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.

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?

The spiralling dilemma of journalism students: class of 2009

It seemed too good to be true - a media organisation running two graduate schemes?
In the middle of a credit crunch? Seriously?

But it was not to last. The Press Association has officially cancelled its Multimedia Journalist Traineeship for 2009.

Now, according to the Guardian, applicants were sent a letter last week. As I'm on work experience at Reading I haven't seen mine, but I'm sure it's waiting for me on the doormat. I found out about the whole thing from Journalism.co.uk yesterday.

This leaves only the Times and PA's production journalist scheme left for those hoping to get onto the nationals.

As another door slams shut, the chances of finding meaningful employment in this sector I so dearly want to work in seem slim. Already this year, the Telegraph and Guardian have cancelled their schemes, and Trinity Mirror froze their trainee recruitment last year, although interestingly their website doesn't mention this. I guess Dianne Reilly had a lot of students to disappoint.

The Daily Mail, while apprently keeping its traineeship, was so swamped with applicants that most were rejected immediately to get the numbers down.

So what is left? Ben Spencer tries to keep upbeat and positive but basically for new starters, fresh out of university with few contacts and no money, the future looks grim.

I almost feel sorry for the Times HR department.

A jigsaw of information: news agencies, national and local press

I'm nearly at the end of my week with INS News Agency, and it's been something of an eye-opener.

INS is quite large and supplies copy for the national tabloids (amongst others), focusing on court reporting and quirky stories in the South East of England.

As with all media organisations there is a lot of office work, but I'm encouraged by the amount of time journalists spend away from their desks, whether in court or door knocking as the case may be.

What this week hammered home to me is the fierce inter-connectivity of media. The nationals take stories from the locals, the locals trace national stories back to their area, and the agencies float between the two, harvesting information from one and passing it to the other, and vice versa. While the pressure is still on to find original stories and sell them to the nationals, a large part of agency work seems to be getting information across as quickly as possible, regardless of where that information orignally came from.

Editorially the week's been a real lesson in audience understanding. The demands of writing for national dailies are completely at odds with local audiences, and my carefully written NCTJ-style copy has been shredded into INS style, which amuses me no end.

The nature of blogs

I have been thinking about the evolution of blogs for some time now.

When I started my first blog on Livejournal way back in 2003, they were considered the preserve of the young, the bored and the geeky. The majority of blogs were highly personal, more like an online diary chronicling feelings, hopes and events in everyday life. Because of the aforementioned user groups, there was a lot of angst, memes and unintelligible waffle about computer developments.

My old blog dwindled away. There were many reasons (my third year dissertation was a definite factor) but the main one was that blogs had lost their appeal for me. The new kid on the block, Facebook, was more exciting, more accessible, more exclusive. Facebook used elements of blogging in its Notes application, but the interactivity was shortened by speeding the process up. Facebook was about groups, and photos, and automatic updates. Myspace became the new place for emo kids, Facebook distracted the bored (and sometimes got them fired) and geeks had already moved on from both anyway.

Now, Twitter is website de jour. No space for long, reflective posts there, oh no. It's short, sharp, shite, every minute, every day. Sometimes it seems if you aren't on Twitter you aren't worth listening to.

So what has happened to the humble weblog? Has it been discarded as outdated technology, like chatrooms and automatic messengers. It has grown up. Like all technology that once was new and now is old, it suddenly seems much easier to understand. The boundaries between news and opinion blur on blogs - bloggers are rarely objective, but are a valuable source of information. Bloggers tend to be serious professionals seeking genuine debate, and a blog's interactivity - its hyperlinks and comments - makes it an ideal place for discussion of any subject.

Now, politicians and businesses are blogging, with agendas naturally but also with genuine desire to get in touch with their constituents and consumers.

The media adopted blogs to save their credibility: trust us, say bloggers, we are here and we are answerable to your views. You can disagree with us and we can reply directly to you - isn't that better than a letter to the editor? Journalists no longer control the news - they are fighting to stay one step ahead of the man on the street. Blogs give them to the chance to get the next story first.

Of course, the real question is: where do blogs go from here?

Instructions for a better you - student detoxing

An article I wrote for Sheffield's ForgePress Lifestyle has appeared online.

Take a look. Who knows, it could change your life!

The Alfie Patten story goes on.

My last blog contained my initial response to the Sun's 'boy-dad' story.

Over the weekend, the story has (predictably) escalated, with two older boys cashing in by claiming paternity and an alleged row between Alfie's divorced parents about who has neogtiated the highest payout for their story.

Columnists and politicans alike have spewed out lamentations about 'Broken Britain', suggestions for improvement, and the all-important blame, and everyone on the web has an opinion. Sam Ellis points out that Maisie and her parents need support but I repeat my opinion - Alfie has been used to sell his story, nothing more. He has been treated appallingly, his naivete exploited. How is that ethical?

The only reason this story has impact is because Alfie looks so young. If he looked his age, then there would be nothing exceptional to write about.

The Sun's 'boy-dad' revelation

Browsing the newsstands this morning on the way to uni, my eye was caught by the Sun's glaring headline 'Dad at 13'. The 'exclusive' story is also on the Sun's website, and the basic gist is a 13 year old boy called Alfie Patten has become a father despite the fact he looks about ten and his voice hasn't broken.

