Twenty-eight-year-old Archie Bland’s recent promotion to deputy editor of The Independent, makes him the youngest to hold this role in the paper’s history. The Indy claims he is also the youngest deputy editor working in nationals today. The son of former chairman of the BBC’s board of governors, Sir Christopher Bland. He was named Guardian Student Columnist of the Year in 2005 and received the Fulbright Alistair Cooke Award in Journalism for 2006-7 which enabled him to study at Columbia University Graduate School in Journalism. Here, Archie reflects on his rapid climb to the top and his impressions of being a young senior in the business
Archie Bland’s tips
I did a lot of journalism at university. I edited the student paper and after that I took a gap year and did work experience, went travelling and got a Fulbright scholarship for Columbia University’s year-long course in journalism which was great.
It was quite different from City University or other London courses and was probably less useful for getting a job because the contacts weren’t in the right place. I then worked as an editorial assistant to a journalist, but I probably should have been getting shifts in papers as well.
After applying for tons and tons of jobs, I got a position as a graphics researcher at The Independent on Sunday.
Once you are in the building, it is 10 thousand times easier to get a job, once they know who you are and can trust you.
I moved onto the comments desk at The Independent, then became foreign editor, then Saturday editor and now deputy editor.
I think The Indy is somewhere where lots of young people are doing interesting jobs.
It is a paper where they are willing to recognise the right fit for a person, whatever their age. There are lots of people at the paper encouraged to pitch in if they’re young. You want to represent everyone in your newsroom – all the different voices in conversation who might be buying the paper. I have done quite a lot of features. I’ve never had a reporting job so I’ve never got a fantastic scoop, but I really enjoyed writing on the Arab Spring last year – that stands out the most.
I am one of two deputy editors, and I am very much the junior.
My remit will be across the whole paper and diving in whenever I think things need work. The paper is a very unhierarchical place. An editorial type job is to get the best out of people who know far more than you do.
It is just about refining. I will be looking at the day-to-day paper and crafting it, but also making decisions, working on longer-term, big-ticket projects. At the moment, I am working on Saturday’s relaunch and the new arts magazine part of it.
We are also redoing the travel section and adding new writers. I haven’t got a silver bullet to solve circulation. We are going to be bolstering the paper and, with a price rise next week, we are going to match it with content.
For aspiring journalists, I think the route you take in depends massively on what you want to do
If you want to work on a paper, go there and just keep pitching all the time. Journalism school is more and more a good idea, but it is not essential. Especially for those first jobs and in terms of work experience, I would say, ‘Don’t be an idiot!’ For example, if your deadline is at three o’clock, make sure that you don’t file your copy at four o’clock, and generally be really reliable.
The sports and news desks of The Indy and the Evening Standard have been put together and are working well.
Chris Blackhurst is now editorial director of the two papers and there are things that would make sense to put together, but we are always properly conscious that they are two papers doing distinct things. It is a process that’s continually ongoing.