Back in March, I was part of a group of Journalists who had the opportunity to interview Oliver Wright, news editor of the Independent and former student at the University of Sheffield about the Liberal Democrat conference.
Wright is an exceptional Journalist, who has worked various positions at many different, including Sheffield’s own The Sheffield Star, as well as national papers such as the Times. He very kindly gave us the chance to ask him a few questions about what his opinion was on the Liberal Democrats, but also what it’s like to be a modern Journalist, and the new challenges ahead for the industry.
One question posed to Wright was how Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg had recently distanced himself and disagreed with Conservative leader David Cameron, on how to tackle extremism and on multi-cultural Britain, and if he thought that over the weekend at the Liberal Democrat conference, would Clegg would further push his opinions and not side with Cameron?
“I think he will, I think that’s one of the key things he’s got to do this weekend is prove that the Lib Dems, although in Coalition with the Conservatives, aren’t the same thing as the Conservatives, and that’s going to be one of the key messages.”
He continued: “I think of the two things that they are going to do this weekend, one is going to say that we’re listening to our members, and that we care about the views of our members, and we value the view our members above those of the Conservatives, and secondly to try and say this is what we have achieved, these are the Liberal Democrat policies, that we can bring to Government and we have already achieved, and we are going to achieve in the future and we are distinctive from the Conservatives.
Nick Clegg gave an interview to The Independent yesterday on his train up to Sheffield where he deliberately made the point that he disagreed with Cameron on AV (Alternative Vote) in the House of Commons during the Prime Ministers question time and I thought that was very deliberate, it wasn’t a slip of the tongue.”
Wright also gave his advice for people out there considering becoming a Journalist:
“I think the first thing is, you’ve really got to do it, you’ve got to have enthusiasm, it’s not, it’s not really a job, it sounds a bit cliché but it is a vocation. You’ve got to want to talk to people, be interested in talking to people, and want to find out. You’ve got to be nosy. Actually, the writing or the broadcasting, is only a means to communicate with what you’ve found out about whatever it is, and the finding out is the important bit. The writing or the broadcasting is just the means to the end.”
Wright also gave his opinion on the new “paywall” placed on the Times website, which you can hear below:
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