What happened on last night's Reporting Scotland?

Don't panic Anas!

Lightening can strike twice sometimes and that was certainly the case for Reporting Scotland's Sally Magnusson last night. Last summer, she made headlines across the Scottish press after a lunchtime bulletin she read went into meltdown thanks to the lack of co-operation from technology. On last night's late bulletin, the technology failed on her again.

Being a student of journalism and an aspiring broadcast journalist, I had to think critically about what happened during the late night bulletin from BBC Scotland. I was lucky enough to record as much of the bulletin as possible last night and I played it back a number of times.

From early on in the bulletin, I was beginning to think that something was wrong. When the clip of Nigel Farage and the protests surrounding the presence of the UKIP leader didn't play properly then that was the moment when plan B had to come into play. Sally and her BBC Scotland weather presenter colleague Christopher Blanchett filled much of the remaining abundance of on air time talking about the weather and did it in a manner which was just genuinely admirable (it was pretty lucky that the weather map hadn't gone into meltdown as well!). 

BBC One Scotland could well have easily cut the bulletin short and gone straight to another local BBC news bulletin anywhere else within the United Kingdom, but they instead stuck with what they had left of the troubled news bulletin and the time left was used up very effectively despite the unfortunate circumstances. What I loved especially was that Sally and Christopher had such an engaging conversation on air about the weather prospects that were ahead for Scotland, that it could well have just the main subject of the whole bulletin. You could even tell at one stage that Sally was giving Christopher an indication that he should continue (since there was so much time left to fill). 

Both presenters should be lavished with praise for the calm, cool and collective manner that they displayed last night. They had to think of a plan B without any warning and there seemed to be absolutely no sign of any panic whatsoever which makes their performance all the more admirable. 

Finally, here's one last thought. I think I and many of my peers could benefit from some sort of a training event where we have to be put in a position when we have to respond to an unexpected event taking place around us (whether that is video clips failing to play, breaking news coming in or other forms of technological failures impacting upon the running of a news bulletin). The whole purpose of this blog post is to be retrospective in a constructive manner and I hope those of you reading this will appreciate that all of us who work in journalism or any other related field can always learn from events where things go wrong.

Preparation is always key, but having a plan B can sometimes be very useful too.

10 reasons why I LOVE the Bauer Academy

In the week I took part in the Media School course, the
Scottish Media Academy became the Bauer Academy.

In recent weeks, I have had the total pleasure in taking part in two courses with the Bauer Academy at Forth House in Edinburgh (the home of Radio Forth). In April, I completed the week long Media School course and in this past weekend I took part in an intensive Broadcast Journalism course. 

You probably have already predicted what I thought of them both - I loved them and I really miss the excitement of being there already! Why does that surprise any of you I wonder? But what about the specific reasons as to why I really had such a good time.

Well, here are my ten reasons (and they are in no particular order!):

1. You learn a lot of new skills, gain crucial learning experiences and broaden your horizons within the media

If you are passionate about the media and want to take your career aspirations forward then the Bauer Academy is really your kind of place. With a combination of theoretical learning and practical tasks, your learning really comes to life. Let me give you a brief example - within my diploma studies in journalism, I am studying a module about video journalism specifically for online platforms and learning about how to effectively produce a news report for broadcast at the Bauer Academy has helped me a lot in understanding how to carry out the process well. In fact, it has brought the whole learning process to life.

2. You meet like minded people

People who think like you and have probably done similar activities like filming video and presenting radio shows tend to know what you are talking about and connect with what you are saying within an instant. So far, I have met fellow radio presenters, journalism students and fellow professionals who, like myself, are pursuing a full time career in the media. It's also great to meet those kind of people in real life as you can share experiences and even support each other.

3. Your confidence is very likely to be boosted

You know the feeling you get sometimes when you send away demo after demo and receive next to no response or don't get the breakthrough you require in order to progress in your career? One of the most fantastic things about being at the Bauer Academy is generally becoming more confident about yourself and your abilities and this comes about through networking and going through the different learning process' there. The next reason coming up I would say is my main personal reason why my confidence has gone in the right direction in recent times.

4. You meet some of the biggest names within the media 

This is one of the biggest reasons why anyone should sign up for a course with Bauer Academy. You will meet at least one or two major names who have made it at the highest level and they will be more than delighted to share their experiences, tips and answer any questions. They will inspire you and do you know the best thing overall about them? They are down to earth and approachable. One of the people we chatted with in the Media School week was Grant Stott - he had so many anecdotes to share with us and gave us an intriguing insight into his own career and the media industry (he's been on TV as well as on radio). 

