Journalism

Sir Paul Holmes 1950 – 2013

/ Lisa

Sir Paul Holmes. Photo / Doug Sherring NZHerald

Yesterday morning New Zealand woke to the news Sir Paul Holmes had passed away.

Sir Paul was one of the greatest journalists New Zealand has ever had and helped change the face of broadcasting in the country.

His achievements have been well documented in the media over the past weeks. He will be missed, he will not be forgotten, he has influenced every single journalist in New Zealand and will probably continue to do so.

I remember watching Holmes at 7pm while growing up and I remember reading his weekly column in the Hawke’s Bay Today/New Zealand Herald.

I remember one point during my internship at the Hawke’s Bay Today those in the newsroom talking highly of him. At the time he had filed his column for the weekend with several days to spare – unusual for a journalist, usually we take every second possible when meeting a deadline.

But most of all, I remember him speaking at the opening of the new technology block at Karamu High School, my high school.

Now, I barely remember what he said – this was 10 years ago – but I do remember thinking, while he spoke of his time at the school, that if this guy can go on and do so much with his life when coming from Hastings and Karamu, so can I. Little did I know at the time I would end up in the same profession. Perhaps he influenced me more than I originally thought…

So, goodnight Sir Paul, the next generation is here to carry on your legacy.

 

 

 

The one where I get a job.

/ Lisa / 1 Comment

Wow. Well, I think the headline says it all really. I have been offered a job.

My hard work, perseverance and determination have all finally paid off to where I am torn between crying in relief or dancing around my room in excitement. Technically I have already done the crying, so I guess once I kick this flu thingy, the dancing will also take place.

It has been a long journey to get to this point. So much has happened in the last, almost, two years since I graduated from AUT with my diploma.

I have hit rock bottom more times than I can remember with my depression, but I have fought the whole way and come out on the other side with a very tame black dog as my shadow. I say shadow, because he will always be there with me, where ever I go in life.

It was needing to tame this black dog, which is why I took some time off after uni. I am all the better for it. Through all of this, the events of the last two years have been a roller coaster ride, which I have survived.

Our family felt the full impact of the Christchurch earthquakes, with my sister and brother-in-law experiencing it all and still doing so. I even felt a few myself in a trip down last October. I got a job and lost that job. I gained a Man Piece, who has supported me in my search for a job and helped me in the taming of the black dog. I lost my Grandfather, which has been a huge change to my family. I’ve struggled with job rejection after job rejection. I’ve looked after my mother while she was in and out of hospital for surgery and needed someone to administer medications.

There are most likely more things that have happened that I haven’t listed, but I’m just not thinking of them right now.

I can finally put down some roots and stop living out of a suitcase going back and forth between my parents and Man Piece. Obviously this means that Man Piece and I will be doing the long distance thing again, but we will work that out.

A big thank you needs to go to everyone who has supported me and told me to keep following my dreams, who have listened to me rant and moan and still stuck by me throughout this journey. Without that support, I would have given up (even though there were a few times that I almost did.)

So today, I end my journey of the #lifeoftheunemployed and enter the gainfully employed.

Tonight I am going out for dinner with my parents to celebrate, possibly have a drink (although I probably shouldn’t ’cause of the antibiotics) and breathe a huge sigh or relief for beating the odds.

So as my Granddad used to say in times like this, “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid!”

Oh, and cause I can’t do a happy dance, here is Neil Patrick Harris doing one for me. I guess I should tell you where it is too – I am to be a journalist at Pharmacy Today in Auckland.

The one where I point out the glaringly obvious.

/ Lisa

As a journalist, you know what’s what when you read an article. Usually you can find the mistakes hidden within them too, that the journo and the editor (if one has looked at it) haven’t managed to catch.

I often find many mistakes in various articles across the various media sites. I once read a CNN article that was littered with mistakes, like the journalist didn’t even know the first thing about punctuation. I probably could have gone through it with a pencil and marked all the mistakes and corrected them. It was definitely more than just style differences.

Now tonight I came upon a TVNZ article. Rather brief and hastily put together and once again, I see the mistakes within it like a pimple on the end of your nose.

I don’t think I am being cocky here. The last thing I would ever call myself is cocky, I lean more towards the not believing in myself more than anything (thankfully that is changing though). But why, when I can find the glaringly obvious mistakes in articles by respected media organisations, do I still not have a job?

You could say they were a silly mistake. Sure, everyone makes mistakes. But a quick read through out loud of the TVNZ article, you would notice the mistakes quite easily. It would barely take 30 seconds.

I guess I’m just bitter more than anything else. I have this awesome education, which I worked hard for, for five years to get and I have just passed the 18 month mark of being unemployed.

It just doesn’t make sense. It never does.

This entire post is a round-about way of saying, I AM BORED OUT OF MY MIND.

TVNZ fail.

/ Lisa

Just came across this on TVNZ.

How come I don’t have a job, but this person does?

Does not compute.

Update: I just realised there should also be a comma between ‘power’ and ‘but’ on the third line.

The end just creates a new beginning.

/ Lisa

I had some sad news yesterday.

The website that I have been writing for, Oh The Scandal! is to be no more.

I began writing articles for it back in February when I came across an ad saying they wanted more people to write for them. With finishing up my job at the beginning of December and not having done much over the Christmas/New Year’s period, I jumped at the chance.

I really enjoyed my time writing for it and it really helped me continue with my writing when I had suffered a set back.

I guess now I’m in the same position, but I’m hoping it is not going to be a set back – I’m going to find another publication to begin writing for. Possibly get back into reviewing CDs and movies, which I really love doing. Or go to one of the community papers here in Wellington and see if I can do some casual work for them, where they don’t necessarily have to pay me, although that would be a bonus.

In the end, it gave me another good six months of writing experience, which has helped me stay on top of my skills, which is the main thing. I am sad that I won’t be writing for it anymore – two articles a day, Monday to Friday – but it was a really good experience.

Time for some bigger and better things! Stay tuned.