Talking to the typewriter helps O’Connor to the top
by
Rebecca Jenkins
The love of storytelling has taken Karen O’Connor around the
globe and to a top position at one of the world’s most respected broadcasting
institutions.
But when this journalist sits down to write a script or edit work for her latest project, she still relies on the techniques learned at Magill campus.
“I always remember the teacher standing there saying ‘talk to your typewriter – say it out loud’,” said O’Connor, the executive responsible for the BBC’s foreign current affairs programs.
O’Connor, who has worked in television for more than 25 years, was one of the first students to take the new Bachelor of Arts course in communications at the then SA College of Advanced Education.
After graduating she reported for Channel Nine, before the lure of a rent-controlled flat tempted her to move to London in 1984. She has called the city her home since.
O’Connor’s career has flourished in Britain, where her roles have included producing news bulletins for breakfast television show TV-AM and many years as a field producer for the BBC covering stories in India and Africa.
But wherever she has worked, O’Connor has always “thanked her lucky stars” for the research and writing skills she learned at Magill.
“I look back at my days there with tremendous respect for the teachers, but also with gratitude for the skills I learned,” she said.
O’Connor remembers being put through her paces learning how to write for print, radio and television.
Talking to the typewriter was just one of the tips she picked up, along with the best ways to find and research stories – a skill she finds often lacking in newcomers to the industry.
“You had to get out there and talk to people – that’s the way to do it,” she said.
“Particularly now with the Internet as a research tool, people have not got the skills of finding out anything for themselves.”
But as well as honing her craft, O’Connor made lifelong friends during her years at Magill and has many fond memories of her time here.
“It was just a really buzzy place. There were a lot of fantastic young people around,” she said. “It was great fun.
“There isn’t a single week that goes past when I don’t appreciate the training I was given.”