JEMIMA GIBBONS

Diploma Content Strategy & Design, Social Media Launch Pack

By Ciéra Cree and Megan Geall

What is the most memorable interview you’ve ever done?

I interviewed Tracy Emin for BBC World Service in the mid 1990s. I went round to her fat in Vauxhall and she gave me a mug of herbal tea. She was super friendly and charming and made me feel like she had all the time in the world to chat.

What is the most useful skill you learned at City?

Using a computer and basic word processing software! We were the frst intake to have computers rather than typewriters in the classroom.

What was your biggest break in journalism?

Getting a job as a researcher on the Vanessa Show (ITV) in 1997.

Until then I’d been on freelance contracts. Once I was at Anglia (the ITV network was divided up into regions in those days) I quickly became producer, then deputy editor. The shows were flmed ‘as live’ on a tight turnaround and there was a constant ratings battle with the BBC. It was a stressful environment but a great experience.

What was your biggest fail or embarrassing move? When I was a freelancer for Sky magazine, I reported on Torture Garden, which is a fetish club. They’d had this controversial party, which is based on the movie Crash and I had to go and fnd people who’d been at the party. I had my weighty professional tape recorder with me and I remember getting into a cab to go home and I was listening to my tape, looking out the window just trying to relax. And in that moment, I left the black tape recorder on the back seat. I didn’t see it when I got out, and it was lost forever.

Have you ever experienced sexism in your career?

I’ve had dodgy moments in interviews. I was asked by a chef who I was interviewing if I wanted to go upstairs when the interview was over, which was pretty yuck. Because I came up through fashion magazines, I’ve benefted from empowering environments for women. Ageism is one of the hidden dirty secrets, not just of journalism, but of the workplace in general. It’s something that needs to be talked about more: making the workplace livable for menopausal women.

CHRISTINA BUNCE

Periodical

Founder,

Director,

Professional Writing Academy

WriteWell Community

By Nicole Panteloucos

What is the most memorable interview you’ve ever done?

After I left City, I went to work for a medical magazine. I had a contact called Harold Shipman, a GP that turned out to be one of the biggest mass murderers in UK history.

What is the most useful skill you learned at City that you still use today?

Ethics is the most important module. You can learn almost everything else just by practising and doing it. But you really need to keep the ethics module in your head.

What is your fondest memory of being at City?

The pub. It’s where all the work went on. It’s where a lot of the connections were made. The thing I also loved most was shorthand. I got up to 130 words a minute.

What advice would you give to a new journalist?

Don’t be frightened to stick with what you believe in.

How do you manage your well being?

I try to do yoga three times a week. I also set up an online platform called WriteWell Community which uses writing as a tool to help people deal with everyday stress.

Do you think journalists get paid enough?

No, they don’t get enough. I think there is a lot of ripping off of journalists when they are asked to do things for free for their portfolios. You wouldn’t ask a plumber or a brain surgeon to work for free, would you? I think with writers there is generally this assumption that they will work for nothing but exposure.