Not for the faint-hearted!
“This is not for the faint-hearted!” So said Pat Coyle, Director of Irish Jesuit Communications, to the six women from different Jesuit works who volunteered for media training offered by Women on Air, in conjunction with Irish Jesuit Communications. Jimmy Norman, freelance news cameraman and trainer with WOA, also offered his services on a day that was challenging and rewarding in equal measure, for all involved. Women on Air is a community of like-minded women and men who want to hear and see more women on the airwaves.
The participants certainly had good stories to tell, according to Pat Coyle, including how volunteers are challenging the negative stereotyping of refugees, profiling young Palestinian theologians critiquing genocide; a new survey into road safety and children in the North East inner city; a critique of what the Taoiseach neglected to say recently concerning the housing crisis; an appeal for the care of 200 people sheltering in a small Jesuit church in Beirut; and the roll out of the Bohemian co-op in North inner city parishes.
Participants included Caren Colllins (Belfast Jesuit Centre), Drs Ciara Murphy and Alicia O’Brien and Sophie Minivia (Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice), Gillian McGinely (Jesuit Refugee Centre), and Yanira Romero (Irish Jesuits International).
“What makes this training tough,” says Pat Coyle, “is that the women have to offer a story that they would like to get into the papers or on to the radio or television. Then they have to take part in a challenging radio interview, followed by a TV interview from which a clip could be taken for a news package. And if that’s not hard enough, they then have to sit back and listen to themselves and each other and receive constructive criticisms on how they have performed and what they might be able to do better next time.”
The interview training was interspersed with input on what makes a story newsworthy and what a journalist or cameraman needs from an interviewee. “A lot of people think that just because they are doing important work, and indeed they are, then it’s automatically going to make news. But journalists need more, and we teach them what that ‘more ‘is.”
According to the participants it was a really productive day, and more training will be conducted in the coming months, including sessions on taking good photos, AI and social media, and photo journalism/reels.
