To be surprised about the amount of nepotism in Journalism

[AndromedaPerseus]

Today I read an article in the Sunday Times by Emily Clarkson (Jeremy’s dd who has also written for ST in the past) urging kids not to worry if you don’t get your Alevels to go to university. Obviously when you’re the dd of a multimillionaire with huge amount of connections then you needn’t be too concerned

Then there is a new ST columnist Flora Gill who just happen to be the dd of AA Gill and Amber Rudd. Just for the record Flora seems to have replace Scarlet Curtis who had a regular ST column for the past year and she happens to be the dd of Richard Curtis and Emma Freud.

Having read their musings Flora is the best of the bunch but not outstanding whereas Emily’s writing is the standard of a grade B GCSE student and I had no idea what Scarlet was talking about most of the time.

AIBU to think the upper echelons of journalism is still a career only opened to the well connected and not necessary the most talented

Well done johnny elbows of steel!

@Sleepyhollow1 I really didn't mean to offend. I think it was probably rather distressing to receive it, actually, so I can totally see how finding it funny just grates from your POV. (My sense that I'd dislike him if I were to meet him stems from this exact piece of writing, so I should really have been more alert to the fact that it's not really funny, it's just bullying and egotism.) Sorry!

YABU to be surprised.

O fiddlesticks. I'm putting giles on half pay because he's smug and not as talented as his sister. And he's very rude.

No problem @DolorestheNewt apologies if I was overly sharp. I agree though, it was essentially bullying and an entirely inappropriate response.

You weren't!

Agree totally on all fronts. Anais Gallagher really won't add anything to the frankly underwhelming new direction of Tatler, either.

I graduated wth a 2.1 was hard to get a training contract at that time especially in family law. My friend got my dream training contract with a 2:2 but his grandfather started the firm. Can't compete with that!

That said a second cousin of mine is now a proper journalist in the telegraph with no family connections so is possible but agree way easy if daddy is the editor

B2B journalism is easier to get into if you have an nctj/ptc accredited qualification, have work experience and are willing to work for peanuts. Some publishing companies/media organisations do favour graduates of certain universities if starting with a non journalism undergraduate degree. Some are also particular about which journo specific course you do.

If you have a family that is willing to put you up while you undertake months of unpaid work experience then you're at an advantage.

Who can forget Max Gogarty - an incident so egregious that several Guardian writers had pieces published in defence of him and Wikipedia included him in their entry about nepotism?

For those feeling bad for the hapless son of a Guardian travel writer who got that blogging gig entirely on his own merits - you'll be cheered to learn that he's now Executive Editor of BBC3.

O well done Max. An astonishing success story. Did u spot Bella Rusbridger at the Guardian by any chance?

Mathilda Ramsay, BBC gave her a cooking show. Pretty much all of Hollywood is nepotism.

Pippa Middleton writing for Waitrose weekend .....

Happens in every industry. Why are you surprised.

Modelling is a bloody obvious one... if one parent has a saleable look then offspring are likely to have the same body / face type.
There are many “models” who are ugly but get modelling jobs due to family connections. The Gallaghers and Jude Law’s son spring to mind. The only celebrity offspring model who is actually stunningly beautiful and deserves to be a model is Kaia Gerber.

It’s also worth pointing out that there are a number of celebrities whose children are so talentless that even their parents couldn’t get jobs for them. I’m thinking of Demi Moore’s daughter who looks like a potato and even her parents connections couldn’t make her into an actress. And Will Smith’s son who was so bad at acting that even co-starring in a film with daddy failed to launch his career.

I was in audience for Kathy Lette ( ex husband is Geoffrey Robertson) recently and she was discussing how proud she was of her children - son is actor in casualty, daughter is corbyns press officer.

Did wonder would they have got those jobs if they were Joe Public.

I suppose I’m surprised as almost on a daily basis “The Times” decries the lack of social mobility and the stranglehold private schools have on desirable careers then without a sense of irony it’s sister paper “The Sunday Times” regularly gives plum jobs to not particularly talented but very well connected young people.

DH's father got him his first job. DH was upset when he found out. However we had neighbours where the father was very open about the fact that he would get his son a job in what he called 'the industry' when he left University and the son was only too happy.
Our local Co-op was a prime example. If you had one of a handful of surnames the job was yours, so it happens at all levels.

Bigbluebubble, disagree about Kaia Gerber, she’s ok but not the supermodel of her mum’s ability. If she wasn’t Cindy Crawford daughter she’d might be a run of the mill model and if that.
From all the rich and famous offspring Gigi is passsable after all the cosmetic tweaks.
Please don’t talk about the Ramseys, her dad’s PR team makes all the threads disappear. It happened 3 times so far.

Eve I thought Kathy Lett's son was Jason in Holby. Your point still stands though.

Also find it depressing at the stranglehold poshos are now having on acting. Julie Walters recently said she didn't think her or Victoria Wood (northern working class non connected parents) would have made it these days .

Look at the actors getting all the success, Eddie Redmayne, Dominic West, Tom Hiddleston, Emma Watson, all top public schools and/or connected parents.

Ramsays are a good example he is an amazing cook and strong tv personality and his kids seem nice but the most ordinary bunch bless them no way on earth would Matilda have her own show/book on her own merits.

Slightly off topic, there was a thread the other day about whether public school was cheating. The consensus opinion was that it wasn't, it was completely normal, and those against it were jealous. Is this not the same thing?

Jude Law's son? Looks alright to me, looks a lot like my son actually, mutters maternally, SO what's up?

At one point Georgina Littlejohn was employed at the Mail. Despite being limited mostly to reporting on what she could glean from Twitter, her style was barely literate. But, given her father's massive limitations, that's hardly surprising.