Interview With A Journalist

‘I love interviewing ordinary people to whom something extraordinary has happened’

Polly Dunbar claims that good reporters are “interested in people and what makes them tick, and curious about the world around them.”

Miss Dunbar, 27, works as a journalist for the Mail On Sunday. Earning an impressive £40,000 a year, she enjoys a busy and successful career which can take her to all kinds of places and people.

‘None of my days are ever the same,’ Dunbar says, ‘I can find myself doing anything. I’m often called by the newsdesk when I’m at home and asked to get on a plane to go somewhere, or get in my car and drive somewhere in Britain.’

Miss Dunbar’s hours vary as she works for a Sunday newspaper. At the beginning of the week, she will do an average eight hour day; but towards the weekend can easily work ‘from first thing in the morning to last thing at night.’

Dunbar, from London, completed a year-long postgraduate diploma in newspaper journalism at the University of Central Lancashire after finishing a degree in English. During her diploma she was able to have some work experience on the Daily Express, and was lucky enough to be accepted onto the paper’s graduate training scheme in 2004. Of the experience Dunbar says ‘it was a great way to start. I was thrown in at the deep end and had to pick the job up very quickly.’

Miss Dunbar says her favourite field of journalism is real-life. ‘I love interviewing ordinary people to whom something extraordinary has happened…I believe reporting should be both informative and entertaining…In the media, there’s something for everyone, and I believe that’s a positive thing.’