My work experience with The Telegraph

Earlier this year, James Buckley attended the first industry-wide Disability and Journalism Forum, which we covered in April.  In it, he wrote that he has been interested in journalism from an early age “but never considered just how hard breaking into the industry could be.” 

Knowing that James had been invited to do work experience at The Telegraph this summer, I contacted him today to ask how he got on.  I didn’t expect such a quick reply – he’s efficient! – and was delighted at his natural flair for telling a story, told below.

What happened at The Telegraph

There were many amazing things happening that week. The 40-degree heat. The melting runways at Luton Airport, the buckling railways. The most amazing thing, though? I was on work experience at a national newspaper.

After a particularly gruelling video link interview with Ian MacGregor, Editor Emeritus of the Telegraph, I was invited to work alongside the company for two weeks, unpaid work experience. I’d believed I would be making coffees, listening in on meetings and proof-reading the occasional article for the weekend supplement. There was a lot more to it than that.

Anya Hindmarch and Ice Cream

My first task? To eat some ice cream. Innocuous enough, you might say. The catch was that the ice cream was of a particularly savoury variety. Anya Hindmarch, the fashion accessories designer, had recently launched a new line of handbags resembling (amongst other things), baked bean cans and ketchup bottles. And had made ice cream according to those flavours.

It seemed easy enough. Walk to Belgravia, get free samples of every ice cream flavour on offer – I’d recommend the soy sauce, if you’re in the area – and then be blown away by the capabilities of the (professional) reporter babysitting accompanying me. And here I must give a shoutout to Jack Rear, who effectively mentored me for the whole two weeks. He really helped to open my eyes into the industry!

Nokia 216

My next assignment came when I was in a meeting with the Lifestyle team. “What,” one of the journalists exclaimed, “is that?”

The “that” in question was my mobile phone, a dated Nokia 216. The team were planning on running a “digital detox” feature at some point next month and wanted me to write about why I use such an archaic device – “because, James, you’re so far out of our target demographic, it’s newsworthy.”

Born at 23 weeks + 4 days.

It was fun, though. As was the photoshoot, with the phone in hand in Upper Grosvenor Gardens. But I feel that the real moment came when I mentioned that I’d been born at 23 weeks + 4 days.

The team were very interested in this and gave me a whole page to write my article. I started with the basics. Dates, names, places. My mother was decidedly not amused when a photographer turned up at our door a few days later. I was not amused when the photos came out in the paper. But, for those brief minutes where we’d wrestled the dog into sitting quietly at my feet and my father smiled, it was brilliant.

The next week was spent back in the office, furiously typing on a laptop to try and get every word down from the phone interview with my mother. My shorthand was decidedly below par, so I instead had the phone wedged between my ear and my shoulder. Which, apparently, is the way that everyone else does it. “Shorthand is useless unless you’re on a court case. It’s far easier to use a Dictaphone,” said Jack, as he plonked one of the devices on my desk.

Positive comments wishing me well in my career

It was a Thursday when the article hit the press. I remember running up the escalator to where the (free!) copies of the paper were kept, throwing everything but the features section aside and flipping through it. My mother had sent photos of me in an incubator, which were used as an ident on the front page. After taking as many copies as I could fit in my bag, I sat at my desk and watched the comments roll in. There are, at time of writing, 95 of them. 95 positive comments from people who have read the article, praised my parents and me, and wished me well in my career.

I even got a shoutout in a meeting that contained the entire editing department.

On my last day there, I had a meeting with Ian. He congratulated me on my success and asked me what my future plans were. I told him I wanted to work freelance for a while and use the time to make my name known.

I think it’s working. I’ve got an interview with my local MP this month for Southsea Lifestyle. I’ve got this article, which I’m (obviously) currently writing. And who knows what else? One thing’s for sure, though. I wouldn’t be where I am without this opportunity, and I’m grateful for everyone that supported me there.

James is on Instagram at @jbuckers