Meet the Media
Jennifer Bray is a political reporter with The Irish Times. The UCD graduate previously worked as deputy political editor of the Irish Daily Mail and The Times, Ireland.
How did you get into journalism?
I deliberately chose to apply to study at UCD because I knew it had two great student newspapers – the Observer and the Tribune – and I was absolutely certain that I wanted to be a journalist. I figured that in order to get ahead of the pack the best thing I could do was get as much experience as early as possible. While I did write for one issue for the Observer, I switched over to the far superior (no abuse, please) College Tribune and ended up editing that. While there I managed to get a few stories into the Sunday Tribune and I basically pestered the editors until they gave me an internship while I was in college. I seem to remember telling them when my internship ended that I would be back the following Tuesday regardless, and would chain myself to the desk if they tried to make me leave. I got a few odd looks but it worked in the end.
How do you think the profession is evolving?
Unsurprisingly, the digital age has transformed journalism. When I started out the entire focus was on writing good quality exclusive stories for the next day’s (or week’s) paper. A website was seen as an interesting add-on. Now, it feels like it is almost the other way around. Because of this there is more pressure to write quickly and because of the concentration of media outlets we have to offer our readers more than ever before to keep them engaged and most importantly subscribed. In the Irish Times we do this through digests, podcasts, analysis and subscriber-only content but we always keep the focus on original and in-depth journalism. Basically, I drink 150 per cent more cups of coffee now than I did 12 years ago.
What are the challenges of working across media platforms?
The two things that spring to mind are accuracy and time management. If you’re writing breaking news for the web, you cannot sacrifice all the usual checks you would make before publication even if you know another media outlet might get there before you. Normally the only people who care about who was ‘first’ with a story are other journalists so a lot of it can be an ego thing. Of course we want to deliver the news first to our subscribers and readers but never at the expense of accuracy. Secondly, because journalists are now expected to be across web, print, podcasts and lots of other commitments, there’s not really much time to waste. So the days of skulling pints in between editions of the newspaper are (sadly) gone.
“If you’re writing breaking news for the web, you cannot sacrifice all the usual checks you would make before publication even if you know another media outlet might get there before you.”
Who do you admire most within the industry and why?
It sounds trite but I have huge respect for all my colleagues both in the Irish Times and other outlets. There is a lot that goes into even just one edition of the paper. There’s so much that people don’t see that happens behind the scenes from the work put in by news editors to the photographers and marketers and people who get the story onto your phone and tablet or onto your doorstep.
What has been your most significant story or project to date?
In politics, I’ve put a good bit of effort into trying to uncover what exactly is happening at the National Children’s Hospital especially given the fact it will cost the taxpayer billions of euro. The project has not been properly managed in the past and will continue to be a subject of political controversy in the coming years. The project which perhaps stays with me the most was a campaign I worked on to try and get potentially life-saving drugs made available to cancer patients at a time when the Government was saying they were not “cost-effective”. The campaign was ultimately successful but mainly thanks to the tenacity of the patients who showed incredible strength during what were already incredible difficult times. Right now, the most significant project is Election 2020. It’s a fascinating election and historic in many ways.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
I love to read and if given the chance I will devour a book in a day. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy a glass or two of red wine and a block of cheese. I have always wanted to write a book but I never get around to it because I’m convinced the ideas are awful and my friends might disown me. I’m also from a big family of 10 children and I try my best to spend as much time with them as I can and not to bore them into infinity talking about politics.
