JOLYON JENKINS

Periodical Director, Offbeat Media Ltd

by Ella Gauci and Megan Geall

Who did you think was going to make it ‘big’ in journalism from your course?

Leyla Ertugrul. And she did.

What is the main challenge to journalism in current times?

Google’s near monopoly in the online ad market which has sucked revenue from journalism and virtually destroyed it at a local level.

What is something you wish someone would have told you about the industry when you frst started out?

Just because you want something to be true doesn’t mean it is. You’re better off discovering this before you go to press rather than after.

Have you ever had a journalism related dream/nightmare?

Sleeping – no. Awake – plenty.

But it also means we have to work much harder at verifying a story.

What is one piece of journalism that you are proudest of?

In 1991, I reported from the mountains in northern Iraq where several million Kurds had fed to escape attacks by Saddam Hussein. They were living in tents with little food or clean water. I then few into northern Iraq with US soldiers to report on the safe havens being built for the Kurds.

Who is an inspiration to you?

My mum has been a great inspiration to me. She came from a modest background and saw education as a means to a better life. She spent 45 years teaching hundreds of school children as she was keen to pass on her hunger for knowledge. She was a feminist, as am I, and believed passionately in equal opportunities for all.