Writing for the Guardian is an absolute dream for so many young journalists – and last Wednesday (Nov 25) we were lucky enough to go #OffTheRecord with someone who’s been working at the news organisation for over a decade.
Josh Halliday was offered a traineeship at the Guardian and worked his way up to become the paper’s North of England correspondent. He sat down for an Instagram Live Q&A session with PressPad’s Ayomikun Adekaiyero to talk about his journey into the industry and shared lots of brilliant advice.
Here’s an exclusive summary of the conversation:
Journalism was “definitely something I always wanted to do”, Josh told the live audience. But going into the industry wasn’t the most straightforward decision for him.
“In fact, one of my teachers told me I wouldn’t be able to be a journalist, because I wasn’t the most able person in the class and I wasn’t from a middle-class background.”
Nevertheless, Josh volunteered at a local magazine while studying for his A-Levels, and then enrolled at the University of Sunderland to do a journalism degree on the advice of one of his colleagues.
In his final year, he was offered a traineeship by the Guardian which he said was kind of a “dream come true moment”.
Fast forward a decade, he is now North of England correspondent and given the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, his days are currently dominated by the pandemic (although he has several ways to cope with the stress – including doing yoga every day).
It’s been a tough stint for him as “pretty much every day since March I’ve written about coronavirus” he said – but the crisis also means that it’s an incredibly important time to be a journalist.
“It’s one of the best times that there has been in this country to be a journalist, and the repercussions of what we’re seeing right now will be felt around the world for many years to come,” he said.
He also gave lots of practical advice to those wanting to succeed in the industry.
One of the most important things? Be curious, inquisitive – and keep notes of all your ideas.
In terms of idea development and research, he gave a few concrete tips:
Speak to charities when sourcing for stories, as they are often very keen to help, and also to get publicity for their campaigns.
And don’t neglect Hansard – this is basically a verbatim report of what is said in Parliament and can be an invaluable resource.
But in addition to sourcing and being a curious and open person, there are also specific things that come with newsroom experience, said Josh. One of these is learning how to handle conversations, in particular getting comfortable with cold-calling people.
This is something lots of people might be uncomfortable with, especially for a generation that’s grown up with social media, texting and emails, but it’s a vital skill according to Josh.
“Picking up the phone is absolutely crucial in terms of being able to get stories,” he said. “People just won’t tell you the same things by email or Twitter.”
In terms of CV or portfolio advice, he recommended highlighting the parts of your personality that demonstrate curiosity and a sense of learning.
In addition, it could be helpful to reflect on your motivations for going into the media industry.
According to Josh, a lot of young reporters go into the industry because they want to campaign about a certain issue. This is “perfectly fine”, he said, but he urged young reporters to consider combining this motivation with curiosity and eagerness to learn about the issue at hand; to report, rather than write opinion on commentary.
“What’s missing in journalism at the minute is people wanting to change the world, but … doing it by reporting on an issue – which is different to writing comment pieces and opinion articles,” he said.
More bits of advice included making sure to keep learning new things, for example by taking up a language or – a big growth area in journalism at the moment – getting proficient with statistics and data. It’s also helpful to develop a specialism in a particular area, Brexit fishery policy being an example.
But ultimately, being able to switch off from the job is also vital.
“Sometimes as a journalist you’ll think, oh because because I’m not on Twitter it means I’m not getting stories, or because I’m not on all the time, it means I’m falling behind in this. That’s not true at all,” he said.
“In the end, that benefits you because you’re coming up with fresher ideas.”
Oh and of course, be mindful of your social media presence “because your future bosses might be watching”.
You can get in touch with Josh @JoshHalliday on Twitter.
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Credit: Canva Pro image collage by PressPad
