Tag Archives: Media School

BBC South Today’s Roger Finn visits BU

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BBC South Today presenter Roger Finn was at BU to talk to Media School students about a career in broadcasting.

The presenter spoke about his career and offered tips to current students looking to move into the broadcasting industry, including how to write brilliant scripts for television.

In the afternoon, Roger was invited to take part in, and provide feedback for, a newsroom mock–up, where students were asked to report on a news story.

On coming to Bournemouth University, Roger said, “It’s a great opportunity; I have done it a couple of times before. I think it’s always really interesting to hear what they are interested in and what aspects excite them. Also, I think the profession is changing so fast at the moment that I think it is really vital that they know what the reality is.”

After the initial lecture, Roger and the students went through a recent episode of South Today, looking at how the programme is constructed and why certain language is used.

On the experience of talking to students, Roger continued, “It’s unusual, most nights I am talking to 500,000 people but I can’t see anyone so I might as well be talking to myself. So to be faced with 50 or 60 people is a really interesting experience, people who are asking questions immediately – it’s fantastic!”

Roger Finn’s visit also provided another example of the links the university has with industry as students were able to take note of advice given by a current industry professional.

The Rock ‘rocks’ with media appearances

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The community edition of The Rock, a newspaper created, edited and written by Bournemouth University students, has been a big hit with local and national media.

The student run newspaper, labelled by the BBC website as an edition printed ‘to improve relations with local residents’, has been widely praised in the media as it has been spoken about on Fire Radio, BBC Radio Solent and on the BBC’s main news pages.

Speaking to the BBC, Julia Denni, editor–in–chief and founder of the paper in her first year at University, said, “We really hope the newspaper will shed a new light that we are a part of the community, that it’s not all negative, and that we do a lot of great things. We want to work hand–in–hand with residents because we belong to the community too.”

Julia continued, “Gone are the days when student newspapers were full of gossip and adolescent humour.

“This is a proper newspaper with responsible journalism. It’s vital for students to be a part of the community and engage in the town where they live for up to three years.”

The newspaper continues to be written by BU students and distributed on Bournemouth University’s campuses.

To read the BBC news story in full you can visit the BBC website.

Deputy Editor of Channel 4 News gives masterclass at BU

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The Deputy Editor of Channel 4 News visited Bournemouth University to give a media masterclass to students.

Felicity Spector, who has worked for the news organisation for the past 24 years, spoke to students about her experiences – particularly those covering US Presidential Elections.

Felicity is now Deputy Programme Editor for Channel 4 News, with responsibilities including writing the show’s script, but has also acted as a political correspondent on the programme, as well as writing for the website.

She said: “I went into journalism because I like writing people’s stories – there are so many people who have really great stories.

“I still get excited every day because it is a job where no two days are ever the same.”

Felicity added that she was in the USA during Barack Obama’s 2008 Election Campaign, and also dealt with coverage of his 2012 re-election.

She said: “It was the most astonishing election campaign. The whole atmosphere across the country was unprecedented really. People were partying in the streets in Washington – it was the most amazing feeling, it really felt like something had changed.

She added: “This election was not as exciting, as it was not as close, but it was really fascinating in terms of what it has shown about the system.”

David McQueen, course leader of the BA (Hons) Politics and Media course at BU, introduced Felicity.

He said: “It is a real privilege to be able to hear from someone working right at the heart of one of Britain’s biggest news providers.”

Felicity, who studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at university, joined Channel 4 News as a scriptwriter on a graduate training scheme and has been there ever since.

“I was very lucky that I stumbled into this job. I think now it is all about trying to get experience,” she said.

“Even if you can’t get a placement, have a blog and just be curious about what is going on.

“Just do something interesting and different to make yourself stand out. You just have to have the initiative to find something which you’re passionate about and badger people with it.”

Felicity said that she hoped students – who came from a diverse range of courses including journalism, politics and marketing to listen to her talk – would take away the realities of being a journalist.

“When you study media as an academic subject, it is quite different than when you actually work in it,” she said.

“I just wanted to talk about how you are always learning when you’re a journalist, and you never know it all.”

I don’t Beliebe it!

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A journalism student from Bournemouth University has won the chance to travel to Miami and meet teen pop sensation Justin Bieber.

Third year BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism student Joseph Kent beat entries from around the world to win the competition, run by Adidas NEO.

The prize includes an all-expenses paid trip to Miami at the end of the month, and the chance to meet Justin Bieber after one of his concerts.

Joseph, who will then blog about the experience, said: “It is the trip that I am more excited for – I have never been to Miami and it sounds amazing. I’ve already been checking the weather reports.

“The great thing is that I don’t really have an opinion on Justin Bieber so I can go to the concert and form a justified opinion on him.”

A keen fashion blogger through his site www.unlimitedbyjk.com, Joseph was contacted by the Adidas social media team and encouraged to enter.

To get through the first round of the competition, Joseph had to send in a photo of the face he would pull if he found out he had won.

“That took me ages,” said Joseph, 21, who is from Woking and lives in Winton while studying.

“It was a mixture of surprise and disbelief, with a little glimmer of ‘oh my gosh’. It took me a while of taking photos with myself to find a face that I was happy with.

“I’m sure it wasn’t the face I actually pulled when I found out I’d won.”

For the second round, entrants were sent a rucksack and then had to blog about what they would put in it for their trip to Miami.

Joseph created a stop motion video of the items – including his camera, spare lens, passport and shorthand notebook – magically appearing to put themselves in the bag to one of Justin Bieber’s songs.

He said: “It took about two hours to shoot everything and about four hours to do all the editing but it was really fun to make.”

Initially Joseph was told that he had come in third place, but technicalities meant that one of the winners could not take up the prize.

He was at university helping out with an Activity Day for prospective students when he found out he would be going to Miami after all.

“It came as a total surprise,” he said.

“I was on my lunch break and checking my emails when I saw the one saying that I was going after all. I had to read it twice before I absorbed it.

“I think my jaw actually dropped and I started screaming and jumping up and down.”

Joseph will be one of two bloggers reporting on the experience, and will travel to Miami on Friday 25th January.

He will stay at a hotel on Miami Beach and will see Justin Bieber’s concert at the American Airlines Arena on the Saturday, before returning home on Sunday 27th January.

He will meet Justin following the concert, and hopes he will get the chance to interview the teen pop icon.

“If I have the chance to get a few words from him, I’m really interested to see what he thinks about the fact that there are his superfans who do really crazy things and then people who absolutely hate him.

“I want to see how that affects him and get his point of view.”

Joseph added that his friends are proud of him winning the competition.

“My friends and coursemates have been saying that they are proud of me as I work so hard and that I deserve this. I feel quite overwhelmed by that.”

You can watch the stop-motion video that Joseph created for the competition here: http://vimeo.com/52813041