To mark the end of the first decade of the new Millennium, Up To Speed ran a features writing competition open to students from university newspapers all over the UK.

The Winner: Georgina Mills

First prize went to Georgina Mills, 21, from Reading University.

Georgina won £250.

Here is her piece:

The Noughties – Has it been a decade of despair or the dawn of an exciting new era?

By Georgina Mills

The Noughties have been full of drama, success and disaster. The millennium was a highly anticipated event and kicked off the decade with huge displays of fireworks and celebrations (what happened to the expected millennium bug is anyone’s guess). But looking into the future, have we helped or hindered ourselves after this memorable era?

Technology has reached a stage of infinite possibilities; the Noughties have bought us the Ipod, the Xbox and the Wii. The internet itself has reached a new level of superiority, it is estimated that 1.67 billion people make use of it and who could ignore the invention of Wikipedia in 2001. Never again would a student search high and low for researching an essay!

Celebrity fever reached a new level in the Noughties, everyone is talking about Posh and Becks, Brad and Angelina, even John and Edward. Every outfit is criticised, every day without make-up publicised and heaven forbid they should get a bit tipsy. Just a few months ago Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, died. The once great ‘moonwalker’ became dependant on prescription drugs, perhaps through the pressure of stardom, until sadly one dose went wrong.

Crime has dominated the news in the last 10 years with some being unthinkable. The kidnaps of Natascha Kampusch and Elisabeth Fritzl shocked the world, and the Beslan School massacre in which over 300 people were shot was horrendous to say the least. And of course the September the 11^th terrorist attacks in 2001 were so unexpected the world stood still for a moment, in utter shock.

Barack Obama re-wrote the history books by becoming the first black president, a move which has changed equality beyond recognition. In the UK we have seen Tony Blair be replaced by Gordon Brown. These leaders have a number of hard, often opposed, decisions to make in regards to sending troops out to Afghanistan and Iraq.

With all of this going on it is sometimes easy to forget that we live in a world that is quite fragile. As a species, humans rely solely on the earth and the environment around them to survive. As the world becomes more urbanized, people start to lose a connection with nature and the reality of the earth. There have been so many great advances with technology, especially in the last 10 years, that they are becoming the norm. The activities that we do regularly like driving, using electricity and travelling to other countries are very damaging to the environment because of one thing: greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are one of the main factors causing climate change, an often misunderstood subject.

Climate change is in the news all the time and the dangers and effects are becoming more and more serious. The temperature of the earth has increased by 0.7^o in the last century and is expected to keep increasing. In recent years, especially in the Noughties, scientists have started to understand the effects of climate change and are trying to communicate it to the general public. But is the message going through?

It has been proven that 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the UK come directly from individuals. We have all seen the adverts on the television asking us to only drive when necessary and to turn our washing machines down, but the reality is most people will leave it for someone else to do, or take the opinion that an individual’s action cannot change a worldwide problem.

The consequences of climate change could be very damaging, and despite scientists being able to predict the changes; the reality is we don’t know what is going to happen. There are three main effects of climate change that would directly affect humans; fire, flood and heat waves. All three of these effects are expected to become more frequent as a result of climate change. These warnings are becoming all the more relevant with the recent flood in Cumbria a couple of weeks ago. Although no-one was killed by the flood itself, PC Bill Barker was tragically killed whilst helping people escape. 200 people had to be rescued and water rose to 2.5m in some places.  Even once the water has disappeared the people of Cumbria are faced with devastating damage to their homes. Heat waves themselves may not seem to be a problem, we all enjoy a bit of sun now and again. But they are particularly dangerous; the European heat wave of 2003 killed 30,000 people.

As we come to the end of the Noughties there is a 10 day conference in Copenhagen on climate change, starting on the 7^th December. Hopefully action will be taken to deal with this damaging issue. The Noughties may have taught us ‘what not to wear’ and ‘who’s who’ in the celebrity world, but the world as we know it may soon be a very different place. If action is not taken to deal with climate change then we may look back on the Noughties as simply a golden age before disaster.

To mark the end of the first decade of the new Millennium, Up To Speed ran a features writing competition open to students from university newspapers all over the UK.

Marcus Greenslade from Reading University came second and won £100.

Here’s his entry.

“Has the Noughties been a decade of despair or the dawn of an exciting new era?”

I’m British. Cynicism is within me in the same way that weapons of mass destruction were within Iraq – nobody can prove it’s there, but suspicions are strong enough as to lead to drastic action. “Vote for Change”, ran Obama’s campaign slogan as he determined to lead people out of their disillusionment and into a new era of prosperity.

