Do you remember Oxdown? The infamous place with a weekly newspaper where mayhem and drama tend to break out on deadline day?
To mark the 50th anniversary of the National Council for the Training of Journalists, its chairman Rodney Bennett-England took an affectionate look at the fictitious town that can be the making of a young reporter’s career.
Oxdown is a newsy sort of town, and over the years has had many headline-grabbing stories.
More than 20,000 journalists have written lead stories for this weekly newspaper, yet you will never see it listed on their CVs.
Most journalists know the Oxdown Gazette is now published on a Saturday, although for most of them it used to be a Tuesday.
And it was always on press day that big stories broke and there was an inevitable scramble to gather information and write up copy to meet publication deadlines.
The Oxdown Gazette is a “testing” experience for all trainees for it is used as part of a face-to-face interview test.
Twice yearly approximately 500 young journalists from daily and weekly newspapers throughout the UK, plus news agencies and other media, sit the exam.
There are given a short brief to study before being led in for the interview – usually with a key personage – and they have up to 20 minutes to flesh out the facts provided, and one hour 15 minutes to write a story of 300 words – with penalty points for under or over writing – for the next day’s edition.
Oxdown has its share of major fires, traffic accidents, crime, feuds, redevelopment plans, controversies, explosions and violent assaults.
Scores of editors and senior journalists help on the day as interviewees and assessors. They all give their time voluntarily and without pay. Most have sat the test themselves, so they know how fraught candidates can be.
Sometimes real police officers, firemen and ambulance staff take part to add a touch of reality.
Increasingly fewer trainees conduct face-to-face interviews, using the telephone instead to save time and expense.
Some will simply run out of questions after 10 minutes. Others would overrun if they were not stopped after 20 minutes.
The interview test is a very important part of assessing basic reporting competence, yet sadly only half manage to pass first time.
The editor of The Oxdown Gazette rightly insists on high standards from his reporting staff.