The Holy Grail

Joanna Geary, Web Development Editor for The Times talked to CJS about how she started her career in journalism.

Learning where, when, why and how successful journalists like Joanna first found their feet in the industry is a topic that has fascinated me because since the age of sixteen, I’ve been working toward getting a paid job in journalism. Now I’m at CJS there’s an even greater sense of wanting to make that goal. 

My formidable friend, Harriet Masterson graduated from Reading University the same year as  I graduated from Winchester University.  Next week she’ll begin her first ‘this is what I’ve dreamt about’  job with the production company, Spank . Harriet is a hardworking, sincere and creative woman. I know she’ll cringe when she reads this but I’m bursting with pride .

‘What happens now?’ I asked her, when she telephoned me with the news. ‘I mean, the battle for three years was getting IN and now… your IN. ‘

She replied dreamily, ‘I know..it hasn’t quite sunk in yet.’

Harriet and I aren’t competitive friends. Perhaps a reason for this is we’ve always taken the next step together and have been level footing in our general life aspirations. So now she’s started her career we’re for the first time, out of sync. Jealousy isn’t the emotion I’m feeling,  I’m just desperate to join her in the world of work, so, what do I need to do to get there?

Cue Joanna Geary’s talk.  Joanna inspired me because she struggled to get where she is. Always the second choice for jobs and unable to afford the course I’m on, she eventually got her break as a business reporter for the Birmingham Post.

When they found out she was blogging outside of her work, she was given a new challenge: creating a network of thirty-five blogs in two weeks. She exceeded expectations, creating a dynamic, regional network. Something no other regional paper was doing at the time.

Joanna  was building  a strong network in London, through Twitter. When she tweeted, ‘ going to London, any one want to meet?’ a  journalist from The Times responded and following on from this she was offered a job  at The Times.

Joanna is a woman who has made things happen for herself.  She’s created a brand for herself through blogging and Twitter.  She was using her blog to ask questions no one else in the industry was asking. She was never overly conscious of the fact ‘the right people’ were reading and watching what she was doing. I mean, her following didn’t inhibit her writing. I find her older blog posts sometimes rambling, sometimes unstructured but to me that mirrors a free-flowing thought pattern, similar to my own.

I know it will be tough, really tough, getting that first paid job in the media. But Joanna is a great example of someone who doesn’t fall down when the business structure around her is. Last August 40% of her colleagues were made redundant at The Birmingham Post. The remaining 60% had to reapply. Some journalists who’ve lost their jobs have started creating hyperlocal sites. So, there is no straight route into getting that job anymore. t’s all zig zags. But, thats ok. I’ve never followed straight lines. Isn’t  it much more fun drawing your own and making a new pattern?

The Badger Cull: A Vet’s Perspective

Johnathan Williams is a very busy man. He TB tests cattle on 180 farms in Wales. So, I was really happy when he took time out to talk to me about his thoughts on the proposed badger cull in Wales.

Johnathan has been a vet for twenty years. He told me the most challenging time in his twenty-year career was the Foot and Mouth outbreaks of 2001. Nowadays, trying to stop the spread of Bovine TB is keeping him on his toes. Interestingly, Johnathan told me the spread of Bovine TB today could be linked to the Foot and Mouth outbreak of  2001. After Foot and Mouth, the country had to repopulate a national herd in decimated areas. In this repopulation process, cattle were not tested rigorously, so TB spread to other areas.

Johnathan told me Bovine TB is a slow developing disease. The cattle develop lesions in the lungs and it can be much later on when they show the symptoms of heavy breathing, coughing and spluttering. Pre-movement testing is therefore vital because a cow with TB can appear healthy.

Remember the BCG test you had as a child? The pre-movement test is very similar to that. Johnathan injects a tiny amount of the TB virus with multi-inject needles. He’ll then return seventy-two hours later to see if there has been a reaction.

If a cow has a positive reaction it must be culled. The herd is then tested every sixty days. A farm must have two clear results if they want to move their cattle. Until this time they can only move their cattle to slaughter.

 What’s it like delivering the bad news to farmers? I asked Johnathan.

He told me the farming community is very strong-minded. There’s a sense of collective responsibility and an understanding this disease must be brought under control. If a farm tests positive, this is ultimately seen as a good thing for the wider farming community. Because isn’t dealing with the known far less dangerous than dealing with the unknown? He also pointed out farmers get compensation for the cattle they loose and this certainly helps.

 Does he believe a badger cull will stop the spread of Bovine TB?