Unfortunately, counter-terrorism has been a far bigger priority than counter-cynicism.  Having survived the Millennium Bug, the media has been handed a sack full of other stories to scare people with, starting with the al-Qaeda attacks all the way through to a never-ending economic crisis caused solely by Gordon Brown’s incompetence. The opinions of the media and their effects on the opinions of the masses is what I despair at most. Bad news still sells, and that is what we are subjected to.

However, the media has been given plenty of ammunition over the years. Terrorist attacks such as 9/11 and 7/7, the Iraq War and the continuation of conflicts in the Middle East, increasing concerns over climate change, the apparent offense to democracy that was Gordon Brown’s succession of Tony Blair, and the government scandals such as the massive amount of personal data being lost and, of course, the expenses scandal. And then all of the old worries from previous decades have been dragged over too – the seemingly failing NHS system, the increasingly disproportionate number of elderly citizens and their pensions (or lack of). All of this clearly isn’t just negative spin.

Barrack Obama saw the weight of the world dropped on his shoulders in 2008. A year later, people pine that he has been ineffectual and has let them down. This, I would argue, is just cynicism. Of course he didn’t live up to expectations – people seemed to believe that he was like Morgan Freeman in ‘Bruce Almighty’. It is far too early to make such judgement calls on his performance. Although his supporters are somewhat quieter than they were in 2008, Obama is still the man who the world has put their faith in for carving a better future.

Similarly, Gordon Brown has been demonised for his handling of the economic crisis. His approach has been so appallingly awful that it was mirrored across the globe. Hmm. David Cameron’s economic policy is so great that when the Japanese used it in the early nineties, they got stuck in a recession that lasted ten years. Hmm. This is not a defence of Brown’s performance as a Prime Minister overall, but it is embarrassing to see how quickly the paper’s have lined up behind Cameron. A recent ICM poll for the Guardian showed that 53% of those interviewed would be angry or disappointed if Labour won the 2010 election, while 36% said the same of the Tories. This to the Guardian is fantastic news for the Tories. But actually, that’s 89% of people disillusioned with both of the main contenders. And everyone says a vote for Lib Dem is a wasted vote, so there is no solution there either. There is widespread despair at our politicians and their policies, and the scandals have generated a distinct lack of trust. I am forced to concede that the political future for Britain looks bleak.

However, we can have faith in our sporting industry. The cynics have attacked our hosting of the 2012 Olympics, readily prepared for the UK’s global embarrassment. And yes, we may not have qualified for the World or European Cups in football. But Capello has brought an exciting new dimension to the English football team, and huge successes in recent Olympic Games mean that we can only expect better when our athletes compete on home turf.

The Noughties has been a decade that sees the straw that breaks the camel’s back. What people wanted was a decade of solutions being provided, but the introduction of new problems saw a diversion of attention, a lack of achievement made anywhere. Progress through time was meant to be linked to advances in society, and yet this has very much proved not to be the case. Or at least, so the media would have us believe.

In truth, ‘proved’ should be replaced with ‘appeared’. Actually, progress has been made. Yes, the Middle East might be in turmoil, but al-Qaeda has been dramatically weakened over the decade. There is a lot of talk about an “unwinnable war”, but there is hope in that progress has been made and that al-Qaeda does not have the support or the resources to keep fighting for as long as counter-insurgency forces do.

Similarly, climate change may not have been ‘dealt with’, but again there has been progress. The Copenhagen Summit is seeing a revival of interest following Obama’s and Hu’s agreement that a deal at Copenhagen should be reached. Although the cynics shout “I’ll believe it when I see it”, there is renewed hope. I’m certainly hopeful. It would be a fantastic way to end the decade on a high.

To mark the end of the first decade of the new Millennium, Up To Speed ran a features writing competition open to students from university newspapers all over the UK.

Robin Morgan, from Cardiff University’s Gair Rhydd, won the Third Prize of £50 with this entry.

The Noughties:

‘Has it been a decade of despair or the dawn of an exciting new era?’

The date is 31^st December 1999. It’s coming up to midnight. I’m standing on my street, a full glass of champagne in hand (I’d only sipped at it, I hate the bloody stuff), and I’m linking arms with people I only vaguely know from when I’ve kicked my football against their car and apologised, hurriedly.

I was ten years old, in my defence. Not some social delinquent who attacks transport with sports equipment. Although I won’t speak too soon, maybe fifty years from now I’ll be writing a similar essay on how that game has made it into the Olympics. Probably not.

