Politics Writer for
The Hook
Autumn 2019 was undoubtedly the climax to the political saga of controversy surrounding Brexit. During that period I covered some of the actions as a writer for The Hook. Having made a callout for entertainment writers, I pitched to them the option of having some political coverage on their website, arguing that politics, if written correctly, can have the same entertainment value as other parts of their news coverage did.
They took a chance on me and I worked with them to agree on what style and angle to approach the coverage from. It was slightly daunting but on reflection it was a delight to have been able to write some genuine political journalism aged just 19.
What I got out of my time at The Hook
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How I developed
It was really exciting to have discussions with the editorial team at The Hook, first pitching the idea to them and secondly discussing how they’d like the idea executed.
This was my first time writing about national politics, and while I was passionate, it was one of my key aims to write in a way that was not only accessible and entertaining, but provided a gateway for readers to also find interest and perhaps one day a passion for it.
It also enhanced my newsgathering skills. It’s relatively easy to follow national news and report second-hand on whatever happens to be dominating the current news cycle. However being given a brief to ensure articles were fun and entertaining meant I wasn’t simply looking for the biggest stories, but instead constantly filtering for political news that was actually funny.
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What I found challenging
It goes without saying that a 19-year-old uni student and a few political podcasts doth not a Laura Kuenssberg make. However having pitched this entire area of coverage myself I was essentially acting as the sole political expert on the site, something I would be woefully underprepared for in any paid professional setting. I found it tricky to strike the right balance between appealing to a non-specialist audience without ending up patronising them or making articles boring by unnecessarily labouring the point I was trying to make.
I also therefore struggled to improve massively as I simply didn’t have an experienced political journalist advising me on the wealth of mistakes I can already point to just a couple of years later.
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My fondest memory
It felt like I was getting a taste of my dream, covering the national ups and downs of politics.
Being conscious of the need to make things light-hearted and appealing to the target audience, I particularly enjoyed trying to find ways to explain the nitty gritty of the Brexit negotiations to this audience.
In one article I came up with the idea of comparing the EU and UK’s negotiations over Northern Ireland to that of Sony and Disney’s negotiations over the Spiderman franchise. It was admittedly one of my wackier ideas, but it was an accurate analogy that may well have appealed to Marvel fans which were definitely one of the audiences I knew were already targeted by The Hook’s other articles.