15 May 2012 - Sydney GSE Team visit Channel 4 - and meet Jon Snow

Seen here with Jon Snow are (l to r) Team Leader Mark Wallace, Steven Spierings, Claire Thompson, Louise Schwartzkoff and Julia Holman.

Snow Better Time To Embrace The Social Media Storm

Jon Snow, remembers the days when journalists filed their stories through telex and were in the pub by lunch time.

Things have changed, he says.

"These days, where we used to drink, we now tweet," Snow said.

Snow now rises at 6am every morning to file his blog for Channel Four's news site and has almost 180,000 twitter followers.

He believes that, "the Golden Age of journalism is nigh."

The Rotary Australian Group Study Exchange Team were fortunate to be able to catch up with Snow during a visit to Channel Four and ITN's offices and studios today.

GSE Sydney team members Louise Schwarzkoff, Julia Holman, Steven Spierings, Claire Thompson and Team Leader Mike Wallace were joined by Amersham Rotarians Dieter Shaw, Chalmers Cursley, Nick Crabtree and Mike Mason for the vocational visit in London which was a major highlight of the four-week exchange program.

The team spent an afternoon at the Channel Four offices where they had they had the opportunity to meet with The Head of Paralympics Coverage for 2012, Deputy Assistant for Legal and Compliance, Head of News and Digital News and Commissioning Editor to discuss issues facing the media such as the move to digital and online technology.

Channel Four News is produced by ITN and the GSE team visited the ITN studios and met with the Head of Communications and Channel Four News Producer Kirsten Smith to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the News Team who broadcast to about 17.7 million monthly viewers.

Snow has been news anchor for over 30 years at Channel Four and met with the team to discuss his career and the importance of social media to journalists today.

For a young team of media professionals, it was heartening to hear Snow talk about the digital age as an opportunity, rather than a problem. Many people view social media as a 'fad', so it was important to hear Snow confirm what we already knew - social media is an essential way to communicate with our audiences in this day and age.

"Using platforms such as twitter means that finally, our audiences have a voice to talk back," Snow said.

The GSE was then able to watch the Channel Four News go to air at 7pm from the control room, on the day that News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks was charged for her involvement in the phone hacking scandal.

Not a bad day to be in London on a media tour in London, the Sydney Group Study Exchange 2012, agreed.

By Claire Thompson
Group Study Exchange Team Sydney