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OK, give me a free lesson!(This is also your first assignment)If you haven't already done so - Get in touch with all your local newspapers, radio and television stations.Be polite. Ask for whoever recruits newsroom staff. Check they have time to talk. Ask them what qualifications and experience they like recruits to have, and (very important) what personal qualities. Note the results of your inquiries. Include who said what, their status and their organisation. Reflect on what you have discovered, and the implications for you; what seems at first to be discouraging need not be. Email me your findings, with conclusions. If, while making your inquiries, you were offered a job with decent pay and training ... take it! More of Assignment 1Try introducing yourself to your local government elected representatives (in Britain they are called councillors). Avoid confusing them with the hard-working, underpaid, under-appreciated employees of the council.A phone call to the Town Hall, the Council House, or whatever your local authority calls its headquarters will start you off. You should get their names, their political affiliations, and their phone numbers (home, work and party HQ) with no problems; it's all public information though you might not think so the way some people in (British) politics behave. As ever, be polite. Don't be surprised if they start riding their hobby-horses the minute they think you're a fully-fledged reporter. Listen patiently. They just may give you the best story of the year. Let me know how you got on. By now, you will have noticed how often the humble telephone directory is used as a research tool. |
