Journalism = experiments

Today the group went on media visits to The Guardian and to BBC. When we walked up to The Guardian my first thought was that I need to get a job there. The building was the most swank building I can remember being in. The building itself reminded me a lot of the paper's print and web layout. We got to sit in on their budget and then talked to the foreign news editor. One thing that I liked about their budget was that they discussed the most important stories rather than running through them. They only discussed two stories but I was impressed with the discussion because it just wasn't editors, reporters were in the meeting as well. 

Another thing I liked about the visit was when the foreign news editor discussed how they are experimenting a lot and sometimes failing. This doesn't sound really great but I always feel like people say "we need to change things." But how many times do people try to change things? I feel like a lot of newsrooms in America are barely beginning to change so I really like their idea that they just need to try a lot of things and see what works. I also liked how the editor said that they are trying to figure out who their audience is now that people all over the world are reading the web version of the Guardian. Did they have to spend that much money on a new building? I don't know but the design sure won me over. 

The next visit was to BBC. We mostly discussed this new program that they have created to try and reteach or have their reporters/editors brush up on old and new forms of journalism. I thought it was really interested and once again something we can bring back with us in the fall because no one ever stops learning. We also took a mini tour of the studios while they were filming some of their shows so it was kinda cool to see the technology and the behind the scenes of the BBC.

In between we went to Camden Market for a bit and it looked really interesting but we didn't have enough time to look around so maybe I can go back one day. 

As a side note - a friend of mine unfortunately lost a family member recently and not to sound like a hippie but it made me think and after you read this get offline and go live your dreams and tell the people you love that you love them because you never know whats around the corner. And if you know who I'm talking about, pray for his family because they need it now more than ever.