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Budding journalists get insights from award-winning reporter
4 April 2011
It was standing room only in a packed Brighton classroom recently when The Guardian's acclaimed investigative reporter Nick Davies came to talk to journalism students on City College Brighton and Hove's one year and fast track multimedia courses.
Giving the inside story on Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks controversy regarding the global publishing of classified US military and diplomatic documents as well as the tabloid phone hacking scandal, Davies kept the students enthralled. Explaining how he tracked down Assange and persuaded him not to post his latest collection of secrets on the WikiLeaks website but to hand them over to the Guardian and other news organisations, he said: 'It was just while looking at a seemingly innocuous story which came over the wire about a US intelligence leak that I decided to follow it up. Then it was simply a case of working out ways to get Assange to talk to me, a national journalist whom he would be extremely wary of. We had to lie to friends and family and couldn't tell anyone. We had our own room in the Guardian offices, complete with a cover story of why we were there.'
Nick Davies at City College
Davies's book, Flat Earth News, was published in 2008 and describes the pressures on modern journalists which often results in the 'churnalism' of regurgitating press releases. Davies told the students: 'Because we're short of resources, lots of news desks and reporters churn out unchecked stories. Most of the time I find stories by using my imagination, looking at something and wondering if anything else is there. You have to use your brain like a muscle.'
City College Brighton and Hove Journalism student Georgie Newman, 23, from Guildford, said: 'His accounts of the clandestine meetings with Assange were really exciting. Who knew journalism could be so much fun?'
The College is currently recruiting for journalism courses starting in September 2011. For more details, see www.ccb.ac.uk/journalism
For City College media enquiries, please call Brian Bell, Marketing Communications Officer, on 01273 667788 Ext. 488 or email bb1@ccb.ac.uk website www.ccb.ac.uk
About City College Brighton and Hove: Situated in the heart of Brighton, City College Brighton and Hove has become an international centre of vocational excellence. Every year, 2,000 full-time, 7,000 part time, almost 400 Higher Education and 400 14-16 year old students as well as many international and European students choose City College as their place of further and higher education training. In addition, the College provides training to over 2,000 businesses via its 'City Business Skills' department which focuses on employer training needs. Offering over 700 courses from basic level right through to business and postgraduate training, City College is working with its partners to develop the workforce of the future.
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