On Saturday Julie Statkus attended a crash course in journalism. By Saturday night, she was putting it into practice with this report.
“RULE a line down the centre of the page in front of you. You’re now well on your way to becoming a journalist.”
So began the journalism workshop on the last day of winter at the home of Bass Coast Post editor Catherine Watson.
Membership of Bass Coast Post is growing, with about 350 subscribers and more than 3000 hits a week. However the success of the Post means more contributors are needed. Hence the workshops.
So for the second time in a week a group of enthusiastic fledgling journalists sat around a boardroom table in Wonthaggi surrounded by birds’ nests and tea tree bushland and hung onto words of wisdom from Catherine Watson and her knowledgeable sidekick Linda Gordon.
We were not disappointed. The tips came quickly one after the other and examples of attention-grabbing introductions, endings and the bits in the middle were passed around and discussed.
There was an interview role play and we learnt that contributor Bob Middleton gets the most fan mail.
I came away inspired and enlightened. Others must feel the same way as there is now a waiting list for more workshops.
To know I have the opportunity of contributing to an increasingly important alternative local voice is important to me. The only rule is not to be rude or nasty in the writing. Oh bliss!
But what about the quality of writing? What about punctuation?
“Don't worry about that,” says Catherine. “That’s my problem. Your job is to come up with the story and my job is to make sure it reads well.”
Email the Bass Coast Post if you’d like to be notified of future workshops.
So began the journalism workshop on the last day of winter at the home of Bass Coast Post editor Catherine Watson.
Membership of Bass Coast Post is growing, with about 350 subscribers and more than 3000 hits a week. However the success of the Post means more contributors are needed. Hence the workshops.
So for the second time in a week a group of enthusiastic fledgling journalists sat around a boardroom table in Wonthaggi surrounded by birds’ nests and tea tree bushland and hung onto words of wisdom from Catherine Watson and her knowledgeable sidekick Linda Gordon.
We were not disappointed. The tips came quickly one after the other and examples of attention-grabbing introductions, endings and the bits in the middle were passed around and discussed.
There was an interview role play and we learnt that contributor Bob Middleton gets the most fan mail.
I came away inspired and enlightened. Others must feel the same way as there is now a waiting list for more workshops.
To know I have the opportunity of contributing to an increasingly important alternative local voice is important to me. The only rule is not to be rude or nasty in the writing. Oh bliss!
But what about the quality of writing? What about punctuation?
“Don't worry about that,” says Catherine. “That’s my problem. Your job is to come up with the story and my job is to make sure it reads well.”
Email the Bass Coast Post if you’d like to be notified of future workshops.
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