INTERVIEW: Cristina Nicolotti Squires, Editor of Channel 5 News

Photograph source: ITV

“Always believe in yourself, never let anybody tell you that you can’t do something and if they do prove them wrong.” These are the encouraging words of Channel 5 News Editor, Cristina Nicolotti Squires, who is the only female at the top of a network news programme.

Top ten tips for aspiring journalists:

1. To be a successful journalist you just have to be able to get on with people really well, I look for evidence of somebody who has interacted with people from all walks of life.

2. Just being an interesting personality is important. Every newsroom is a team and everybody needs a team player that will be fun to be around as well as very good at their job.

3. People who are going to do well in Journalism are the people who will give things a go, and at the beginning of your career you have more opportunity to take those risks.

4. Get as much experience as you can, when you get your foot in the door just become part of the team as quickly as you can, and make the organisation you are in feel as if they couldn’t possibly live without you.

5. I want to see evidence of what you’ve been involved in to prove you have an interest in journalism before you have even started. Anyone who is a graduate from a degree in journalism is already committed, just show that you are using the skills you’ve got.

6. You can’t do Journalism unless you love it; it’s a job that involves passion and commitment. Work is such a big part of our life if you don’t love it that’s tragic.

7. Pluralism in this business is really important you never want a situation where there is one straight broadcaster. Keeping an eye on your competitors is important but equally knowing your audience or your readership.

8. In my day it really was who you knew that helped you, but most places now have official work experience schemes, which you can apply to, but the whole working for free thing, you have to be careful it’s not abused.

9. As a freelancer, you have to put yourself about, ring news desk and try and get meetings with people. As a freelancer you have the freedom to do a wide variety of stuff, but you have to be organised, with all the paperwork

10. Juggling work and life is exactly that, it’s a juggle, sometimes it tips one way and sometimes it tips the other you just have to try to do the best can.

Traditionally newsrooms are male dominated, but what about Woman in Journalism?

I was at lunch the other day with an outlet called ‘Woman in Journalism’ and we were discussing all this, because it is still quite rare for a woman to be at the top in this business. I am the only woman in charge of network news. It is hard and it is a juggle but you can make it happen. I feel as a woman at the top of the business, I can say to young people, well I’ve managed it so why can’t you? It’s totally possible. The glass ceiling is only in our minds, and it’s up to us as woman to organise our lives accordingly.

How does the Channel 5 Newsroom work?

The main responsibility of the editor is to lead the team to produce the best journalism and news coverage that we can. What’s great about here is that because we have a small team, everyone takes part; we make a collective decision that we all work on.
8:30am - Morning editorial meeting which everyone attends, including the producers, the news desk and whichever reporters are not already out and about. We talk through the stories of the day and we come up with ideas.
10:30am – We meet again to talk about the later programme at 6:30pm to find out what we are going to develop and push on that.
12:00pm - We have a planning meeting for the next day
12:45pm – This is when we go through the run down of the 5 o’clock and 6:30pm bulletin. The producers talk us through how the piece is being put together, what elements its got, what elements we still need to chase.
Then we have a weekly planning meeting once a week on a Wednesday.

What do you find the most challenging about your job?

The difficulty with journalism is that it’s a career that doesn’t always fit into calendars and diaries. When I used to travel around the world I used to go to the toilets and cry, it sounds crazy but I hate having plans and having them ripped up.

What do you love the most about your job?

I just love news. I love things happening. I love the challenge of reporting stories and the teamwork involved in putting television together. I’m just fascinated by people and their stories. Everyone has a story and that’s what makes me so passionate about news. To be in a position where you decide what millions of people get in terms of information everyday is extremely powerful and extremely responsible, we tell people about what is going on in the world, and to be in that position is a remarkable privilege.

I never thought I’d be here, but I love it, I feel like it was something I was born to do. 

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How to pitch a story to Editors

The golden rule first and foremost is that you need ideas, contacts and the ability to deliver. Without these three you will not succeed as a freelance journalist, freelancing is not as easy as it may seem, you have to be business minded and clued up; after all you don’t have the financial stability of a big organisation if someone goes to sue you for libel, and you don’t want to go losing your house over an article when you have a family to feed.

Bursting with ideas? Now you need the full package and then you are ready to approach the editor of a newspaper or magazine that you feel suits your pitch best. When emailing editors you need to have that initial killer paragraph summarising what the story is going to be about. Show them that you are knowledgeable of their style and audience. They will want to know that you are appealing to their readers and following their own style, otherwise your article can slot into any other publication. It needs to suit that publication, and most importantly needs to be an exclusive. Editors won’t want to hear about a story that any paper can publish, they will only want a story from you if no one else has got it, so be careful with this one. Don’t try pitching the same article by adjusting the style to lots of different papers, if you’re lucky and more than one come back to you then your article is no longer an exclusive. Don’t make the school boy error of thinking editors don’t speak with each other either. 

