Final 2 days of Granada: wrapped up!

The final two days of work experience at Granada were definitely mixed...

I'm going to wrap them both up as this is turning into a bit of a saga and putting me way behind in publishing other stuff i've been up to!

Thursday

I was humped by a staffordshire bull terrier. (He was so cute and crazy but wasn't put into the final edit which i still think is an outrage!)

It was really fun being out on the road all the way to westHoughton with Ralph who i salute for carrying me up a flight of stairs in a 3 storey town house and spending at least 2 hours picking on me and threatening to steal bits of titanium off my chair!

It was a bit awkward when we got back however...this truly was work experience within broadcast journalism (an ever changing industry) in 2012...

6 redundancies were announced that dinner time, so i felt really awkward being the work experience girl and completely baffled as to why the people who i'd seen were most busy had lost their jobs...

Apparently the format of local news is changing and instead of being a full on news programme, it's trying to be more short and snappy like a website. So skills to me at least, are appearing to be splattered out the door and then dust pan and brushed back up and handed out to a handful reporters who are expected to produce pieces of work that years of experience, skills and many hands have been used to produce. It doesn't seem fair to both sides, those that are keeping their jobs and those that are losing...and will the audience really benefit from this huge revamp?

It'll be interesting to see the effects when everything falls, emphasis on the word "falls" there, into action...

Friday

FINAL DAY...

I'll be honest, it felt weird. I'd been there less than a week and yet i'd worked everyone and the whole place out. The warm banter, the dynamics of everyone and the building frustration of how it's all about to change...with me, thrown into the middle of it all.

I didn't really have much to do in the morning, so I flicked through the papers and planned a few things for our disabled access story and then after lunch...

I was rescued from feeling a little lost and little low by the lovely Jo Blythe. To be honest, we did just chat and drink coffee a lot, but i learnt so much about the weather too! I'd never approached Fred for any work experience-related-type stuff as I'd assumed throughout the week that i should just stick with reporters. The guys in graphics even said to me, "Ye, you were monopolised on Monday by Matt O'donoghue!"Maybe it was a good thing? Either way, ever since I was little I've been interested in how we find out what the weathers like and how it all gets fed onto our TV screens...and on Friday afternoon I learnt just that! I listened in on the phone call from the met office, found out that Granada actually film weather reports for (memories fading now) about 3 regions and got to giggle in the studio at Jo accidentally saying the word "sex" instead of "sec"...how old am i?

Oh, come on. It is funny.

She did have to re-do the entire report because of my slight smirk...

ooo I also stopped in the corridor and got talking about how beautifully shot countryfile is...and all the while was thinking yep, my love of the outdoors and bizarre skills I have with the media will help me in many ways...not just as a journalist...

I watched Granada reports one final time in the gallery and probably made Rob Smith put on a few pounds as my miniature heroes were right next to his desk. Riggers said I'd been a "big presence" in the newsroom...funny that, I thought i was just a large annoyance...I headed to the car park, handed in my pass and headed off home from a week of ups downs and complete unexpected normalised madness at Granada.

So what now?

Am I going to rush off, get my diploma to be recognised as a journalist and begin a career in journalism?

No.

Am I going to take a "gap year"?

For crying out loud, no. I hate labels. I'm living life and I know that if i wanted and when i wanted I have the ability to become a journalist; observing and reporting....but for now, I want to do some doing. I want to travel, I want to meet people, I want to work with people. I want to work within outdoor adventure and build up my skiing skills to become an instructor and I just want to soak it all up, doing, not just observing. In the future I may roll to that and then to other things...but for now, what I'm doing, improving my own skills and meeting incredible people with amazing ideas that are similar to mine and pursuing them is what I want to do. I all to aware of the media and the power it has, that's why I'm staying alive and learning from it and using it in an ethical and healthy way to get to where I want to be and promote some of the new, innovative and exciting adventures i'm beginning to get up to. That's what I learnt about that week. I learnt about the sheer power  and respect the media has. It's all about talking and asking and communicating and being  a little bit cheeky in order to be the first to find out...well that's exactly the same way in which you go about becoming the "first one to do"...it's not an "ego" thing. It's a heart pounding, gut following, forget about what the world thinks and just do it thing. So that's what I'm going to do. Don't worry, I'm not going to disappear or go off the radar...the media is very similar to mother nature and they work best together.

