Yvonne Gaskill at work with Coventry University Media Students

by Vlad Mares

Former iTV anchor, Yvonne Gaskill, came on the 17^th of May in the Ellen Building to attend and present the journalism and media student’s news day.

With an impressive CV containing papers such as: “Lichfield Mercury” or “Express and Star” or radio stations such as Signal Radio in Stoke, Yvonne helped students with their scriptwriting and gave lots of useful tips gathered from her 14 years of experience in the media.

But why would such a figure retire from what she is best at ?

“I have 2 children and I was missing a lot of them. I was a little bit tired and I was not doing my motherly duties well. So I thought the time was right to do some other things that would have fitted better with the family.”

She still does interviews for Sky as a freelancer, but now she mainly focuses on corporate work. “Both presenting voiceovers, hosting conferences and I also do media training, teaching individuals how to deal with the media.”

Working with Coventry University students was a pleasant experience for Yvonne, especially taking into consideration the quality of their work.

“Good stuff, good writing, good ideas and obviously some things to learn. We all have to start somewhere”

The advice she’d offer to media students and to any young aspiring journalist in general is to “get all the work experience that you can, watch the news and see how a proper journalist does his work. Watch the professionals working and emulate them. In radio, the sound is the king , while in TV the pictures are the king.”

The journalism second years from Coventry University had a lot to gain from working with her, so let’s see if they will follow in her footsteps in media world.