Ashleigh Dwan, QUT News

For the last two weeks I have been dragging myself out of bed at 4:45am to head into Uni for my Radio and TV Prac. For the first time I felt like an actual journalist and knew I was in for one hell of a ride. But boy, what an experience it was.

Radio - Week 1 (Monday October 10th - Thursday October 13th)

Day 1:

Having laid my perfectly ironed, professionally styled and respectable outfit out the night before, I thought I was at least materialistically prepared for what my first day on the job could throw at me.

As an organised journo I also made sure I was up-to-date on everything happening locally and nationally. I wanted to make a good first impression and had a stack of story ideas for the initial editorial meeting.

There was certainly a level of intimidation when I first walked through the radio newsroom. We, the budding second years, were all in the same boat but you could feel the nervous in the air. Personally, I had already scouted out the closest bathroom and was hoping my breakfast could stay down long enough for me to talk through at least one of my ideas.

I had seen a new report released by the eSafety Commissioner on the rise of cyber bullying. Fast-forward a mere 20 minutes and I was calling her office and trying to talk to as many online safety organisations as I could find.

The story came together rather easily and I was super happy with my efforts for the first day.

Day 2:

I knew it was coming. I knew I would inevitably break down and question why on earth I wanted to be a journalist.

This most certainly happened on Tuesday, as it seemed my ideas weren't suited for our bulletin and the timeframe. It was all riding on coral bleaching and trust me when I say I have absolutely no clue about science.

My confidence had been shot, the several hundred coral experts weren't getting back to me and one tiny irrelevant comment sent the tears flowing. Mind you, I aimed to keep some dignity and excused myself to the ladies before wiping my mascara stained cheeks and pretending like I was ready to face it all head on.

Thanks to some persistence and two lovely scientists (who probably thought I was a complete rookie and had no idea what I was doing) I managed to get the package done.

I felt somewhat relieved but just as the nervous set in at the thought of coming up with more ideas for Wednesday's meeting, my Executive Producer announced I, along with my gorgeous Uni friend Kate, would present the bulletin live to air.

LIVE!

I'm talking *awesome generic news jingle*, welcome to QUT News I'm Ashleigh Dwan. No pressure.

Apart from stumbling my way through the headlines and doing a shocking job of pronouncing some of the hardest sports star surnames, I did it, just.

Day 3:

It probably didn't get much better but I don't think it got any worse.

My awesome idea to cover the opening of international freight shipping from Toowoomba's private airport was taken and I was left to talk all things clowns.

The story was average but nothing spectacular or very new.

I was also abused by a receptionist who couldn't believe I got her number from another QUT student. Remind me why I chose to do this again?

Day 4:

By day four I had finally nailed the technical aspect of recording interviews and editing my voice. I had no hesitation to cold call someone with limited knowledge of why I wanted to talk to them.

My story was about TripAdvisor and their stance on animal cruelty as they stopped selling several animal attraction experiences. The producer thought working at the Zoo would somehow give me an advantage but I knew it didn't.

I thought I called a lot of people for coral but this was something new entirely.

You name any Queensland zoo, Australian animal society/organisation/association or tourism body and I will be sure to pass on their phone number. Sometimes people just don't want to talk.

The story then turned into a world wrap before a lovely conservationist got back to me and I changed back.

It all came together just in time but I still felt a little underwhelmed.

The Week Overall:

I was disappointed but mostly in myself. I thought I was beyond tears and thinking I wasn't good enough to do this. I was angry that I let something so small get to me and hoped it didn't affect my grade.

On a positive, it was a huge learning curve and I began to understand what it means to get across topics quickly. I started to learn how to write for the voice and quite enjoyed hearing myself on the airwaves. My confidence to pick up the phone and talk to absolutely anyone, regardless of their authority, sky rocketed.

I know that this radio experience has made me a stronger journalist.

TV - Week 2 (Monday October 17th - Friday October 21st)

Day 1:

I just new I would be on a local story, I had a gut feeling.

For TV, the journos were broken up into local, national and international stories. Being on local generally meant finding talent, setting up interviews, going out on location to shoot, pretending your a professional and filming a piece to camera, write, getting it all subbed by a superior, voicing the entire package and editing the footage.

The day started with a bang after getting reports of a stabbing a Uni. Of course I headed down with a cameraman to see if we could get some visuals but nothing much came of it. It turned out no one was stabbed and it was more of a mental health case.