Like myself, Johnathan seemed lost in the conflicting reports. He cited a report in Ireland, which showed a badger cull had a positive result, and then he cited a report by the ISG group that showed culling badgers would spread Bovine TB. His only clear answer to the whole debate was the introduction of a TB vaccination for cattle. However Johnathan believes this solution could be five or six years away.

 Of course, Bovine TB testing is just one of Jonathan’s daily tasks. There are Blue Tongue vaccines to deliver and difficult labours to assist with. Johnathan says there’s no doubt in his mind that there’s an interchange of Bovine TB between cattle and the badger. But his priority is testing the cattle and helping farmers to get their herd moving again.

Rory Cellan-Jones chats to CJS

Rory Cellan-Jones, science correspondent for the BBC, dropped by to CJS the other day…how lucky we were!

Rory reinforced a lot of what other speakers to CJS have said: embrace new technology, find a niche, don’t hang onto the Fleet Street ideology, become multi-skilled and be prepared to enter an industry that doesn’t know whats coming next.

But what surprised me most about Rory was he didn’t proclaim to be a scientific expert.  Rory’s skill lies in his ability to take complicated stories on technology and break them down. So he communicates his  reports in a clear,  concise , accessable way.

In the same way Rory is not a computer programmer,  I’m not a farmer’s daughter. I have a degree in Creative Writing, not in Land Management. If I’m expert in anything it’s the work of Sylvia Plath and Ernest Hemingway.  But what I do have is curiosity,  interest and passion for my subject. And this passion fuels my knowledge. Sitting in my bag at the moment is the latest issue of Gwlad, an agriculture and rural affairs magazine from the Welsh Assembly Government. Bookmarked on my computer is Farmers Guardian, The NFU and English Apples and Pears, to name  a few. And resting in the boot of my car is a pair of Wellington boots (crusted with mud and manure), a waterproof jacket and a flat cap.

The Badger Cull

Discussing the cull with Steve from Badger Trust

This week I met Steve Clark, Director of The Badger Trust and Gethin Jones from the RSPCA. Both oppose the cull. They say the scientific evidence doesn’t support the claim that a badger cull will reduce the spread of Bovine TB in cattle. 

The Badger Trust want to take The Welsh Assembly to The European Courts. They’ll use the Bern Convention as their defence. It’ll cost around fifty thousand pounds and they’ll need public donations to get the money together.

I’ll be writing more on this debate.

Rural Media

Daniel Meadows talked to CJS about Digital Storyelling.  He lectures at Cardiff University but used to be involved in Capture Cardiff – an  impressive multimedia project.

It got me thinking about my teenage years and the reason why I started getting interested in journalism. It was because of something called The Rural Media Company.

The Rural Media company, based in Hereford was way ahead of the rest when I was growing up. 

Nowadays, large-scale community films are their speciality. You can act, direct, film, script write, animate and design. Industry trained professionals will guide you and there isn’t an age limit. The results are outstanding.  See for yourself.

I got involved with  their Youth Times when I was seventeen. We were an E-magazine called InSite and we wrote articles, made films and animated . No ideas were turned away. This was a magazine for young people written by young people. 

 We were led by a woman in her twenties called Kate. I remember coming to her and asking if I could do a feature on Ketamine use in Hereford. She smiled, thrust some recording equipment in my hand and told me to do it.

A month later The Ketamine Kraze Uncovered was finished. Once online it started getting a lot of hits. Then, the BBC News rang.

“We’re doing a programme on Ketamine use in rural areas. Can we run the story?” they said.

I was seventeen. Baffled. The BBC taking notice of me???!!!

Peter Wilson, BBC Home Affairs Correspondent came to The Youth Times to interview me.  I was surprised there was no camera person with him. He explained they did it all nowadays.

A week later my family and friends watched the Ketamine feature go out on the 6.30 Midlands Today News. The feature contained heavy bass music, interviews with the police, interesting statistics….AND Me.

Shortly afterward an internet forum, hosted by a nightclub in Hereford, started a post about the programme. Over one thousand people visited it. The comments were mainly negative and aimed at me…”did you see that minging wench’”, “she’s only seventeen”,  ”doing it to further her career’”, “i’ll kick her teeth in’”.

It did hurt. I did cry. But then I got over it. I’d caused a reaction. People were talking. This had to be a good thing.

The mainstream media started talking more about Ketamine. Then the government did. At the time I wrote the article, Ketamine wasn’t classified. But now it is and my article was part of that.

