How can you study media without studying new media?

We’ve had an ‘Applicant Day’ in my department today – and I discovered that some people studying a HND in Media were not covering new media. My reaction?

• Television production companies are now required to submit ’360-degree’ programme pitches that include a new media element. Often the budget for that is bigger than for the programme. Add to that red-button interactivity, streaming, mobile TV, and DVDs.
• Photographers routinely package their work on CDROM, or sell it online. A web portfolio is essential.
• Public Relations employees are required to understand viral ‘word of mouth’ technologies like social networking, blogging, promotional games, websites, and email.
• Radio has been going digital for some time now. Most radio stations are streamed online.
• The music industry has been transformed by the web. Some pointers for you: Napster; Kazaa; iPod; iTunes; mp3; MySpace; Last.fm; Radiohead.
• And there’s journalism… well. Just read every post, ever, on this blog. Ever.

What else did I say? Nag your tutors, and start swotting up in your spare time. Your college is doing you a disservice, but that shouldn’t stop you.

Do you work in newspaper video journalism?

Andy Dickinson is conducting a short survey to gather information about how video is produced in newspaper newsrooms and who does it. The results will be made available on his blog – www.andydickinson.net.

Sounds like a great idea – it’s a one-page job so quick to fill out. Fill out the survey here.

Situations Vacant: Virtual Intern

I’m looking for help with the Online Journalism Blog. Things have exploded since the ‘News Diamond’ and the blog is at the point now where it needs to step up a gear. I’m looking for a volunteer worker to do a bit of research and information management, and possible interviews and articles, so that a) I can focus on the analysis side of things and do more postings of the ’21st century newsroom’ type; and b) we can maybe do some interesting experiments with online journalism that have been on the ‘To Do’ list for far too long. You don’t have to live in the same town, city, country or time zone as me. You just have to be interested in the news industry and the online environment, have an email address – and you’ve got to want to actually do the job.

This is probably a weekly thing — or an hour every other day, say — and it comes with no pay. There is no earthly reason why you might want to do this, except perhaps as a work experience exercise or to put down on your CV or as a way to develop your contacts and knowledge.

I can promise that it’ll be interesting (or at least, it’s all about stuff that I find interesting anyway, so if you’re reading this, chances are that’d be true for you too), but it won’t be rewarding in any traditional sense.

I might buy you a little token gift around Christmas time if it all works out well, but the work will pretty much need to be its own reward. That said, as you might guess, this is part of an overall project to ‘build a team’, and if the past year is any guide, that may help open some doors for you.

I imagine this is going to suit someone young and enthusiastic with decent written communication skills, maybe tech skills, and a pre-existing interest in this blog. If you’re an academic, you might want to pass this on to your journalism students.

If there’s a reason you think you’d be right to do this, drop me an email: paul.bradshaw@bcu.ac.uk

PS: Idea and much of the text stolen shamelessly from my colleague Andrew Dubber. He knows what I’ve done and where I live.

Online journalism job of the week: Keyword Manager

The Guardian are advertising for a Keyword Manager “to look after the labelling of our content online to ensure that it is consistent with the needs of the reader and the editorial values of the Guardian and Observer. The role requires attention to the demands both of a considerable content archive and of a fast-moving news operation, and involves work across media; from text to cartoons, video to podcasts. It would suit either a journalist with a particular interest in archiving, or someone with a background in information science who posesses a keen editorial sense.”

To quote William Gibson: “The future is already here – it is just unevenly distributed”.

How to be a journalism student

A colleague of mine once wrote a hugely entertaining blog post entitled ‘How to go to uni‘. As the new term begins, here’s my supplement: How to be a journalism student. (Note: there is now a wiki if you want to add extra tips/corrections/clarifications). 

 

1. Read the news. Amazingly, some journalism students don’t read newspapers. I don’t know why they want to write news, but chances are they won’t if they don’t read it. And yes, that means newspapers, in print or online. For the most part newspapers dictate the news agenda that broadcast news and magazines then follow. But yes, watch television news and listen to radio news as well, and read magazines. And do all of this often, and do it critically.

How a blog can put you on the road to success

This week’s Press Gazette contains an article by yours truly on ‘How a blog can put you on the road to success’. Click away for more. The original version below includes hyperlinks.

Boycott the NCTJ? If only.

For many years the Association for Journalism Education (AJE) has debated whether its institutions should boycott the NCTJ. And for many years the NCTJ has all but ignored it. At this year’s AJE AGM the issue cropped up once again.

The complaints are copious, and I won’t list them all here, but revolve around some core issues:

Wiki journalism: are wikis the new blogs?

On Thursday I’ll be presenting my paper on wiki journalism at the Future of Newspapers conference in Cardiff. As previously reported, the full paper is available as a wiki online for anyone to add to or edit. You can also download a PDF of the ‘official’ version.

Based on a review of a number of case studies, and some literature on wikis, the paper proposes a taxonomy of wiki journalism, and outlines the opportunities and weaknesses of the form. The following is the edited highlights:

Jobseeking site to be relaunched

Jobseeking journalists can add another bookmark to their browser from September 12, when Press Gazette relaunch es Jobs4Journalists.co.uk. The new site promises tailored job alerts and CV registration.

Other sites worth bookmarking include Journalism.co.uk, the Guardian Jobs Media section and Gorkana alerts. If you know of any others (particularly those for online journalists), please post a comment.

UPDATE: Thanks to Kerry for adding Source That Job

Guest blogger Jack Templeton on the importance of blogging

In the second of a series of posts for the Online Journalism Blog, Student Online Journalist of the Year Jack Templeton writes about how important blogging has been to his career.

The News & Star made a plea on their website for bloggers in early 2005 while I was part way through my journalism degree.