David Randall, author of 'The Universal Journalist', speaks at the University of Sheffield

David Randall, currently deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday and author of 'The Universal Journalist', gave the guest lecture to Journalism students on Tuesday 28th October.

A keen and well-tanned Randall, 57, gave an animated talk during which he managed to bounce from rude jokes to sombre reporting. Though he himself stated 'I'm pretty good, but I'm not a great reporter', Randall is widely respected and has worked on a range of broadsheet papers.

Beginning with a test to see which of his two talks would be suitable for us (it was the ruder one, a choice decided by judging our responses to amusing headlines), Randall went on to give an optimistic overview of the future of journalism and the opportunities within it. He said that it didn't matter how the news was delivered - whether in print, or online - as long as the information was delivered. He went on to talk up the opportunity of students to find jobs within the media.

Despite his convincing rhetoric, I expect it is somewhat easier to have this perspective having been in the media for as long as Randall has. On a day when Jeff Jarvis reports on the Christian Science Monitor decision to stop it's press edition and move entirely online however, the opportunities there are will increasingly be multi-media and online.

An early user of the Internet, Randall acknowledged its importance several times during the talk and spoke about his favourite blogs, Metafilter being one of them, in response to a question about his favourite papers. The net did not, however, form the mainstay of his lecture.

Randall spoke to us students about good interviewing techniques, what makes a great reporter, the importance of taking command of the material and getting a good intro, and how we have to make the news into a story - a story which people will want to read.

Randall clearly still enjoys his job, stating that journalism was

'so much fun they ought to arrest you.'

Having received his book from a friend last year I will make more of an effort to read it fully, having started it a number of months ago.

Interesting and very engaging, Randall is a classic British reporter not afraid to accept the changes within the industry and offers an unusually optimistic view of the sector.