I STARTED with Northside People in 1999 and it was my first journalism job after leaving DCU.
It was long before things like Twitter and live news feeds were ever conceived – when you had to actually go out and talk to people to get a story – and I couldn’t have asked for a better training ground.
As a chief news reporter on both Northside papers, I covered everything from crime issues to human interest stories, planning disputes, council meetings and of course, vox pops, where we quizzed locals on the burning issues of the day.
I flitted off to Australia for a year but when I arrived back to Ireland as a penniless backpacker they very kindly took me back for another year.
I eventually left in August 2002 for a job with Independent Newspapers. I now work as the Entertainment and Diary Editor with the Evening Herald, a position I’ve held for eight years.
But I still recall with fondness my time with the paper and the staff who worked there. Who could forget
‘all you could eat Friday’ in Pizza Hut, or our liquid lunches in the local pub when we were feeling flush!
Happy 25th anniversary, guys – and here’s to many more.
?¢ Melanie Finn is the Entertainment and Diary Editor with the Evening Herald.