The second day of YJA had more of a quirky atmosphere. With Ailbhe Malone from Buzzfeeds.com – who is hilarious by the way- explaining what the company does and the unique and humorous style they use when posting news, it was set out to be an amusing session.
To begin, Ailbhe shared with the group her Journey of becoming a Journalist. I was particularly fascinated when she explained the tactical approach she took when requesting for work experience placements. She done this by familiarising herself with several Journalist names in magazines and newspapers and experimenting different ways in which their email addresses could be formed. She then emailed each of the Journalists asking for working experience. Through this long but skillful process, she eventually started receiving responses from Journalists!
As previously mentioned, Buzzfeeds takes a comical approach in their news posts. Consequently, Ailbhe shared with us some of the funny memes she has used when writing articles.
However, although Ailbhe is -no doubt- a humorous character, she also provided us with some advice to take on our individual journey of becoming a Journalist:
1. When applying for work experience, be sure to put in references of your work e.g. your blog.
2. When writing articles, make sure you carry out good research as this promotes accuracy and subsequently share-ability
3. Build narrative writing as it is ”what makes a post breathe”
Watch this space for my next blog post about YJA!
