Well, as part of my assignment i have to look over each of the articles i had to write and assess how i did, and reflect on what i could have done better.. so here goes. .
The first article we were tasked to do was titled “princes street interview” in which i met somebody in princes street gardens and we were tipped off about the herritage doors open day on calton hill – unfortunaty i can’t find this article at present, but when im back in Edinburgh ill try to find it or retype it and post it as soon as i can….
The first assessed peice we wrote was essentially a report on a parliament meeting – when we were in it was a meeting regarding the visit scotland budget, and how they planned to make cutbacks – which was interesting for a while, then it all became a little repititive – yeah, i guess i could have gone to parliament again out of my own time, but, honestly, it just skipped my mind. . which wasn’t good. When it came to going over notes, i was planning to go out of my way to obtain some original quotes from any of the ministers who were in the meeting, but to be completely honest, i wasnt interested in the subject matter enough to actually do some extra research on it – sure i looked into the report and visit scotlands previous expenses, but nothing drastic, just because it didnt interest me – which was the major flaw when writing this peice.
Then came the crunch time – we had to write a portfolio on a journalist, and i thought – Go local! that will be great! Get some really interesting journalist to tell me about his life. . so i approached the editor from my local newspaper – The Deeside Piper -from home and asked if i could interview him for a peice i was doing. . was given a time to call him and everything. . cool! This should be really interesting. Well. . i was wrong. It turns out, this journalist really sucks atbeing interviewed – which is thought of for alot of journalists, great at asking questions, not so great at answering – so i gave him alot of rope. . i asked detailed questions, that would lead to a natural generic answer – which i could hopefully make interesting somehow. . but the majority of answers consisted of no more than half a dozen words. Which, don’t really help when youre writing a peice solely on this person. I tried rewording questions, but to no avail. . eventually, he said he had to go and didnt have time to continue the interview – and to email if i had any questions. . it seemed he thought he answered all my questions. . which he had, just to absolutely no level of depth whatsoever. I then emailed him a lengthy email with some really lengthy well worded questions. . and in response – surprise!! – four word answers. GEE THANKS. so. . what did i do well? i managed to just about hit the word count of 600 words with less than 40 words of quotes, what did i do wrong? i went local. Yasmine, a coursemate, went to a journalist from the sunday times, and from what i heard he sounded great, was really interested in her assignment, and spent time going over his answers and rehearsing what he was going to say. . so thanks . . i have now lost all faith in local newspapers.
The final peice we were asked to write was my favourite. . it was a feature of our choice, which had to be based on Edinburgh. . Great! I love writing features! Features let you express yourself more than any other peice you would find in a newspaper – ignoring comment and columnists. . they’re completely different. . but yeah, my point is, i love writing features. So, i went for a travel peice, because we were basing it on a BMI feature . . so i went for a “48 hours in Edinburgh” peice – which i really enjoyed writing. I didnt even have to do much primary research – the places i wrote about, i have experienced it al myself – Valvona and Crolla, for instance, featured heavily in my article – i worked there for seven months last year, i also had my 18th birthday in VinCaffe – the two places i wrote about in my feature. Then it came to writing about places to see and visit. . such as Arthurs Seat, Calton Hill etc. . which i have been to on various occasions, so that was also easy. The only part that i didnt have any prior knowledge on was hotels – because, well, as a student livng in Edinburgh. . there isnt much reason or opportunities to stay in a hotel. . unfortunatly. . but i know people who stayed in the Hotel Missoni and knew what they thought about, so i thought it would be a good place to write about.
The most interesting part of the feature was having to use our own photos. . so i asked and was given permission to take pictures from around the hotel. . And ended up taking pictures of the suite Lady Gaga stayed in through the festival – i pretended to know who she was to impress the girl who was showing us around . . who on earth is Lady Gaga?. . anyway. . yeah, so i got some reallycool pictures of the rooms, and of the bar – with the model like barmaids who said they “weren’t looking their best”. . that made me chuckle a bit. .
But yeah, the feature was definitley the most enjoyable peice, and i could criticise myself in saying that i dont have any quotes, but it isnt the kind of feature that has quotes in it. . so. . yeah, i liked it Cheers!
——–Eoin Greensmyth——–
