Over the christmas holiday we were all assigned to do different things for the magazine, the cover, the contents page, the media pack etc.
I was given the task of creating the food news page, which consisted of news from around the world which concerned food. I wrote up a story which I found that told about a man from England who hallucinated after eating the world’s hottest curry. And a story about selling the worlds largest blue-fin tuna at an auction for over $1,000,000.
We had to write a review which may or may not have gone into the magazine, it could have been on a restaurant or something else concerning food.
I decided to do a review of a typical night out in the Weatherspoons restaurant in Falmouth, I reviewed the service which I received from the staff, and also commented on the standard of the food.
I then wrote another feature which was called ‘The origin of the pasty’, which told the story of how the cornish pasty got its name, and why they were created. The feature also consisted of a recipe of how to make a cornish pasty, and what different types of pasties you can create.
For my second feature I decided to write a feature on creating a meal of spaghetti bolognese, it was more sort of a recipe feature.
I started the feature by writing about where the origin of pasta came from, and how the meal known as spaghetti bolognese came about.
Throughout the recipe I explained every step to step part of creating the dish, which included detailed images and hints of what to do whilst cooking and how to make the meal perfect.
We all had to create and write a feature that was 700 words and would be put inside our finished magazine. I decided to write a feature called ‘The Cheaper Challenge’ where i experimented by seeing whether you could buy cheaper branded foods and still have the same quality taste that you would get with the higher branded foods.
I got four participants to blind taste test the products, and although they could at most of the times tell which were the higher quality, they said that they thought the cheaper branded foods actually tasted better.
So therefore in the end it appeared that you can pay less for better quality foods.
Our class was seperated in to groups of a round five people to a group, and we decided between us on an idea for a magazine which we would be creating together, writing features, reviews, articles and using adverts to create a magazine which could be sold in shops.
We then went away and decided on an idea for a food magazine which we would call ‘Nosh’.
We then created a mood board with ideas brought from other various food magazines, such as’ good food’. From that we decided what the style of our magazine would be, what our logo would look like, what our font style would be and what colour scheme we would use.
“When I got there they had kids with AK-47s welcoming you in”, students at University College Falmouth were told.
Oliver Poole, Former war correspondent, told BA (Hons) Journalism students what it is like to be reporting in Iraq and the dangers which the reporters face.
Oliver Poole
“You don’t want to get yourself killed”, Poole told the students when explaining how dangerous it is to be in that part of the world, especially when you’re from England “if you were a westerner in Iraq, you were a target.”.
Poole goes on to tell the students what was happening in Iraq whilst he was out there “they were kidnapping westerners, they were putting them in orange jumpsuits, in a cave in a basement, and making them do videos for their loved ones.” then graphically saying “making them plea for their life and then cutting off their head with a rusty bloody blade, and showing it on the internet as well.”
“When you’re in Iraq all the people are looking at you” he says when explaining how he felt when just walking through a street in Iraq.
He then gives advice on what to do and what not to do when reporting in these war raging countries “you’ve got to be careful and have the assumption that every one you are talking to could kill you” he warns the students “the last thing you want to do is draw attention to yourself.”
Poole then gives the students some rules to stick by “don’t go out at night, don’t go out walking around by yourself, don’t stay more than 15 minutes anywhere and don’t tell anyone where you are going.” he says “anyone that broke those rules got killed.” However he reassures the students “as long as you kept to those rules you’d be fine.”
Oliver Poole was the former war correspondent for the ‘Guardian’ and is currently the correspondent for ‘The Independent’.
“It’s really worth the pain”, students at University College Falmouth were told today.
Joe Barnes, Editor of FHM magazine, told BA (Hons) Journalism students the troubles which they will face in the magazine industry and how to over come them. He also talked about the problems existing magazines are facing.
Joe Barnes
“When you start you need to massively suck up” explained Barnes when describing to the students what they need to do when getting their first job, he also offers advice “once you’ve got your foot in the door, don’t take it out.”
He then enthusiastically told them that they should not be too over the top when starting, in other words don’t think you are important and should earn a decent salary “just expect to earn enough to live on”. He explains the best way to get work in the industry “if you want a job, work experience is just about the only way in to the industry.”
Then Barnes begins to talk about the problems which existing magazines are 
facing “people grow out of magazines, and there is no one else coming in” he tells the students and explains how the number of graduates is rising every year whilst the number of jobs is declining.
He tells the students this could be due to the introduction of technology and how people can get their news and features just by looking at their phones now “when I was here in 2003, no one had a smart phone and not every one had a mobile”.
However he says that although it can be harder because of the introduction of 
technology, we understand it better than anyone “if you are 25 and under you have a natural understanding of technology”.
Joe Barnes graduated from University College Falmouth in 2003 and studied video, web-design and photography. He went to Front magazine in 2004, and was made editor of the magazine in 2006.
Although the future may seem bleak for the next aspiring journalists, Joe Barnes assures them “The good news is, as long as you can write and you have the right attitude, then you will be able to get work”.
“Stand your ground”, students at University College Falmouth were told today.
Sandra Laville told BA (Hons) Journalism students how they they should go about working for a media organisation and how they can do the best with their work.
“Never do anything that you feel uncomfortable with” Laville told the students when explaining that you have to stick up for yourself in the Journalism world and not let yourself be pushed around, and also said how hard it is to get started in work “take every opportunity that comes to you, however small, 
don’t be afraid to start small.”
Laville then went on to give advice on how to work in the business, she offered five points which she thought would help students:
Pick up the phone – “Always go to the person you want to speak to personally” she explained that it is always better to speak to your source yourself, rather than using other people’s quotes.
