Ingur Zimmerman MA

“Nearly 3,600 people work in the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. The Ministry’s intranet and the Internet are important media through which staff in the various departments in the Ministry can share their knowledge and create support among the public. As deputy editor-in-chief, I am responsible for making this process work, wearing three hats: advisor, editor, and journalist. I keep in close touch with a variety of people, manage a number of staff, and edit the input of policy-makers. I also advise management on the use of various means of communication, and I am constantly on the lookout for newsworthy topics at the Ministry. The master’s in Media and Journalism that I earned from Erasmus has stood me in good stead and allowed me to meet the demands and the challenges of this varied job. It has helped me learn how journalism works and how news is produced, and the skills I honed as a student—analysing, writing, thinking ahead—are indispensable. What I remember most about my master’s is the goal-setting sessions we had at the beginning of the academic year: “Where do you see yourself in five years from now?” My answer was:' I’ll be living and working abroad'. Looking back, I think I sort of threw out that answer a bit casually, but somehow it has stayed with me, and I still keep an open mind about where I will go from here....”