Not many people are afforded the opportunity to go behind the scenes to see the workings of one of Scotland’s biggest newspapers! So YGT’s young people were delighted to be invited to a recent Talent Taster at The Herald and Evening Times offices.
The YGT students had all selected journalism as a career pathway they wish to pursue. Talent Tasters are a new initiative by YGT that offer young people a taste of the working world, in a field they’d like to work in. This Taster experience was therefore absolutely invaluable to our young people!
Welcoming the YGT students to their Glasgow offices was Barclay McBain, Deputy Editor of The Herald. With 30 years’ industry experience, there wasn’t anyone better to lead the tour.
Over 100 people are employed by the organisation, so there was plenty of office space to cover. Barclay began by showing our young people the various departments of the newspaper. A quick tour of the Production, Sub-Editing, Images and Sports teams was followed by a visit to the conference room. This is where the magic happens, where the next day’s ‘Splash’ is argued over and agreed.
Barclay, who has been a Reporter in Education, Chief Leader Writer and Managing Editor, then opened up to our young people about his own working life. He touched on some of the changes he’s experienced in his 30 years. The rise of digital media’s effect on newspapers was particularly notable.
Barclay was also fantastic in taking questions from our eager young people. A question on ‘what the biggest story he worked on’ highlighted the Lockerbie Disaster. It was an event that coincided with the annual Herald Christmas night out. Barclay worked on breaking the story – a shift that ran from 7pm until 3am.
Following more questions, Barclay introduced our young people to Magnus Llewellin, Editor-in-Chief of The Herald. Magnus was equally welcoming and took more questions on how best to get into the industry. Magnus emphasised the importance of education to our YPs. He also outlined that those who get out there and have passion for what they’re doing will progress. The best journalism jobs don’t simply go to those from the most highly regarded universities.
Our young people even had a shot at writing their own piece for the paper with Barclay. Their ‘splash’ was a story about an MCR Pathways blogger going on a rampage in the Herald offices!
While in the offices, news broke of the death of comedian Victoria Wood. This experience showed the young people just how quickly the newspaper has to react for the next day’s print. Priority has to lie with the biggest, and most quickly developing, stories.
YGT was absolutely privileged to be invited to the offices and would like to thank The Herald Times Group. Everyone met was insightful and encouraging of YGT’s young people and their intended career pursuits. Special thanks to Magnus Llewellin the Editor-in-Chief and Barclay McBain, Deputy Editor, for spending a whole afternoon leading the YGT tour and providing such fantastic insight into the operation. The young people left more intrigued and motivated than ever for their future career!
We have more young people signing up for Young Glasgow Talent’s help. They need mentors to make a huge difference to their confidence, educational outcomes and future life chances. Can you help them? Find out more about becoming a mentor.
Can your organisation help? To become involved in our Talent Taster programme, alongside our partners such as The Herald, simply go to the Get Involved section of www.youngglasgowtalent.org.
We’re always looking for new mentors to reach all the new young people who are coming on board with the programme. Help us spread the word by letting your friends and family know how worthwhile mentoring can be!