I was then assigned to "Bird Count". For those of you unaware this past week was national bird week and BirdLife Australia launched a new app to encourage the public to count birds in their backyards. My Chief of Staff, Charlie, thought this was going to be a super easy, light piece and would come together relatively quickly.

Of course, being my story, it was a little more difficult. Again, no one wanted to talk about birds and the national bird organisation couldn't get in touch with their Brisbane based bird expert. I rang people for at least two hours trying to get this thing off the ground. All of sudden people started calling me back and it was time to grab my cameraman, George, and shoot.

I did two interviews that day and talked about the importance of birds. We shot my piece to camera at Suncorp and I was in my element. Yes, it was super scary to be standing in front of a camera for the first time but George put me completely at ease.

I managed to write the whole thing in about an hour and my editor loved it. It was such a nice change from radio and some of that confidence I had lost was starting to come back.

National Bird Count takes off: http://www.qutnews.com/2016/10/17/national-bird-count-takes-off/#more-27247

I also stayed to watch the bulletin go to air. It was amazing to see how everything works behind the scenes.

Day 2:

I was on an international story about UK Refugee Kids. It was fairly straight forward and I quite enjoyed the day.

It was nice to be involved in the newsroom banter and I think that's one of the reasons I had so much fun on Tuesday. I was missing something in radio but for TV we were having a laugh and it made it so much easier to handle the stress.

I also wrote a reader voice over (RVO) about bad boy tennis star Nick Kyrgios. This was also something new but it was cool to see how different elements of a news bulletin come together.

Day 3:

On Wednesday I did an international RVO in the morning about President Obama hosting his last state dinner for the Italian Prime Minister. I then did a package on the controversial Adler shot gun and a spilt in the Nationals opinions.

Turnbull government spilt over gun laws: http://www.qutnews.com/2016/10/19/turnbull-government-split-over-gun-laws/#more-27325

Day 4:

I knew it couldn't be all smooth sailing in TV and my final local story stays true to that.

Queensland Police launched their new electronic ticketing and I was at the press conference.

I have never felt so intimidated in my life. Here I was shaking the hands of ABC, Channel Seven and Police Media. It was all a little much.

The Channel Seven journalist, whom I can't remember the name of, was super lovely and was offering some of the best advice. She encouraged me to ask the Police Commissioner a question and I will be forever grateful for that experience.

However, upon leaving the newsroom that morning, Charlie had told me to ask the Commissioner about the mystery drug and their plans to keep the Gold Coast 600 safe from it. I had the list of questions ready but completely choked. There is footage of me opening my mouth to ask him and then completely shutting myself down.

I was devastated and when it counted I couldn't do stand up and be a journalist.

I then had to put it all behind me and shoot a piece to camera. At least I managed to nail that in only a couple of takes. My interview with RACQ that followed was a complete disaster and it was at this point I just needed someone to tell me I was going to be okay.

I had to tell Charlie I didn't get anything about the mystery drug and had a little cry. Turns out it wasn't that important anyway and I just had to move on.

Speeding delivery of speeding fines: http://www.qutnews.com/2016/10/20/speedy-delivery-of-speeding-fines/#more-27387

After finishing that package it was time to turn my attention to the Gable Tostee fiasco.

I was told to sit in front of the TV and document every single thing I saw. It was then up to me to edit the footage and make it work for the lead in our bulletin. This wasn't just for a Uni prac, this was real.

Jo, the national editor, was super happy with me and it was so rewarding to see some of my hard work pay off.

Tostee walks free: http://www.qutnews.com/2016/10/20/tostee-walks-free/#more-27434

Day 5:

It was finally here. The last day in my monstrous two weeks. To begin we we're all sat down and congratulated on our efforts during the Tostee trial. Everyone worked so hard to get it all together and our supervisors were all so happy with us. We were told that if the marking was based purely on that day everyone would be walking out with high distinctions.

I then did a package on Mosul and the advances the Libyan forces were making. It was hard because I didn't really understand it but I got there in the end. I then wrote two RVO's about a former Sydney dance teacher being sentenced to a minimum of 18 years jail after being found sexually abusing his students and the Australia Diamonds win in the Constellation Cup Netball match.

The Week Overall:

I was super proud of myself and loved almost every minute of TV. It was incredible and I know that's where I want to end up.

The crews were super lovely and working with professionals meant I was learning so much. I also met some of loveliest girls and guys from journalism and know my degree is only going to get better from here.

Please check out the TV packages I have included in this post and let me know what you think.

#ashleighdwan #beyondthestory #journalism #qutnews