Warning to budding journalists

It's actually starting to depress me, realising how hard it is going to be to get into Journalism. I have had a considerable amount of work experience in radio and in print, but it doesn't seem like enough by any means. Most newspapers I apply at ask for at least two years experience in the industry (which I havent got). My course isn't NCTJ credited so if I want to become a trainee, I will have to pay yet another chunk of tutition fees just to get a qualification that's recognised in the industry.

It's a nightmare and if any budding journalists who haven't decided what course to do at university yet- let this be a warning to you.

I got told yesterday by an editor of a newspaper that my journalism degree was useless. So what am I supposed to do? Apparently now in order for me to become a journalist, I have to spend an extra £6000 on getting this NCTJ qualification. So my debt at the age of 21 will amount to just over £20,000. Isn't that great? So rule one for those reading: Make sure your journalism degree is NCTJ credited. I forgot to ask, so make sure you do so this doesn't happen.

I have found editors rude, unhelpful and the industry in general unaccomadating of graduates trying to make a start as a journalist. I thought the general idea of being a trainee is to be trained on the job. I find it patronising that some newspapers won't take people on without years of experience (it seems to me that work experience and college/uni magazines don't count for s**t). What's even more insulting is that when the editors write back to me, they can't even spell! And they are telling the graduate to get 'proper' training. Send them back to school I say! I wish I could give some advice on this front. But I haven't even cracked this one myself. Those of you with advice for me would be much appreciated.

One newspaper wrote to me saying I don't stand a chance, with my degree, getting into the industry. However when I applied to a paper that funds people to do the NCTJ, I was told that my degree had actually covered everything in the NCTJ qualification and that I didn't need to do it. However unfortuntely they had already filled up their places on the paper but would be in touch if anything comes up. So at the moment i'm in limbo, broke with no job propects for the career i've been training for for the past three years.

Graduates just arn't given a chance in this country- well in the journalism industry anyway. You have to pay money to get into it in the first place and end up on a wage that wouldn't even feed you for a year. Its about the grade on the paper rather than your ability to write a god damn great story. It's patronising and because it's like this, new journalists doubt their own ability. I know some fellow grads who have given up on the dream of going into journalism, because they know that it's pointless even trying.

I'm not giving up just yet, I want to prove to myself that I can get somewhere without having to spend extra money doing a course that i've just done. I want to prove those snotty editors that you dont need a peice of paper to write a great article. I have worked too hard to let this go. I know that students are often seen as lazy, but for two years during uni I worked sometimes 40hours a week with university work and work experience. This will not go to waste, I wont let it. The phone has been permently stuck to my ear for the past three months, and I imagine it shall be for the next year or so.

However I have noticed that the US love grads, and there are so many places looking for journalist interns. New York here I come.

Great new music?

Someone mentioned to me on a John Mayer fan forum on My Space, that despite great solo artists selling out in arena tours, some rarely ever have massive chart success. This person had Dave Matthews in mind, and we were talking about how John Mayer never comes to the UK to promote his music or play gigs. This guy’s comment got me pondering upon the subject.If you think about who is actually buying singles: mainly kids with pocket money who unfortunately choose to buy the crazy frog single (which I frankly think should have been banned and shunned into non existence).

The masses seem to move in fads also. For example there are many who read NME, and if NME name a band or a person such as Pete Doherty as 'cool' then people will go with it. If they named John Mayer as 'cool' then people would go with it. But it's not about whose cool, it’s about the music. On a separate note- I can't stand such things as 'the cool list'- what the hell is that all about. Image and celebrity counts for too much these days. Yes we used to have true 'rock stars', and that in itself was an image however, how many rock stars of today do you think have the staying power of 'The Rolling Stones'?

Reasons to record music have changed dramatically. In the 60/70's music was about liberation and freedom of speech; for example I think it was 'Freedom' by Aretha Franklin was written after Martin Luther King got assassinated. It wasn't about who or what was cool, it was about great music and in this case what was significant to that culture.

Many are saying now that the music scene is in a good place at the moment, something I partially agree with. On a personal level I like the fact there is much more room now for bands such as the Arctic Monkeys to make a dent in the charts, instead of hip-hop or again, crazy frog. However I have only used Arctic Monkeys such as an example as they became a success from the internet, which I credit them for. However they aren’t the best band around at the moment, and I find it amazing that because of the hype towards them, the sales of their first album have rocketed.

I have noticed, as many others have, that the fad at the moment is to be in an indie band. This therefore doesn't make much room for any other bands trying to crack the music scene. I interviewed a band a year ago called 'Seafood', lyrically and musically fantastic yet they have been dropped by their record label and amazingly kept going. The odds have been against them but for nearly ten years they have persisted. They simply love playing music, and that’s the point. The passion doesn't seem to be there anymore: it's about being in a band, being a rock star, being famous and in some cases sporting a funny hair cut.