Let's get these amazing adventures and discoveries of mine and the fantastic people around me on the map!

So...from now on, you'll find on this blog accounts of me getting out there and just well, going for it!

Not that I've not always done that anyway...

Emmy The Great - War - cover

I also do a little bit of guitaring in my spare time...Emmy the Great is amazing. Excuse the quietness of my singing, it's  a stark contrast to my personality...or is it? na, it's called being paralysed from the chest down my dears....;)

Final 3 days of work experience: Wednesday!

I've been a naughty blogger...as I've been doing stuff and not had the time to sit, think and write.

The latter 3 days of my work experience were very different to the first two. I'd been thrown in straight in at the deep end with Matt, but on Wednesday he was due to go up and work on a documentary so I'd lost my shadowee...you can't really be a shadow without something to shadow, can you?

Wednesday

Matt introduced me to Elaine, saying we'd be a match made in heaven! Like all the other reporters she was great and listened to where I've been, what I'm doing and where I'm at for the moment. My week was during the "floods" so she was placed onto a story somewhere up near Fleetwood about Residents refusing to pay council tax. I'd have been more than happy to go up, but the producers decided I should stay back and work on my own story to do with disabled access with Mel, when she came in...

so Elaine rolled away and I waited.
...and waited.
Then after around half an hour it was realised that it was Mel's day off.
So I felt a bit lost.

Rob, the producer had grown into quite a good little mentor and he showed me how to find stories, scouring through local and national newspapers. A story might be really interesting, but is it the type of story that would be good visually?
Anna then spoke to me after dinner (or lunch as people seem to call it nowadays) and asked me to do some planning towards the story about disabled access.
Hungry for soemthing interesting to do, i logged onto ye olde Facebook and made a status...

No one noticed the slight spelling mistake at first...

Mini access rant/point
I got  a good response and some good discussions about different places from different people. Jan was particularly helpful in telling me about Farmageddon near Ormskirk that despite boasting national awards in tourism, it still remains inaccessible to wheelchair users like myself. When asked whether it could be adapted for chair users the excuse, as always is "health and safety"...pathetic. Just saying. Anyway, we didn't go ahead with this, but thought I'd mention it. Yes, the most important and news worthy places are those of essential use such as train stations, public buildings and shops. But in all honesty, as a younger teenager...places like Farmageddon and other "fun" attractions being inaccessible had a major impact upon my social life. Birthday parties are held in places like that, and a lot of the time people don't bother asking...so people don't get invited. It's only been as I've got older and "led" friendship groups, have I gained the courage to ask and organise and go places. It's frustrating to not be able to take advantage and have fun in local places where "normal" people go to have fun...but I cam ski, kayak, climb mountains and be "so inspirational" but not get scared in Ormskirk!

Anyway...back to main experience blogging!
I decided to correct my minor spelling mistake of the word "public" and within 3 seconds i received a phone call off what sounded like some kind of air compresser. It was Ste Unsworth.
In between laughs, and struggling to breath he managed the word "pubic."
But after his moment. (He has a lot of them) he told me about his nightmare of train/bus journey he used to have to take to get to get to College last year simply because Hindley train station is inaccessible.
In order to get to Bolton from Hindley, most people get the train:
HIndley -> Bolton.
In order to get from Hindley to Bolton University, Set had to...
Get the bus from Hindley to Wigan.
Then the train from Wigan to Bolton, doubling back on himself!
This allowed us to a bit more research into public transport with Ed mentioning that London Tonight had done a report on public transport and it'd be quite cool do a report that's similar...so things started to move with that...and things still are.
(I'll update you all on that in a later blog, we've done some filming, but still have more to come!)

So despite the early frustration, Wednesday was a productive and interesting day. I saw how stories are formed from ideas and a bit of inspiration, as well as looking for ones that are already there!

