Tag Archives: media

Dec 19 2010
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Journalism

Beyond the story

On Thursday I was blogger in residence for the News Rewired event, which looked at new business models for journalism in a digital age.

Because of my blogging duties, I was not able to give as much in-depth consideration to the presentations as I would have done normally. But there were a few highlights that I’d like to share. For me the high point of the afternoon was the final session on social gaming which was an eye opener.

Philip Trippenbach, an interactive producer at the BBC had some interesting news about a project he is working on which is trying to make sense of the British Class system. However, I was more interested in his opinions on non-narrative forms of journalism. It was this element of the News Rewired programme that truly encapsulated the “Beyond the Story” sub-title. Continue reading →

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Dec 14 2010
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Journalism

The newsroom of the future



Originally uploaded by Stuart Pinfold.

Last week, I got the chance to have a sneak preview of New Broadcasting House, which will be the home of the BBC from 2012.

New Broadcasting House is on the site of the old one on Portland Place where the Corporation’s radio arm has been based since 1932. Following the sales of Television Centre and Bush House and the move of some departments up to Salford, almost all of the BBC’s London operations will be based in this building.

One of the interesting things about the new building is the attempt of architects to make it more accessible to the people who pay for it – ie you and me. This is partly due to the BBC Trust’s commitment to increasing openness. But I understand that Westminster City Council also imposed a planning requirement for public access in return for the building increasing its footprint. Continue reading →

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Nov 20 2010
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Journalism

How working overseas helped me adjust to freelancing

Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk.

Two years ago – almost to the day – I arrived in Melbourne with my boyfriend and a one-year visa. The purpose of my visit was to work for a few months in order to raise money for the rest of our round the world trip.

Unfortunately, I arrived in Melbourne at totally the wrong time. Someone had told us to arrive early in the Southern Hemisphere summer because all the backpacker jobs would be snapped up before February.

We were totally misinformed. For three months my boyfriend and I struggled to find office work. Our arrival had coincided with the pre-Christmas lull, which was much more pronounced in 2008 because of jitters about the economy. We finally got something in February (ironically). My boyfriend found a data entry job, while I got a relatively well paid dish-washing job. Continue reading →

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Oct 23 2010
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Journalism

This Gun’s for Hire – the joys and pitfalls of freelancing

Uploaded by Nadaone2.

It’s a fortnight since I learned that my future in journalism would not involve a monthly pay cheque and the coziness of a contract.

So far, it’s not been as scary as I thought. In my first week I had two shifts. In the second week that doubled and regrettably I have had to turn down shifts because of clashes.

This is certainly a good start and the fact I will earn at least enough to replace my staff earnings relieves some of my initial anxiety about freelancing. However, the challenge will be to match this next month – October’s spending review has been good for me in the sense that it has provided me with more work (probably only in the short term though).

In the past few weeks I have learned a lot about freelancing and a few things about myself: Continue reading →

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Oct 12 2010
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Journalism

A sudden turn in the road

Originally uploaded by Aztec West.

A few weeks ago I wrote a guest post for Wannabe Hacks about my work on New Start magazine and my background in the trade press.

Well, little did I know it at the time, but my stint at New Start (and possibly in the trade sector) was coming to an end. Over the weekend, I learned that the company that publishes New Start was winding up with the October issue the last one. As a result, along with a handful of other staff members, I am out of a job.

The reason for New Start’s demise as a print title and its future as an online service for Manchester-based think tank Cles is set out in this article. Essentially, it is linked to the spending cuts which have had an impact on some of the company’s more lucrative activities. Continue reading →

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Feb 24 2010
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Journalism

Future or Bust!

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Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the future. Although to be fair, I haven’t done much of the thinking myself – there are many people better placed than me to do that. For me, it’s been more of an exercise of observing and listening.

The two areas that have been the focus of this recent bout of crystal ball gazing are news and regeneration. In December and January I attended the Future of News group, a monthly discussion about where the news industry in this country is heading.

Continue reading →

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Feb 16 2010
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Journalism

The Quay Ingredient

Uploaded by Peter-snottycat.

This week, the BBC started the recruitment process for the departments moving up to Salford.

This is something that many northern media folk are excited about. For so long people working in this industry (including yours truly) have had to move to London to fulfil their ambitions.

The BBC’s Media City development will hopefully encourage other media employers to cluster around the quays area and create something similar to London’s silicon roundabout. But it’s not just about jobs. Continue reading →

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Jan 24 2010
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Journalism

Stop, collaborate and listen…

Alex Wood of the Berlin Project

Originally uploaded by berlinproject.

Last week I blogged about the launch of a journalism cooperative by the team behind The Berlin Project. There’s been a lot of talk about new business models for journalism, but the idea of cooperatives has barely been mentioned. So it’s refreshing to see someone breaking new ground in that respect.

Another model deserving more attention is social enterprise. At News:Rewired earlier this month, Philip John, one of the brains behind hyperlocal site The Lichfield Blog, outlined his plans to turn it into a social enterprise. In an excellent post on the JournalLocal site, John suggests that to save journalism, local media could go down the social enterprise route and fund its work through grants and subsidies.

Continue reading →

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Dec 01 2009
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Journalism

There’s nothing wrong with aiming high

The Homeless World Cup 2008 in Melbourne

Originally uploaded by littlesaint_uk.

This time last week, Tom Gockelen-Kozlowski was standing outside an office in Kings Cross handing out his cards to staff as they arrived at work.

The 22-year old graduate hoped his initiative would impress bosses at the Guardian enough to hire him as a journalist. Well it certainly impressed some Guardian journalists – one actually asked him to blog about his experiences

A week later and Tom has had a blogpost in the Guardian’s money section and has been discussed by a number of other bloggers and on Twitter. He may not have a job yet, but he is certainly being talked about. And unlike one of the Guardian’s previous rookie bloggers, the infamous Max Gogarty (now what ever happened to him?), the reaction to Tom’s post has been largely positive.

Continue reading →

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Nov 11 2009
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Journalism

The changing face of television news

For anyone involved in newsgathering, hearing from leading journalists the nature of the news we will see on our televisions in the future was an opportunity not be missed.

The Media Society event Will We Have News For You? brought together five journalists from public and commercial broadcasters to discuss the future of regional news. The panelists involved in the discussion at BBC Television Centre, were:

Nick Pollard (Former Head of Sky News in the Chair)

Mary Hockaday (Head Multi-media Newsroom, The BBC)

Jonathan Munro (Deputy Editor and Director of Newsgathering, ITV News)

Jonathan Levy (Editor General Election Sky News )

Stephen Cole (Presenter Al Jazeera English)

Continue reading →

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