Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Lizzie Burden, economics reporter at The Telegraph. I started my career as a creative access intern at The Times, so I wanted to share with you a few things that I've learned along the way. When I did the Times internship on the Home and Foreign News desks, I had no experience in journalism except on my student paper, so it was during those six weeks that I learned to write a news story. I started off turning copy from wires like Reuters into Times-style stories. I then graduated on to writing my own stories that editors would ask me to write, maybe following up on something another paper had written to find a new angle or turning a press release into a story. Then I was sent out to cover stories like the Salisbury poisoning and Notting Hill Carnival, and finally I started pitching my own news to editors that I just got on with. I loved feeling like I was at the helm of what was happening in the world and being around all the savagely witty characters of the newsroom, so I basically decided that I didn't want to leave. I applied for funding from the Journalism Diversity Fund to complete a fast track NCCJ, which is where I learned shorthand media law and more about writing journalistically. Not spending a whole year on a master's meant I could get back to the newsroom faster, which I found much more beneficial than sitting in a classroom, and during the course I was constantly keeping an eye on the next step. As soon as I finished I did another two internships at Reuters and Bloomberg, then worked as a producer at the BBC on the Daily Politics programme, and at the same time would do night shifts as a reporter at the Times. I was knackered. Then I joined the Times as a grad trainee, where I rotated through the Glasgow office on the Scottish edition of the paper, the business desk and the sub-editing team. I then moved to the Telegraph, where I'm an economics reporter specialising in trade, which I love because my beat sits at the intersection of business, foreign and politics. When I arrived the biggest issues of the day were Brexit and the US-China trade war, and now I'm covering the biggest economic crisis in centuries, so I really do feel hugely privileged to do what I do. Applying my experiences to you, here are my six tips on starting your career as a newspaper journalist. Number one, read widely. Even the papers you don't agree with, even the sections you find boring, and even the news in brief. Number two, be open-minded, because you don't know what could suit you until you try it. I didn't realise how much I'd love financial journalism at first, but what I discovered at Bloomberg was that I really like how it has a quantifiable impact, and I find it much more intellectually stimulating than regular news because you're also working with numbers. Number three, constantly push to level up. If you're doing work experience, try to turn it into an internship, and if you're doing an internship, try to turn it into shifts or a grad scheme. Never sit twiddling your thumbs. Come armed with ideas for stories. Ask how to improve them if they get rejected. Volunteer to help other reporters. Ask them where they get stories. Look at the news to see if you can follow up on anything. Just always find ways to add value so that you're remembered. Then at the end, ask what other opportunities are available, and ask specifically what you need to do to get on to that next step. And when you leave, keep in touch. Number four, break news. Getting scoops seems like luck, but you need to make your own luck to be in the right place at the right time for a tip-off. For instance, ring a source quoted by a rival paper, and go for a coffee, find out what's going on with them, and check in regularly. You might wonder where to start if you don't have a beat yet. When I was on the business desk at the Times as part of the grad scheme, I wasn't assigned a specific patch to cover, so I made myself one. The retail editor had just left, so I targeted retail stories until they found a replacement for her, and when the new retail editor arrived, the market reporter job was empty, so I volunteered to do that. And if all the beats are taken, look at a rival newspaper and pick a beat your paper doesn't have covered yet. Make yourself indispensable. Number five, breaking news is about being first, which means being organised. For example, make Twitter lists and subscribe to other people's lists so you can keep abreast of the current debates in different areas. Put your calls in early as soon as you set a story, so people have time to get back to you well before your deadline. If you're waiting to cover a speech, write a template with as much other detail as you can beforehand, and keep a diary. And finally, perhaps the hardest lesson of all, number six, be okay with conflict. Newsrooms are full of strong characters who'll respect you more if you stand up for yourself when you need to. Pick your battles, but never let anyone walk all over you, because people will push you as far as you let them. Work hard, but learn to say no. I hope that's been helpful, and thanks for listening. If you've got any questions, feel free to message me on Twitter at liZZZ, B-U-R-D-E-N.