One issue all student journalists will doubtless have encountered is whether or not to lie to get yourself a story. When phoning an organisation, a council, the police, do you tell them you are a student or lie and call yourself a freelance, or even employed, journalist? Tell the truth and you risk rejection on the grounds of being utterly useless to them, tell a lie and gamble on becoming entangled in a web of lies so complex you are bound to be found out and humiliated.
Our first term was a training ground in dealing with people, this term I think I may have cracked the formula. When dealing with organisations and PRs, a half truth (‘I’m a freelancer working on spec/I’m doing some research/I’m working on a top secret launch, ahem) can go a long way towards getting you what you want. However, what is easy to forget is that real people tend to hate journalists.
We are consistently ranked in the top 10 least trusted professions, along with politicians and estate agents. So in recent assigments involving ordinary people rather than experts or PRs, I have found playing the ‘I’m a poor student card’ has worked to my advantage.
How journalists are seen by many
Take, for example, a recent piece I was researching about cannabis. I was looking for a medicinal user to speak to, so contacted a few legalise cannabis groups. As many medicinal users feel under threat at the moment, in the light of the reclassifcation, I was told I was unlikely to find any willing to talk to a journalist. As a student however I was non-threatening and able to conduct a few fascinating interviews.
Yesterday I spoke to a woman called Julia Galvin for our end of term magazine project, Tell. Julia was crippled and stuck in hospital when she started reading the Guniness Book of Records to pass the time. She saw an entry about bog snorkeling and vowed if she ever recovered, she would do it. Now she’s a world champion in several novelty sports. I initially contacted Julia saying I was a journalist (the magazine will be being published after all), but she politely declined. When I told her it was in fact for a student project, she became enthuiastic about helping me out. Student 1 – Journalist 0.
Discovering the hostility some people have about journalist has changed my mind slightly from last term when I decided interviewing was nigh-on impossible without a commission. I just hope that my natural charm will convince people I am not a weasley and untrustworthy hack when I finally do get that job.
Student Journalist, Magazine Fancier 
hello love. I still like the ‘it’s for a school project’ story, you should have put that in!