The face of Meridian South Today, Debbie Thrower says persistence, stamina and patience are all required to be a good reporter.
Debbie, 50 is a well qualified journalist, ‘although it may look like an easy job, knocking on people doors and asking questions, you still have to be persistent, patient and determined – there is a lot of hanging around sometimes.’
Debbie highlights some of the more important skills in the job, ‘you have to be a people person – curious, inquisitive. You mustn’t ever take things at face value. The best journalists are those who are curious about the world, how it works and what makes people tick – if that doesn’t sound like you, then journalism probably isn’t the best career.'
For Debbie it is the small attention to detail that outlines a truly successful broadcast reporter, ‘local news is a very different style from national news but small things like looking up from your monitor back to the camera are very important. Do it too quickly and you come across fidgety, too slowly and you look pompous.’
It takes time and patience to learn, ‘it is very important to learn from others in the industry that are good at what they do. You want to have your own style, but you must take some technique from successful journalists. Look at the Dimbleby’s and Jon Snow. We don’t all ad-lib to fill 15 seconds and sound perfectly natural at it.’
Debbie started her career in newspapers, working for a free weekly newspaper - the Wimbledon Guardian. From there she moved through several publications to working on BBC Radio 2, where she eventually started work with Meridian South Today, co presenting with Fred Dinenage.
Debbie now lives in Southampton with her husband Peter and her two children Bryony, 10 and Samuel, 7.
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