Move – She told the students that you have to go out and get the stories rather than working only from your office “you’ve got to show your face” she added “If I had wanted to work behind a desk, I could have been an accountant.”
Fresh eyes – It is always better for you to look at an old story because you might see a different perspective and angle on the story “look through old stories, it is a good way of getting a story.”
Be tenacious – She explained that when writing and looking for stories you have to be imaginitive to find the right angle for a story.
Check and re-check – She told the students that you have to make sure that everything in your story is correct; names, dates, places and times. “Check, check and re-check before you send it out.”
She then went on to talk about what she thought about Journalism in today’s society, explaining that you can’t get anywhere without money “you need money to find good investigative journalism”. Laville also told the students how to properly deal with your sources, especially when going to their home address “you have to be respectfull, you have got to be empathetic.”
When describing the role which she thought that she played in Journalism, she thoroughly explained that she is who the public look to for help “I need to shed light on injustice” and went on to say “I think my job is to be the people’s eyes and ears, to hold the authorities to account, to give people voices who don’t usually have voices.”
Sandra Laville has been the Crime Correspondent for ‘The Guardian’ for the past seven years, and recently gave evidence at the Levison enquiry.
For more information click the link below…
“Everyone in the creative industries is looking to uncover the next big thing and talented person”, Journalism students were told today.
Sam Lynas, a University College Falmouth graduate and account executive at 
barefoot media, told BA (Hons) Journalism students at UCF about what an editor looks for and the importance of online journalism in today’s society “The editors of the magazines or the newspapers that you want to work for will come to you and they will pick you out.”
Lynas first goes on to talk about how the interactive age of journalism has got bigger in the last few decades since the introduction of new technology “you couldn’t do this 10-20 years ago, there is better technology, better broadband, faster internet and not to mention the increase in mobile phones.” He paints a picture that shows us how the times have changed and how quickly news and information can be passed around the globe via the internet.
“Just a show of hands, who has twitter” as the majority of the hands go up in the room lynas explains that Twitter is an amazing way of getting exclusive news out 
fast these days, where as in earlier years journalists would have had to use a phone to get in contact with their editor about a story. Lynas makes the point of how important Twitter is “there’s an editor at the Washington Post in America who says he won’t hire anyone that doesn’t have Twitter, so that just shows the importance.”
Knowing his audience, Lynas goes on to the topic of blogging as he knows all the students have a blog “it’s a lot of fun blogging or writing online…quite addictive.” 
Explaining the different types of blogs he starts off with Tumblr “the fast free service blogging platform” as he calls it, he goes on to talk about others such as Posterus and WordPress “the most recognisable”. He gives tips and his opinions of the best blog “I don’t want to use WordPress because I think it’s a bit clunky, and I don’t want to use Tumblr because I want my writing to have a bit more word content to it.”
Lynas tries to help the students by explaining the best way to get your name out there when online, he tells us that it is better to use a broader search name such as ‘restaurants in Cornwall’ rather than ‘restaurants in Falmouth’ because less companies would label their search tag as ‘restaurants in Cornwall’ so then when people search it your website will be near or at the top of the page.
Sam Lynas worked with restaurants, festivals and beach events whilst working for barefoot media and is currently freelancing.
“There’s a story to be found in any subject”, Journalism students were told today…
Paul Du Noyer, a successful music editor, told BA (Hons) Journalism students at Univeristy College Falmouth this today during a guest lecture, whilst talking 
about his work in the musical media and the magazines which he started.
The career of Du Noyer started when he gained a placment working for the New Musical Express magazine or NME, it took him a few years of learning everything at NME before he was able to do any official interviews, “I tried to learn every aspect of the job”.
He climbed up the ranks of the magazine though and whilst there he interviewed and wrote features on some of the big names in music at the time 
such as; Ska/Reggie group ‘The Specials’ and Punk forefathers ‘The Clash’.
However after a while Du Noyer started to feel as though he was getting too old to write for NME, so some of his collegues and himself decided to create a new magazine of their own.
They came up with Q magazine, which Du Noyer became the editor of and whilst working there his writing really developed itself unlike at NME, “I don’t think ever wrote anything for the NME that was any good”. It seems that he wasn’t proud of the worked which he had developed at NME, ” If I could track down every copy of these existing newspapers, I would destroy them” relating to the work which he had produced with there.
Paul Du Noyer describes Q magazine as “the first attempt to gatecrash the monopoly of these weekly newspapers”. He explained that at the time the band ‘U2’ were really big and to get them on the cover of ‘Q’ would have great consequences. With that in mind he tells the students that he once followed the 
band around the country to document it for Q magazine, “Sometimes the editor has to step in, because the editor feels like they can’t trust anybody else with this”.
After a while he came up with an idea for a magazine which focused mainly on the older generation of musicians and would be aimed at an older target audience, the idea that came from this was ‘Mojo magazine’, a magazine which is still going today.
For ‘Mojo’ Du Noyer interviewed such famous musicians as ‘The Police’ frontman Sting, Pop music icon David Bowie and ‘The Modfather’ and ‘The Jam’ frontman Paul Weller, which boosted the numbers of copies sold. There was one
problem with using aged musicians though, “You are dealing with very ugly people” however they over came this problem “If we are covering their entire career then there is no reason why we have to use an up to date picture of them.”
Paul Du Noyer is now writing novels on the media and has own website which has his products to purchase.
One thing is clear…Paul Du Noyer has shaped the music magazine industry.
For more information of Paul Du Noyer visit his website site below:
mikeantjones 