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My Week At Reuters

I spent a week doing work experience at Reuters, the huge news organisation owned by Thomson Reuters. Reuters has more than 2000 journalists around the world and it covers everything from wars to elections to financial markets. Along with providing some consumer news on its websites, Reuters speciality is providing news to its financial market clients and media clients. 


For the majority of the week, I worked with the lovely Jane and her multimedia team. As an internet kid, and a blogger, it was fascinating to see how such a giant news organisation is using social media. Reuters is currently focusing on Facebook Live. I also now see the challenges of coordinating text, pictures and video in such a large organisation.


I was in the newsroom the day after the tragic Nice attack, and while the mood was sombre, it was exhilarating trying to chase down sources and material for the story. The Reuters team pieced together the story professionally and doggedly.



One of Reuters' great strengths is news photography. You may remember the viral photo above that circulated amidst the Black Lives Matter movement - this was shot by Reuters photographer Jonathan Bachman. I spent some time learning about how they produce and distribute photos to clients, and what happens when a story breaks. Reuters have some of the most incredible photographers in the world. A particularly great one is Goran Tomasevic. You can check out his stuff on The Wider Image HERE (a really cool website focused on Reuters photojournalism). 



I helped out on a TV shoot in a North London primary school which has a programme to teach children about migrants and refugees. All of the kids were intelligent, and it was heartwarming to talk to them and listen to how much they cared about the issues. The school also has children at the school from refugee backgrounds. It was deeply touching and at times heartbreaking to hear some of the stories of these kids. You can check out the article HERE and the TV piece on the Reuters TV app.

A speciality of Reuters is their financial journalism. While stock markets and economic data aren't something that would normally get my heart racing, it was fascinating to see what Reuters does, and how important it is to financial markets. I spoke at length to Swaha, a Breakingviews journalist about her career in journalism. Swaha is hands down one of the most insightful and inspiring women I've ever met, and she (perhaps without even intending to) gave me some highly influential life advice. You can see her articles HERE.

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My Internship at CNN

I completed an internship at CNN (Turner Broadcasting), working partly in the business side and partly in the newsroom.  It was an incredible experience. I met smart people, sat in on fascinating meetings that gave me a real insight into the way the media business works, and was able to actively contribute.



I’ve had my blog for three years and have constantly asked myself questions about how to build an audience, what content resonates with people and what strategies work best for engagement.  It was fascinating to find that CNN/Turner Broadcasting, an organisation that reaches billions of people each and every week, routinely ask themselves virtually the same questions.  Of course the scale is much grander and the stakes higher, as they are a business and need to generate income, but much of the discussion was around content and audience engagement.  It was thrilling to gain insights into how it all works.

I’m pleased to say that the team put me to work while I was there.

One highlight was researching and curating my millennial thoughts on CNN's new internal startup, Great Big Story. It creates such good content, and tells fascinating and powerful stories, so I highly recommend checking it out. Below is one of my favourite videos they've created.



I spent a day (and one very early morning) working in the newsroom. One of the highlights was producing a piece on Brexit for the breakfast news show. I was asked to track down two under-24 year olds with opposing views – one who voted to leave the EU and one who voted to remain for an on-air debate. I managed to find them, pre-interview them, and then booked them to go on air the next morning. I volunteered to go to the studio just off Oxford Street at 6:30am to watch from the control room as the piece went out.  It also meant I could make sure that the two guys turned up and on time!  It was a very rewarding feeling, seeing something you organised go out on live TV. It was a great piece, see a screenshot below.



I went to a conference by Westminster eForum, and heard insights on the future of monetising digital content from people from CNN, Deloitte, News UK, Featured Artists Coalition, The Lad Bible and more. During the panel discussion I asked the marketing director of The Lad Bible, Mimi Turner, a question on misogyny. You can see the transcript of below. I was engaged throughout the whole conference, especially as digital content is something I invest a lot of time in.



One of my more lightweight, but very enjoyable, tasks was to screen cartoons for airlines for sensitive content (Turner Broadcasting owns Cartoon Network). I am well versed in the Power Puff Girls relaunch and We Bare Bears, which has honestly become one of my favourite shows.



It was a wonderful experience for which I am enormously grateful. Thanks to Greg, Natalie, Owen and the rest of the team for being so welcoming and generous. Thanks, too, for asking for and listening to my views; for giving me real insights into such an extraordinary business; and for the opportunity to contribute. 


-LEXI
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