The return of the Executive and the mad scramble of Journalism.

There are certainly times when one must consider the nature of coincidences. It can be so immensely mind-boggling how on occasion things seem to line up simply too perfectly. After two years without a government, it just so happens that during my time at the premier journalistic and broadcasting company in Northern Ireland, that the executive that governs our little patch of ground decides to awake from it’s long slumber. And allow me to tell you, that caused a little bit of chaos behind the scenes at UTV.

Hopefully if you’ve continued reading this far then either you’re interested or morally obligated to continue reading, so I shall now establish the structure of this reflective blog. As this is an exploration of my time spent at UTV performed for my benefit, I hope to utilise the ‘Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle’, much as I did in my previous blog post.

Starting From the Beginning

The first step to the reflective process is to describe what happened, yet I feel as though it is almost easier to list what didn’t. Right from the beginning of my placement, I was dragged into the very heart of it. After meeting with Munier Abdalla, my boss, outside the reception of the City Quays 2 building, (where he made a jovial comment on my overly formal suit) we proceeded up to the eighth floor. Perhaps the first thing I noticed asides from the desks and screens and computers, was the breadth of the view the office had, purveying over the Titanic Quarter. As far as workplace views go, it was by no means a bad one. Shortly after I had finished picking my jaw off of the floor, Munier proceeded to give me a tour of the facilities. The changing rooms, the archives, traffic, the editing booths, the voice-over booths, (I desperately wanted to have a go in there) the gallery, the studio; it was amazing how much they managed to fit into one floor, let alone the quality of the facilities themselves! But this was where things would really begin to get exciting. Right after the tour, we hurried over to an empty meeting room where we both sat down. Here I was told that I would be sitting in on the morning meeting for the news team, where they would organise their objectives for the working day. This, by itself, doesn’t sound exciting, until you realise that they’re speaking about the possibility of Jeffrey Donaldson making a statement about the return of The Executive.

Finding My Feet

For the majority of my first week at UTV, I took on a watching brief, essentially, I shadowed different professionals working within the different departments of UTV. Though perhaps not particularly practical to begin with, it adheres to the philosophy that “Working environments will provide opportunities for developing your knowledge and skills by working with real people in real working settings.” (Jasper, 2013, 109) I began in Traffic, the central hub where all camera and news feeds are directed to before being recorded and / or transmitted elsewhere within the office, and from there slowly rotated my way around to each of the other departments. I won’t go into full detail about them all, simply because there are too few words in the blog post and too few hours in the day in order to accomplish that, so instead I shall develop further on the aspect of the work placement where I had the greatest amount of personal agency.

Towards the end of the placement, Munier had hoped to give me an opportunity to engage with the journalistic process a little better, particularly with regards to research. Funnily enough, this was deceptively difficult for a number of reasons. The role of a journalist is to find the stories that no one is talking about yet. And therein lies the rub, unlike in much of academia, where research constitutes (at least in my experience with the humanities) a little reading around whatever is dredged up from the abyssal Google Scholar, or from the labyrinthian libraries, yet here it felt like hunting shadows. The best way I can describe it is by likening it to one occasion where I lost one of my Air pods while walking through Belfast. This one, tiny earpiece, lost in the streets filled with people all going about their business. At that time, I had nearly given up on all hope of finding the earpiece, until I mustered the courage to ask someone if they had seen anything, and thankfully, they had. Much in this way, in order to try and find some interesting stories, I had to put my curiosity over my anxieties and make some phone calls!

Finding My Voice

The end of that paragraph sounds rather bold, but the truth is I was near shaking with anxiety. Speaking with people has never been something that I’ve struggled with, but when it comes to speaking to someone, particularly when A) I do not know them, and B) I have expectations to meet, it becomes far, far more difficult. However, on the flip side, I believe I was only able to accomplish what I did because I knew it was expected of me. To that extent, there was a motivating factor that could be found within the anxiety. Though I do not know whether it was earned, I did also feel a fair amount of pride after a successful phone call; it made me feel as though there was a meaning to my efforts when I was rewarded for them with useful information. Yet nothing made me feel quite as elated as when I received a job well done from some of the news team for coming up with a potential story concerning eating disorders during Ramadan.

Learning Objectivity

While I would love to rest on the laurels of what I did accomplish during my time so far at UTV, particularly regarding some of the research I did, I do not believe that I can safely say that I have reached the precipice of what I am capable of achieving. Perhaps one of my greatest failures during the course of the work experience has been my own social incompetence. At every step I tried to ensure that I was as polite as possible, yet I do not feel as though I put my best foot forwards in regards to demonstrating my character. At times I feel as though if you had replaced me with a cardboard cut-out, the difference might not have been noticeable. Though this may just be an external facet to my own insecurities, I believe there is some truth to the fact that I may not have championed my best qualities.

Marching Onwards

Having written this blog post, I feel as though I’ve come to a better understanding of some of the issues that I need to face before I finish my work experience with UTV. My confidence is not something that I will be able to simply slap a plaster on and be on my merry way, yet it is most definitely something that I can slowly build up and according to McMillan, “Having a deeper understanding of how you think and reflect will help you feel more confident.” (McMillan, 2013, 3). Hopefully, in improving my confidence my anxieties will begin to melt away as well. However, the question still stands, in what way can I remedy some of these issues? Perhaps in the short term, I can begin to employ breathing techniques in order to help manage my feelings of anxiety. Notions of self-affirmation will probably go a long way as well. In addition to this, it is probably helpful that I am already in the process of seeing a therapist who is aiding me in learning and managing the symptoms of my PTSD. Within the work place, perhaps rather than simply forcing myself to tackle any challenge that is thrown my way, I could potentially ask for further clarification and help with how I might be able to go about my tasks in a more effective and efficient manner. I think to this extent, actually, it might be healthy for me to remind myself that failure in this environment is expected of me and as such is not something to settle for, yet also not something to fear. After all, it’s impossible to cook an omelette without breaking a couple eggs.

References

1. ITV, UTV logo, 2016. COPYRIGHT: ITV plc. https://www.itv.com/news/utv https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/UTV_2016.svg
2. The University of Edinburgh, Reflection Tool Kit, Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle. https://www.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_breakpoints_theme_uoe_tv_1x/public/thumbnails/image/gibbs_cycle_600x600.png? itok=l6NuR551 https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/reflectingon-experience/gibbs-reflective-cycl
3. ITV, UTV, 2024. ‘People ‘already beginning to see benefit of DUP deal over trading concerns’‘. https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2024-01-30/goods-flow-freely-into-ni-under-new-deal-donaldson
4. Servcorp, Servcorp Blog, 2022. ‘Do Businesses Still Need a Landline? The Pros & Cons of a Landline Phone’. https://www.servcorp.co.uk/en/blog/business-networking/do-businesses-still-need-a-landline-the-pros-cons-of-a-landline-phone/

Bibliography

1. Jasper, M ‘Beginning Reflective Practise’, New Ed. Cengage Learning, (2013)
2. McMillan, K ‘How to improve your critical thinking & reflective skills’. Pearson Education UK, (2013)