Baasit is filmed in front of a green screen showing facilities at the University of Derby.
Baasit: Hi everyone, it's Baasit Siddiqui here, I'm at the Markeaton Street site of the University of Derby. Markeaton Street is home to Media and Journalism staff and students.
Baasit and Katharine are shown in our TV Studio.
Katharine: So, Media and Communication has really sort of expanded within the university, lots of different opportunities to pursue careers in media, in broadcast journalism for example. We do lots of joint degrees as well so you can kind of combine say Media with a
Humanities subject, pick up something sort of beyond the sort of Humanities or more around the kind of the Journalism sort of side.
Baasit: Fantastic, so that's a really good mix there isn't it.
Katharine: It certainly is yeah.
Derby County stadium and facilities are shown.
Baasit is shown sat in some of our Journalism facilities with current student, Max.
Baasit: So why did you choose Football Journalism then?
Max: Well, originally I wanted to be a writer and I didn't really know where to go and I came here and the open day sort of blew me away especially with all the equipment and the opportunities that the course brings so it kind of made my decision for me if I'm honest and football is always what I wanted to go into because it's my favourite sport and although I like other sports all the skills are transferable and I really wanted to focus on football.
Baasit: Do the students get an opportunity to explore and put their skills into practice? What does that look like?
Katharine: Well they certainly do so in particular with our sort of Football Journalism or Specialist Sports Journalism and our Media and Communications, students are embedded in clubs engaging with lots of sort of community activities so if you check us out on LinkedIn you'll see lots of the things that our students are up to.
Max: At the moment I'm on placement at Derby Women and some of the match day roles that I do over there, I'm featured in The Derby Telegraph quite often, in the local paper, on the Derby County website I do the match reports on there sometimes and also I do a lot of video work which goes on Rams TV and interview work also goes on Rams TV and things like that so lots of transferable skills that I use outside of University and I apply to the real world.
Baasit: Fantastic, and you're in your second year as well so it's really hands-on already in your second year isn't it?
Max: Yeah it was really hands-on in my first year as well from the from the very first moment I walked through the door it was very hands-on and that's a really good thing as well when you're looking to go into industry at the end of it is that you want to apply yourself like you would apply yourself in the industry and that's what I did and in the end I started at BUCS (British Universities and Colleges) league and did coverage of sports there and then I was able to go to a few Premier League press boxes and ended up at Wembley at the end of my first year covering Crewe versus Crawley in the league two play-off final all through the help of the University.
Baasit: I think that this world that we're living in, this kind of social media age and kind of this world of fake news and everything it's quite a scary world, where do you see journalism fitting into that and the importance of giving our young people the skills to kind of analyse a situation whether that's text, whether that's media, is that more or less important in the world that we're living in now?
Katharine: I think it's incredibly important, it's a really interesting question, so a lot of our students are engaged in authentic, community, grassroots journalism to be that kind of trusted source. We talk a lot about kind of ethics in journalism and making sure that our students are part of that kind of truth telling and truth telling to power as well and that's not just located in Journalism and Media but also our History students, our English students, Creative Writing, that kind of opportunity to tell the stories of the region for the region, I think is incredibly important.
Shots of the exterior of Chatsworth House and visitors are shown.
Baasit: In terms of the theory side on the work that you do as well, do you go and explore kind of traditional media versus current media or do you learn specific theoretical skills that help you to apply the practical bits a little bit better?
Max: Yeah we do sort of that all the time, I mean, just looking at now in this sort of like technological revolved world that we're living in at the moment is that, social media is such a prevalent part in in society today and that's massive, you think what, a decade, two decades ago, we didn't have, we weren't as advanced as we are now and that's really key is that you continue to look at and as I said you know, I'm in the local paper but I'm also on social media and weighing up those two things and which generation impacts it the most, so, the older generation usually by paper and the younger generation will find a lot of their news on
social media nowadays and you want to base that, where you want to go off that sort of line so I think it's really important that you that you juxtapose both.
Baasit: What's stood out for you in terms of working with the students, working with the staff, what are the kind of the key things that stood out for you in this time?
Katharine: Very much the people, Derby is such a warm place, such a warm city, I tell a story
actually of when I arrived, the bus driver, I was just looking to get to sort of the train station didn't know where I was going, he went out of his way to actually drop me at the train station, it was an amazing experience. My team, my students, the academics and you know the practitioners who work in industry are really, really passionate about telling Derby's story so I hope that we have an impact in terms of the city, the region and beyond, bringing people to Derby to stay in Derby to build their lives here really.
Baasit: What would you say have been the skills that have really developed during these two years then?
Max: My writing and my speech, when I first came, I was very stuttery and I've been able to speak far more fluently because I've been around cameras and microphones a lot more and my writing which is what I wanted to be originally and actually coming here, I found out there are things I love more than writing but those skills have massively improved and it's sort of moulded me into what I am now and what I hope to be in the future.
Baasit: Touching on that applied side, as well, essentially it sounds like you're building this portfolio that you could take to future employers as well which is really exciting.
Max: Yeah and the university definitely helped get that portfolio together and that's the big thing for me was when I came here I wanted to build a portfolio that employers would be impressed by and it's in my second year and my portfolio is pretty expansive for where I am at the moment which I wasn't overly expecting it to be at the level it is at the moment so that's really positive and yeah as you say it's those sort of skills and those experiences that you have that sort of moulds and builds that portfolio.
Katharine: I think very much for me, you know, following that journey of Humanities it's about belonging, it's about telling stories, I love stories and I love storytelling and I love the way in which you know, sort of Journalism and Media enable us to connect with one another, our students are so professional and so passionate about what they do and I really see that from day one from our prospective students to our graduates as well, so I think it's really about doing a subject that you love, that you're passionate about, that you can do that at an applied university which means that you get to play and experiment and you know maybe kind of fail sometimes as well but we're here to support our students, to nurture them so they can go out into industry and really achieve.
Baasit: Fantastic, you've given some really sage advice there, I think it's applying it, it’s passionate people doing some lovely work and sort of celebrating not just themselves but their community as well so that's lovely.
Max: Be enthusiastic, want to learn, want to do all of the things that you know makes a journalist and take all the opportunities that come at you because they will come at you especially if you come to the university of Derby, they will come at you, the opportunities, it's how you
take them and handle them and produce the content at the end of it and the opportunities that you get especially on the Football Journalism course, is immense and that's really
good but I'd also say that all the skills as we've mentioned are completely transferable so if students are worrying about whether they want to do Journalism or Sports Journalism or Football Journalism it doesn't matter because all three of them are transferable skills and that's the most important thing so yeah, be enthusiastic and bear in mind that all the skills that you learn are transferable will help you in the industry.
Baasit: Fantastic, some really useful advice there Max, it's been a pleasure talking to you. Good luck with this year and your third year and I see a bright future for you.
Baasit is shown in the atrium at the University of Derby.
So, as you can tell, the University of Derby open day is drawing to a close and it's been a fantastic one. I went over to the Journalism site today and spoke to some of the staff and students, so many lovely takeaways again, passionate staff and what really struck me was how many opportunities to get some real life experience there were offered to the students. We heard from Max who's doing so many different things on the side of football on Football Journalism, Sports Journalism as well and he's embracing it and making the most of every opportunity so hopefully you've enjoyed it as much as I have but thank you very much for joining me.
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