So, it was this experience that whet my appetite for broadcast journalism.  I understood it was a job that can make you unpopular.  And that was a toughy for me. I like to be liked. But then I thought, if you can write something that gets people debating, that’s important.  So, I carried on.

Would this have happened if The Rural Media wasn’t there? I don’t believe it would have.

Learning about Young Farmers

Briohny and I spent the evening with Kate Miles, chairman of Glamorgan Young Farmers Club. Kate first joined Young Farmers when she was thirteen. She said what she liked most about the organisation was its democratic process,

 I was treated in a fairly adult way, they were asking my opinion, they wanted to know my thoughts.

 Now aged twenty-six, living in Cardiff and working as a solicitor in Bristol, Kate is the woman who steers that democratic process.  

Young Farmers is a charitable organisation, open to anyone aged from ten to twenty-six and celebrates its seventieth birthday this year. Kate is very switched on to the barriers the organisation must knock down,

  There is a perception its just farmers getting drunk. Actually only 51% of our members say Agriculture is their primary occupation…

She says 99% of her members are white and there is still anxiety about coming out as gay or lesbian if you’re from a farming background.

 Young Farmers offers a huge range of activities. There is a drama competition in February, which some clubs are already rehearsing for. There are public speaking, debating, tractor driving, quad biking, fence erecting and stock judging competitions.

 The clubs raise money for charity and they have a strong international programme giving members the chance to travel to Canada and Kenya.

 But Kate is highly driven and wants Young Farmers to provide even more. She’d like to see farming training provided so members could get their ATV certificates and other qualifications. Perhaps this is something the Welsh Assembly Government could subsidise?

 I asked her how many of her members want to pursue farming as a career. She told me, not many. Young farmers are the lifeblood of  future food production in Britain. It’s vital we get kids in classrooms excited about this profession. It’s vital we make it financially viable.

 The Welsh Assembly Government’s Young Entrant Scheme which aims to provide succession in farming may be the answer. Rolling out in April, it will pay farmers to mentor adults under forty who want to make a career out of farming.  It’ll also provide grants of up to £15,000. However, if you want to participate you need to have 50% of the start-up cost. Now, how many twenty-one year olds have that kind of money? The Welsh Assembly Government has also cut the scheme’s budget by £250,000, which could mean at least seventeen young farmers miss out on a grant. However, this will be the first year of the scheme and the Welsh Assembly Government say this level of funding will sufficiently meet demand.

 Kate said her farming friends are more switched on and more business savvy. For example, one friend is a farmer but has a day job as a conservation officer. Her generation want to pursue farming because they enjoy working outside and living in the rural surroundings but they are realistic and know they have to find new, inventive ways of subsidising their income.

 Kate has invited us to a Christmas decorating evening at her Young Farmers Club in Neath. So, watch this space. I’m looking forward to asking her members what they value about the club and what kind of future they envisage in farming.

Deer Poaching and Venison

Today I visited a eighty acre deer park in Wales. Unfortunately I can’t disclose the name and location because the owners are having real problems with illegal poaching.  There are no sign posts to direct you to the park. It is hidden behind high fencing and security gates keep out the public.

In one incident a poacher broke into the park by cutting a hole in the fencing with pliers. They then wounded a stag with a shotgun and sawed its head off. They left behind the stags body and its entrails strewn around the park.

 South Wales Police and the Forestry Commission have joined forces to tackle this growing problem. They’ve launched Operation Antler in the hope it’ll raise awareness of deer poaching and encourage people to report the crime.

 The deer farm I visited employs an experienced marksman who kills the deer instantly by weighing the shot and shooting the deer in the head. But a poacher is unlikely to have this level of  training and experience. They’ve been known to use crossbows to kill the deer and aren’t aware of the stalking rules.

These poachers are tainting a trade which is just gaining momentum. I’ve noticed all the big supermarkets are stocking venison burgers, sausages and steaks. 

  My local Sainsburys on Newport Road in Cardiff used to sell only three packs of venison steaks a week. But last week they sold eighty-one packs.  And when you consider venison is low in cholesterol and contains only 1.6 g of fat per 100 grams you can understand why.

Some people are uncomfortable about eating venison because of the Bambi link. But I say it’s no different to eating chicken, lamb or pork.

In the lead up to Christmas poachers will target restaurants and pubs. It can be tempting as you will get a cheaper price from them. However, you’re gambling with your customers health. If venison isn’t hung properly nasty toxins build up. When consumed they can make you very ill. So when your buying venison, be that in a pub, butchers, farmers market or supermarket always ask where it came from and if they can’t provide a decent answer it aint worth it.

