5 tips by BBC Radio 4’s Sarah Nelson on getting into the broadcast journalism industry

CSRFM hosted a Q&A Panel Session with BBC Radio 4’s Sarah Nelson.

1. PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE

”Being a broadcast journalist is a real skill in itself. You need quite a lot of stamina and you need to be very good at talking. It’s a competitive industry. My thought is, is if you’re really determined and willing to learn, you’ll go quite a long way.”

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2. GET INVOLVED IN STUDENT RADIO AND TV

An audience member asked the question ”What should aspiring broadcast journalists be doing to prepare themselves for the working world?”

BBC Radio 4’s Sarah answered: ”Involve yourself with student radio and TV. Bring in your interests and experiment. In the end it’s what you have to offer.”

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3. ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE

”You have to think about the audience and what will engage them. Always look for the newest, best story but be sure to create a mixture. You want to heavy stuff, but you always want the memorable stuff that makes people smile.”

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4. LOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE GOOD TALKERS

”You want to engage people. We talk to people before we put them on air and ask them to tell us about their background and what they think of a certain issue. We need a clear idea of what they know and questions to ask them, so that we can tell the presenter ”they know a lot about this”. Make sure you ask questions and listen to the answers.”

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5. READ, WATCH AND LISTEN 

”I read papers thoroughly and read the opinion section. I try and watch a couple of news bulletins a day and listen to quite a lot of our programme. I scan Twitter and Facebook to see what the trends are. I do a lot of reading online – I’m very mainstream. Social media is great as in terms of finding stories, it speeds everything up. It’s changed things and it’s massively exciting.”

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