I got Mum to do my dirty work for me and emailed the guy in question asking him if it would be possible for me to, essentially, come and be a hindrance for a week. I wasn't hopeful but after a long long wait I finally got some dates for me to go to London and pretend to be a journalist for a week.
The Mirror's offices are located at One Canada Square, in case you were wondering. So after a poor night's sleep, due to the lack of curtain provision in my hotel room, I arrived almost two hours prematurely for my first day in Canary Wharf.
This gave me plenty of time to wander round exploring Canary Wharf, most of which was spent searching for a Cafe Nero, and smiling at the absurdity of me being in Canary Wharf.
Eventually I was met by the journalist guy, who I'm sorry to say reminded of Lord Farquaad off of Shrek, as he had a regal nature and shoulder length black hair, I thought it wise not to tell him this.
So my week of tantalising journalism began. Aahh actually there wasn't a lot to do. I spent most of the day watching the Olympics and reading papers.
But the experience was excellent non the less.
I had access to an internal feed which was basically Twitter but with news stories before they go live or get published and occasionally I would be passed a story which would need rewriting or condensing.
Although non of my stories made it into print there were critiqued by my "colleagues" meaning that instead of me just fetching tea all the time the experience was actually helpful and educational.
Recon I could write news story with the best of 'em now.
The definite highlight of the week was tracking down Gemma Gibbons' (Team GB Judo Silver Medalist) coach to get a quote off him for profile of the athlete the Mirror was putting together.
I felt like an actual journalist.
Over the phone I introduced myself by saying "Hi, this is Jonathan Brooks from The Daily Mirror" fooling the recipient of the phone call into thinking I was a proper writer ha!
I then got a call back from Gibbons' old university team coach, who when ringing back asked one of the real journalists for me, I felt like I had made it at this point.
The week I spent at The Daily Mirror was one of the best things I have ever done. I know have stories to build a portfolio as well as a brilliant experience add to my CV. But more crucially the experience taught me some invaluable writing skillz and will hopefully enhance my chances of getting a job in media post uni.
