Mark BriggsGraduates from BU’s degree in multimedia journalism have been returning to campus to offer career tips and insights to current students.
Nine alumni met with students from the BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism and BA (Hons) Multimedia Sports Journalism as part of an annual Careers Forum event held by the department in February.
Among them was Mark Briggs, an Assistant Producer with Sky Sports News; Oliver Leitelmayer, who is now Reach plc’s youngest editor at the age of 23 and Drew Hyndman who is Senior Producer on BBC Radio Solent’s Dorset Breakfast Show. In recognition of the number of journalists working as freelancers, the graduate panel also included Lottie Gross who has been in the travel writing industry for nearly a decade; and Tom Beasley a film and entertainment journalist who recently became editor of Voice magazine, which is aimed at young creatives breaking into the industry. Representing national newspaper journalism was Jose Ramos, who shared his experiences as a news reporter at MailOnline.
The Journalism Careers Forum falls within a Level 6 unit, Professional Perspectives and Global Voices, and provides an opportunity for students to debate key challenges in journalism and to shape their own professional development. BU’s Professor of Journalism & Global Narratives, Karen Fowler-Watt, said: “For students about to graduate, listening to our alumni sharing their lived experiences, in which they also find credible and useful learning points, is a powerful route to reflection on their own journalism practice.
“These interactions underline how much we value our alumni - their energy and commitment shows the incredible spirit of peer support that exists in our journalism courses here at BU.”
Natalie PirksPrior to the Careers Forum event, BBC Sports Correspondent, Natalie Pirks had launched the unit by sharing her experiences of reporting sports events including World Cups and Olympics to investigations into abuse in gymnastics. Ben Fisher, who graduated from in 2015 and moved straight into working for The Guardian as their football reporter, continued the sports journalism theme and gave tips on the importance of reading widely and looking for original ways into stories. The in person talks have been supplemented with filmed interviews with various alumni, notably De-Graft Mensah who graduated in 2017 and now presents BBC Newsround. De-Graft spoke about the intersection of race and social class, as well as the challenges of presenting news for children and young people.
Karen said: “We are very grateful to our alumni for giving up time in their busy working lives to travel to share their lived experiences with our current students. The wisdom they impart is invaluable and we are very proud of their achievements.
