Feature Fever

I’m up late taking a break from preparing my feature for Catch 22 which is making me pull my hair out. It’s about internet cafes and they are actually a lot more interesting than they sound. This journalism stuff is challenging but fun and rewarding. Every time I read my work I find a mistake and it never feels finished. Writing my feature has been quite a stretch but I know it will be hugely satisfying when I hand it in and it’s out of my hands. I also wanted to mention this song which plays in the titles for BBC switch drama The Cut, written by Dan Black about friendship, it reminds me of my bestie over at Kamna Chi who manages to always make me smile even when I’m moody and feel like crap.

Meet Tola

Meet Tola, an aspiring journalist currently a student at Roehampton University. This avid ice cream eater also brightens up each day as an intern at Catch 22. Check out her blog and her twitter account.

What course do you study and why?
I study journalism and creative writing. I enjoy it but it can be stressful because both subjects are difficult.

What’s your favourite.......

Song?
At the moment Ryan Leslie, Addiction

TV show?
It’s between The Simpsons and Fresh Prince Of Bel Air

Publication?
Glamour magazine

Youtube clip?
Scarlett takes a tumble.




Website?
Concrete loop particularly the “guess who” section.

Worst film?
“I Know Who Killed Me” staring Lindsay Lohan. I still don’t know what it’s about. Also I recently saw Footloose which was pretty bad.

Which celebrity have you had enough of?
Jordan, because she never told the public who raped her.

What’s your most embarrassing moment?
When I was ten I visited the London Eye. I didn’t realise the ride was about half an hour long and I needed to go to the toilet. When it was finally over I had to run to the toilets whilst trying to hold it.

Interview with Greg Truscott

I interviewed Greg Truscott (the chief reporter at the South London Press.

I've spent thirteen years in this industry and to tell you the truth, I decided to pursue Journalism when I split up with my girlfriend in Barcelona. Previously I had always felt there was a glass ceiling and I didn't take it any further. I applied for a job at a newspaper over there but I got accepted at Nottingham, studying a pre-entry NCTJ course. Later I worked at a local newspaper in Cardiff called “The Daily”.

Getting the job was a stroke of luck as I was only supposed to be at the paper for a week long placement. Whilst travelling by black cab with a friend in Cardiff the driver noticed I wasn't Welsh. He spoke to me about local gangland cab wars and also introduced me to a contact whom I met at an industrial waste land to discuss the story. The next day it was the splash on the front page and they gave me a full time job.

My advice to budding journalists would be the industry is all about getting the job done. It's not like medicine or law but more like a trade. There is no point studying for three years when you can do it in one. Get the NCTJ, similar to a driver's license for the journalism industry it’s all employers are looking for.

Do you want to "See Further Into...."

Have you ever wanted to know more about science stuff? Well now is your chance the Metro are publishing a series of articles titled “See Further Into…” to celebrate the 350th anniversary for the Royal Society of Science. I think my favourite articles were Exoplanets and Black Holes because they are simple enough for even a biomedical scientist like me to understand. I’ve been really interested in Astrophysics recently and I think amazing programmes like “The Wonders Of The Solar System” and “Is everything we know about the universe wrong” have encouraged me to learn more about a subject which has always fascinated and intimidated me at the same time.

This is just funny

Get into bed with Catch 22 media partners

Catch 22 is linked with a number of media partner organisations including Associated Papers, Think Publishing and both Haymarket Consumer and Business. I've picked three I would like to work for

The Economist Group
Brands are the Economist Online, Economist Intelligence Unit, Economist Conferences, Economist Corporate Network and The World In... and Intelligent Life. The Economist is a weekly international news and business publication and they also have a great science and technology section. I really enjoyed “Can one of Africa’s best-governed countries beat the curse of black gold?”
which is an interesting article about the discovery of oil in Ghanaian territory.
“The way the cookie crumbles” article really makes me love the variety of scientific features. Its competitors include News Week and Time magazine

Bauer Media
They have over 80 media brands and publications include Grazia (Britain's first women's weekly glossy magazine), Kerrang, Empire, Heat, FHM and Zoo. Closer is the flagship women's weekly with circulation figures of 526,713. FHM is their most popular men's lifestyle magazine with 192 586. In recent news Grazia have reported Tim Gunn's new book contains extra gossip about Vogue editor Anna Wintour

Conde Nast
This is an international media brand with publications such as Vogue, Glamour, GQ and Vanity Fair. A personal favourite is Wired magazine, which is interesting, fun and most important of all has a scientific edge. It's style almost reminds me of one of my favourite blogs “Stuff White People Like” Conde Nast's flagship publication is Vogue and its competitor is Harper's Bazaar