“Remember, the floor can hear everything!” – A QuaysNews reflection

As a journalism student, I often think I spend too much time in the gallery and not enough time making news. I’ve been told many times by a respected source that working in the gallery often will improve my journalism knowledge; it can teach me about sound levels and how long handles should be. Nevertheless, I still often think that branching out and doing activities actually journalism related would be beneficial in the long run. However, this does not stop me from still taking gallery shifts whenever I have a free afternoon.

This is how I found myself PA-ing for a QuaysNews session last Wednesday.

I took QuaysNews in my second year as an optional module. The class was large – bigger than expected for a module only in it’s second year. It had a reputation for being stressful and very hands-on, but no less extremely beneficial for broadcast journalism students. This I can attest to. It certainly helped me in the newsdays that started in the second semester, and it introduced me to the wonderful world of iNews.

Although iNews is a dated software, it still works and is favoured by most broadcast news outlets. Going back through some of my notes from my early Quays days, I can see that I initially had a struggle with the software. “I have no clue how iNews works” says one comment. However, I am not one to give up a fight, and after discovering a love for PA-ing after working in the gallery I made it my mission to become the best iNews user the Salford journalism department had ever seen!

This had consequences.

Back to Wednesday’s QuaysNews session and I signed up, surprisingly, for PA. I thought that by taking this role, I could show the Quays newbies how the professionals ran a programme. And show them I did.

Of course I remember my first Quays session and what an absolute mess it was. We were a team barely held together by the weak bonds that few of us had formed in the first year and the packages we had scraped together that week. We just about made a program because one of my coursemates had retaken the year and had graciously taken the role of producer for the first show.

Suffice to say, the Quays iNews rundown on Wednesday was messy. But how could I blame these newbies? I had been in the exact same position myself just a year prior! Unfortunately, everything that the poor presenters heard through comms that day was me complaining about how messy the rundown was. This was not one of my newsdays, where I could jokingly sigh about the “horrendous gaps” between lines, but the first ever news programme for some talented journalism students!

It was pointed out in the de-brief how discouraging I had been.

I had gotten cocky. A phase that apparently all gallery-goers in the University go through. Once you get comfortable in the gallery you start talking and behaving like you know what every button and fader does. Indeed, I had felt myself changing slowly throughout the course of the year. I was making decisions on iNews that really gallery staff should be doing, and although they did not really mind, I still felt I was ‘invading’ their space.

After the de-brief, where many of us were slated for various reasons, we were left to reflect on our behaviour. We all made a silent oath that afternoon. To keep the gallery quiet, to not press random buttons, and to always remember that the floor hears everything.