Friday 14 September 2018

One day one photo - 14: The Frontline Club

I had the priviledge to attend a course at this esteemed institution in Paddington, London. It was run by journalist, Jenny Kleeman, who is known for making documentaries for Channel 4's Unreported World and BBC's Panorama. She is particularly renown for her stories on revenge porn, and her book on sex robots has made her quite a thought leader on this subject matter!

I attended Jenny's course on surviving as a freelance journalist because I saw it as a chance to gain some more tips on getting by in this walk of life, as well as a way to give myself an injection of motivation through networking with others on the course.

It was a full day of presenting from Jenny, not really a classroom set-up, but more like her telling us about her experiences, and how we could approach certain things like pitching, trying to get through to the decision-maker, following up and how to capitalise on a story that you have had published.
All useful information.

For me, it was a good day and I got to meet a few journalists, notably Joanne, a healthcare writer, and Portia Crowe, journalist and daughter of the late Canadian film and television producer, Bob Crowe.

As for the Frontline Club, this seems quite a dynamic place. There are various courses and workshops to get involved in as a budding journalist, or fully fledged journalists. A lot of their patrons are high profile documentary and current affairs broadcasters, presenters, print journalists, and writers.

The club, which also has a restaurant and a few rooms for over night stays, famously put up Julian "Wikileaks" Assange for several weeks when he was arrested in 2010, prior to him going to the Ecuadorian Embassy.

I like the feel of this place, and see it as a place where you could learn a lot of inspiration when reporting stories. Although they specialise more investigative and conflict journalism, there are still a lot of principles that can be applied to less contentious stories.

I hope to get back there soon, whether it's to do another course or just to go in and meet up with other journos over a drink I think it will be good for me.
 

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