Meet the Masters

Another college year has begun, and with it, a fresh batch of aspiring journalists have been unleashed upon NUIG.

As so much of campus life has gone remote, we are learning how to adapt our journalistic techniques to this new way of living.

That’s something that Tom Felle, Head of Discipline of Journalism and Communication, believes will help sharpen some of our key reporting skills, among them resourcefulness and resilience.

“The media industry has been living with change for more than a decade, but COVID-19 has fundamentally changed how we communicate and how we stay in touch,” he said.” The pandemic has had a particular impact on university students, with most universities moving to online teaching to continue programmes. Despite this, the MA Journalism class of 2020-21 at NUI Galway are already proving to be tough, resilient and resourceful. Faced with overwhelming odds, students have adapted to the circumstances as they develop, report the news, shine a light in dark corners, and tell stories about extraordinary events in ordinary lives. While the technology may change, fundamentals don’t: good journalism is still about people, and telling their stories.”

It is undoubtedly an academic year unlike any other. With classes now taking place online or masked up and two metres apart, it can be difficult to put voices to faces, and faces to names.

We put our fledgling “mojo” (mobile journalism) skills to the test, to get to know each other a little better. Here is a taster of what we created, using WhatsApp to interview each other and swap selfies, and a simple application to compile them into Audiograms.

Ellen O’Regan