I'm a Geordie Broadcast Journalist with a Masters in Broadcast Journalism from City University, London.
I’ve worked for the BBC, ITV, Sky News, local community radio stations and a tabloid newspaper in Cape Town.
For examples of radio work check out the Audio page…and for examples of TV work check out the Video page.
Fiona has multi-platform Journalism experience. She works accurately and efficiently, has a confident telephone manner and can approach public and contributors with ease.
Skills
- Clean Drivers License held for 6+ years with experience driving different cars
- Competent on Office, Photoshop, Premier Pro, Final Cut, Adobe Audition, Teamsite CMS, VCM, ENPS & iNews
- Proficient writer for Television, Radio, Newspapers and the Web
- 2.1 BA Hons English and Drama, University of Birmingham (2010)
- Basic Arabic & Japanese & Intermediate Two Spanish
- A Levels AABBC & GCSEs 4 x As, 5 x A*
Multimedia Journalism Experience
November 2011 – Present BBC Newcastle: Broadcast Journalist (reporter), Alfie and Charlie Breakfast show
August - October 2011 BBC Newcastle: Broadcast Assistant, Alfie and Charlie Breakfast show
- Editing programme pieces during live broadcast and writing cues
- Operating broadcast equipment
- Answering phones for live phone-in
- Generating story ideas
May – July 2011 ITV London Tonight: Freelance Assistant News Editor
- Co-ordinating crews so that all London news is covered simultaneously
- Input newsgathering including ingesting tapes, keeping across all London news and generating stories
- Standing up stories and fixing interviews at short notice
- Operating autocue during live broadcast to over 1million viewers
April 25 – May 13th Sky News Online: Intern
- Researching & Writing online stories
- Dressing-up reporter copy in CMS
- Worked with UGC for Royal Wedding
- Overnight Live AV Referendum and local election coverage
Dec 10 – Jan & April 18 – 21 2011 BBC Radio Newcastle: Intern
- Researching, writing copy, phone-bashing, editing, pre-rec interviews, vox-pops
- 1 on-air package on BBC Newcastle and BBC Tees
- Co-producing live OB
July - Aug 10 & June-July 2011 Maverick TV: Junior Researcher, New Media
- Researching medical subjects, running, advertising, creating/editing web content/copy & brainstorming
May 2010 BBC WM & BBC Birmingham website: Covered International Dance Festival events
June 09 - Jan 10 Aston FM/Big City Radio: Head of News (Sole Broadcast Journalist)
- Researching, reading, recording, editing and emailing local news bulletins for 5 community radio stations
- Traffic & Travel, sound and programming, producing/presenting, brainstorming, meeting and greeting
July/Aug 08 The Daily Voice Newspaper, Cape Town: Intern & published reporter with a front-page story.
Aug 08 The South African Human Rights Commission, Cape Town: Journalism internship
- Reporting human rights violations, including refugee camps and Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison
Student Media
G:tv: Production Manager for 2.5 years (primarily running News and Music shows)
Burn FM: Broadcast Journalist, Deputy Head of News and Producer/Presenter News Hour, Mainstream & Specialist
Work Experience
February 2011 ITV News at 10: Shadowing Julie Etchingham, Presenter and Penny Marshall, Reporter
June 2010 BBC Tees: Shadowing Jonny Coates, Cameraman & John Proudler, Tech Director
May 2010 BBC Midlands Today: Shadowing Shooting Video Journalist Ben Sidwell, on location
December 2009 ITV Central News: Shadowing filming and editing to TX with Mark Gough
November 2009 BBC Midlands Today News: Work experience
Additional Experience
March 09 - July 10 Presenter and Talent Scout for My Website Presenter
Jan 08 – Nov 10 Drama and Speech Teacher for Centrestage School of Speech and Drama
Aug – Sept 08 6-weeks voluntary TEFL teaching and teacher training in Ella, Sri Lanka with Mercy Trucks NGO.
Sept 07- Marketing worker for Project Trust
Feb 05 - 07 Telephone Interviewer (including field work) Dipsticks Research
Aug 06 – Aug 07 Voluntary Spoken English and Pronunciation Teacher for Maris Stella College, India
Gap Year: August 2006 to August 2007, I taught Conversational English in a Catholic women’s college and homes for former street children in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India with Project Trust (a gap year organisation). Fundraising for this year, the work I did and the 3 months I spent travelling – meeting and living with local people – taught me a range of skills, such as teaching and interacting with others, and gave me a greater understanding of cultures, the world and life in general.
