I have not written recently as I have been extremely busy studying my journalism course materials. I’ve started learning shorthand and all of the basics on writing for newspapers. The big news is I managed to bag some work experience at the local paper: the Surrey Comet and Kingston Guardian. Even bigger than that is that I’ve now published three articles. They’re very small stories but they are a start. I have two more days at the Comet next week and do not want to leave. I have learned so much in the past three days:
- covering a court case;
- phoning my first ever source or contact;
- interviewing over the phone;
- writing up my first stories; and
- doing a Vox Pop.
Vox Pop is short for vox populi, which is Latin, and means voice of the people. Basically if you see a small mugshot photo of someone in a newspaper, magazine or other publication with a quote and their name and age, that is a Vox Pop. It’s asking random members of the public a simple question such as “Do you like broccoli and why or why not?” or “What do you like most about Christmas?” and quoting them. I managed to get nine people to speak to me and have their photo taken in an hour. I’d say it was a success.
Here are links to my articles:
The Vox Pop will be up shortly. Keep checking back for more over the next week. www.chessingtonlive.co.uk