When Elaine returned, she also told me that she'd been greeted by not so much water and a bit of improvising with sandbags had to take place.

Sandbags, as Fred assured the gallery during the lunchtime bulletin, really do prevent flooding!
Really?
Yes!

Thursday's blog will follow as soon as I can tear myself away from rolling around everywhere...

Work experience: Day 2

You know how I said it rained on Monday?

It rained again on Tuesday.

...And I mean rain.

Torrential downpours, sideways, non-stop.

Waterproofed up and ready for the elements I set out a good deal earlier. I was just about on time and turning into Granada, when I got a text from Matt telling me he was already on the road to the Vigil for the murdered police women. This was due to begin at 10am and down at the Hattersley Estate. 

Tim the Tom-Tom (bless 'I'm!) got re-told where to go and we were off. It was a pretty straight forward journey that led me to going round a round-a-bout twice (what's new?) that then found me rolling past the street where the crime took place and into an abandoned pub car-park.

Police were everywhere. Vans, cars, walking officers...I had a scene from Billy Elliot in my head, only there was no picket line to be crossed and I was a little lost.

Rang up Matt, who was in the middle of scoffing a McDonald's breakfast, when I decided I best use the restaurants amenities and grab a toilet stop and drink as didn't want to run off, knocking on bungalow doors in the middle of a moment's silence!

I only wanted a Tropicana!

The world's press and policemen seemed to have gravitated towards that very McDonald's just as I was in the loo and I found myself stuck in a queue...when I'd finally got back in my car I also went round another round-a-bout, saw the procession, panicked and left at the wrong exit! Luckily I was saved by my Sat Nav but couldn't find anywhere to park in the torrential rain. There were just so many cars and I had kerbs and slippy wheels from never ending rain to think about...
Finally found a space what felt like miles away from it all, but at least I could get out.
It was all pretty much a race against time now. Rain still slamming it down. The procession making it's way closer. Matt pushed me to the sport where they'd set up and we were literally ready just in the nick of time...

The rain eased a little.
I had another one of those "seeing things from the other side" moments. The cameras must irritate people, especially at times like this. But the cameras are needed. If they weren't used, no one would know anything.
We hurried behind the procession and headed over to where the small stage was set up, There was an extremely steep hill that I'd be reluctant to tackle even in dry weather. A man attempted to help me down, but I slipped as my bag had fell in front of my wheels. He was trying way too hard to keep me in my chair and didn't hear me say "My bag, I'm slipping because of my bag that's tripping me up!" I managed to survive that moment of embarrassment and near tarmac mountaineering accident, to look to find that my lot had disappeared!

My confused face and position grabbed quite a bit of attention. Before I could get my bearings, two policemen were carrying me up some concrete steps and placing me in front of the police line, ready for the service.
The heavens opened, yet again!
I sat waiting for what felt like hours for something to begin. 
The picture of Fiona Bone fell over, the stage looked like it was about to give way and collapse any second...then as I turned to look at the line of police officers, I saw one of them faint.
The atmosphere, with a little help from the weather, was grim.
Elsie, a local resident said  a lovely piece to the crowd while the police officer said a few things that made me cringe and remember a fe whinges I'd learnt the day before, "contempt of court."
All the while, I was becoming increasingly conscious of the looming camera lens straight across from me that was panning the crowd. This then made me even more conscious of my bright blue rain coat and green wheelchair that most certainly contrasts with the smart black uniform of the police...
I was right to be conscious.

I was apparently on sky news and ITN...great! Of all the times and places to end up on national TV, this most certainly wasn't one that I was hoping for.

When people finally started moving, and I was quite contently acclimatised to the south pole, I managed to scramble through the crowd and follow Matt getting camera shots of the crowd and their reactions. Again, it can look and must feel intrusive, but it's the news.
I got mistaken for a member of the local community yet again, but by Key103 this time.