The Sun has done its best to sound neutral and non-judgemental, reporting how the fifteen year old mother, Chantelle Steadman, conceived after having sex once with Alfie. They decided to keep the baby but didn't tell anyone until Chantelle's mother guessed.

The pictures of Alfie cradling a child a third his size are disarming, as is the family photo including the much-older-looking Chantelle next to her young boyfriend.

The online readers of the Sun were less broadminded, with 232 comments at 13.40 today, mostly expressing disbelief, anger, blaming the government and occasionally leaping to the couple's defence. It's a sensational story.

But is it an ethical one?

The Press Complaints Commission Code of Practice states that victims of sexual assault should not be identified, and as Chantelle was under sixteen she has technically been raped, regardless of her consent. Victims of sex offences are given automatic anonymity under the Sexual Offences Act, but this can be passed over with the victim's written consent.
It seems that there will be no legal case brought for this offence, so there is no legal restriction on identifying Alfie and Chantelle. But I wonder how much the Sun thought about the impact of their story?

Alfie's video interview on the Sun website shows a boy who has no idea what he has got himself into. Lucy Hagan's closed questions give him little opportunity to express his true feelings, but seem to deliberately enhance his naivety.

His story will bring in revenue for the paper, and I would be surprised if Alfie and Chantelle don't get some money of out this too, despite the PCC Code of Practice also stating that people under 18 should not be paid for their stories unless it is in their interest. But their faces are now known across the country - a cautionary tale for unruly children. The trials of fatherhood (for Alfie insists he will be a 'good dad' and 'care' for his daughter Maisie, the question 'how' has not satisfactorily been addressed) will seem nothing compared to the treatment he gets at school, in the street, anywhere he goes.

It will follow him forever - yes nationally he will be forgotten when the next big story breaks - but living in Eastbourne will be a nightmare. He has lost his privacy before he is old enough to understand what that means. Both families will have to cope with constant neighbourly scrutiny, remarks and gossip, exaggerated across Eastbourne, and Maisie will grow up with the whole community knowing the circumstances of her conception and birth.

It might be an 'exclusive' story; it isn't an ethical one. I don't think newspapers should be in the business of destroying lives before they have even started.

I wonder how long it will be before Alfie and Chantelle regret speaking to the press.

Signal box fire in Gainsborough

I was able to put my journalism skills to the test in a proper environment tonight, not just hypothetical situations in class. When driving home from uni I was overtaken by a fire engine and it turned out that the train station on my road had a signal box fire. Taking the opportunity, I parked up, grabbed my camera and notepad and headed onto the platform.

I learned some valuable lessons about practical journalism as a result.

One is that no matter how many people are involved in an incident like this, no one can talk to you. I was told about eight times that someone (a sergeant, a spokesman, an incident officer) would be along soon, but 90 minutes later I was still waiting.

Another is that (because of point one) you can learn more by ringing people from an office than actually being on the scene.

Thirdly, tidy shorthand is absolutely vital. This was hammered home during the twenty minutes it took me to decipher my hasty scrawl once I had managed to get someone to tell me what was happening.

Fingers crossed I got enough information to warrant the Gainsborough Standard publishing my copy on their website. If not, well, I shall chalk the hour and a half up as frostbitten experience.

I'll be a seasoned hack in no time.

Vox pop on banker's bonuses

As part of Convergence Week at Uni, we print journalists are learning some multimedia skills. One of these was how to use a Marantz and Adobe Audible to make sound bites.

So I hit the streets and the student union to discover public opinion about huge bonuses for bank bosses, despite the government bail-out.

I shall tidy this up as soon as I figure out how blogger lets us access audio files directly, rather than linking to an external site.

It's not just newspapers with declining audiences

On my postgraduate journalism course we are constantly reminded that traditional news media is in trouble - newspaper circulation figures are falling year on year, the advertisers are going elsewhere and experienced journalists are being laid off by the dozen.

Yet despite the uncertainty of print journalism as a career, I was particularly saddened to read about the 40% decline in viewing figures for BBC Newsround.

Newsround was one of my biggest motivations for becoming a journalist. I watched diligently every evening before Neighbours, and the Press Pack pass was an honoured possession, on a par with a Blue Peter badge (which I never owned).

Not only was it inspirational to me as a youngster, seeing the old presenters work in 'proper, grown-up' news was encouraging as I matured, as it proved that Newsround was 'proper' journalism, not just kids stuff. Seeing Lizo on the six o'clock news was a life-affirming moment, as before I had previously associated him as little more than a Harry Potter enthusiast.

Moving Newsround to CBeebies was no doubt seen as ideal: more coverage, more broadcasts and a captive audience. Yet viewing figures have fallen from 325,000 to 226,000 in four years.

This must be turned around. Despite the impending digital switchover, many households have not yet got a Freeview box or Freeview enabled TV. Living in Lincolnshire, where enforced switchover is not due until 2011, it could be two more years before CBeebies is the only option for BBC childrens programmes.

There must be reasons for the decline, whether they be increased internet knowhow amongst tweens, accesiblity problems for CBeebies or simple lack of interest in the format. Whatever they are, I hope the BBC Trust will do something positive to reverse the trend once the executive report back to them in March.

It would be a great shame for Newsround to vanish into obscurity.