Part 1

So after some strong words of criticism from "Friends" on the blog front I have decided to split my blog up into two parts the first part will be published during the week Monday to Thursday morning, and the 2nd part will be published Thursday evening to Friday evening as usual.

So what is this exciting part one going to be about I hear you shout?

Well after taking a straw poll after having too much to drink on Saturday night it seems that most people want to hear whats going on in my mind rather than my life. They want to re-live old stories and for me to be less pretentious and more funny.


So I would suggest to those family members that read my blog that maybe you should wait until Friday evenings to read Part Two of the blog about how I'm getting on in the world of Journalism as this "Part 1" shall be full of expletives and stories of our mishaps and no "gooding" like something from The Lost Boys.


(By the way I say straw poll it was actually Joe telling me how shit I was and like a true gimp I've decided to zip up, listen to what someone shouts at me and take what ever abuse is thrown my way.......that's quite a good analogy actually!) 

This is only a taster for next weeks one simply because it's late and I can't really be bothered to try and be funny and I have a shorthand book whose arse I need to kick!


So if you like me being pretentious tune in on Friday's, If you like expletive fuelled nonsense tune in on Tuesday's and Wednesday. If you like both tune in on Thursday's. If you like none of them well you should wear a condom on your head because if you're gonna act like a dick you might as well dress like one! 



Night.

Don't Believe the Hype Machine, Death of the Journalist

Another week, another look into the world of journalism and I'm really starting to like what I see. The week started bright and early on Monday (as usual) with a trip to crown court (not very usual) to understand how the court works (for our media law lectures) and how the cases can be reported (for our Reporting lectures) so far so simple. We heard a disturbing case which I shan't go into detail over because the case has an underage aspect and may contain legal ramifications if I was to talk about it on this. 

On Tuesday we sat through a Licensing Board Committee thingy at Bournemouth Borough council which was rather interesting (if you live in Bournemouth). We then headed in to work an had our first media law lecture of the week zzzzzz. Its not so much that our lecturer is boring (which he isn't) or that we don't understand the concept (which we do), its just..... Law is Complex! Our hours of shorthand have been cut down to only one hour a day in class. I'm trying to average between 24 and 26 hours a week. Just to make sure that I am pushing on and keeping up. This week, though, I've averaged around 19 hours, due to lessons being cut down, no lesson on Thursday and of course me travelling home to Slyme Vegas yesterday (Thursday) evening!

Wednesday started at 10 and finished at 7. An average day once again we had a Reporting lecture. At the moment we are working on intros to articles

and trying to find the most effective 20 words to start our story. It requires a bit of patience. Media Law was the best it has been so far. Everything finally started to fall into place as we are able to fit the law around the surroundings they are practised in. 

Thursday was a short day 10-12 (that's more like it)! I spent the rest of the day shopping and travelling back to Lyme. So all in all a very good week.

I'm starting to feel more like a grown up than ever before. I don't, however, feel like a student, which I am. Everything I'm doing makes me a student, I'm still in education, I live on ready meals etc. However I think because I turn up for work every day in a suit, flash a laminated card with my face on at reception and then saunter into a news room I feel like I'm an actual journalist, rather than a student. Maybe that's a good thing? Maybe this course has forced me to grow up in the short 3 weeks I've been doing it? 

Or maybe the fact that I saunter in to work, means that I'm comfortable in these surroundings, and when that thought hit me while I was lying in bed the other night, I couldn't stop smiling. It finally dawned on me that I have definitely made the correct decision! That in the next 10 weeks I'm not going to think of the fact that I have so much work to do and so many facts and rules and regulation to learn. I'm going to enjoy myself and the surroundings I'm in and the people I work with. I think that is important.

"Good Friday, April 18th, 1930
BBC radio news showed rare maturity
The news reporter said something that these days they wouldn't say
'Good evening, There is no news today' " Scroobius Pip, Death of a Journalist.

So to finish this weeks blog, something different I want to know your most iconic moment in sport that you remember. Something that watching it now would still give you chills.

Answers on a postcard (facebook and twitter)

Pete

P.s

http://totally2012.wordpress.com/

http://crockersportjournalism.blogspot.com/2012/01/marc-pugh-we-kind-of-owe-them-one.html

A few intresting blogs to read.

Ones about the Olympics

The other is about some shite team in the south apparently (!)

 

So week 2 is over....

So week 2 is over, and once again my brain is knackered and I'm surrounded by pieces of paper covered in squiggles!

