Media students get advice from BBC News anchor Clive Myrie
ANYONE can succeed in the news business, as long as they are dedicated and work hard, BBC news anchor Clive Myrie told an audience of media students yesterday.
He was visiting the island as a guest of Skipton International and as well as giving a talk he was appearing at a dinner hosted by the Guernsey Alzheimer’s Association last night.
As one of the main hosts of the BBC national news Mr Myrie has appeared live from Ukraine on a number of occasions, most recently on the anniversary of the Russian invasion, and he was also in the country’s capital as the war began last year.
Anyone who was determined, worked hard and was interested in the world could succeed, he said.
‘I think that’s always the biggest and most important piece of advice that I have.’
He said he liked talking to young people who were interested in journalism.
‘[I like to] get a sense of what young people are thinking about this media trade, particularly in the middle of the revolution that we’ve had in communication as regards online and social media.’
He also had the message that students should not visit websites that only reflected their own views, and they should find one that tells them completely the opposite and think about their reaction afterwards.
‘Legacy media’ such as the BBC, ITV, radio and newspapers might be ‘old and knackered’, he said, but had to be accountable and this was what was missing online.
‘Regulation is needed in that wild west of a space called the online area. I think that’s really important.’
That was the topic of one of the questions asked by Cerys Collins, 18, during yesterday lunchtime’s talk.
She is currently going through the process of applying for a BBC journalism apprenticeship. ‘Regulation is a topic we’ve not covered in media studies,’ she said.
‘I thought it was very interesting to hear about the industry and government offices we didn’t know about.’
Daniel Gordon, 17, also thought the talk was interesting. ‘We heard some good stuff that was relevant to media studies.
‘I’m not really sure what I’m planning on doing along those lines but I think a lot of what he said had quite a broad application to the media in general.’
A career in marketing was what Gracie King, 18, was considering, but she nonetheless found the talk interesting.
‘He was really inspirational and it was nice to hear his experiences.
‘He gave us an insight into what the future could be like.’
Maisy Batiste, 17, would like to work in motorsport marketing and also enjoyed hearing from Mr Myrie.
‘It was inspirational and insightful and gave us an idea of what working in news is like, with some real-world examples,’ she said.
