The interview from Hell - Part 2

The last part of the elimination process was a face-off with one of the lecturers.

Armed with my portfolio of cuttings I was all set to impress the hierarchy of journalism academia with my experience and knowledge.

Instead it was the final nail in the coffin for any chance of getting on to the course.

I was asked who my favourite newspaper journalists were. A plethora of television correspondents flooded my mind but any broadsheet reporters had temporarily left the internal newsroom.

I was probably expected to say Woodward or Bernstein or maybe even David Leigh or Nick Davies or Truman Capote.

I managed to stumble out: “Erm…Charlie Brooker…Hadley Freeman…”

I had Catherine Townsend (ex-sex columnist for the Independent) on the tip of my tongue but I held back.

I could hear the gates to the journalist’s Mecca slamming shut as I uttered those two names.

But it just got worse. My experience was picked apart. Student journalism didn’t “count” as experience.

Clearly, my three years of writing, editing, proofreading, commissioning articles, laying out pages using InDesign, liaising with PR companies, attending film screenings and interviewing people all counted for nothing.

My explanation for how I managed to get five months experience on a regional magazine* through sheer initiative was rewarded with a sceptical, glassy-eyed look.

Despite the magazine being published by an upmarket newspaper it appears my two days of flicking through the newspaper itself were prized more highly.

Nor did it matter that I was working as a news aggregator at a financial newswire at the time.

My job entailed finding existing stories which I summarised for readers in a daily news round up. But I wanted to report and break news instead of re-hashing copy.

(During the introductory talk I was told that graduates from the course went on to work at the company I was then employed at. I did mention this to the eliminator but it was of no consequence.)

To add further insult to injury, I was smacked with a wave of condescension when I told that I was “very enthusiastic” and that maybe I should apply for the magazine journalism course.

In my head I yelled “but I want to be a newspaper reporter”. I wonder if my face betrayed my seething frustration.

The battle was soon over and the lecturer had vetted out another wannabe. You are the Weakest Link, good bye.

As I left the interview room and collected my things for the journey home I felt incredibly hollow.

All hope of getting into journalism seemed to be extinguished.

I realised then that I may have to take the most obstacle-ridden path to reach my destination. Maybe that’s what makes the satisfaction of reaching a goal all the more sweet.


*I had ended up on the editorial team of the magazine while initially carrying out two weeks work experience at a national newspaper.

The first two days at the national I was sat at a desk and advised to read the paper. I was gruffly rebuffed when I asked a reporter if I could attend a press conference with them.

It was only after pestering my minders that I was elevated to the fifth floor to work on an under-staffed, under-funded magazine set for re-launch at the end of the week.

I spent the three months of my summer holidays from university there and a further two months after I finished my degree. It was the best experience I ever had. That was my summer of education and where I made life-long friends.

The interview from Hell - Part 1

I was told that it would last a whole day and that lunch would be provided. Little did I know what I had let myself in for.

I had been invited to an interview for a coveted place on the newspaper course of an institution considered to be journalism’s equivalent of Oxbridge.

A place on this course can lead to a job at the Guardian or the BBC.

Its name on your CV is like a password into the journalists' brotherhood and you will be welcomed in with open arms. I am sure they even have secret handshake.

The interview was like a one-day reporting boot camp: only the fittest would survive and the rest would have their dreams trounced under foot.

Following an introductory talk they thrust us onto the streets to test our nous for news.

We had to find and write up a story. Our deadline was the end of the day. It was then that I wished I had worn flats.

I was suspiciously scanning around for fellow recruits who might poach a potential story when I came across two women tidying up what seemed to be a unfinished adventure playground.

I had found my story. It turns out they were working on a new recreation zone for disadvantaged kids in the area.

I wrote down the Who, What, Where, Why, When and How (okay, maybe I wasn’t quite at that stage just yet but I answered most of them) and some other details before returning to base camp.

After lunch came the current affairs test. I managed to answer the one about the Daily Express apologising for suggesting friends of Gerry and Kate McCann may have misled authorities who were investigating the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine McCann.

I was also given a list of names and asked to write down which newspapers they edited.

Thanks to Wikpedia I can now say:

Alan Rusbridger – The Guardian
John Mulholland – The Observer
Roger Alton – The Independent
John Mullin – The Independent on Sunday
Will Lewis – The Daily Telegraph
Ian MacGregor – The Sunday Telegraph
Lionel Barber – The FT
James Harding – The Times
John Witherow – The Sunday Times
Peter Hill – Daily Express
Martin Townsend – Sunday Express
Paul Dacre – Daily Mail
Peter Wright - Mail on Sunday
Dominic Mohan – The Sun
Richard Wallace – Daily Mirror
Richard Wallace – Sunday Mirror
Dawn Neesom – Daily Star
Pam McVitie – Daily Sport
Bill Benfield – The Morning Star
Lloyd Embley – The People
Nick Appleyard – Sunday Sport
Colin Myler – News of the World