My news quest

The course I am currently studying is a based upon a placement with a newspaper, which takes place each Friday.

My placement is with The Sale and Altrincham Messenger, which is my local paper. It is owned by a company called Newsquest, who are in turn owned by American media company Gannett.
The stories I write will form a portfolio, which will then be marked in January.

So far it has been fine, although I have had to re-write my fair share of press releases. Over the past few weeks I have been working on a story about the closure of a charity shop in Sale, which is on the paper’s doorstep. The shop has been there for forty years and raised over a £1 million for charity. Last week I visited it and interviewed volunteers and customers.

Today I wrote the story, pulling together all the quotes and making a couple of more phone calls. There is also a photograph, which was taken outside the shop last week. The story should be in next week’s paper, and will hopefully improve the quality of my portfolio.

Independent talent

The Independent has appointed 21 year old Mark Hughes, who is a University of Central Lancashire graduate, to be their northern correspondent.

Mark, who won a clean sweep of Press Gazette's awards earlier this year, graduated from UCLan with a BA in Newspaper Journalism.

He also spent his free time working for the News & Star in Carlilse. While at the paper he managed to sell his stories to a number of national titles, much to the amazement of his colleagues.

The Independent is currently edited by Simon Kelner, who also studied journalism at UCLan.

Mark's appointment can only add to the reputation of UCLan's journalism department, which last year sent a batch of newspaper graduates straight into The Sun.

An Englishman in New York

Scott directs Crowe and Washington on the streets of New York.

I had a quite a few reservations about the latest Ridley Scott movie, American Gangster, before seeing it.

I don't know why, but I was just not buying it. I think that my initial scepticism stemmed partly from the clumsy title. I also think that Scott’s own standards have fallen a little in recent years. The casting was also a little uninspired. Denzel Washington has never really done it for me. I have always put him in a similar box to Tom Hanks, in that both actors have featured in a lot of very formulaic, mainstream fare.

Then there is Russell Crowe. Is he half as good as he thinks he is? There is no doubt that he was magnificent in Gladiator, and certainly deserved the Academy Award he received for the role. Since then, I am not so sure.

Having now seen American Gangster, I am remain unconvinced. I think the first thing to say is that it is a fairly good film. Scott really brings 70s Harlem to life, although some of the set pieces are a little too stylized. On more than once occasion I did think we were veering too close to the territory of music video or fast food advertisement.

Washington is good, and so is Crowe. And so are the majority of the supporting actors. I just felt that there was something not quite right. Carlito’s Way seemed to cover similar ground with a little bit more élan and authenticity. The French Connection is the obvious point of reference, and I think Scott’s film comes second to that one too.

I know that Tarantino has very little reputation left, but I am slowly appreciating his point about certain middle aged film directors. There is something about their output that does not work. However, I do think that Mann, Scorcese, De Palma and maybe Spielberg would have all made a better movie than Scott. Perhaps this all comes down to where people are from. Scott is British, so how can he be expected to tell the story of a big American city with any degree of success. He grew up in Newcastle, not New York.

Friends in high places

It was nice to see Andy Dickinson, the man who taught me everything, blogging for the Telegraph. Andy’s own blog is now compulsory viewing for anyone interested in online journalism.

Trouble everyday

Apologies once more for the lack of content in recent days. I have been in the thick of exams. I sat a NCTJ Public Affairs on Wednesday and NCTJ Law on Thursday.

Wednesday was a bit of a blood bath. The compulsory question on local finance government finance was a horror show, because it was based largely on some very peripheral concepts. Revenue Sources anyone?

I just had to cope and move on. I realised the paper was based on four questions, each equally waited. I tried to raise my game on the next couple of questions, and probably peaked somewhere around the Ombudsmen and judicial review.

I obviously hope I did enough to pass. I certainly put the work in, so if there is any justice, I will scrape home.

The law paper went a bit better. I was a combination of short and long questions. The paper was based upon contempt, defamation, tribunals and a few other bits and pieces.

My knowledge of the PCC code is only general, so I had to skate through that area pretty quickly. I concentrated on the public interest angle, and then moved on. I finished with an essay on justification, which went fairly well. I think I passed the law paper, but I will have to wait and see.

Mock the week

Apologies for the lack of content over the last week or so. The pace at college has really picked up, with real exams now looming.

Today I sat a mock Public Affairs exam. Four questions in 2 hours. The first 2 questions went fairly well, but I struggled a bit with the second half of the paper.

The mock reminded me of just how peculiar and very specific the exam experience is. Knowing your stuff is only half the battle. Nerves, timing, structure and discipline are all relevant factors.

I find out the result on Thursday. The real exam is next Wednesday, so I have a little time to raise my game.

Next Thursday I face the first NCTJ law exam. This will be based upon defamation, contempt and copyright. A couple of other areas my also come into play, like breach of confidence, human rights law and tribunals.

This Thursday I sit a Teeline exam, although it is not NCTJ. I have forced to put this subject on the backburner for a week or two. Once next week is over, I will have to dive back into it.

I do not have much of a life at the moment, due to the demands of the course. However, I have noticed that the BBC has started putting advertisements on a couple of its websites. And why not? They are obviously under huge financial and political pressure, so why shouldn’t they earn some easy money. Surely this is an example of the beeb embracing the market, in the very way some of their critics wish they would.

The Queen’s Speech took place today, so I am looking forward to a row on Newsnight or something. Apparently I get study this type of thing in the second Public Affairs module.