The noughties did start out in that fashion, for me at least. Personally, the decade saw me grow into the ‘man’ I am. Note the inverted commas. I’m not particularly manly. This decade, I failed my driving test, went to high school, did my GCSE’s, A-levels, went to university, moved out of my parent’s house, and kissed a girl. And I liked it.

They weren’t done in that order, just to clarify. In my personal sense, of course this decade was exciting – I was growing up. I’ve got so many stories to tell, and more that I’ve forgotten. But it started out so badly.

Exhibit A: The ‘Noughties’. Are you serious? We’re dictating a decade to history as the camp, playful, tomfoolery ridden era, which epitomised the late 90s. Sure, I was a kid. But I also dressed up as Scary Spice in a Year 6 event. Camp, playful, and f***ing mortifying. I still don’t understand why my Mum allowed me to do that.

I’ve had countless more experiences that still jolt to the front of my mind when I’m trying to get to sleep. I think that’s just how my brain works. Reminds me of my failures. Don’t worry; this isn’t the formation of a suicide note. I’ll find out if I’ve won the £250 first. No pressure…

What have we seen in this decade? What technological, medical and social advancements have been made over the past ten years? No, bollocks to that – we’ve had Deal or No Deal. This premise seemingly gave birth to the rebirth of the love of the game show. And gave a plethora of stand-ups a chance to bash Noel Edmonds all over again. Years of hard-worked material instantly back up for use. Exciting, or despair? You be the judge.

In all seriousness though (and these are rarities in this essay, as I’m sure you can tell), the main talking point of the Decade That Shall Not Be Named is something has probably gone under the radar. It’s importance to global politics, international relations and social reasoning is unrelenting and unrivalled, yet none of us really know about it.

This might come as a shock to you – it certainly did to me – but there is something called The Internet that has shaped the last ten years in a way that only I will in the next ten. It gave democracy and the freedom of speech, to idiots.

Exhibit B: YouTube. Or to be more precise, the comments section of YouTube. This is where I pretend to be a lifeguard, saving the poor folk who are drowning in the gene pool. They are drowning, my good friends, because they are idiots.

I was forced, by the nature of comedy, to sign up for an account on YouTube, just so I could reply to one person’s post. On a video of two gentlemen who were rapping, one man had sophisticatedly informed people that “Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder are the biggest rappers in the UK right now.”

There was one problem. He had spelt ‘rappers’ with one ‘P’. Acting on instinct and my abilities as a Grammar Nazi, I quickly signed up and clicked to ‘Reply’ to his post.

The ‘reply’ function on YouTube is flawed. When you ‘reply’ to something, it doesn’t inform people what you have ‘replied’ to. It just shows your ‘reply’ as a standalone comment, floating around in the stupidity pool, trying to stay above water.

So therefore, on a video of two rappers, I had apparently said, off the top of my head, completely unprovoked, that they had both committed a terrible crime, when all I was trying to do was correct a spelling mistake and protect their names!

This was at the latter end of this decade called the Noughties, I should’ve learnt from my mortified mistakes nine years ago!

I thought I would just ignore it. Wrong again. I got an email instantly, not ‘replying’ to my post, but sending me a private message informing that I was making serious allegations.

Of course I didn’t reply. I closed down my account and I haven’t commented on a YouTube video ever since. I must have seemed like a ‘boy who cried wolf’, but didn’t even get the few weeks of fun when people believed me.

But this is what I’m trying to portray to you. The awkwardness of my life has, undoubtedly, dictated this soon-to-be-supernova of a decade as one of despair, of social embarrassment, but of stories that I can hopefully portray as sweeping generalisations that we’ve all been through.

By Tom Hill, Course Director and Founder, Up To Speed Journalism.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been looking at some of the key skills a reporter needs to develop. The posts so far have been about people skills, because part of the formula for success is, “who you know”. After this post, which is about putting all those contacts together in one safe place, I will move on to some more specific, practical skills, because “what you know” is the other half of the winning formula.

Tip #23 Keep A Contacts Book

One of the great things about being a journalist is that you don’t have to take a briefcase home with you every night, full of paperwork to read for the next morning.

However, it does help to have big pockets with room enough for a reporter’s notebook, a pen and your contacts book.

An extensive, well-maintained and up to date contacts book is a vital part of your equipment when you are covering daily news stories.

On the morning of May 12th 1994, the Labour Party Leader John Smith died suddenly, aged just 55.

On the Lunchtime News at ITN, the team had to react quickly to secure key political figures to give their reaction to the tragedy. The speed of ITN’s response was partly down to one producer and his contacts book. His job was to book guests to appear on the programme, and over the months and years before this date, he had made a point of collecting their numbers. Not just work numbers, but mobile numbers, home numbers and pager numbers.

