Work Experience at the Daily Telegraph (From Watford Observer)

Work Experience at the Daily Telegraph

12:30am Wednesday 14th September 2011 in Jamie McDougall's Blog By Jamie McDougall

One Friday morning on the 2nd of September, came the time of my much awaited work experience day at the Daily Telegraph. My father had managed to get this placement through a contact he knew at the Telegraph. Very grateful I was indeed as his contacts could be vital if I’m to make it as a journalist.

I was working in the video department for the day alongside Pete Fergusson, the Head of Commercial Video of the Telegraph. In the early morning, Pete showed me around the office, introducing me to a few of his colleagues and to the wonderful technical facilities on offer. The desk that I had to work at was in one of the recording studios which was a little more relaxing rather than in the middle of a large open-plan office!

For most of the day I was editing and uploading videos of Brian Moore’s all time, Rugby World Cup XV online. This was really helpful as it showed me how the videos are uploaded and all the technical stages they must pass before going live on the internet. The videos were uploaded to vimeo.com which is another version of YouTube but is only for professional businesses. My assistance was also required for noting down the equipment that the Telegraph was selling on to another company. There were HD video cameras, batteries, tripods and many more types of technical kit. It felt as if I had achieved something worth wile due to the productive tasks that I was given. Getting a little bit of trust with these projects definitely gave me and insight to what it would be like working in the media industry, for such a large company.

The Daily Telegraph is a daily newspaper in the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper has been owned by David and Frederick Barclay since 2004. In January 2008, the Telegraph was recorded as the highest selling newspaper out of all the British newspapers, with average sales of 842,912 daily. Just fewer than 8% of the Telegraph's website viewers come from social media sites, much more than for any other site. The video service on the Telegraph website is a significant part of the company, with many of the articles uploaded online are joined by a video which is related to the text. A small amount of the videos on the website are in fact from YouTube, where the Telegraph is granted permission to show the videos from the makers of the footage.

I found my day working at the Telegraph extremely beneficial due to the seriousness of the tasks I was trusted with. The experience will enhance my CV and personal statement which will only help me getting my first choice of university. The day has also made me aware of how such a large company in the media industry is run. I would like to thank Chris Debeney-Wright for arranging the work experience. I would also like to thank Pete Fergusson for guiding me throughout the entire day, showing me how everything is run and processed while giving me useful tips as the day proceeded.

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