NEWS INTERVIEW
- 222 candidates;
150 passed (68 per cent)

This interview was about cruelty to six puppies from the same litter, two strangled before being dumped in a bin and four thrown from a moving car. Two puppies survived and needed homes. There was also the possibility other pups may be found dead or alive around Oxdown.

Reporters could have approached this from several angles such as combining the two sickening discoveries; appeal for homes for the surviving puppies; appeal on behalf of the RSPCA for information to catch those responsible. In most cases, reporters chose one of these options, producing good accounts of what happened. Therefore, it was pleasing to see fewer candidates fail outright, compared with last autumn's exam.

Some of the information in the reporter's written brief concerning the discovery by the Wren family was identified by nearly all of the candidates as being useful to the story. Indeed it was, but reporters could gain more detail from the interviewee.

A big hint was also provided in the written brief about another linked incident. Again, most candidates followed this up, but some didn't. Reporters would be wise to thoroughly read the brief to ensure all angles are covered.

With a few exceptions, most trainees managed to write to length, although one candidate submitted a story of 300 instead of 400 words, perhaps confusing the requirements of the speech and interview exams. The best stories really did flow well and were a joy to read.

Markers were looking for a racy, news style with details retold in an appropriate order. Main problems were failing to link the two incidents or muddling them up so the reader was left confused about what happened. Too many candidates did not explore beyond who-what-where-when into the realms of why, failing to establish reasons for the cruelty i.e. as the puppies were part-Labrador the owner saw them as worthless or couldn't afford to keep them. Most trainees did manage to include descriptions of the man responsible for dumping the puppies and his car.

Candidates need to be mindful of when events happen and when stories are published. For example, the report was for Saturday's Oxdown Gazette, but some accounts said the Wren discovery happened 'yesterday' (Friday), when it should have said Thursday.

Some reporters made inaccurate assumptions ie describing Mrs Wren as a 'mother-of-two' - yes, she was with two of her daughters at the time of the discovery, but she could have had another three children at home. Several stories didn't mention until very late that puppies were dead; some didn't mention how they died (strangled/impact of being thrown from a car).

Constructive comments from NCE interview assessors included: don't rapid-fire questions at the interviewee, listen to the answers; brushing up on shorthand would have helped with note-taking; preparing questions and trying to visualise what happened would have been an advantage. Some interviews were very short, even as quick as eight minutes (when 20 are allowed) and badly planned. A number of candidates didn't ask for reaction quotes. One assessor wrote: "The reporter failed to allow the interviewee to answer fully, interrupting with further questions".

Many assessors criticised trainees for not checking name spellings. As a result Graham, Clare and Hall were mis-spelt and the apostrophe in Hall's was missing in too many reports. More worrying was the mis-spelling of names and roads given to reporters in the written brief i.e. French became Fisher, Vivien spelt as Vivian, and Riverside Crescent written as River Crescent.

The incorrect use of language totally changed meanings. For example, the black part-Labrador puppies were described as 'part black Labrador' and 'two black part male Labradors'. In addition, readers were left with strange imagery from this sentence: "a car pulled up and a man got out and dumped it".

Markers did not like the over-zealous and inaccurate descriptions of RSPCA officers as 'animal activists' and the officer as 'a welfare worker'; most readers would then think of the Animal Liberation Front, in the first instance, and social services, in the second.

An increasing number of Americanisms were evident with the use of 'around' instead of 'about' for timings - the first usually used for geographical descriptions. Another example was the use of 'perpetrators' - as one marker put it: "A word more suitable to an American TV cop show".

Despite the odd erratic apostrophe and the confused use of hyphens in ages, some markers thought punctuation had improved and wondered whether the recently published and top selling book Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss may have had something to do with this. A 'must-read' for future candidates of the NCE.

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