As soon as the news broke, he hit the phones and ITN had every one of those guests live on air before the BBC. ITN won a Royal Television Society Award for its coverage of this major political event.

Incidentally, outside the world of news, it may seem strange for journalists to win awards for their reaction to a family tragedy. However, as I mentioned in my last post, those journalists have in the past had to report the death and disappearance of their own colleagues with the same speed and professionalism.

One of John Smith’s daughters, Sarah, was working as a producer at the BBC at the time. She has since joined ITN, where she is Washington Correspondent for Channel 4 News.

Sarah Smith, Channel 4 News. (c) Esthr

On a lighter note, a couple of years later my own contacts book came to the rescue of another producer on the Lunchtime News, who was chasing a story about the football star Paul Gascoigne.

Gazza’s childhood friend Jimmy Gardner had always kept an eye on the star footballer, even moving to Rome so that the two Geordies could go fishing together when Paul had finished training sessions for Lazio.

The tabloids had picked up on the friendship and revelled in Jimmy’s nickname – Five Bellies.

Don’t ask me how, but back in 1996 I had Jimmy’s home number in my contacts book and so I passed it over to my friend Chris, who had what Jamie Oliver would call a “pukka” Home Counties accent. Chris called the number and the conversation went something like this:

Newcastle: Hello.

London: Is that Mr Gardner?

Newcastle: It is, man.

London: Mr Jimmy Gardner?

Newcastle: Aye. How can I help you?

London: Well, I’m from ITN and I’m writing a story on Paul Gascoigne and I just wanted to check the facts out with you.

Newcastle: Oh, no, no, no, man. It’s me son you want, Five Bellies. And I’m afraid he’s out. Can you call back later?

On this occasion, the contacts book may not have helped to win an award, but it did allow us to follow the story up more quickly and to gain an intriguing insight into life in the Gardner household.

If you are a specialist writer, for instance working as a Showbiz Reporter, your contacts book can literally be what secures you a better job ahead of other journalists.

So, from your first day as a reporter start gathering those numbers and keeping them in a contacts book. You never know when they may come in handy. Today’s backbencher may become Prime Minister in a few years and unknown recording artists have a habit of becoming world-famous overnight sensations.

By Tom Hill, Course Director and Founder, Up To Speed Journalism.

In this series of posts on the skills you need to be a good reporter, I have been concentrating on people skills. Some of these skills can be used to charm contacts or to persuade interviewees to talk, but a good reporter should also develop a habit of looking over her shoulder to see what “the competition” is up to.

Today’s top tip is taken from the appropriately named Chinese General, Sun Tzu, who back in the Fifth Century BC, was quoted as saying: “know your enemy.”

Tip #21 Know Your Enemy

Have you heard the one about two men from London, a donkey and a sack of pesetas?

Well, if not, pay attention, because it is a story for journalists about living on your wits and going the extra mile. And the moral of the story is: never give up and never underestimate your enemy.

It all started one Pancake Day in a sleepy Spanish village called Villanueva de la Vera. The year was 1987 and the hero of the story was a little donkey called El Negro.

El Negro was picked by the villagers to be the star of an ancient Shrovetide festival. The bad news for El Negro was that the role involved being ritually beaten, abused and dragged through the streets and tormented in an alcohol-fuelled fiesta.

It didn’t look good for the little donkey, but then help arrived from the unlikely direction of London. Fleet Street reacted swiftly. With the stroke of a pen, the unfortunate ass was re-christened Blackie, Spanish phrase books and battered copies of For Whom The Bell Tolls were milked for Hispanic headlines, and the leader writers worked their cojones off, goading the great British public into a froth of righteous indignation.

Meanwhile, two rival desperadoes called Whittow and Mackay, were dispatched by the Sun and the Star. The race was on. Fleet Street was hell-bent on vengeance, mercy and a piece of the ass.

The Spanish villagers didn’t know what was about to hit them.

Whittow of the Sun arrived first. Clutching a fistful of pesetas, he bought young Blackie for the equivalent of £250. Back in London, Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie sensed victory.

Whittow filed his story and then, baulking at the thought of bedding down with his burrito, the intrepid Sun reporter paid a farmer a sackful of pesetas to turn the young donkey out to grass in one of his fields.

It was an error of judgement Hugh Whittow would live to regret.

For, hot on his heels, was Don Mackay. And Mackay, a gringo from the Daily Star, meant business.

Dawn broke with a rustle of bank notes, and before Whittow could say, “full English breakfast”, Mackay and Blackie had made a break for Blighty and the border and Kelvin was choking on his corn flakes.

