How I Got My Media Break By Dan Frost.
Dan Frost is the Editor of Pulse, which is a Supplement within The South London Press.
'I don't think I would call what happened to me a media break, I actually went down the usual route and got a job on my local paper and managed to work my way up that way.
Before getting into media I did an NCTJ course which is the National Council For the Training of Journalists which helped me and gave me a lot of insight into the world of journalism. After I did the course I got a place on a local newspaper and a job came up fairly soon after I was there, which was really lucky in a way, but because I had been doing work experience there for a while they offered me the job. I did have a degree before working in media, however it wasn't a degree in media.
Originally I didn't want to work for South London Press but I was always aware of it being a very good and well respected paper, so this made it one of the London papers that I aspired to work for after doing my training at the local paper.
As a staffer I have not worked for any other newspapers, but I have had connections with The Mercury. I have worked at South London Press for 3 years and it has been very challenging, but then again to me, all journalism is challenging, but I really enjoy my job and the work that I do.
Thinking about getting into journalism I really hope that there isn't anybody that I have screwed over, because I definitely have not intended to do that. People in the office are laughing at me now. I don't think I have had to screw anybody over, if you asked me again later I may give you a different answer but thinking about it on the spot I don't think I have.
The main roles in my job are compiling a weekly arts and entertainment supplement for the whole of South London and that will go out to the area. That is it really in a nutshell, without going into too much detail.
If I wasn't working here I would like to think that The Guardian and South London Press are quite comfortable bed fellows, and would not be too much of a jump for me to become editor of G2. Clearly I am being sarcastic, but I really like my job.
In terms of work experience we get hundreds and hundreds of emails everyday from people hoping to get a place with us, but we just don't have the time and space to accommodate everyone, but if you really did want to try then drop me a line and I will try to sort something out for you over the summer'.