Travel: in Israel/Palestine in September 2007, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the summer of 2008.
Birmingham Talking Newspaper for over 400 blind and partially sighted people in the West Midlands.
Hello Fiona!
Ny name is Natalia. I folow you on twitter (London_step). I am a journalist from Russia. Sorry for writing here, i don`t know your e-mail.
I like your blog very much, it is very interesting. I saw videos here with your interviews and vox popos. I think you are a very good journalist and you have such a great experience…Why am I writing to you? Well, i am going to London in September to study International Journalism (Master program) at City University and you are a current MA Broadcast Journalism student at City. So i would like to ask you how do you like to study there? Is it difficult? Should I somehow prepare before coming? I know we have different courses but maybe you could give me some advice. Frankly speaking i am a little bit scared of my future course. I live so far from Great Britain and English is not my native language. I think it could be very difficult to me to study there.
Is this blog a part of your course work? And have you taken internships somewhere in London? City University wrote me that students should take work experience during the course and i think i should start search for something.
By the way i want to ask you about Local Story Swap web site. Is it a web site for journalists to find new ideas for their stories? For example i could write about event o news and other person could use this idea for an article?
Probably i didn`t catch the sense.
I hope you will answer (you can write to cartoon_motion@inbox.ru)
Really nice to meet you…
N
Hi Natalia!
Lovely to hear from you. Congratulations on getting on the MA International Journalism course! It’s very competitive so you’ve done really well to get on it – they wouldn’t have selected you if they didn’t think you were up to it, so try not to worry too much. It’s a lot of work, but in a sense you should feel reassured that you were good enough to get on the course!
I don’t have to run this blog as part of the course but it definitely helps put some of the Online Journalism module into practice. I think it’s very important in 2011 to have a website, because it’s fairly easy for anyone to have one these days, and lets future employers know you’re aware of the change in how we consume news etc. But more than anything, I just enjoy having somewhere I can write what I want and upload my video and audio packages!
If you want to prepare, getting as much work experience as possible will definitely help. Any experience you have in Russia will be very beneficial. The main people to ask for work experience in the UK are the BBC, ITV and Sky – but there are lots of others, it just depends what you’re interested in? You can apply to all of them online (give me a shout if you can’t find them on google and I’ll DM you a link). It usually takes quite a few goes and the application forms are pretty long, but persevere, you’ll get there! It took me 20 applications to get my first work experience placement at the BBC! One good piece of advice we’ve been given is to make sure you know everything there is to know about the station you’re applying for and what programmes they make.
Other preparation…it would be good if you’ve watched a lot of news – BBC News, Sky News, Al Jazeera, ITV News at 10, Channel 4 News…and also other current affairs programmes like Panorama and Dispatches. You should also be listening to as much radio as you can, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4′s The Today Programme and commercial radio stations.
A lot of the course is just having the confidence to pick up the phone and persuade someone to talk to you, so any experience you can get where you’re calling people and thinking creatively will stand you in good stead.
Local Story Swap is a project I’m doing as part of the course. The idea is that nowadays aspiring Journalists start in local (radio) newsrooms, but jobs are so scarce that you take one anywhere it is – even if you don’t know many people there! So the idea of Local Story Swap is that it’s a place where you can share local stories that you hear of but can’t use in the newsroom you’re working for, and in return, you can find stories that someone else has posted. However, it’s still a work in progress, and at the moment, isn’t really working because Journalists tend to hoard their stories – no-one wants to make the first move and post an idea! If you have an idea, it would be great if you can get the ball rolling? You’d go down in the Hall of Fame as the first pioneer! I’m going to open it out now to people who aren’t Journalists and might want to share their stories – if you have any more ideas please let me know!
I hope that helps. I don’t by any means have all the answers – and I’m usually just trying to keep my head above water too! You’ll be fine – none of us really feel like we’re there yet but I think that’s a good thing, because it keeps you trying to improve! If you have anymore questions, I’d be happy to help. My email address is fionamarleypaterson@gmail.com
Fi
Have you ever thought about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is valuable and everything. However think about if you added some great graphics or videos to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and video clips, this site could undeniably be one of the most beneficial in its niche. Amazing blog!
Thanks for the advice and for reading!