When faced with the task of ‘patch reporting’, I was somewhat underwhelmed with pulling ‘Bournemouth Town Centre’ out of the hat. Nonetheless, off I went with my reporters hat securely fastened around my chin and the search for a story began.
My lecturer assured me that news was everywhere and it was all just down to developing the skills to decipher such news and articulate that into a newsworthy story but wherever I looked all I could see were students and elderly shoppers (not quite front page material). So thinking logically, I headed for Bournemouth Tourism where I was pleasantly surprised.
Bournemouth Tourism, in fact, have a bustling calender of free festivals and events and once I got talking to an extremely helpful lady in the Tourist Information Centre (after explaining myself as a student journalist) I was invited to cover the launch event on my blog and of course I jumped at the chance. I am sure I got off lightly here and I can imagine a lot of people aren’t so giving with their time but I strongly believe the key to my success here was confidence and believing in myself that I was in fact a real journalist. Confidence, determination and persistence was key.
So again, reporters hat on, I set off for West Key, an impressive little restaurant at the end of Bournemouth Pier, I was granted a press pass and was brushing shoulders with the likes of the Daily Echo and Heart Radio so I had to do my best to appear professional. I set my voice notes on my iPhone to record some of the speeches so I didn’t misquote any of the speakers and after the presentations from the RAF and Royal Navy, I braved an interview with Jon Weaver, Marketing and Events Director of Bournemouth Tourism. Again, iPhone at the ready, I recorded the interview to ensure accuracy of my quotes. I had already prepared my questions and, admittedly, I could have followed up on a lot of Jon’s answers rather than sticking to my script but I put this down to nerves as well as providing a strong learning curve.
When it came to writing up my article, I referred back to my trusty lecture notes and adopted the structure of the inverted pyramid, ensuring the most relevant, newsworthy and interesting facts were towards the start of my article. The lead was catchy yet informative and being a local event, I chose to write in the style of the Daily Echo and felt that my piece could definitely run in such a publication, being both newsworthy and informative.
Reflecting on my first experience, I’m certain I wouldn’t always be so lucky and perhaps the best way to go about such patch reporting would be to do my research first, much like the professionals do. If I had set off with a story in mind and who I’d like to interview, I could have sent preparatory emails, made phone calls, built relationships on Twitter and then spent my time sourcing further information and meeting interviewees with prepared questions and so forth. But for a first attempt, I can’t complain! Thanks for going easy on me.
Read the article here.
J For Journalism 