As the crowds began to thin and we'd had a few interviews, my lightness of body weight yet again played to my advantage and i managed to dry off and keep a little warm while Matt hair dried his shoes in the van.
It was pretty cool to see how pictures get fed through to the newsroom and to other channels and vise versa.

I paddled to my car and headed back to the newsroom.
We grabbed some food and i saw how lunch bulletin package was put together and then had to head back to the Hattersly estate for Matt to do his "as live" piece to camera. In hindsight, it does seem crazy, the amount of running around to different locations that is done in order to create the 6pm news package. But at the same time you can see how it is needed to be presentable and pull the story together.
I parked down a hill in a slightly awkward place. Simply because the police had pretty much taken up the whole main road. My amazing skills of holding the brolly over the camera were...almost needed!

After that ten minute job for a ten second moment of TV and re-fill of petrol, it was back to Granada to put together the tea-time package!
It was around 4pm by now so traffic in the city centre was getting to the stage where it was sending my dysreflexic...

We were back in the newsroom by 5, the package was put together by 6 and I watched Granada Reports in the newsroom. Had a giggle at some of the tweets that get sent in...some of them really do make me question humanity!

Another full, soggy and sweetly productive day of work experience!

Work experience at Granada Reports: Day one.

I spent the week of the 24th-28th September shadowing Matt O'Donoghue (for half of it at least) at Granada Reports. Here's what I learned and what I got up to!

Day One

Rain. Rain. 
Did I mention, it rained?

Set out really early only to find that all possible routes to get to Manchester from good ol' Chorley were at a complete standstill. I tend to only drive their at a leisurely pace to the chill factore!
I finally arrived in the Granada car park at around 9:15. (I'd been aiming to get there for 8:30...not good being late on your first day!) Matt was there to greet me, armed with an ITV brolly and the knowledge of pushing me up mountains!

Thrown in at the deep end, we waddled our way over to Court to watch the Dale Cregan case.
I set off all of the security scanners, couldn't get my chair into the press area in court, so had to sit in what looked like the public gallery.
It was very interesting to see things from a press point of view, not as a girl suing the NHS. My previous experiences with the British Judiciary system, for a while, left me with quite  a bad attitude towards the press. During the knitty-gritty part of my trial that dealt with "who's fault it was" i learned that too much press coverage and digging can have an affect upon the entire case. So now I was looking at things from the eyes of an apprentice, 2 years ago I would have glared at. But perspectives change, and the perspective I now carry was confirmed and given confidence with what followed.
In that short space of time I spent in court, I discovered the legal issue of "contempt of court" which, as a journalist, leads to you ending up in court again, only in front a jury! I also experienced how good broadcast journalists  respect this legal issue and the snowball effect it had upon this story and the entire day...

We headed back over to Granada, jeans and chair quite contently soaked. I got my pass from the front desk that allowed me to access pretty much everywhere, then we headed up the newsroom.
TV's everywhere. 
Desks everywhere.
Apple macs everywhere.
Apparently I looked shell shocked, but in all honesty I was just extremely intrigued by it all, a.k.a nosy.
A natural skill I've learnt is key in journalism.
Why wasn't my Nanna ever one then?

With pretty much nothing to report apart from the bare, boring facts of dates, times and appearances. Matt was concerned of what had already been published by the Granada and ITV news websites, knowing that anything close to contempt of court, put his entire career on the line. It also, however meant he had little to report and was at a complete loss of what to fill the what "should" be the main story for Granada Reports with.

Not to worry though!
After introducing me to the newsroom staff (though this happened continuously throughout the week) Matt introduced me to the editing software and how he puts a story together. I was quite impressed. As a kid I used to love editing (this probably wasn't legal) Doctor who music videos (i know!) and other bits and bobs and had no idea that as a reporter...you still had to do all of this!

Then a bit of an odd-shaped bomb shell hit.

Matt found out he was presenting Granada Reports as Rob Smith was ill.
Not the most amazing news for Matt who had to rush home and grab his foundation...but pretty cool for me, to take a look at how presenting works!

I watched the lunchtime bulletin in the gallery which was coo-ol!
Always wanted to go in a gallery...you know ever since being a kid watching "behind-the-scenes" on CBBC.