The Daily Star headline, read GOTCHA! and the front page showed a picture of Blackie and the receipt they had been given by a Spanish farmer who can scarcely have believed his luck.

The Sun tried running spoiler stories alleging that it was cruel to remove Blackie from all his donkey friends in Spain, but the Star hit back wheeling out legendary animal experts such as Johnny Morris to say that the little donkey would be happy in Devon.

On the day Blackie arrived in Dover, the Sun arranged its own welcoming party featuring a female donkey called Coco, but the five year old filly was  snubbed. Once again the Star hit back, this time revealing that Coco was actually a he.

So, when you are a reporter, remember that pride can often come before a fall. Make sure you work out who your rivals are and make it your business to try and beat them on every story. Journalism is a competitive game and so it is a good idea to cultivate a friendly rivalry with colleagues in the same office, but also to make sure you do a better job than people working for rival organisations.

You are less likely now than you once were to have a direct rival in regional newspapers, but try to find someone you can aim to beat.

All journalists should take pride in their words and their craft, but the moments of real triumph you experience, when you punch the air in victory, are usually at another journalist’s expense. There is no honour among donkey rustlers.

So, what happened to the protagonists in this modern morality tale?

Blackie Star was to live for five happy years at The Donkey Sanctuary in Devon.  He died there in May 1993.

“He had a friend and companion, another donkey called Lola, and he was very happy here,” said Dawn Vincent, a spokeswoman for the sanctuary, which has since set up two burrito shelters in Spain.

The people of Villanueva are under pressure to keep donkeys out of their Fiesta and the sanctuary has launched an online petition on Facebook to stamp out animal cruelty at the Shrovetide event.

Don Mackay was hailed as a red-top hero, but was later to switch allegiances from the Star to the Daily Mirror.

Kelvin Mackenzie struck Whittow off his Christmas card list, but stayed on as Editor of the Sun until 1994. He currently writes a column for the newspaper and has also appeared on the TV series Grumpy Old Men.

Hugh Whittow left the Sun and was working on the news desk at the Star when the sad news of Blackie’s death was announced in 1993. As the story broke he was heard to remark, “Oh dash, I hope you don’t expect me to write his flipping obituary!”

Or words to that effect. He was later to become editor of the Sunday Star and Deputy Editor of the Daily Express.

And as for the farmer who got paid twice in one night? Well, he’s probably bouncing his grandchildren on his knee and telling them the one about the two men from London, the donkey and the sack of pesetas.

By Tom Hill, Course Director and Founder, Up To Speed Journalism Training.

In this series of articles I’m looking at some of the key skills every reporter needs to develop. In any stationery department you will see reporter’s notebooks on sale and despite all the technological innovations we’ve witnessed over the years, those ringbound pads are still among the most important tools of the job.

Tip #19 Make Notes

Hot gossip, hearsay and rumour may all be intriguing, but if you want to write stories that people will believe, you need to make accurate notes of the conversations you have with your sources.

As soon as you put pen to paper, or type words onto a screen, your story becomes more potent, powerful and potentially dangerous than any whispered snippet of information picked up on the grapevine.

The written word can be dangerous for the subject of the story and also for the writer. Publish and you may be damned, but also sued.

A carefully written, contemporaneous note allows you to demonstrate that you have an accurate version of what has been said and it might be produced as evidence for your defence in a court of law.

As a reporter, your job is to find out what is going on by talking to people. You write down what they have to say, not for your own benefit, but so that you can report their words to other people, your readers.

A reporter's best friends.

It may not feel easy or natural at first, but as you become more experienced, producing a notebook and pen, part way through a conversation, will become second nature. So too, will the ability to engage people in a meaningful discussion while making a note of what they are saying.

Sometimes you’ll feel it necessary, or appropriate, to ask your interviewee’s permission to reach for your pen and pad. At some point in the conversation you’ll say, “Really? That’s fascinating. Do you mind if I make a note of what you’re saying?”

It is often a good idea to explain why you are making notes and to reassure the interviewee that you want to make sure you get it right.

When you are new to reporting, it is also a good idea to buy for time when you are making those notes. Don’t be afraid to go back over what you have written, again impressing your source with your determination to write an accurate story.

Seeing your notebook, and your notes in shorthand, will often inspire confidence in an interviewee, who may well appreciate that as a reporter you have the power to sway opinion and get things done.

So, if you want to start behaving like a professional reporter, start carrying a notebook wherever you go.

NB(nota bene…that’s Latin for note well)

In the old days of Fleet Street, photographers sometimes dismissed reporters as “blunts”, short for blunt nibs.