I ran a radio show which was purely based on exposing new bands and giving them the recognition they deserved. This was exciting at first, but it soon occurred to me that some of the bands did not deserve this recognition. They had no passion for the music, but hunger for fame and celebrity. I hasten to add that not all bands and solo artists were like this, but those who were, really discouraged me from working in the music industry.

I was speaking to a friend of mine for example, and he's currently trying to get into a band. I asked him out of curiosity about why he wants to be in a band- and of course the predictable answer was 'cus I wanna be famous'. As well as this comment being shallow, it is incredibly naive. There are many who think that once they get in a band and sound okay they will land a record deal, and obviously it doesn't work like that.

So I’m going to keep on searching for new music that isn't reminisant of the Babyshambles, or any other indie drivel. Support the underdogs, be open minded and you will find some fantastically diverse bands and solo artists.

Look out for:
My Architects
myarchitects.co.uk

Nikola Rachelle
Nikolarachelle.com

Vijay Kishore
vijaykishore.moonfruit.com

Teaching: The short road to insanity?

The day starts with a police car arriving outside. A fight breaks out and a shoe and a bag fly across the room. Thirty fearless individuals then enter the room running around and screaming at each other. As chaos fills the room, I do not believe that the oldest person in here, apart from me, is only five years old.

It is still early in the day and I feel a headache coming on already. The children all want to sit on my lap, bringing me their favorite books and toys and showing me what they had drawn for Mrs Jones the night before. Everything is so small, especially the table, which are up to my knee and I am afraid to sit on the little chairs in case they break. I feel nostalgia hit me, remembering that classroom smell.

I suddenly hear a scream from inside the cloakroom, and a big crash; a dramatic entrance, as a tired and a harsh looking elderly lady walks in with a grumpy child walking in after her.
"We are going to be good today aren’t we Lee?"
"NO' screams the child"
"I said we're going to be good today aren't we Lee!"

Lee runs off as his teacher walks after him. This child, I had been warned about. Last year in nursery he wouldn't say a word; instead he would run around making animal noises, smacking other children and biting the teachers and even on one occasion, broke one of the teaching assistant’s fingers. Appalling as it is for teachers, they rarely get additional help in the classroom and instead they have to rely on occasional help of the parents. Mrs Jones tells me of how she sometimes goes home in tears.

During the day I learn that teaching can be eventful and the rehearsal of the Christmas Nativity play provides me with some amusement. The children sit on the make shift stage in the small gym, fighting, fidgeting and pulling faces. Mary enters whilst Joseph decides to sit in the 'wing' sucking his thumb. Finally he is pushed on stage, as Mary wets herself. Lee swings his Shepard’s sheep around like an Olympic hammer so that it hits one of the nursery children in the face. As the rest of the class sing their little hearts out to 'When a Child is Born', the victim of Lee's battering, is reduced to contribution is to hilariously harmonies with a relentless wail.

Lunchtime is 'fun', with one little boy stamping on another’s head after beating him with a toy lorry. I later learned that the policeman had arrived to speak to the headteacher, after being accused by a parent of allegedly hitting their child. In fact all he had done was tell the child to stand against the wall after the child kicked another.

Little Molly had just come back to school after two weeks of being away. During the lunch break we got chatting over a good book and a cool glass of orange juice. I notice that she is wearing a pretty bracelet around her tiny wrist.
"My daddy made it me"
"Well it's very pretty Molly"
She looks up at me with her big brown eyes as she wriggles around in her seat.
"He made it for me because he beat mummy up and I saw."

I feel so angry and helpless. Why does a child as young as five have to see such a thing? I am sickened, and then it dawns on me that in fact school for some children is a welcome escape from home. Knowing how to get attention at school, being told off by the teacher is better than being ignored at home. I notice one parent telling her child to stop hugging her because it's embarrassing, and I wonder how many other children are starved of affection from their own parents.

I see Lee run towards me and I smile asking if he's okay. He then runs off again, making some kind of animal noise. I think he was trying to be a chicken today. Mrs Jones tells me how he is on the 'at risk register' which means that his home life isn't exactly pleasant, another case of domestic violence.

The day approaches its end and having become quite attached to the children, I feel sad knowing that they would soon be going home. That afternoon, Lee kicks Mrs Jones and attempts to bite her. She demands an apology, but he refuses. As he fetches his coat, he stops and turns back to Mrs Jones.

'I love you.'

Dec 2004