Shadowing did feel a little like stalking...

I watched Lucy and Matt rehearse in the studio and was surprised by how all cameras are remote controlled (so old school in my brain!) then went up to the gallery for the exciting bit...Granada Reports!

When you're at home, you take so many aspects of the news for granted...after last week, I really don't and look at EVERYTHING really closely. From camera angles, to supers. They all are created and add up to make a product at 6pm that people round the north west rely on and enjoy.
And that on my first day, is what I found really satisfying.

You go in at 8:30am (hopefully) with a few rough ideas but no real idea of what    your day is going to be like...you find your way, get there, do your story and by 6:30pm you've got a product.
The next day is the same...but because of that, the next day is never the same!

So i tottled off home, excited, telling my Mum, Dad and Angus (fluffly white thing we call our dog) about everything I'd seen and done, while Matt had to stay behind and do the late-night bulletin.
A long, eventful day for Matt to say the least.

It certainly raised a few eyebrows!
(No joke intended to offend any broadcast journalist's eyebrows...honest!)

...more to come...

Be a superhuman.

It’s amazing to see “people overcoming so many barriers!”
-Spectator of the Paralympic marathon, interviewed by BBC news.

I was really struggling to find a way of starting this, but I just found it!

I don’t have hard evidence, stats or figures. But I do experience life every day as a paraplegic. As a human being, I am constantly observing and feeling my own and the world’s perception of myself.

So what?

Well something’s changed.

If that woman was asked 11 days ago what she was most looking forward to seeing during the Paralympics, I have a very strong feeling she would have said something along

the lines of;
“It’ll be amazing to see so many people overcome their disability!”

See the difference?
That’s what the Paralympics have

done.

I’m one of those “disabled people” who is always out and about living, as I want to. My wonky spine and lack of leg movement are a part of me and sometimes they create barriers. And that’s the thing, it’s the barriers I overcome, not my disability; I embrace that.

But I’m just one girl who floats around making people smile and think differently. Yes, the world is my stage but not everybody wants or has tickets to see me.
The Paralympics on the other hand, is a massive stage. And thanks to the last 10 days, now everyone wants a ticket and everyone’s got one!

Ellie Simmonds is now known as a fish in our house. Mum and I have also renamed wheelchair track racing as “caravan racing!” Because when them things go over, they go over! I’m obsessed with wheelchairs and how they work as it is. The technology and in depth analysis and arguing about “them bloody blades!” has been immense.
The Paralympics have sparked thoughts, questions and conversations.

Thankfully, as a ready-response to what our brains and mouths have been doing over these games, a new platform in the form of Adam Hills’ last leg has been there for us.

Watching that show has not only caused me to have yet another public crush on yet another comedian (that smile!), but it’s also allowed all of us to have a laugh, question and just feel the true spirit of the Paralympics and what it’s like to live with a disability.

It’s not bad at all. In fact, it’s great! It’s just living.
You don’t have to pretend, you don’t have to hide. You just have to get out there and be you. You might want to be the next Weir-wolf or you might not. But from watching the Paralympics you most definitely can see that you can:
Embrace who you are.
Overcome the obstacles in front of you.
And most importantly, be whoever you want to be.

Sometimes you have to be the one to take the first step.
The Paralympics wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for one man going against what everyone told him.

Don’t be scared, be absolutely terrified.

Be a superhuman.

Go go go go gerrrrrrd it!

Straight from the heart: Break downs, jobs and directions...

