alumnifocus
Highflyer Former student Melissa Kite reveals the inside world of political journalism to Will Chamberlain and Laura Dean
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any Bablake students will be familiar with Melissa Kite, the ex-pupil and Deputy Political Editor of The Sunday Telegraph, who was our guest speaker at the prize giving ceremony of 2006. We were given the chance to interview Melissa in July 2007, and saw this as an ideal opportunity to quiz her about life after Bablake, the world of journalism, and the controversial world of politics. Picture Westminster and you see ageing buildings, towers and over-sized clocks, but we were met at Portcullis House by a vast glass frontage, airport-style security, and a bustle of activity. We were met by Melissa at 1 o’clock, and her presence was our ticket to entry into this modern wing of the Houses of Parliament. After forcing a few young MPs’ assistants off a table in the cafeteria (which had the same open, expanding feeling of the Birmingham Bull Ring, of course minus a Topshop and Selfridges), we could begin discussing with Melissa her experiences in the ever growing world of the media. The first question on anybody’s mind is how did she get to this point? From studying at Bablake to flying to the States with Tony Blair seems like quite a journey. ‘I studied English, History, French and General Studies at A Level, and got A, B, C, D in that order!’ Melissa laughs when we ask her about her Bablake education. ‘And yes, I think they helped me in my career; especially English and History, where essay writing skills taught me how to put my thoughts into a coherent order. When I have to put together a ‘write through’, which is one to two thousand words on the weeks’ political
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the wheatleyan 2006/07
developments, such as the advent of the Brown government or trouble in the Tory party for example, the analytical techniques learnt at school really help.’ Melissa tells us how she went on to study English Literature at the Royal Holloway College in London, but what really intrigues us is how she made her break into the journalistic world. ‘I always liked the concept of seeing my work in print,’ Melissa tells us. ‘I gained a postgraduate diploma in newspaper journalism, and then got a job with The Worcester Evening News.’ Melissa then explains to us her excitement when she got a job with the Press Association in London, believing she had made it into the capital. ‘But practically before I even got in the door, the editor met me, took me to a café in West London and sat me down, and told me that my job was in Belfast, which was certainly not the best place to be in 1995!’ This was clearly a major turning point for Melissa. She says she’s immensely thankful that she took up this offer, and her three years in Belfast were the best years of her life. Whilst in Northern Ireland, Melissa had her most interesting journalism experience, covering the Good Friday Agreement: ‘It happened in the early hours. They came out and announced this amazing agreement which we had waited for for so long.’ We decide to question her about other particularly interesting moments in her career, and Melissa describes a plane trip she was on with Tony Blair in July 2003 when it was discovered that David Kelly had committed suicide. ‘It was an unbelievable trip, and really tragic. Instead of the captain speaking over the
‘...we can now appreciate why Melissa believes that politics is like a ‘theatre’; a world of drama, comedy, tragedy and of course, entertainment’