A question which perpetually puzzles me is, how does the media always seem to know and break the news before it has happened?
Something, that is, which continued to confound me until two weeks ago, when I found myself sitting behind a desk at The Birmingham Post, surrounded by real reporters, buzzing telephones, Internet wires and invitations to official Champagne openings.
Well, admittedly there weren't that many Champagne invitations, but I did spot the odd one casually lying around, waiting for a section editor to allocate it to some jammy journalist. One day I just happened to be that lucky person.
The media has always struck me as an elusive entity. Something "out there" which continually pops up in the right place at the right time, thereby revealing news and stories wherever they may be breaking in the world.
Newspapers arrive in the early hours, at newsagents, on doorsteps, in offices, as if by magic; the morning TV news holds the events of the night before while we in the Northern hemisphere are tucked up safely in our beds; radio stations tell us what the likes of Beckham and Posh or Norman and Zoe got up to last night in London's Soho.
The media is everywhere: all-seeing, all-knowing demi-gods that they are.
Even to those of the general public who profess to have little to no respect for the broadcasting world, or "media vultures" as reporters have been fastidiously labelled, there can be no denying that without such a stronghold, we would all live in self-contained cocoons, not knowing and not caring what was happening where and to whom in the outside world.
What sad little lives we would all lead.
OK, so maybe the oracles sometimes get the facts slightly awry. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage was most definitely not a wedding of convenience.
They are totally in love, despite the fact that Mr Cruise is at least two inches shorter than Ms Kidman - without heels.
But rather they make a slight faux-pas about the state of a celebrity marriage, than about the State of Florida as it is hit by one of the worst hurricanes of the year, or the tragic state of affairs currently out of control in East Timor.
I am aware that I have digressed somewhat from my original concern, but somehow I feel that it is my duty, essentially as an outsider (but hopefully not for much longer), to promote the favourable qualities of the press.
The fact that my section editor is sitting immediately to my right at this precise moment, has no sway whatsoever on my scribblings, you understand.
The closest the outside world gets to the mysterious workings taking place on the inside of the media, is through films such as Up Close and Personal or serials like The New Superman.
The Daily Planet is potentially the most popular newspaper in the world, and I defy anyone to dispute that they haven't at some time in their lives believed that this is exactly how a newspaper is run.
Unfortunately for the budding Lois Lane (or fortunately, whichever way you choose to look at it), there are no hunks sporting blue tights with red satin underpants on the outside, flying around these open-plan offices and making news happen.
Indeed, the only low-flying missiles around here are toffees (?), seemingly the stressed reporter's answer to meeting the 4 o'clock deadline. Of course, the media doesn't know the news before it happens, just before the rest of the public know that it has happened.
There is a certain undeniable satisfaction in knowing that when I leave the office at 7pm, I am aware of exactly what is going to feature in tomorrow's papers, and what is likely to be on the 9 o'clock news when I get home.
I have been involved in the whole process of deciding what makes today's news and what can be postponed until tomorrow.
The buzz and faint complacency that is created by that revelation is quite unbelievable, I can tell you.
And far from journalists all being smug, egotistical, self-absorbed story junkies who would shop their own mothers for a splash - sorry, front page story; they are actually very honourable, friendly and helpful members of the community, working because they get the same thrill that I have just described.
Working for the media has actually increased my desire to pursue a career in journalism ten-fold.
And not wishing to give too much away or shatter the illusion of the press as some omnipotent force, suffice to say that the idea of working on a day-to-day basis, not knowing where the next piece of print-worthy news will come from, sounds more appealing than becoming a corporate lawyer - the prefered affluent career of one of my predecessors.
And anyway, I'm quite partial to the odd toffee every now and again.
Sophie Blakemore is a hopeful journalist.
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