We are very much looking forward to our pupil Creatives and Third Sector Networking event on Thursday 18 June. We are hoping to be joined by 20-25 professionals for this event, including Victoria Gatenby, Al Jazeera English correspondent and current parent who has been reporting on the recent conflict in the Gulf. We spoke with Victoria recently to gain an insight into her career;

‘During my fifteen years at Al Jazeera English, I’ve reported on stories including the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the Taliban Talks in Doha, the Arab Spring, the War in Gaza and more recently the Iran war.

The best part of my job is that it’s varied – one day I can be filming a live report or package from the field, the next I’ll be in the studio presenting a videowall or writing and voicing an in-house package on a breaking news story.

Before joining Al Jazeera English, I worked as a UK-based correspondent for Sky News in London for six years. During that time, I covered stories both at home and abroad, including the 7/7 attacks in London, the de Menezes inquiry and the swine-flu pandemic. I travelled to Ukraine to report on the plight of orphans infected with HIV, as well as to Sierra Leone to cover the UN’s post-civil war military training programme. I also worked as a presenter on Sky News between 2008 and 2010.

I started my career at ITV in 2000. Before that, I studied History at Cambridge University and then completed a Masters in Broadcast Journalism at Cardiff University.’

Victoria believes that her degree in History gave her a brilliant grounding for work as a journalist where key skills include the ability to assimilate and analyze information, to identify the points of significance and crucially what to omit as well as how to package the information for different types of broadcast.

She enjoys working for the Doha based Al Jazeera English, launched in 2006 as the first global English language news channel based in the Middle East. Carrying the same name as the Arabic language channel, the channels have distinct editorial policies but the same stated aim of sharing ‘The opinion and the other opinion’. Well-funded, the channel has correspondents in places not as well represented by other news channels, so coverage of for example Africa and South America is richer as a result.

Victoria includes her recent coverage of the conflict with Iran amongst the most memorable experiences of her career, see her reporting on Iran’s missile attacks on the Ras Laffan Gas Facility in Qatar – an industrial complex which accounts for 20% of the world’s Liquified Natural Gas production.

Having loved her career in journalism, Victoria would thoroughly recommend it based on her own experience. She does however acknowledge that the way news is consumed is changing and wonders how this will impact upon journalism as a profession. News consumption amongst the younger generations seems to be determined through one’s social media algorithm as opposed to selection of a news channel, or picking up a publication, that contains curated news content.

There is no doubt however that the ability to discriminate between fact and fiction will be a very important skill going forward and that willingness to see the truth behind a situation and report factually will we of utmost importance.

Victoria looks forward to sharing her experiences with Bradfield pupils at the upcoming networking event.

Keen to be involved?

If you work or have experience in a Creative or Third sector career* and would also be keen to support the event, do reach out to bradfieldsociety@bradfieldcollege.org.uk

*we are being very inclusive with these definitions – Third Sector; charity, not for profit and voluntary as well as public affairs roles; Creatives: Advertising, Marketing, PR, Design, Architecture, Interiors, Fashion, Film, TV or Radio, Videography or Photography, Journalism, Publishing, Performing Arts, Music, Visual Arts, Crafts, Video Gaming or Virtual Reality.