Vanity publishing

A council story I covered for my course is the front page splash at the Gainsborough Standard!

Oh, the giddy heights! I am particularly chuffed because this is the first West Lindsey District Council story I've written: my previous council stories were generated by Gainsborough Town Council.

For non-Gainsborough residents, basically the district council wants to knock down the Guildhall, a prominent town building.

Pictured is Cllr Chris Underwood-Frost signalling his vehement intention to demolish the Guildhall.

Old-fashioned American reporting: cigarettes and beer chasers

Wasting time reading film reviews (I want to take my brother to see Coraline in 3D, but only if its good) I stumbled across film critic Roger Ebert's blog via his quantum physics analysis of Watchmen.

I was particularly taken with a reminiscing entry about his early years as a reporter on the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ebert says journalism is 'the best job in the world', but what he describes is a world apart from modern newsrooms - almost mythical in its antiquity. Having seen so much change and remained on top of his game - I wonder how he feels about the current crisis American newspapers are struggling to deal with.

'Fat' Beyonce: puppy fat or sheer stupidity?

I don't usually care about celebrity news/gossip, but some things irritate me enough to make me comment.

Apparently, Beyonce Knowles used to be so fat it took four people to get her jeans closed.

Now I don't know about anyone else, but to me that screams BUY BIGGER JEANS.

Lets face it, Bee probably isn't talking about having her familly force her into size 22 trousers, is she? Most girls get puppy fat, especially around 10-11, so my immediate mental image is a normal kid trying to squeeze into size six jeans.

It's all overblown nonsense, I'm sure.

The Importance of Shorthand

I took my second shorthand exam today: and failed to pass the 100wpm test for the second time.

It's incredibly frustrating, because outside exam conditions I can write at 100wpm. More importantly, I can transcribe at 100wpm too. I've done it over and over.

But in the exam, both this time and last, I just couldn't perform under pressure.

I had adrenalin rushing through my bloodstream, my hands shook, and although I knew I could write faster, was willing my pen to move across the page and keep up, I could only scream inside my head as I lost track of what the reader was saying.

So I submitted another 90wpm transcription, muttering darkly to myself and feeling utterly useless.

Perhaps it's how men feel when the worst happens?

The problem is I'm not used to failure. I passed my driving test first time, never failed an exam in my life and before this year only had one job rejection. I'm usually confident in exams, secure in my ability to succeed - not necessarily with flying colours, but always to pass.

I don't need 100wpm to pass Sheffield's course, but I do to take the NCE when I get a job in regional press. Damnit, I need 100wpm to have a fighting chance at getting a job in the regional press. And I need to prove I can do it - my word is nothing to an editor compared to a certificate.

So I'll try again next week, of course. But I can't stop thinking about the waste of £11.24...

The long wait for NCTJ journalism qualifications

When I started applying for masters degrees in late 2007, one of the key requirements was National Council for the Training of Journalists accreditation.

Only certain institutions can afford (and can be bothered to jump through strict hoops) to achieve NCTJ accreditation, but I was certain that without an industry-recognised course I might as well not bother postgraduate study.

What I didn't realise when I started at Sheffield was how slow the NCTJ is with its marking. I sat two Media Law exams in January 09, and still, four months on, do not know if I passed or failed.

The wait is ridiculous.

Not only do students not know whether revision is needed for a resit, we are now applying for jobs for the summer: we need to prove our legal knowledge to prospective employers - we need the certification!

To add to my frustration, it is only the law results which take so long. I took shorthand exams earlier in the year and knew the result within a week. Today, I got my grade for the NCTJ Newswriting exam I sat in March (I passed :D).

For journalists sitting their NCEs (the second stage of qualification, for journos actually working) the waiting time is seven long weeks. Listening to reporters agonise over the wait during work experience, I thought that was long enough - but I am now on my fourteenth week of waiting!

Sheffield's law tutor, Mark Hanna, assured us that results will be with us by Friday. The reason is, apparently, that there are not enough markers in the country to get the results back any faster. In that case, perhaps the NCTJ should hire some more staff?