And that’s a clue for another piece of advice. Never go anywhere without a pen, and one that works.

By Tom Hill, Course Director and Founder, Up To Speed Journalism

It is easy for journalists to forget the people who have given them great quotes once the story has been published. However, a good reporter spends time nurturing his contacts and will often see his loyalty rewarded.

Tip #17 Be Loyal To Your Contacts

One of the golden rules of investigative reporting is that a journalist should always protect her sources.

Journalists have gone to prison rather than reveal the identity of a contact who may have given them information that people in authority may have wished to have hushed up.

In 2005 Judith Miller of the New York Times was jailed for 85 days for refusing to reveal the sources for a report that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent, and a year later blogger Joshua Wolf served 226 days for refusing to hand over

a video of a demonstration.

In this country, Dr David Kelly was revealed as the source of reports about the Iraq war on the BBC despite the best efforts of reporters Andrew Gilligan and Susan Watts. Controversy still surrounds the way he was dealt with by journalists, and by the Government, before his death.

The National Union of Journalists and the Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice both defend the reporter’s right to protect his sources even though the law is more ambiguous.

However, loyalty to your contacts is a sound principle for all journalists. The professional relationship between you and the people who provide you with quotes and information for your stories is a very special one.

A Special Relationship

It is important that  your contact has a clear idea of what you intend to publish about him on any given story. It is also important that he understands that you will be more loyal to your Editor than you are to him, and that there are times when you may have to publish articles he does not like.

Divided Loyalties

It is a common scene in newsrooms to see a rather crest-fallen special correspondent dreading the story that is about to appear on the front page, knowing that it means she will have to work hard to rebuild bridges.

There are also times when that same correspondent will receive a pat on the back, because one of her contacts has exclusively revealed the details of a great news story.

Five Tips For Nurturing Your Contacts

Remember To Say Thank You

At that point a good reporter will always remember, amidst the glory, to take time to call the person who has given them a scoop to say thanks.

Don’t Just Call Them When You Need Them

A good reporter will recognise the value of people who are useful contacts and will spend time developing a rapport with them. If you only call someone up when you want a quote from her, she will see you as just another journalist. However, if you remember to call her occasionally to let her know about stories which may be of interest, or to offer congratulations on a promotion, then your contact will see you in a different light.

Make A Point Of Meeting Them In Person

If you make a point of meeting your best contacts face to face, then he or she will have a chance of remembering your face, as well as your name.

Always Look Pleased To See Them

If you bump into him out of context, perhaps while you are at the supermarket, make a point of remembering his name and say “hello” politely with a smile on your face.

Help Them If You Can

Sometimes, a contact will be really keen to see something published that you, or your editor, may not regard as a particularly brilliant story. If you value that contact and you are satisfied you are not simply giving him a free commercial plug, then do your best to help him out.

Devotion to your contacts is something that takes time, effort and thought. However, when she calls you up with a story that will be a sensational front-page splash, you will realise that it was time, energy and thought well spent.

By Tom Hill, Founder and Course Director, Up To Speed Journalism Training.

Tip #15 Give Good Phone

Professional people skills are essential if you want to become a successful reporter. Sometimes you have to adapt or change the way you do things in your private life when you are at work. One of the key pieces of equipment for any reporter is the telephone and knowing how to use it properly is a key skill, but one that can be overlooked on many journalism courses.

Today’s top tip is: give good phone.

Soon after I started as a reporter at the Nottingham Evening Post I remember a friend and colleague of mine taking a call from a live radio show in Australia.

John Brunton’s scoop was a story everyone down under was talking about and the host had called to talk to him live from England.

Unlike many news stories it was one with a happy ending, for a few weeks at least.

A Nottingham budgie had been reunited with his distraught owners two days after disappearing from his cage when a man out walking his dog had spotted the missing bird sitting in a tree repeating his telephone number.

The headline was probably something like, “Phone Home Twee-tie”. Whatever it was, the Aussies loved it.

The budgie owed his life to his phone manner, and to that of his owners. In those days it was quite common to pick up the phone and greet the caller by saying, “Mapperley 9763”, or in the case of New Scotland Yard, “Whitehall 1212″.*

Telephone etiquette does change, but even though we live in an age where almost everyone has a mobile phone, the art of using an office telephone can be quite alien to many people starting out in journalism.

A Professional Phone Manner Is A Key Skill

If you are the least bit shy, trying out your professional phone manner for the first time in an open-plan newsroom full of noisy, eaves-dropping journalists can be a daunting task.

So here are five tips for using a phone as a professional reporter.

Making calls

Before you start, make sure you have a notepad and pen ready. If you know who you are trying to contact, have some idea of the story and what you want to ask them.

