Richard Burton

The latest guest appearance to the Bute Building came from Richard Burton, a print journalist spanning decades and former Editor of the Telegraph online, www.telegraph.co.uk until Europe’s first web-paper had their well publicised makeover during the summer.

Mr Burton's presentation was interesting, well delivered and raised three intriguing points. Firstly, online readers are "fickle cats" and do not possess brand loyalty whereas print readers are like "dogs" and display loyalty. Secondly, a blog is an insight of lives which are more interesting than ours. Mr Burton chose the example of D-list celebrity Chantelle from Big Brother. Finally, new media means new ideas and as times change, we have to adjust.

Crucially, and reassuringly, Mr Burton believes good, old fashioned journalistic skills are still the main requirement in the recruitment process today.

What impressed me most was Richard’s kind intimate afternoon session with us hacks in the newsroom. Despite all the doom and gloom I’ve heard for weeks on end about newspapers are a dying breed, I finally felt the choice I have made of wanting to be a print journalist immediately reignited. Richard's enthusiasm engulfed the room, his knowledge unquestionable and his anecdotes were funny yet importantly meaningful.

I scribbled down the important factors he would look for in a budding journalist at a job interview.

You need to have a driving licence, be smart, focused, respect and the biggest ingredient of all: Endeavour.

This sort of specialist talk is more of what I’d like to hear. It was a pleasure to listen to someone in our field with such vast experience. Respect to Mr Burton.