5. You are encouraged to think creatively

This is one of the first things we were enlightened about when I took part in the Media School week long course and it set the foundation for the week ahead where we went on to look at radio, TV and print in more detail. This was crucial and really helped especially when we produced our "Fab FM" radio show at the end of the week. I played the role of producer and I have to give my fellow peers huge credit for the superb work they did to get the whole show together - we produced a truly brilliant show which was fun to make!

6. You have the chance to get out of your comfort zone

It may be a nervous experience at times, but getting yourself thrown into new and daunting types of opportunities can yield important learning experiences. The one example that sticks out at me is when former STV News anchor Juliet Dunlop gave me a very tough interview over my advertising campaign at Glasgow Queen Street earlier this year. It may have been intense, but I truly benefited from the experience and felt pretty pleased that I was able, to a certain extent, defend why I chose to appear on a billboard in one of Scotland's busiest train stations. And what can I say about Juliet? All I will say is, don't get on the wrong side of her (she's actually one of the nicest people you will meet in the business)!

7. You are inspired and valued

There are three parts to this particular reason. In the Media School week, award winning journalist Billy Briggs took us on a whirlwind tour of his portfolio where he has travelled all over the world covering a variety of stories in places such as Burkina Faso, Guatemala and Haiti. We hugely valued his insight and appreciated the time he spent with us to share his experiences. 

On another note, we met a former student of what we previously known as the Scottish Media Academy (before it became the Bauer Academy) who was Claire Kinnaird - she now reads the travel bulletins on Forth 1 every weekday and hearing from her was very important. Her story brought hope and inspiration to us and it's superb to hear how someone who has been through this process has made it into a major role.

And on yet another note we spoke to many other kinds of people within Bauer about various aspects of radio behind the scenes such as Martyn Ewart who is involved as a producer with Boogie In The Morning, Duncan Leven who works on the Greatest Hits Network set of stations (such as Forth 2) and Phil Manzor who is the Content Controller at Forth 1. We also got to meet the news team and the people who are responsible for the running of Cash For Kids (which is Bauer Radio's network of local charities).

8. You have fun and truly enjoy yourself

This is really another great reason to take part at the Bauer Academy. The joy you will experience networking, communicating and working with your fellow students is phenomenal - I would say this is because we all have a love for the media and we share that love through showing uncompromising interest in what we learn and by being able to find common areas of interest really quickly to talk about. Also, you make friends from the courses you take part in and that is critical for future contact.

9. You are looked after with care and compassion

The people who run the Bauer Academy are heroic. Courtnay McLeod is the Director of the Bauer Academy and she leads the way with style - engaging, informative and someone who has a super sense of humour. Michelle Hunter is another one of the key players within the Bauer Academy and she was especially fantastic to work with in the studio when demo or show production was in full operation. It is also worth mentioning Mark Martin who in the early stages of the Media School week ensured we all didn't get carried away with ourselves and really helped us polish certain studio techniques with voice particularly (and his feedback on our show preparation was very helpful as well!). Gavin Pearson was also crucial in the final part of that week when we produced our radio show and gave us superb guidance in the studios and kept us on track.

10. You truly feel at home

In my time at Forth House (where I have been getting involved with the Bauer Academy), I truly know for certain that a radio or TV studio is like home for me. I was born to work in those kind of places and I knew that from an early age. I actually surprised Nina MacLeod during the second day of the Broadcast Journalism course when I told her of the job situation within pharmacy (I'm still a self-employed pharmacist, but only work on occassional days here and there now), but I was totally unrepentant in stating my desire to switch to a full time media career in the near future. Let's face it, why would anyone not want to move into their number one choice of career? I am no different.

I have now made that full commitment of going for a media career since starting my journalism diploma with the National Council for the Training of Jouranlists and I am not going back on that - it's frankly going to be now or I might never take the chance of making the full switch. I knew that I would have an enjoyable time in the recent two courses that I did with the Bauer Academy and I was not proven wrong. I thank absolutely everybody that I had the honour to meet and to work with during my times at the Bauer Academy and it may well be that I find myself there yet again for another special occasion!

It leaves me with one final thing to say - I'm going to be a persistent, lightly annoying yet a politely assertive young man in looking for my first major job or role within the media. You have been warned (haha, what am I like?!).