Ok, if I only do one extra-curricular thing at Oxford, this has to be it. At the moment I'm very interested in a career in journalism and am pointing myself that way. I really, really want to write for one of these two newspapers and I was wondering if anyone here does or knows how to help me with these two questions:
1. What makes the papers different/one better than the other apart from their political leanings?
2. How do I get involved?
I'm quite lucky because I already have quite a bit of experience in journalism for someone of my age and hope my portfolio (which I still have to make...) will be impressive! I've been writing a weekly column for a local newspaper here for well over a year now (about 65 columns published), won the school prize for contribution to our school magazine for organising the art work and submitting a feature, some articles and a poem!, got an interview/smallish feature published in a local newspaper about a fear of flying course (long story behind that one, but it was on page 3 so thought it worked out well), got almost a whole page in the same paper I do the column for with a big article on Poland including four black-and-white photographs as well, won best Press Officer in the regional finals of the Bar National Mock Trial Competition 2004 etc. etc.
So... what's the best way to contact the papers? Should I email them before I arrive in Oxford? Will they interview me and expect to see all of the above in a portfolio? And excuse this question if it seems naive, but do you get paid for writing for them? I don't mind at all if you dont though! (I need the money, but that sort of experience is priceless to me)