Last week, I had to make the most difficult phone call I have ever had to make.

“I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but I’m calling from The Scotsman and we understand that someone by this surname was killed in a car crash on the M8 last night. Was it a relative of yours?”

“Yes, it was my cousin.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that and want to offer you my condolences on behalf of The Scotsman. We would like to put an article about the car crash, paying tribute to your cousin, in tomorrow’s paper. Would you or any other relatives be able to talk to me for the article?”

The family did agree to talk, and the parents of the deceased spoke to a colleague of mine. This is the final article we produced:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Tycoon-25–killed-.4883448.jp

Although making this call felt slightly intrusive into the privacy of a grieving family, it also gave the family a chance to have the final word about their son in a national newspaper. And, as my colleague pointed out, it can be comforting at times like this for families to know that the wider community is interested and cares about such a death.

The Gallardo

The crash was, moreover, particularly newsworthy because the car involved was a Lamborghini Gallardo. Although focussed on the tragic loss suffered by one family, the article also highlighted the potential dangers of super cars (the Gallardo has a V-10 engine and can reach 60mph from a standing start in 3.9 seconds) and the dangers of speeding (the Police could not confirm the speed that the car was travelling but the Gallardo has a top speed of 196mph).

Intruding into people’s privacy is part of the job in journalism. The key to doing this with integrity, according to my colleagues at The Scotsman, is being respectful and understanding of their circumstances, even when your editor is threatening to drop the article if you don’t get a key quote from a member of the family for a piece.

 As a 2008 graduate now undertaking a journalism course, graduate unemployment is an issue that is incredibly worrying to me and to many of my friends.  After spending huge amounts of time and money getting a good degree, it seems that  some graduates of 2008 and 2009 will be questioning whether their investment was worth it.

Many large graduate employers are reducing the number of places on their graduate schemes and competition for jobs less affected by the economic downturn – such as teaching and law – has increased dramatically. What is more, graduates will now have to compete for jobs with highly-skilled and experienced workers who have been laid-off in other sectors.

I investigated the problem of graduate unemployment in more detail for a recent article for The Scotsman. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/topstories/Slump-in-graduate-jobs-39is.4864395.jp

Whilst it seems that many people realise that graduate unemployment is a latent issue – which will potentially explode when this years’ graduates leave university in the summer - no-one really knows how to tackle it.

The national internship scheme proposed by the Government last week may go some way towards temporarily alleviating  graduate unemployment, but it is only a stop-gap solution – the proposed internships that will be offered to graduates are only for three months.

It is understandable that companies want to save on the cost of expensive graduate training schemes. On the other hand, talent and innovation are crucial for businesses in order to get through the current economic climate.

As for students, the advice of Professor Nicholas Terry, vice-principal of Abertay University, who I spoke to for my article, gives some hope.

He said: “Students about to graduate are having to adjust their expectations, but this shouldn’t come at the expense of their career ambitions. Most students are mature enough to realise they’ll simply have to adjust to labour market conditions when they graduate. My advice to students who are graduating in 2009 is, firstly, think long-term. Their careers are going to last a lot longer than the financial downturn, so keep some perspective on the matter.”