Last night I just broke down in tears. I keep saying I want to go into media, it's not necessarily journalism but I thought I'd take a look at the qualification I've been recommended to go for if I want to...I cried...I couldn't do it, not right now. Everything just overwhelmed me. I want to travel. I'm most happy when I'm wandering around the world discovering places and learning things from that. I'm most unhappy, inside worrying about what I'm going to do to make some money to keep my funds up. That's the truth.
After probably over an hour crying my eyes out over this keyboard Mum came in and found me crying and I just completely opened up, even though I'm open anyway, I'm usually open on a complete high which usually makes Mum quiet and thoughtful looking. She doesn't like to give me praise because so many people give it me and she keeps me grounded but last night it was needed. I was totally at rock bottom.
The problem is, I always get told "you're amazing, so inspirational, you'll go far!" Ok...helpful, go far doing what?
For a while now I've had the words "media" in my brain...actually, it's been there a long time and I know that it is something I want to go into. But I've always been a bit wobbly when It comes to journalism...
For a long time after my injury, as I've probably mentioned, I tried to replace a lot of the things I used to do and things I thought I no longer could do with stuff like writing and academia. For a while that worked but it's got to the point where "writing" has turned into a chore rather than a passion or outlet, like it used to be. Now I'm discovering I can do all the things I loved doing as a kid only in a different more grown up way.
But still...it's there "media"...I looked up the diploma I've been recommended to look at in order to become a journalist. I burst out crying.
I just did, as soon as I read all of the writing involved. I know I'm writing now! But all of the exams...
The truth is. I do love the media. I love investigating, I love and I'm fascinated by the power it has. But I love the talking to people, the presenting over the writing of articles...I think maybe it's presenting I'll go into? I'm not sure. But I don't think it'll be right now. The media training and hopefully possible work I'll be doing with the media thanks to Back Up, during the paralympics will give me the chance to experience different aspects of it. But right now...last night, I knew exactly what made me feel happy doing...

So I told my Mum a story that I've never told anyone before.
It's one of those memories that's always stuck in my head.
I would have been about 10. I was playing on the park as usual, on my bike...and there was this girl (who i still sort of know) in a wheelchair that went to my old school who used to come on the park with her sister and watch us climb and ride bikes. I used to go over and talk to her. This particular day I remember riding over to the river where she was sat and her telling me how she loved looking at the trees and hearing the river through them. I can remember thinking "I wish I could make her feel what we all feel" as in the feeling of adventure and freedom. i didn't really know or understand how I could...but it was was there...whatever it was.
And it's stuck with me through all the stuff I've done over the years. There was a point, a very long point where I thought I'd never be adventurous or travel or do the things I dreamed of and realised I loved when I was little. Like our meandering around Scotland in the summer of 2003.
So this summer at when I group led my first ever Back Up course at Exmoor, helping the under 13s with spinal cord injury jump into kayaks, encouraging them to abseil and get up that climbing wall and all sorts...I realised I could still do it. My odd feeling last year weren't just weird dreams, they were and are actual real ambitions. Right now I am most happiest outdoors, helping people particularly with disabilities do stuff they never thought they'd be able to.
So that's what I want to spend my near future doing.
Yes, It might be a bit different and a bit daring for a girl in a wheelchair herself to do it.
But I've come to realise that you can't live life following someone else's path. You've got to form your own and have the guts and drive to jump out of the box. I'm doing it in a tiny way anyway by not going to university like most people who get AAB at A level. But university...I can't think of anything worse for me. It'd be a cover up, like a lot of things throughout these past 7 years have been, some without me even realising.
So I found out today that the chill factore only half away from my house do adaptive skiing...I've been contacting adaptive ski resorts in Canada and America for volunteer positions in the office so I can spend my spare time learning to ski (as it's something i've never been able to fit in with school) I was getting  a little anxious about that fact that I have no experience and I'd be a total clutz at something, somewhere I want to volunteer at...whereas now, i can hopefully spend the time and less than a quarter of the money I'd spend on a miserable year at university on learning to ski before I actually go out to a resort and even If i am at first volunteering in the office, i could train to be an instructor a lot quicker.
So thanks to the break down of last night. Things are looking up and I know my Mum's behind me in all of  this, she knows it's me. It always has been. Just, I know people get confused sometimes with the way my parents act as they never give me praise, but it's because everyone else does and they don't want to put me on a pedastool or push me in a direction that i may find is wrong for me.
She says I've got guts.
I have.
And that I've got to go for it.
Travel. Be outdoors. Meet people. Help people.
I'll bring it back and in some way I know it'll work.