Between January-July 2020, I worked as a broadcast journalist for BBC independent reporter/producer Rani Singh. She is a South Asia correspondent for Dotun Adebayo, Previously Up All Night, BBC 5Live. Rani also contributes a weekly column to The Asian Voice and holds interviews with the ABPL Media Community. For Forbes India, she has interviewed high profile celebrities like English business magnate Sir Richard Branson and former CEO of Tesco, Terry Leahy. I discovered the opportunity of working for her through LinkedIn, and it sounded like a chance that I did not wish to miss. In this report, I intend to use the Gibbs reflective cycle to explain my feelings, what I experienced, and what I would like to know for future reference about my work experience.
During my first month, I was in charge of pursuing stories for 5Live from South Asian countries, especially India and Pakistan. Since I am familiar with the two countries’ culture, language, and politics, I considered the assignment exciting and appealing. The station’s distinct approach to news is focused on a broad news agenda, an approachable tone and viewer engagement. Every week, a large audience of about 6.7 million people tune in to 5Live. At first, I was nervous about producing content for a station with such a broad audience, but over time I got used to it with the help and guidance of senior producers and presenters.
I was active in seeking other duties, too; for example, I handled Rani’s Twitter account and updated her radio desk on her YouTube channel. I found this task interesting because on university newsdays, I have never been part of a social media team, so it was a new experience for me. I was discovering how, as a journalist, you have to adjust to various social media channels and that your content differs from that of hard news or feature writing.
When I first started working with Rani, she asked if there is anything specific I am looking forward to learning or a particular skill I wish to acquire. I thought that was a very noble thing to ask your employee. I am an international student from India, and English is not my first language. It took me a long time to have a fluent conversation with my friends. On university newsdays, I have always tried avoiding speaking to people on the phone. I shared my fears with her, and Rani was on board to help me overcome them. Telephones, Rani clarified, have a distinct advantage over emails in that they are more difficult to ignore. Although many people have no problem deleting an unsolicited email, a repeated phone call necessitates treatment. Every time I came in for work experience, she suggested that we do practise calls. On many occasions, she would pass on the phone to me if an interviewee or studio staff called her for work-related issues. I believe the practice sessions with her helped me gain self-confidence.
Some of the stories I particularly enjoyed researching for the radio bulletin were the locust invasion in Pakistan, then US President Donald Trump’s visit to India and the impact of Covid-19 in Pakistan. You will find the links to my work at the end of this report. Working on these stories was refreshing because it was not a group project; instead, the team trusted me to complete it independently. Rani was delighted with my work and began trusting me with more complicated jobs. She entrusted me with more-complex duties, such as responding to her professional emails to the studio staff.
I also had the pleasure of working with Distinct Nostalgia, a podcast by an Independent production agency known as Made in Manchester, on one of their episodes featuring June brown. June Brown’s departure from Eastenders is the subject of this episode’s exclusive report. Being part of a team that produced an exclusive report was incredible, and it inspired me to do my best in future projects.
During my internship, I realised that people may not always appreciate your work; I understood that one should be ready to learn and appreciate constructive criticism.
At the start of my internship, I was not proofreading my work or correcting my grammatical errors. At one point, Rani said: “Shivalika, if you want to become a better journalist, you can not make mistakes like these and not correct them.” That statement by her was a wake-up call for me. I started paying more attention to details and made sure everything I submitted was accurate and grammatically correct.
Writing follow-up emails, putting together programme logs and running instructions, recording and editing trailers with digital editing tools, and assisting the presenter with timekeeping are all part of my responsibilities as an intern. When the UK went under lockdown, everybody in the office was asked to work from home. Rani found working from home especially challenging because she is elderly and unfamiliar with modern technology. She was having difficulty recording the audio at home and using other computer programmes. When she was distressed and frustrated, I offered her assistance, which she greatly appreciated. I believe working from home strengthened my team working skills dramatically.
I have built strong personal and professional relationships with the people I have worked with at the BBC. Working in a group allowed me to meet people from different backgrounds, some of whom were older and more experienced than me. I believe I have built a strong network of people who will assist me in the future.
Before the national lockdown, I was travelling to London every weekend for my placement, and it gave me a good idea of what life will be like once I start working. At first, I was not too fond of the concept of commuting to London every weekend as it was an unpaid work experience and I do not enjoy travelling long hours on public transport. Due to bad weather and unavoidable traffic, I was late for morning meetings. As a person, I am a people pleaser and hate letting down people. The situation was frustrating me, and I was not enjoying my work. However, I did not tell my boss about my concerns because I did not want to disappoint her and the other team members. I am curious how she would have responded if I had told her about my concerns.
Working at the BBC has been the most challenging learning experience since my time at university. My internship came to an end in July 2020, and it was an unbelievable learning experience. This year in May, I will be joining The Portsmouth News for a week-long placement. I heard about the opportunity through my tutor Kevin O’ Donovan. I have been advised that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I will not be able to work in the workplace and will have to complete my work experience from home. While I am a little disappointed, I am very thrilled to join and learn more about the world of journalism from their team of journalists.
I have been challenged to lift my game and venture outside of my comfort zone throughout my three years of journalism degree. I have learned a lot in the last few months, and I am eager to see what the future holds.
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