Students get master-class in journalism from best in the business

Kate Adie, the former BBC War Correspondent, who is regarded by most in the media as the finest war correspondent in the business, was the keynote speaker at the Co-operation Ireland Student Journalism Conference, which was held in Belfast on Friday 26 February.

Her talk in which she recounted her many experiences of reporting from numerous war zones was both inspirational and amusing.

When questioned about the Libyan man who shot her, she quipped that ‘he was still alive’ so she ‘followed his progress very carefully!”

She explained that sometimes her family just didn’t get journalism saying that her parents would often tell her that she was on the ‘six and the nine’ but wondered what she did all day because she was only on for two minutes!

She told the group of approximately 80 student journalists that they needed to be nosy but they had to treat people with respect but it was a journalist job to look under the carpet for the dirt that was placed there.

She explained that she has concerns about the future of news and journalism because she feared it was turning into entertainment and that those journalists who churn out press releases ‘should be fired’!

Eamonn Mallie, the formidable news journalist explained that it was vanity that brought him into the business. He recalled he began as a researcher on RTE and was then given the opportunity to read the news, however he ‘just couldn’t do it.’ Thankfully it was quickly realized that he had a knack for reporting and so his career began.

He divulged that when he requested to interview a UVF and an IRA man in the maze he was given two name, one of which he know nothing about. This name was the ‘nom de plume’ of Bobby Sands.

Barney Rowan, the former BBC NI Security Editor recounted his experiences of covering the various paramilitaries ceasefires and he explained that during his time he covered five ‘P O’Neill”. He is currently creating an archive of material gathered while covering the NI Troubles.

The conference sponsors, the News Letter, the Irish News and The Irish Times were represented respectively by Adrienne McGill, William Scholes and Gerry Moriarty. During a panel session, they spoke candidly about the future of journalism and the craft of journalism.