When you dial the number, and someone answers at the other end, start by saying hello and by introducing yourself and saying who you work for.  Speak clearly and sound sincere. They can’t see you, but they can tell a lot from the tone of your voice. From this point on you should use all the charm, flattery and powers of persuasion I have discussed in previous posts. Don’t be afraid to engage people in small talk, if it’s appropriate and develop a relaxed, but professional phone manner.

What you shouldn’t do is call someone and say, “Hello, is that Pete Smith? Yeah? Great. I need a quote for this story I’m doing on council tax. Will you give me one?”

If you do this, you haven’t flattered him by calling him Councillor Smith, you haven’t introduced yourself, or where you are calling from, you haven’t made a point of explaining how important his contribution to your story might be, or how important you feel the story is. And you haven’t asked for his help. So why should he bother talking to you.

Answering calls

Most news organisations have a standard greeting depending on the desk you are sitting at. It is usually something like, “Hello, newsroom.” In some places they will suggest you give your name at that point.

Any call to a newsroom could be a story for you, or for one of your colleagues, and so it is important that you convey the impression that you are working for a professional organisation.

You should find out the name of the caller, where they are calling from and why, even if your first question is simply, “How can I help you?”

Even if you are busy, and you often will be, it is important to ensure that you deal with people politely and professionally.

You need to assess whether they have a story for you, or for a colleague, and how urgent that story is. Always make sure to make a note of their name and a number where they can be reached.

Leaving messages on answering services.

If you are making a call and you are diverted to an answering service, always make sure you state your name, who you work for, your deadline and an idea of the story you are chasing. Again, tell them how great it would be to have an interview with them. Leave your own phone numbers, taking the time to repeat each one slowly. There’s nothing more annoying than having to replay an answer phone message to get down the caller’s number.

Record a sensible greeting on your own phone.

If you are asking people to call you back on your mobile phone, make sure you have a reasonably sensible greeting recorded, and not a jokey one you have done for the benefit of your friends.

Taking messages or transferring calls in the office.

If you take a call for someone else, make sure you note the caller’s details carefully and that you know how to transfer them to the person they are trying to reach. Don’t just put them on hold, because your colleague may have been trying to reach them for hours.

So what did happen to that budgie? Well, a few weeks after the Australian disc jockey called, John Brunton received another call in the newsroom.

This time it was from his feathered friend’s owners. They had taken the budgie on holiday to Skegness and sadly he had died there. However, they had thought to pop his body in the freezer at the caravan so that they could take him to a taxidermist when they returned home. And so it was that our follow-up story featured a picture of the dead budgie mounted on a telephone receiver.

My tip is to make sure you develop a good professional, telephone manner if you want to be a reporter. Otherwise, like the unfortunate budgie, you will be stuffed!

*For your contacts book: the number has now become 0300 123 1212.

By Tom Hill, Course Director and Founder, Up To Speed Journalism Training.

Tip #14 Mind Your Manners

Before I move onto the technical skills required by the different branches of journalism, I’m concentrating on some of the ‘soft’ people skills you need to master to become an effective reporter.

As a journalist you can find yourself mixing with all sorts of people and you have to learn to judge people and places quickly and to adapt your demeanour and approach to suit the situation.

If you are sent into a pub to interview a group of notorious football hooligans, you will speak to them in a different way than you would if you were interviewing a granny about her golden wedding.

In most instances, you have very little time to make an impression on people, to earn their trust and to win their co-operation. That is why it is important to develop and maintain good manners whenever you are mixing with people in a professional capacity.

In medical schools doctors are trained to develop ‘a good bed-side manner’ and those who do not may well opt for a career in anaesthetics or even pathology.

In journalism, reporters must learn to develop a professional persona, which enables them to negotiate a range of social situations.

Stanley's First Meeting With Dr Livingstone

The cap-doffing formality that characterised Stanley’s discovery of Livingstone is portrayed in a contemporary artist’s impression of their encounter.

And while our society may now have become more informal, in many situations courtesy and good manners will still open doors.

So here are some simple rules of etiquette for Twenty First Century journalists.

Meeting

It’s worth noting that Stanley’s famous question was, “Dr Livingstone, I presume?” and not, “Is that you, Dave mate?” As Victorians who had not been formally introduced, decorum dictated that Livingstone’s title should be included in the greeting.

If you are arriving for an interview, make sure you always check the name of the person when you first meet them and make a point of calling them Mrs, Miss, Mr or Dr in the first instance.  It only takes a split second, but that display of courtesy, respect and deference will make a lasting impression.

