Reporter goes back to the classroom for careers day

Sunderland Echo

Sunderland Echo reporter and former teacher Neil Fatkin heads back into the classroom to speak to youngsters about journalism.

Transcript

00:00I'm here at the Academy at Shotton Hall, where I've been asked to come in as part of a careers day.

00:04I'm doing a lesson with the kids about what journalism is, what news is,

00:08and they're also going to be putting together their own news reports,

00:11which are eventually going to get published in The Echo.

00:13As you know, I used to be a teacher for 16, 17 years, although geography was my subject.

00:18So it's not unfamiliar to me, coming into a classroom,

00:21but with five or six years out of the classroom, I must admit,

00:24I was still a bit nervous coming in this morning.

00:27Even when I was teaching, it was always a little bit daunting before you met the kids

00:31and met your new classes, but hopefully it's going to be a great morning

00:35and I'm looking forward to it.

00:37What else must a story include?

00:39Like a big, bold title.

00:41What's it called? Is it called a big, bold title in a newspaper?

00:44A headline.

00:45Good, so we've got a headline.

00:47It's not just words, is it? We had stewing before,

00:49because this is going to be a story as well, just so you know,

00:52about me coming in and doing some work here in the school,

00:54so you'll all be in that story.

00:56All right, Graham's getting some video.

00:58We can't put video in the newspaper, though.

01:00But what else do you need to go with your story?

01:02A photograph.

01:04So when you do your stories, that's one of the things you've also got to get.

01:08In school here, if you do something wrong, is there a consequence?

01:11Yeah, you don't just get away with it, do you?

01:13So what do you think it means if you hold someone to account?

01:16If you make someone accountable?

01:18You make it so it looks like it's their fault.

01:20Right, yeah.

01:21All right, so you make sure people are aware if they've done something wrong,

01:24it's their fault.

01:26For example, if you had a big power station on the north-east coast here,

01:29and were pumping loads of pollution into the sea,

01:31is that something they can do?

01:33No.

01:34Is there regulation to stop them doing that?

01:36No.

01:37Yeah.

01:38But if they were doing that, part of my job is to investigate it,

01:41find out the truth, and hold them to account.

01:44You have to make sure that things are interesting.

01:47Interesting, definitely.

01:49The word I'm thinking of that begins with an E.

01:51Entertaining.

01:52Entertaining, good.

01:53This is a big part of what we do now as a journalist as well, all right?

01:56We get to go and do lots of fun stuff.

01:58I say fun, I was going to tell you a couple of examples.

02:00Graham actually did the video, and Stu did the pictures.

02:03But one of the things I've done recently, I did a pizza,

02:06these eating challenges.

02:07I was going to eat a 24-inch pizza in 20 minutes.

02:10Another one was a beastie burger challenge, a burger that sort of size.

02:13You're going to be going through the rest of this session with your teachers

02:16at some point, and you're going to be putting together some news stories,

02:20the best of which we're going to publish in The Echo.

02:23I spoke to the editor, to Ross, our editor, and he says,

02:25yeah, we can do that.

02:27So you're going to have a think about things in your school,

02:30in your local area, which you could do news stories on.

02:33Okay, it might be a success story, it might be a community initiative.

02:36It might be an issue in school, I don't know.

02:40But you're going to put together some news stories,

02:42which we're going to use in The Echo.

02:44Yeah, so as I mentioned, I was a bit nervous about coming in this morning

02:47after five, six years out of the classroom.

02:49You never know quite what to expect.

02:51But, yeah, I actually really enjoyed it.

02:54It's quite surprising actually how, I suppose, yeah,

02:57you just slip back into how you used to do things when you were teaching.

03:01Kids are really responsive, seem to enjoy it.

03:04And as I say, they're all going to be putting together some news articles,

03:07which the best are going to be published in The Echo on our website.

03:10So they're all excited, and I enjoyed my time here.

03:13So it was a good experience, and one I'd like to do again.

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