University of Melbourne Student Journalism Experience

There are many benefits to getting a degree in journalism at the University of Melbourne. Each student will be given opportunities to intern with different media organizations as well as publish one of their own pieces in The Citizen. They will closely work with Editor Simon Man on the piece and have probability of being co published in The Age, Crikey, and the Monthly. They will also gain live blogging experience and cover the yearly News conference. The cherry on top is that they will frequently be attending lectures with guest journalists.

If you are a student attending the MECM90019 journalism course of Social Media and Change then you will get the opportunity to travel to China. In China you will attend an all intensive class which is provided by the partnership of the University of Melbourne in joint with the Fudan University. Students enrolled in the Masters of Journalism course will have the ability to become a foreign exchange student with Melbourne Global Mobility. Here each student can acquire up to twenty five points in foreign language credits.

Students participating in the Master of Journalism course will also have access to the University’s online journalism community. Here they will find up to date posts of jobs, volunteering and internships available within the community. One student, Bec Zajac, whom was a Master of Journalism student at Melbourne University acquired a full time position as a producer on RN Afternoons. This new program airs form 1pm to 3pm daily on Radio National.

Bec was interviewed and here are her responses.

• -What does the show entail?

The show covers interviews concerning news, science, art, culture, politics, our environment among many other popular topics. The host is Michael Mackenzie.

• -What are the duties of a radio producer?

A producer is responsible for finding good guests to interview, take care of the interviewing set up, pitch ideas, and write the script for the host. I also monitor the show as it airs.

• - What do you like most about being a producer?

I am exited to be working full time. This way I can really build a relationship with my team in a long term way. This allows me to cultivate the show in the manner we want it to be. This show, RN Afternoons, is inventive in the way it fuses talk with music. We are excited to have to freedom to experiment how to mix these two elements together in different formats. I love collaborating with my team. We are small but in getting to know them I believe we have the ability for greatness.

• -It appears that the show covers many different topics.

Curiosity killed the cat. That is the allure of journalism - curiosity. Our show is able to combine serious topics among lighter ones. We are able to analyze topics that we find interesting. There is fun in thinking up new approaches to it and gather knowledge from experts that want to talk about it. The true reward is sharing the outcome with all of our listeners.

• -Were you able to volunteer and attend different activities while studying for the Master of Journalism course ?

Definitely! While going to school I also spent time producing for 3CR Community radio and held a spot interning at RN.

• -Do you believe the Master of Journalism course at Melbourne University well equipped you for your career in journalism?

I could not be able to preform this position as producer without having first taken the Masters in Journalism course. I found my experience came from working with The Citizen. You gain a lot of knowledge being able to learn in real time. The course taught me new sensibility which is necessary for producing.

The course taught me the key procedure in finding new topics. And how to take a news wise approach on how to make the story interesting for an audience and how to format it. It also expanded my writing abilities. When you only have seven minutes of air time you learn quickly which sentences are truly important. Each word counts. As well as each deadline counts. The course taught me how to work within deadlines which is essential for a career in journalism.