What's it like to be an editor?

I am Fiona Lettifi. I have been living in Dubai for 10 years now. I am French. I'm 14 and I study in Lycee Georges Pompidou.

For the past few years, I've become more interested in journalism. This is an account of my experience working as an editor for a day at Notes, Gulf News.

I like writing as it is a way to inform people about important global issues. I am in grade nine and we are required to complete a five-day training programme in any company to learn about the working world.

I took this opportunity to do what I really want to... to be in journalism. So, this is want I did in the Gulf News newsroom:

My work as a reporter

I visited university campuses at the Dubai Knowledge Village where I talked to students. As a reporter, I had to ask questions.

A reporter needs good English — to speak and to understand others. He or she must adapt the language according to the audience.

With the notes I collected, I was able to write a story and give in a set of student responses, which you can read on Page 12-13.

Stories I worked on

I've worked on two stories but I wasn't lucky at all. In fact, the people whom I had to contact to help me with the story didn't answer my calls at all.

The first story was about two students' doing their internships at an agency. I wrote out the questions that I wanted to ask but despite 10 calls, the public relations officer did not answer.

So I was assigned another story.

This one was about two new programmes at a local college. I once again tried contacting the public relations officer of the college but got no answer.

A language problem

When I went out as a reporter to the universities in Dubai, I had some difficulties with speaking and understanding English.

I believe my English isn't good enough. So I have made a decision to improve my English.

My photo-shoot

When they told me that I will have to go for a photo shoot, I thought it would be for no longer than 10 minutes.

We spent an hour-and-a-half to get good pictures! The results are on this page and on the Notes cover.

Well, it was interesting and funny. I had to smile all the time.

Things I would want to write about:

If I was an editor, I think I would write on events in the world like global warming and other important issues, which everyone in the world should know about it. Then, the readers would get an idea about them and get an idea on how to help.

Students will then be informed and might take part in organisations that are specialising on the environment, for example.

Stories about poverty and child exploitation are also important to make readers realise that our world is far from perfect.

A desk job

Becoming an editor is a very attractive job for me. It involves responsibilities and ideas to create a story.

I liked being an editor because I wasn't good as a reporter. If I improve my English, maybe I'll change my mind?

An editor's job

Being an editor involves different responsibilities such as choosing the stories, pictures, briefing the reporter about the questions he or she wants the reporters to ask… in a word everything.

Then an editor decides how the article will be presented to the readers — the fonts, placement of text and pictures, etc.