Bex and Bri Bri Do Farming

Bri and I

My agriculture buddy and fellow Cardiff Journalism School colleague Briohny Williams and I have decided to combine blog forces. Our new blog will be called Bex And Bri Bri Do Farming and we’ll continue to cover stories on agriculture and rural affairs, specifically in South Wales. We’re always keen to meet farmers and people doing interesting things in the community.

If you’d like to make contact please email us on bexandbridofarming@hotmail.co.uk. We’d love to hear from you! And we’re more than willing to help out for a day. Bri is a excellent chicken plucker.

Here’s a video of Bri and I following the Llangenor Hunt on Newcomers Week. It was the first time I’d rode in a Land Rover.

Adam Tinworth and half hearted journalism

“It’s a really bad time to be a half hearted journalist. There are people out there doing it for free AND THEY ARE EXPERTS.” 

These are the words of Adam Tinworth. They’ve been buzzing around in my head all week.

Adam, author of One Man and His Blog spoke to the Cardiff School of Journalism on Thursday. The internet has reshaped RBI, the business he works for. In 2007 RBI started making more money on the web than it does in print. In three years they built over one hundred blogs and four of those sites run entirely using blog software.

A new business structure requires a new working attitude.

The new attitude

1) Find a niche.

Fashion reporter becomes footwear reporter.  Agriculture reporter becomes livestock show reporter. At Farmers Weekly, Jonathan Long’s blog on livestock sales, Taking Stock is RBI’s second most trafficked blog. Like Jonathan, journalists need to find (or will be given) a niche to report on. Jonathan is the antithesis of half-hearted journalism and it’s for this reason his blog is so popular.

2) Don’t expect gravitas. You can be a Daily Telegraph columnist with a readership of thousands but have less than a hundred hits a day on your blog.  

3)  Jeff Jarvis says, “cover what you do best. Link to the rest.”  

4) Become a connector not a gatekeeper. Gatekeepers occasionally throw out nuggets of carefully selected information and expect their readers to catch it and be thankful. But those readers are bored waiting so they’re going to the transparent, social connectors who are receptive to feedback and share contacts.

5) Throw away the Trilby hat and typewriter. There is no Fleet Street.

I had the opportunity to ask Adam how many farmers are engaging with Farmers Weekly Interactive. The answer is, a lot. He said the site is busiest after dinner, when farmers who live in isolated areas return from work and use the site to find out what’s happening on other farms. During the foot-and-mouth scare in 2007 farmers were using the forums to find out which farms had Foot and Mouth and which farms didn’t. The forums became a space to vent, comfort, find out what the government were doing and confirm what was rumour and what was fact. 

Tomorrow my agriculture buddy Briony and I are going chicken plucking at Oakland Organics in Bonvilston and on Wednesday we ‘re visiting a deer farm targeted by poachers. Perhaps I’ve found my niche…building up a readership is my next challenge.

Butchers @ Cardiff Indoor Market

A W Griffiths

There are seven butchers at the Cardiff Indoor Market. Twenty years ago there were sixteen. They trade in ear shot of each other which makes things interesting. Healthy competition, they call it. Which translates to good prices for the customer.

Mark Randall works at A W Griffiths. He left school to be a butcher in 1977. He told me they lose a lot of young people to the supermarkets. “It’s not the same trade…different skills.”

A W Griffiths are enjoying a boost in trade thanks to the cookery programme  Come Dine With Me.  Customers are scribbling down recipes from the programme and coming to the market the following day to buy a leg of lamb or a nice bit of steak. This is a recession twist – people can’t afford to eat out, so they’re hosting their own dinner parties.

Customers are also cooking to a budget and planning their meals better. This means old-fashioned cuts like brisket, oxtail and tongue are back in fashion.

Mark in the market

The butchers are excited about the three-week lead up to Christmas. Mark told me the hours are hard but the trade is good. The cold snaps in January help push a smaller wave of trade, as people rediscover their stewing pots and go wild for braising steaks.

“Favourite cut of meat?” I asked Mark. 

“A rib of beef with garlic, olive oil and rosemary. You’ll find butchers are very good cooks. ”

 Butchers at the Cardiff Indoor Market will give you very good recipe tips if you ask nicely. They get their meat from a local supplier and one butcher is specifically organic. And if you’re after something a bit different like Venison, Rabbit or Pheasant make a request and they’ll get it in for you.

 If you’re passing by the market on your way to House of Fraser, pop in. There’s also a killer second-hand vinyl shop upstairs.