National Diploma in Journalism - Greta Cleary

Reporter - Taranaki Daily News / South Taranaki Star

If Greta Cleary had been steered towards journalism at school, she would have become a reporter years ago.

Instead, she worked for the Ministry of Justice as registrar of the court. Now she writes court stories in south Taranaki – and much more.

Greta (26) completed her National Diploma in Journalism at WITT early in 2008 and immediately landed a job in the Hawera office of the Taranaki Daily News.

On the WITT course, students work in a newsroom environment, writing real stories for the daily and community papers, including the North Taranaki Midweek.

Greta says the one-year Level 5 diploma course is excellent preparation for life on a newspaper, especially because subjects are reinforced with practical exercises.

She’s covered court stories, fires, accidents and police emergencies, and covered sport, arts, music, council and written play reviews. And she’s entered the online newspaper world, with a blog called Running Amok about getting back into fitness.

Journalists need to be nosy, good listeners and adaptable, because they will often be out of their comfort zone, Greta says. Greta was initially attracted to journalism because she enjoyed writing.

“But I quickly found out it was much more than writing. It’s about communicating with people and entertaining and informing them in a way that everyone can understand and enjoy.

One of the highlights of the job is meeting interesting people, like Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, journalist/broadcaster Kerre Woodham and musician Paul Young.