Accompany that first question with the offer of a firm handshake, a pleasant smile, if it is appropriate to the situation, and confident eye contact, and you will be laying the foundations for a good interview before you have even reached for your notebook.

Greeting

Introduce yourself clearly. Give your name, say who you work for and in what capacity. Don’t be too familiar, for instance using the interviewee’s first name, until you are sure it is appropriate.

Please

Ask politely for her help, advice or opinion, explaining how helpful she can be to you. People often like to help others if they can, particularly if you remember to make them feel important.

You Don’t Need To Say Sorry

Unless you are in an extreme situation, you do not need to apologise for being there.

Convey A Sense Of Your Professionalism

Ask your interviewee to spell her name and double-check facts and details, adding that you want to make sure that you get it right. Your appearance and dress can also be vital in this regard. If you dress like a student who has just come from a party, then you may well be treated like one and although that may work on a rock band’s tour bus, it is unlikely to help if you are interviewing a local grandee.

Thank you

When he has helped you, remember to express your gratitude and don’t be afraid to repeat how important he is and to use this final opportunity to make sure you have made an accurate note of his name, title and contact details.

Goodbye

When you take your leave, remember to repeat your thanks, using his name and title, and promise to keep in touch, possibly by sending him a copy of the paper or letting her know when the item will be broadcast. Exchange contact details. Remember to keep your promises to her. You never know when she will be useful to you again.

And finally….if your interview is not taking place in ‘polite society’ but in a potentially dangerous situation, I have three tips for dealing with awkward customers.

1. Make sure someone knows where you have gone.

2. Be open and honest. If you try to appear to be “one of the lads” in the pub described above, only to be rumbled as a journalist, you are likely to receive a much rougher ride than you would if you let people know you are a reporter when you first walk through the door.

3. If you have parked nearby, make sure you have reversed into the parking space. Backing out of a tight spot, or executing a three-point turn while surrounded by an angry mob, is so much more taxing than slipping into first gear and driving away at speed.

By Tom Hill, Course Director and Founder, Up To Speed Journalism.

Tip #13 Become A Detective

In the latest in this series of blogs on the skills that will serve you well as a reporter, I urge you to become a detective.

Mist shrouded the dark surface of the river and stabbed at my lungs as I turned off the towpath and came face to face with a man toting a submachine gun.

I knew straight away that I was onto a story. The men I had discovered on my early morning jog were counter-terrorist police investigating an IRA bomb attack. I arrived on the scene as they were digging up some semtex high explosives in an allotment.

A year later I sat at the press bench in an imposing court room at the Old Bailey as a judge sentenced three men to 35, 25 and 10 years respectively for the bombing of the Warrington Gas Works.

I had stumbled across a story by chance, and as a reporter I was able to follow it to its conclusion in the courts. Luck had played a part in finding the story, but it was the sort of thing that happened to me quite often when I was a reporter.

You will find stories when you are looking for them obsessively and when you are using your eyes, your ears and your contacts in the hunt for clues in the same way that a good detective should.

When you are covering a small town, always looking for stories about it, its name will leap out at you from any piece of text, no matter how small the font. That’s how, as someone who can’t speak a word of German, I once came back from a holiday in Switzerland with a front-page lead for my local paper. I gave the Swiss newspaper no more than a cursory glance, but spotted the words “Colwyn Bay” buried in the German prose. A friend translated the rest for me and I had a Welsh angle on a Zurich murder, a crime story we hadn’t picked up on back in North Wales.

Sometimes, real detectives can become a little irritated by the “armchair detective” theories of crime reporters. I remember a friend of mine having one of his theories about a fatal arson attack shot down at a police conference in the morning, only to find the woman he had suspected, confessing her crime to him in the afternoon.

However, detective instincts should not merely be reserved for crime stories. Fascinating historical features can be unearthed if you are prepared to follow a trail of clues through the dusty records at your local archives, and readers often appeal for help from reporters when trying to track down long-lost friends, relations and even pets.

Seven years after Victorian explorer David Livingstone went missing while trying to find the source of the River Nile, the New York Herald sent a reporter, who originally came from North Wales, to track him down.

In November, 1871, after eight long, hard months that reporter, Henry Morgan Stanley, was able to start his interview with the immortal question, “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”

Stanley had grown up in a grim Welsh workhouse before joining the merchant navy. As a teenager he jumped ship in New Orleans, and was to serve on both sides in the American Civil War, before finding an outlet for his adventurous spirit, dogged determination and detective instincts in journalism.

There will always be room in journalism for people who can apply their initiative, drive and can-do approach to a problem and come back with the story against all odds.