Continuing our “In Conversation with…” workshop series, Empoword Journalism’s editor in chief Maddy Raine and social editor for Facebook Lydia Geronikolos were joined by Jackie Long.
On Monday 18th January, Channel 4’s Social Affairs editor and presenter Jackie Long joined Empoword Journalism for a Zoom workshop to discuss her career and answer questions on getting into the journalism industry.
Having worked at Channel 4 since 2011, Jackie has covered and reported on a number of stories, including free school meals, poverty and maternity care during the pandemic. Throughout the workshop she shared with her some of her favourite stories she’s reported on during her career. Before joining the Channel 4 News team, she worked at the BBC for two decades, including ten years at Newsnight, BBC World Service and 5 Live.
Throughout her career Jackie has had a range of experience in print and broadcast journalism. After studying English at university and enrolling on a journalism course, her career started at the Bedfordshire Times, before moving to local radio and subsequently taking on presenting roles. With such a plethora of experience, Jackie emphasised the importance of trying different areas. It’s not necessarily about how quickly you achieve things, you can find out what you want to do, and do it really well before moving on to other things in your career.
As social affairs editor, Jackie reports on stories that look at the politics of everyday British life. A number of these stories have included child sexual exploitation, county lines and criminal exploitation and more recently, universal credit. The job sees more harrowing and difficult stories being covered, and although at times a balance of light and shade is needed, social affairs lends itself to more “misery”. Subsequently these are some of the most important stories to tell and for journalists it normally entails being able to have a cry and getting up the next day to start all over again.
However, these stories have been extremely impactful and when asked whether or not Jackie has stayed in contact with any of her sources, she has stayed in contact with a number of individuals to check on their progress, especially if a story has been met with negativity.
Undoubtedly the pandemic has disrupted all areas of people’s lives. In terms of continuing to report on stories it has meant journalists have had to be more inventive with the way they work, including garden interviews and more communication via Zoom.
With the rise of social media and the great presence of journalists on there, many within the industry experience negativity and backlash. Jackie’s advice was not to get too drawn in, and to trust your own journalism skills and judgement. Having worked at the BBC, impartiality and objectivity is also really important. As a journalist you should always aim to understand how the other side of the argument may think, especially when it comes to certain stories like Grenfell.
Jackie Long’s Tips For Getting Into The Journalism Industry:
- Try and get work experience at local places. Start off small as they may be able to offer you more experiences.
- You have to be resilient and keep going even through the knock backs and criticism.
- Getting into the industry right now, ideas are gold dust. Come prepared with your ideas, they can either be new or a fresh spin on something already out there.
- Decide on the type of stories you want to tell, then you can start looking at how you want to communicate those stories, whether that’s print, broadcast or radio.
- Until you let people down, stay confident in what you do, your stories and trust your journalism skills.
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If you missed our workshop you can catch up below:
Neve Gordon-Farleigh