Journalist: Andy Collinson
In your own words, briefly describe your job
''I'm the Chief News Reporter in HTV so I work in a department of a couple of dozen journalists, finding news around Wales. We get that from press releases, we look at local newspapers, we've got our own exclusive contacts. We may see something in the national news that's got a local implication for a part of Wales, it might have an all-Wales implication. We use our contacts to try and decide exactly what that implication is, to develop the story and try and put together a piece which makes good television.''
How did you get into the industry?
''I got thrown out of Switzerland during my year off, having a year off before university, because Swiss unemployment among young people went up to about three, so they revoked student work permits for that year for British and French students. Came back, got a job on a local newspaper. I did a couple of years in newspapers, and then found a job on a big regional news agency, got a job on there as the apprentice and the tea boy. Occasionally, they used to let me rewrite very short news stories, and developed from that to writing more substantial pieces, mostly for the national press, but also occasionally for television and radio.''
What advice would you give to others seeking work experience?
''First things first, the number of people going into media courses in universities is probably enough every year to fill and populate the newsrooms of every news organisation right across the UK. There are an awful lot of people who when they start out thinking about the possibilities, think "I'd like to read the news", and reading the news is often the least part journalistically of what journalism is involved with. There are lots and lots of careers within broadcasting that aren't necessarily reading the main news that can also be very, very rewarding.''
Are there any other points / reality checks you'd like to make?
''I think often it's the balancing the requirements of the job, the requirements of your broadcaster, of your newsroom, versus the requirements of the people on the other side of the story, the people you're interviewing. That obviously can be tricky sometimes, but probably is the most important skill of all.''
When did you realise that you wanted to work in the industry?
''Probably with hindsight when I was about 10 or 11. We had little projects at school to find out about this story or that story, and the element of journalism which I've always liked is the research.''
What impact will developments in New Media technology have on your career?
''A massive difference, absolutely massive. Today I spent a couple of hours trying to research a story that's happening in Australia. A couple of young women from Wales died in a very large fire in which 15 people were killed in Australia last year. I'm waiting to find when the trial of the man accused of their murders is going to take place. Now, because of the time difference between Britain and Australia, I either have to get here very early in the morning to ring places in Australia, or I can do research into what's been published already in the Australian media, by checking on websites. 20 years ago, that just wasn't open to me.''
What was the best career decision you ever took?
''I'd have to say for me personally it was coming into broadcasting. I liked newspapers, I loved the written environment, there's a lot of freedom that you get with newspapers because you're only concentrating on the written word, whereas in broadcasting, you have to think not only about your words, but your pictures, the technical requirements, and also, and increasingly, deadlines.''
Has anyone or anything particularly inspired you?
''Very, very early on in my career, I read a book by a bloke called William Shirer, who was one of the very first broadcasting correspondents in Europe. He pioneered international broadcasting, telling America predominantly what was happening in Europe. Despite all the technical problems - they were actually inventing the technology around him. I think the rules that he was developing in the 1930s/1940s still apply today.''
Do you have to multi-skill, or do you work in one area?
''I don't. People within the department and the company do, and certainly there have been trends within broadcast journalism to try the idea of the video journalist: one person who can go out, research a story, film it, do all the interviewing , come back, carry out the editing, put down the commentary and record the voice-over, and prepare it to go on air for transmission.''
''I'm the Chief News Reporter in HTV so I work in a department of a couple of dozen journalists, finding news around Wales. We get that from press releases, we look at local newspapers, we've got our own exclusive contacts. We may see something in the national news that's got a local implication for a part of Wales, it might have an all-Wales implication. We use our contacts to try and decide exactly what that implication is, to develop the story and try and put together a piece which makes good television.''
How did you get into the industry?
''I got thrown out of Switzerland during my year off, having a year off before university, because Swiss unemployment among young people went up to about three, so they revoked student work permits for that year for British and French students. Came back, got a job on a local newspaper. I did a couple of years in newspapers, and then found a job on a big regional news agency, got a job on there as the apprentice and the tea boy. Occasionally, they used to let me rewrite very short news stories, and developed from that to writing more substantial pieces, mostly for the national press, but also occasionally for television and radio.''
What advice would you give to others seeking work experience?
''First things first, the number of people going into media courses in universities is probably enough every year to fill and populate the newsrooms of every news organisation right across the UK. There are an awful lot of people who when they start out thinking about the possibilities, think "I'd like to read the news", and reading the news is often the least part journalistically of what journalism is involved with. There are lots and lots of careers within broadcasting that aren't necessarily reading the main news that can also be very, very rewarding.''
Are there any other points / reality checks you'd like to make?
''I think often it's the balancing the requirements of the job, the requirements of your broadcaster, of your newsroom, versus the requirements of the people on the other side of the story, the people you're interviewing. That obviously can be tricky sometimes, but probably is the most important skill of all.''
When did you realise that you wanted to work in the industry?
''Probably with hindsight when I was about 10 or 11. We had little projects at school to find out about this story or that story, and the element of journalism which I've always liked is the research.''
What impact will developments in New Media technology have on your career?
''A massive difference, absolutely massive. Today I spent a couple of hours trying to research a story that's happening in Australia. A couple of young women from Wales died in a very large fire in which 15 people were killed in Australia last year. I'm waiting to find when the trial of the man accused of their murders is going to take place. Now, because of the time difference between Britain and Australia, I either have to get here very early in the morning to ring places in Australia, or I can do research into what's been published already in the Australian media, by checking on websites. 20 years ago, that just wasn't open to me.''
What was the best career decision you ever took?
''I'd have to say for me personally it was coming into broadcasting. I liked newspapers, I loved the written environment, there's a lot of freedom that you get with newspapers because you're only concentrating on the written word, whereas in broadcasting, you have to think not only about your words, but your pictures, the technical requirements, and also, and increasingly, deadlines.''
Has anyone or anything particularly inspired you?
''Very, very early on in my career, I read a book by a bloke called William Shirer, who was one of the very first broadcasting correspondents in Europe. He pioneered international broadcasting, telling America predominantly what was happening in Europe. Despite all the technical problems - they were actually inventing the technology around him. I think the rules that he was developing in the 1930s/1940s still apply today.''
Do you have to multi-skill, or do you work in one area?
''I don't. People within the department and the company do, and certainly there have been trends within broadcast journalism to try the idea of the video journalist: one person who can go out, research a story, film it, do all the interviewing , come back, carry out the editing, put down the commentary and record the voice-over, and prepare it to go on air for transmission.''
