Thanks for that Si.
Ralph - what do you mean by dirt? Were they digging for dirt - for exercise so to speak? Or were they acting out of role and generally being arses?
When I have acted as Simpress I have often asked probing and difficult questions - but for the real world always took the attitude of what happens on ex - stays on ex. Therefore out of the real world media. That includes a genuine MARPOL incident which would have made for quite a decent story
I think students let the thing down by not being real journos. Many I worked with had never been to a press confernece for example. Sometimes the stuff they did was farcical. I had to remind myself that they were students and probably doing their best in the circumstances.
If you are part of a training package that for example a CVS is undergoing for ORI - you need more than students to do the job.
I hope Crown Media do well.
Dan.