Claudia Murg: A Lesson in Journalism

Claudia Murg's background lies within investigative journalism, one that I will certainly argue as the toughest and most mentally challenging forms of Journalism. She started out as an immigrant from Romania, working as a fish and chip shop worker, now she can proudly say she has been apart of the biggest investigative platforms including World in Action, Dispatches and Panorama, and that is down to her sheer determination, fearlessness and passion to find a story and take responsibility for it. Her history within journalism is impeccably inspiring, without fail I am always left amazed by the stories and golden advice she has to share, and speaking from her experiences it is advice I value and wish to share. 

It was an honour to have Claudia return to the WINOL newsroom this week, after visiting us last year it was certainty a wake up call to be re-connected within the realities we are facing as budding journalists.

She is always honest, and thats the best thing of all, the reality that our bulletin this week didn't meet up to high expectations, and frankly this is the truth. Claudia told us we need to be aiming higher and higher each week, because if you aim high you have the chance to do something well. Every journalist needs a plan. Do not go anywhere without having done you research or forward planning. Think about the pictures you want to get, who is interested in your story, what response you want from your interviewee and find the human interest to the story. Every time Claudia visits she always knows our stories inside out before she speaks with us, because she has done her research. I found it an extremely effective approach that she made us score our performance out of /10 allowing us to think deeper about our thought processes when working on our stories and self critiquing how it went. 

The main point Claudia was emphasising is what are you going to do to justify the time someone is spending watching your story. You have to bring something new to the story, it is not journalism if what you are reporting is the same as what every other reporter has done; we need to work on developing our stories. Stress was placed on how crucial contacts are, journalism is all about curiosity and contacts. We should be calling up our contacts regularly and continue to build a trusting relationship, don't wait for a story to break before you call them, and then expect them to just help you. They are more likely to be helpful if you've not just called them when you need something all the time. This is the idea of contacts that we often miss, we should be in regular contact and using them as our main source to find out scoops to stories, not mimicking the papers and stealing their contacts because everyone else is doing it. 

Claudia and I had a long chat about the interview process, which gave me a lot to think about and reflect upon from my interview this week with the Governor of Winchester prison. When it comes down to the interview, the first thing you should do is clarify with your interviewee what your expectations are, let them know you are not there to waste their time. We need to remember that the interviewee can get bored too, we need to find a way of making the interview interesting and different. Ask random questions, you'll get the most intriguing answers it's just a matter of taking control. Don't even bother asking them questions you can get the answer to on the internet, or repetitive questions that they probably hear all the time, as a journalist you want to be memorable, ask innovative and challenging questions. Prove to the interviewee you know what you are talking about and that you have a depth of knowledge within the subject, if you have done your research you can challenge it more, the key is to be confident and be in control. 

Control plays a huge factor in the success of a story, we are the creators of our stories and therefore we 

hold the power, and this is something we shouldn't be afraid of. We shouldn't let our interviewees take over, we should know when to interrupt, to challenge and to reflect. We need behave like journalistic surgeons listening closely to what it is they are saying, it's no surprise that we are missing the simplest of leads into finding a hook because we are too busy worrying about the next question. If we are analysing bit by bit what is being said, and challenging the moments we feel are of human interest, the story is more likely to develop; it's the unexpected comments that we should be concentrating on. This was a huge lesson for me this week, I scored myself a low performance, because I did not feel as in control of the interview as I would of liked to, my questions weren't challenging enough and visually the story was weak. Despite health and safety issues down at the prison I should of pushed for the next best thing to have it filmed outside the prison, and visually and technically this would of probably worked a great deal better then it did as a studio set up. Claudia reassured us that confidence to take control will come with practise but its all about keeping in tune with your emotions and reflecting these aspirations in to your story. 

As aspiring journalists we need to be fearful she said, it's all about taking the risks, especially now more then ever when we have the comfort and support of our team and tutors. It's certainly a lot tougher in the real world, and on the outside we have to face up to the issues ourselves. It's those who are willing to go get it and just do it and find solutions and alternatives who will succeed. Journalism is an obsession, you either have the state of mind of a journalist or you do not. I'm sure as individuals the journey we will all take will lead us down different paths, but one way or another we will find out if we have what it takes.