 | Like to ask our current featured JOURNALIST from the newsroom a question about their work?
We can't guarantee all questions will be answered because there may be just too many for Janine to cope with but good questions are more likely to get a response. | | Ask Rebecca Harper a question... |
|  | NAME: Rebecca Harper
JOB TITLE: Journalist | I always enjoyed english at school and have never had a problem chatting to anyone, so becoming a journalist seemed like an obvious career choice for me. I went to Canterbury University in Christchurch and completed a three-year Batchelor of Art, majoring in History and Mass Communications. I was then accepted to the Canterbury University postgraduate diploma in journalism. This was a full on one-year course, and mostly practical, which I loved.
When I finished my studies I got a job at Hawke's Bay Today newspaper in Hastings as the farming and regional council reporter. After 10 months there I moved to my current job at the Waikato Times in Hamilton. I've been here for nearly five months and am enjoying the challenges of working on a bigger daily newspaper. I cover the primary and tertiary education round and also two smaller district councils in Otorohanga and Te Kuiti. These rounds mean I have a huge variety of stories, including things like stage challenge, school funding and maintaining country roads. I have also helped cover court and can sometimes be called on to help with breaking news stories as they happen.
What do you enjoy the most about being a journalist?
The thing I enjoy most about being a journalist is you never know what might happen on any given day - you could never call this job boring. You could suddenly be called on to jump in a car and get to the scene of a car accident, or a building that's on fire. I've also covered things like a new prison opening, concerts, sports events, visiting politicians and celebrities in town.
I like the atmosphere in a busy newsroom, which is often one of urgency, excitement and activity. The achievement of getting your story, writing it and meeting deadline can be extremely satisfying too.
I love getting out of the office and meeting and talking to people from all walks of life, once you get talking to someone it can be surprising what sort of interesting things they have to say.
| Questions answered by Janine:
A student from Peachgrove Intermediate School in Hamilton asked...
Do your enjoy your job as a journalist?Janine said...
"Because no two days are ever the same, being a journalist is never dull and that's one of the reasons I enjoy the job. In one day journalist's can find themselves covering a diverse range of stories such as covering court cases, writing about a car accident, interviewing someone celebrating their 100th birthday, visiting a local school, or even talking to someone famous who is visiting town.
Because we write about such a lot of different things we get to meet a lot of new and interesting people everyday and that's what makes out job enjoyable.
Enjoying talking to and meeting new people is one of the most important skills for a journalist to have, as is the ability to write about a lot of different subjects". | |
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