There is nothing quite like getting published for the first time. The jubilation you feel after all that effort you put into your article and then seeing your name in the byline of a national newspaper once it is published.

If somebody told me a year ago that I would now be blogging for the Independent, the Huffington Post and the New Statesman I would have laughed at them. But that was when I didn’t realize how journalism works.

Journalism is very much a cat and mouse game you see. As in, the wannabe hacks are the cat and the national newspapers/ magazines are the mouse. To get what you want, sometimes you have to chase them up and when they ignore you – or when they are too busy to respond – you continue to chase them up. And then, finally, you’ll get a response.

But like they say, you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. When you do pitch to the deputy editor, or whoever else you have managed to stalk down, it’s imperative that you come across as professional and friendly in your pitch. Scrutinize your article several times, meticulously checking for factual and grammatical errors before emailing it.

Now one year into journalism, I have interviewed a plethora of big names. Alastair Campbell being one of the bigger ones. He said in the interview that, in order to be a successful journalist, not only do you need “self confidence and inner confidence”, but you need to think you are better than the next person up.

This is why you should never be afraid to pitch above your weight. What’s the worst that could happen if the Guardian, Independent et al say ‘no’. If anything it’s a good thing. It means that your article wasn’t quite good enough and you can keep improving. Sometimes they will even tell you where you have gone wrong.

Also, do not underestimate the power of Twitter. If you catch somebody at the right moment and paste them a link to your blog, not will they read it, but they might even follow you back. Once you are in that position you can even send them direct messages. This is the ideal tool for wannabe journos.

Omar Shahid

Twitter: omar_shahid

Having looked at various comments on national newspaper sites about the comments of David Starkey, I have found that I am by no means a minority in what I believe. What Starkey said was indeed shocking, but not racist. When was the last time we heard an educated professional say the kinds of things he did on national TV? It’s rare. When we are shocked by things it naturally provokes an unnatural reaction: everyone became defensive, went on the attack and called him racist.

One of the main problems with our society, and religion for that matter, is that everybody interprets things from their own narrow frame of references and perspectives and hardly ever look at the whole picture. We need to transcend our narrow perspectives and not look at things so literally.

Starkey clearly said it has nothing to do with “skin colour” but was about a particular “culture”. He’s right. The culture he was talking about here is the egotistic, materialistic and gangster culture endemic within much of our society. The behaviour and language of many white people has been adopted from a PARTICULAR black culture. This particular black culture is endemic within the rap/hip hop subculture which espouses messages of violence and materialism. Were white people the pioneers and original hip hop superstars?

Starkey also said that if we were to turn the TV off, we might think that David Lammy, MP, was white. If he wasn’t interrupted so frequently he might have further explained that what he meant (I think) was that you can’t tell the difference when an educated white or black person speaks.

When white people talk in a certain way, for example, ‘man is gona do him a ting’ why do people think to themselves: why is he trying to act black? Why? Where has that white person got that language from? Other white people? This is the point Starkey was trying to make.

Maybe he was trying to be racist. But I don’t think he was. And anyway nobody should dare accuse me of anything when my best friend (well joint best friend, I have a few best friends) is black, when I went to sixth form (a 85% white school) most of my friends were black, and I’ve got Jamaican in me. I will be the first to stand up for black people if they are being attacked or victimised, but in this case, I think people got the wrong end of the stick.

Omar Shahid

Just a quick point. It seemed as if the riots first began because of the death of Mark Duggan who was shot by Police. This may be true, but since then, it has turned into a bunch of animals causing havoc. This has nothing to do with police brutality or government cuts but it is all to do with the lack of morality in our society.

98% of the youth probably haven’t encountered direct brutality from the police, nor have they been unfairly treated, yet they see the police as an evil entity. Do they not know that the police go out everyday and protect society? What would happen to the country if the police stopped working for a few days? Of course some police do abuse their powers, but that shouldn’t reflect on the whole police force.

These youth are frustrated. Some say because of a lack of jobs, deprivation and government cuts. That’s not true. The youth are frustrated because they have no sense of purpose in life.

All these thugs will soon be caught, the majority of it all is on camera. The worst thing, though, is that these idiots burning down businesses, shops and houses mean that innocent people are losing their livelihoods. If a Father or Mother loses his or her job, their only source of income, how are they suppose to feed their family?

The youth aren’t thinking about all of this. To be honest, this is the cause of the whole situation. Nobody is thinking. But we’re not trained to use our minds in this society, we’re trained to use our ego. And that is the root cause of all the problems.