wish him every success."

Reading Evening Post - Steve Hughes:

"This is the second time Todd has been on a placement here and he has proved to be a useful asset to the newsroom on both occasions. We get a lot of people here on work experience and often they end up writing nibs and peripheral stories. That has not been the case with Todd and he has shown us twice now that he is capable of taking on lead stories and tuning them round quickly and accurately - exactly the kind of qualities we require of our daily reporters. He also seems confident on the phone, has been forthcoming in asking to take on work and has proven he has a grasp of the writing style needed to become a news journalist. I understand from my colleagues at our sister paper - The Wokingham Times - that Todd has been very productive in their newsroom as well."

Well that all seems very complimentary to me - what do you seasoned experts think?

Second year results

So I go my results through today...Iv been accepted through to the third and final year that will decide my degree score. My results in the individual modules as followed:

Professional Studies: 70%

Journalism In Context: 62.9%

Issues and Representations: 69.6%

Newspaper and Magazine Design: 52.5%

Editorial Photograpy: 55.1%

Online Journalism: 66.2%

Researching the Media and Communication: 68%

News and Feature Writing: 65.1%

Managing Media Projects and Dissertations: 55.3%

That leaves me with an overall 63% for the second year - which is a 2:1

Bit of work to do in the final year still though!!!!

What do the public want from a newsweek?!

So Iv just come back from a lads holiday to the sunny drinking hole that is Ayia Napa and one of my mates, having flicked through a copy of The Sun remarked how strange it was that "nothing seemed to have happened back in the UK" while we were away.

Presumably he meant apart from

The Prime Minister of the past ten years stepping down

Floods destroying areas in the middle of June

Bombings in the centre of London and Glasgow airport

Best player in the Premiership goes to Barcelona

As well as countless more...

It just makes you think - How much news do the public want from ten days!