BBC people/journalists - advice please

[WendyWeber]

DS2 will be doing Y10 work experience in March 08, and just announced that as he wants to be a journalist he would like to do it in News at the BBC in Manc - I am in because a) I never had a child who knew what they wanted to do before and b) he is aiming so high (local paper is the usual)

Anybody have any suggestions/contacts please? He does write very well - should he put a portfolio together and send it off? If so who to?

TIA

Wendy, I've mailed you with some tentative leads

There is a formal BBC work experience scheme - I'm sure ther'd be details on the website, maybe under bbc.co.uk/jobs?

If you don't get far with that, I'd call up the swicthboard at BBC Manchester and ask to be put through to the newsroom and ask whoever answers the phone who the editor of Look North (is that your local programme?) is. But don't call just before or when the programme is on air. Best to call about half an hour afterwards.

I forgot about radio too. They'll be a radio newsroom too for GMR bulletins. And online too. Does he know which media he wants to work in?

BBC work experience

Goodness, lots of answers already, thank you all!

Marina, have replied

MrsC, great advice about ringing the local newsroom (esp about the timing, lol) - I'm not sure if ours is Look North or something else (I should but I don't watch TV much - too much time on MN) but will check it out. I honestly don't know if he means radio or TV, assumed radio - I'll ask him later, he is making pastry atm for food tech tomorrow

Katisha, that link is fantastic! I just hope he'll be getting in early enough...

He'd probably have a much greater chance of getting a place at either the local independent radio station (sorry, can't remember what it is) or maybe at a local paper as the whole work experience shebang is much less formal and bureaucratic (or at least it used to be)

certainly when I was at the bbc we used to get absolutely inundated with letters, calls, emails looking for work experience - we couldn't take more than a minute fraction of them - and they didn't get to do anything interesting (apart from follow me around!) even if they did manage to get a place, whereas I was on air on my first day of work experience at an independent local radio station ...

WW, I have a contact at BBC Radio Manchester. I'll ask.

Thank you, UD

mimsum, that sounds like excellent advice - I'll show him your post! I know that the students who go to the local paper always have a piece printed in it, go out with a local reporter and actually experience journalism as opposed to just watching it. There are reasonably sized independent stations in Blackburn, Preston (& Manc of course), although they're mostly music but they do have news bulletins.

He could consider BBC Radio Lancashire too, as he's very interested in football and they cover all the local matches as well as news.

Sorry, but my BBC contact says it has to be over-18s for them now. They do visits/ looking around but no formal work experience for under 18s.

Thanks for asking, anyway, UD!

WendyW - here in Sheffield we have a 24-hr community radio station based at one of the universities, and I think it's largely staffed by volunteers. It's called Sheffield Live. If he is prepared to travel that far, they may be a good bet. Or - I imagine there is something similar in Manchester?