Moving on down the email comes the ‘so what’ factor - the nut-grabber. Why should the readers want to know about your story, and why should they care? This is where you have to establish the public interest of the story and address why people will want to know about it. 

Leading on from this, outline exactly who it is you plan to speak to, don’t just say you plan to speak to a doctor in London, or even that you have spoken to a doctor in London. Be specific. State what it is they specialise in and their name and relevance. Details are key to establishing that you are organised and have everything lined up and into place, so if your editor comes back to you saying file me this copy for tomorrow, you can! The last thing you want to be doing is telling the editor that your article has “fallen down” (journalise for failed) if you’ve unsuccessfully been able to deliver what you said you would in the time he has asked. Note to self, if something is not working out; let the editor know as soon as possible, better that then the false expectation of delivery. 

Timings are crucial, think about their lead times; bear in mind that if you are commissioned to write an article and you send it their way don’t be pestering them within a few days if they are a monthly publication. Give it a few weeks and they’ll get back to you if they are interested, but if it’s a daily publication then chase it up the following day, because as you imagine they get a lot of emails so you don’t want yours to get pushed down to the bottom of the pile. Additionally, to stand out, have a good subject field, make it interesting, amongst hundreds your email could get deleted and remain unread. 

Wrap up the email by highlighting why the idea is different and exclusive to anything done before, finishing off with a small bio about you. Include some cuttings of online links to where you have written before, or if you don’t have this include a reference or name drop someone who may connect you both. Try to establish a link with the editor, by mentioning something that you both may have in common, this may come later on in the career when you have written for several publications and there may be one that you have both worked on.

Journalism is about building the trust and connection with contacts, so they can come to you with an inside scoop to another story in the future. By simply talking to friends and family you will get an idea for the current interests people have, which can help spark an idea. Keep reading a broad range of different features from different publications to get an idea of all the different types of styles out there. The Press Gazette, have a “how to pitch to …” with different publications which is worth having a look at for an idea of what different editors are looking for. In some instances editors may ask to see an example of the first few pars, so give them a flavour for what you may be looking to do. 

A few more pointers worth thinking about, take into consideration the time you are sending your email. Think about what they may be doing, you don’t want to get them when they are running out the office – we all know how easy it is to forget. Secondly, do not make the mistake of sending the pitch as a word document, no one wants the hassle of opening attachments it takes time, just write it in the body of the email. It is also worth getting someone to scan over you e-mail, to proof read it for accuracy and spellings. The last thing you want is to make a bad impression with a pitch littered with American spellings or bad grammar. 

Remember back to the ‘full package’ you want to attach some low resolution pictures as well, include a few photos of a portrait and collects (to illustrate the story) editors will want to see that everything is there and ready to go. 

Don’t jump the gun by firing questions about pay until you have got the commission, once you have the idea approved then you can move on to discuss pay and negotiate rates. Some publications have set rates per word for all freelancers, but others do not and I guess this will come with experience on to how to approach the 'money’ question. As a freelancer you will have to manage all your own finances, including tax and VAT, some papers will want you to invoice them and others won’t. It’s best to assess it each time individually. If you have established a reputation as an ethical journalist you may find that people will come to you with a story idea, or a paper may send you their own brief that they want you to follow. If you complete their brief but they don’t go ahead with publishing the article you are still entitled to a ‘kill fee’ despite the fact it was spiked. After all they did ask you to do the story. 

Copy approval is a touchy subject, some journalists will say an definitive "no" over showing their copy to their clients before they publish it, but on the flip side some journalists particularly freelancers may like to get approval from the people they sourced the story from. The catch here though is its simply approval for accuracy not for style, they don’t want to be sued for being wrong or misinterpretating their story, therefore they can get approval from the client but this is not an opportunity for them to change the copy.

This is an insight into how to pitch to editors, everyone will always have their twist on things, but this is a good way of approaching them, and a way of getting noticed. If you’ve got the full package: pictures, interviews and a good idea lined up you’re set to get the commissions rolling in. Writing the article should be the easy part if you’re a talented writer, it’s the pre-planning that requires your time and research. Don’t be afraid to send a quick pre-pitch email if you want approval that your idea is something they will be interested in, but make sure you state you will send through a more detailed pitch shortly if it is of their interest. 

Give it your best shot, Good luck.