Student's homelessness documentary on LEP website.

By UK Journalism

A third year radio student has produced a hard-hitting radio documentary that has been snapped up by the Lancashire Evening Post to appear on its website.

Julie Barrie spent months on the streets of Preston making a documentary about the homeless for a university project and says she chose the subject because it was a worthwhile topic.

Emotive

ìI wanted to work on something I could get my teeth into and had the ability of being emotive.î

She got in touch with the LEP after speaking to its former investigative reporter Nick Owens who spent a week undercover as a homeless person last year. After listening to the final edit Nick suggested Julia contact the paper.

She said: ìI spoke to the LEP and then had a meeting with the editor and it was up on the website within the week.î

Julia tried to cover all aspects of the problem in her documentary. She spoke to a homeless shelter, the council and homeless people themselves.

ìI wanted to include the heart wrenching stories through to show the public these people sat on the street maybe homeless but they are still human and deserve respect. All those I interviewed were happy to help me and were so polite and would shake my handî she said.

Julia enjoyed using the radio as a way of getting her point across and says would love to make more documentaries in the future.

Positive Feedback

ìI loved using music to raise emotion. Radio is a great medium, its exciting when you get an interviewee with a great voice to work with. The response to this documentary has been fantastic, everyone has enjoyed listening to it and Iíve had really good feedback so far.î

Since completing the project Julia admits it has made her think more about homelessness.

She said: ìI think everyone can muster a level of sympathy for people on the streets ñ I hate walking past a homeless person and being unable to help. I feel guilty if I donít give money but hopefully through this documentary people will act more kindly towards them.î

ìEven if you canít give money, acknowledge they are there ñ they donít want to be ignored and donít deserve to be treated like second class citizensî she added.

More info
BA (Hons) Journalism
MA Broadcast Journalism
PGDip Broadcast Journalism
Listen to Julia's documentary
Lancashire Evening Post

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