On Monday I was in work at 9 am. I know Shocking (!) where a local Journalist called Stephen Bailey told us about a thing called the FOI, which stands for Freedom of Information act. To put it in Layman's terms it means that under this act you can ask for information without censorship. After that we had 4 hours of Journalism Practice which isn't as bad as it sounds. We went walking around Bournenmouth looking for stories, such as the christmas lights are still up over most parts of the town. Then two hours of shorthand and then two hours of public affairs, this is where we learn about the government, it might as well be called politics. I finally left the Echo at 7 pm. Knackered. 

Tuesday started in a similar vein in at 10 left at 5. This 9 to 5 lark starts to grind (!) Wednesday was similar to Monday except we were in at 10 left at 7 and spent a long time that day on Media Law, which in it’s self can be very complicated. Shorthand and public affairs rounded the day off Today (Thursday as I'm writing this) was a shorter day I finished at 4 but once again 2 hours of shorthand and 2 hours of reporting. 

This is beginning to look like the general pattern of my life now, however with every day I find myself become even more aware of the world around me; simple things, such as the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check all the news websites I can, Guardian, Telegraph, The Daily Mail, Sky News, Sky Sports News, BBC News even Twitter just to make sure that when i go in I have some knowledge what's been happening in the world overnight. It's almost like a thirst for information and I need to drink it in from all the  sides!

So, my plans for the weekend? One word, repeated a lot! Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand (I think you get the joke!) Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand Shorthand!

I may squeeze in a bit of play time! But I'm sure it will come full circleback to shorthand, but hey ho! 



So just before I ask my question of the week, which I would like feedback on - not just from my family! (thanks Mum and Dad!) But I'm gonna name drop a couple of my course colleagues (friends too strong a word!) with their blogs as they are really interesting.


http://jlo220.blogspot.com/2012/01/keeping-up-to-speed.html

 http://crockersportjournalism.blogspot.com/

Right, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, my “Question of the week”?

Should all sports men and women be licensed like Boxers? If they step outside of the law, whether it be drink driving or punching a DJ in the face at a night club, serious foul play or misconduct on their field of play. Should they have their licences suspended or revoked for a period of time depending on the seriousness of the crime! Even more extreme should their clubs have points deducted? Let me know what you think on twitter or facebook!

 https://twitter.com/#!/PeteHodges14


Until next week


Pete

P.s I shall now be Publishing these these blogs on Thursday evening or Friday mornings, and re-posting them throughout the week!

 

Introduction

Before I tell you about my week and some of my thoughts first I'm going to explain why I have set this up in the first place. It is mainly for the purpose of my friends and family that can read it rather than me having to explain my days and weeks to them individually, (yeah that's right I'm using new media to cover my laziness). Now while i sit here writing this, I'm surrounded by drill sheets covered in shorthand squiggles, books about media law and politics and so many pens and pencils it would take years to count them all and that is what these blogs shall be about. The life of a trainee journalist. I shall try to write one every week usually posting them on a Friday evening for you to read. It shall involve updates, stories and my ideas on journalism, media, sport, politics and other current things that a young journalist should be able to discuss. I shall Ask a question at the end to provoke discussion as well.


So as this is my first one I shall give you some background information and reasons for doing this course and blog.


The course that I have started is demanding. Whether or not I find it fun, in my opinion, is irrelevant. Its something I want to do. There is a difference between fun and enjoyment. I enjoy my course, for sure. I enjoy testing my abilities and I enjoy discussing politics and how to report the news. I enjoy learning and building my knowledge, which is something you never stop doing, so if you don't enjoy it, you don't push yourself, and I'm excited and apprehensive about the next 6 months. 


However the way that I have begun to think of this course is like this. I want to be a Journalist, to be a Journalists I need to work hard, be proactive and dedicated. There isn't any ifs or buts! For the next 6 months I need to work harder than I ever have done before, (which wont be difficult). 


Now you may be asking yourselves, well why Pete if you've just made a wonder speech about working hard, have you set up a twitter site and a blog? The simple answer is that these things will help me in the long run. You can only use 140 characters on twitter therefore you need to make every word count! A useful tool for a Journalist I'd say! The same principal applies to the blog, I need to be able to eloquently put all the shit ideas that are in my head on to paper/screen and hope people want to read them, which is why I have started this blog. 

As I have already stated I shall also be using this blog to put forward my views about the world and i suppose mostly sport however if something is troubling me I shall post it on here. If you have any thoughts on my questions and queries please let me know your thoughts on my twitter or facebook page.

So that's the end of the first blog, believe me they shall become more interesting and will vary in length.

Finally the topic of discussion this week will be Sports Papers! Why do you think the UK doesn't have a sports paper like L'Equipes in France or Marca in Spain? I mean we have the racing post but nothing about football. Is there a market for it? Would you buy one? Is it because certain papers have pullout sport sections? Answers on a postcard.


Speak soon

Pete