Colleen Edwards
Freelancer, Scene Magazine + Greater Brisbane Junior Rugby League + APN News & Media
Written by Jade Sciberras on 2009-10-08
As a young employee in the media sector, Colleen Edwards offers relevant and fresh insight into the industry, media issues and offers advice for students and graduates. Reflective of the changing media sector, Colleen is currently employed in three organisations as a magazine contributor for Scene Magazine, media officer for the Greater Brisbane Junior Rugby League and Sub Editor for APN News & Media.
What has been your most memorable achievement or experience working as a part of Brisbane’s media landscape?
I am still young so hopefully my best achievement is yet to come, but with experience what I do with Scene Magazine is quite enjoyable. I get to cover artists and speak to them about their creations and get to cover things like Splendour in the Grass so that is quite an experience. If you enjoy it, that is the main experience, plus you can get freebies!
What are the most important/valuable skills that graduates can bring to your industry?
Enthusiasm, flexibility, good work ethic and from a news point of view, curiosity. In general, obviously good communication skills and a good understanding of people and the way they work so you can understand where they are coming from especially when getting a story.
What are the biggest challenges you and your organisation face as a member of the Brisbane media community?
From the point of view as the media officer for the Greater Brisbane Junior Rugby League (GBJRL) , actually getting media coverage, especially positive coverage is quite difficult. It is just about persevering and trying to get exposure and being happy with what little you can get. For Scene Magazine and APN it is not as hard to get coverage.
Are there any ideas, changes or implementations which you feel could improve the function of Brisbane’s media industries?
Not sure if it will improve it, but for changes I think there will be more people doing what I am doing and just freelancing and trying to get work where you can. You might be working for two or three different companies at the same time, juggling different work loads. Brisbane media organisations are quite small, so it is hard to get a full time job in any one specific area.
What do you think about the relationship between traditional media and new media?
At the moment it is quite interesting, Rupert Murdoch is saying we should pay for online content. If he does go ahead with this idea, it might be good in that it might improve standards since consumers will be paying a fee. At the moment there are blogs and a lot of opinion based journalism, so this might mean a return to more investigative journalism if there is more money to go around. I think obviously traditional media such as newspapers are not doing quite as well now, but will always be around. I think there is a way for traditional and new media to coexist.
How has new media such as the Internet and mobile communications revolutionised your workplace?
The internet especially has made research easier with getting background information. It is not necessarily the best way and does not take the place of actually meeting people, but at least you can get a bit of background before diving straight in.
With mobile communication and internet, I can write from home. You do not always have to be at the same place as the other person anymore. With the APN I can be working from the Brisbane office and subediting material from places like Tweed Heads and Bundaberg. That sort of thing you could never do before, but now you can be working on different material from all different areas across the state. That is a big thing with news sub hubs now and it is cost effective. At the same time though, it is still important to have people on the ground in the community because otherwise, people know you are a “blow in” and it is important to form relationships.
What’s your advice for students trying to break into the media industry?
You have to be flexible and try everything once. I moved to Bundaberg to get a start and then moved back to Brisbane. I had a try of everything with the newspaper up there, sport, music, design and subbing. Especially with the regional areas they do not have many people so when you are there you do just about everything and get to find out what you like. Also, volunteer to do lots of things because the best way to learn is by actually “doing”. Volunteer and get your hands dirty to see what you like.
Ask questions if you do not know how to get into areas, it is always good to pick someone’s brain on how they approach things and get out and meet people. You never know who might be a good contact in the future. Especially in sport and music, it is about who you know so you might as well use your contacts and people expect you to.