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Juliette Foster - Guest of the month



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Juliette's career in broadcast journalism began in 1985; after graduating from university she trained as a Radio Journalist at the London College of Printing. After leaving the course with a diploma and a shorthand speed of 80 words a minute, she worked as a freelance reporter for BBC Radio London.

A year later she managed to get her first job in television as a researcher for the prestigious BBC current affairs programme "Brass Tacks". A year after landing the post, Juliette was on the move again, but this time as one of six young people specially selected by the BBC to train as television reporters. Over a two - year period she was taught the art of writing for television, and at the same time, gained valuable production and editorial skills. These were put to the test when - as part of her training - she was sent to three BBC regional news centres for six month working attachments. Her travels took her to Newcastle, Belfast, and Glasgow. Northern Ireland was her favourite newsroom because the staff were friendly and helpful and through their kindness, she began to understand the region's complicated politics, and acquire a taste for Guinness! Those two years may well have been tough, exasperating, and nerve wracking but they were ultimately rewarding, as they gave her a powerful foundation on which to build her career. In 1990 Juliette left the BBC and joined the breakfast television channel TV-am as a production journalist.

Unlike the BBC, TV-am was a haven of colour (mainly pink) that brimmed with energy and enthusiasm. The Camden Lock headquarters were equally memorable, earning the nickname "Egg Cup Towers" because of the three - foot plaster eggs and cups dotted around the rooftop! Within a year of joining the company Juliette was promoted to Regional Reporter for the East and West Midlands. It was a demanding post punctuated by long hours, late night editing sessions, and very little sleep! However, there were occasional consolations such as filming the preparation of an elaborate Indian feast and then getting to eat the finished product. Delicious! But in the early 1990s TV-am bit the dust when the company lost the battle to keep its broadcasting franchise. The staff had to leave and Juliette was forced to hit the freelance trail. It wasn't easy given that the redundancies had occurred at the height of an economic recession. However over a four year period she built up an impressive portfolio of media clients including BBC Radio, BBC World Service Television News, Channel 4 "Dispatches", and Associated Press Television.

In 1996 Juliette traded it all in for life as a business journalist. Even though she doesn't have an economics background the US business channel Bloomberg hired her to produce and present their output. As Juliette would discover, a non-financial background doesn't stop a journalist from getting information out of the experts.
For example, during a live interview an influential member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee accidentally told her that - in his opinion - UK interest rates would have to rise by the end of the year. Bloomberg gained an exclusive whilst the professor got a rap on the knuckles from other MPC members! In 2000 Bloomberg agreed to supply morning and afternoon business bulletins for Sky Television, and it was through this connection that Juliette was "discovered" by BSkyB. In January 2001 and after much deliberation she agreed to join Sky News: she has never looked back. Initially she presented the station's morning business bulletins, but was later joined the newsroom where she has presented such flagship programmes as Sunrise, Live at Five, and Sky News at Ten. These days Juliette divides her time between presenting Sky's evening and weekend news programmes, along with business bulletins at the London Stock Exchange. She's the first to concede that her job isn't always easy and - in spite of what the public believes - is far from glamorous. But she sticks with it because it's enjoyable and she gets a powerful buzz from the adrenaline of live television.

 
 
 
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