Over the summer I was lucky enough to get 3 work experience placements. MSN, Computer Active and PCPro.
All 3 taught me very different things about the world of journalism, and I left each one feeling as though it's helped me to become a better journalist.
MSN
I spent some time at MSN, and earnt alot about CMS, which I've learnt is used by a number of news websites for managing and publishing their content. I used their system (called Blackboard) to format and publish content onto the news website, which included adding SEO keywords.
I also wrote a few news pieces and features, including a piece on the new technology that was introduced in the London 2012 Olympics. I learnt about the importance of house style, as MSN had a specific way of referring to different aspects of the games.
I also created a few gallery pieces that contain a number of pictures with a couple of pars written underneath.
Computer Active
I spent two weeks at Computer Active working for the news team. I wrote a number of news pieces based on press releases, twitter trends, and reports from other news sources. During my time there I had to contact press offices, sources and professional figures for quotes and phone interviews.
I wrote a few pieces for an issue of the magazine, and also sat in on news meetings and a meeting to discuss what images would be used for the news section of the magazine and how it would be structured.
PCPro
At PC Pro I produced news stories, which were sometimes more challenging because of the magazines target audience. They are very aware of the products they are reading about, so the news stories required a lot of research and re-writing to get them right for the target audience.
Here are some of the pieces that I wrote on my work experience placements.
Computer Active
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2200013/german-privacy-chief-reopens-facebook-facetagging-probe
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2200432/people-prefer-to-buy-new-pcs-rather-than-upgrade-says-crucial
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2201963/confusedcom-releases-free-app-that-could-improve-driving-skills
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/2202224/faa-considers-dropping-ban-on-use-of-phones-laptops-and-ebooks-on-planes
PCPro
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/376705/windows-7-tops-xp-for-first-time
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/376804/twitter-angers-developers-with-more-changes
MSN
http://tech.uk.msn.com/mobiles/zte-enters-the-top-5-smartphone-manufacturers
http://tech.uk.msn.com/apps/sophos-launch-new-anti-virus-app-for-android
http://tech.uk.msn.com/features/technology-of-london-2012
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6 comments:
I'm doing some work experience at PC Pro this year; it's interesting to find someone else who's done it. At what level was your knowledge before you went to PC Pro - had you read the magazine? Just asking out of interest.
Was a rally good experience, any sort of experience you can get is always great.
I had read the magazine on a few occasions, but you don't necessarily have to know the in's and outs of how it. I'd recommend picking up a copy and having a look through, and checking out there website too.
Do you have a blog or Twitter, would be cool to keep up with how you get on.
Good luck ]
Sorry for the delayed response to this; I did actually reply once but my phone decided to play silly buggers and didn't post. I finished my placement last week, and it was really good. Got plenty of stuff onto their website, and am currently writing a feature about Google for them at the moment. There's nothing like practical experience to get your writing skills up, and I think I improved massively from day 1 to day 8. If you're interested, you can see my stuff here
(if that doesn't work, just search Michael Passingham in their search bar): http://www.google.co.uk/cse?cx=004559839521945829532:v59uy3pajlm&q=michael%20passingham&oq=michael%20passingham&gs_l=partner.12...0.0.2.24755.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.gsnos%2Cn%3D13..0.0.0..1ac.RvP_cFTmxTY#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=michael%20passingham&gsc.page=1
Bugger. That link was so long it broke the entire comments section. Sorry about that.
haha no probs I'll take a look. have you got Twitter?
Yep, I'm on Twitter. I'm @MrPassingham. Interestingly enough, I actually ended up getting a full-time 9 month freelance job at the IT website V3 largely due to my couple of weeks at PC Pro! So thanks for this blog post and your comments, I found them very useful!
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