Harriet Oliver - BBC News Producer - Inspire Aspire Talk/Q&A 3 July 19
BBC Producer Harriet Oliver came in on 03/07/2019 to run a talk/Q&A session with our year 12 Media Studies students.
Some of the topic discussed included:
- · Routes into journalism from degrees to in house training schemes:
Harriet was kind enough to include her own personal story as someone with 25 years experience of working in radio (BBC radio Essex); main newsroom; BBC news channel to BBC World service (African News).
Harriet stated to our students that it was essential to:
- Show passion for news around them
- Get involved with sharing it whether it be in local student newspapers or by self publishing articles/writing blogs.
- Recognise the importance of teamwork when working in the news industry. This included a discussion of the other craft based jobs and careers.
The role of a BBC News producer
Key point - Harriet stated that it isn’t compulsory to study journalism as she works with colleagues from a variety of different backgrounds and degrees.
Dealing with stressful situations - Having to cancel other stories for breaking news and the pressure of finding images, coverage and relevant eyewitnesses – for example during terror attacks.
Memorable stories - such as Princess Diana’s death (1997) which highlighted new forms of demonstrating public grief over a lost icon.
Harriet also discussed the importance of understanding the whole picture when producing such stories for example the underlying tragedy of poverty for the victims of Grenfell who were living in one of the wealthiest parts of London yet unable to benefit from the life saving, adequate health and safety checks.
This linked to the important role of the producer to have a constant and open dialogue about what is appropriate to show and what isn’t in terms of causing potential ongoing harm to victims, their relatives or the wider news audience.
Does social media help or hinder your job?
Harriet identified the positives of the social media in helping producers to connect with ‘real people’ and build contacts particularly with younger audiences.
FAKE NEWS
Harriet also talked about the BBC’s commitment to increasing awareness of stories that appear to be ‘too good to be true’ and also the misuse of the term e.g. by people who call things they do not agree with ‘fake news’. She also talked about the usefulness of citizen journalists while stressing the importance of verifying stories for authenticity.
Hello Ben!
One of the highlights of Harriet's talk was when she introduced our former Highams Park student, Journalist Ben Hunte. From starting off on BBC London and working with Harriet on BBC World service, Ben has worked extremely hard to become the BBC's first ever LGBT correspondent.
We congratulate Ben for his unceasing strong work ethic and thank Harriet for demonstrating with this example to our students that they can achieve their goals if they work hard enough and are resilient.
Big Thanks goes to Mr C. Harris who facilitated today's event as well as his excellent Year 12 Media Studies students who not only independently researched Harriet in advance of today's talk but also subsequently raised very topical and insightful questions.