Entries from April 2009

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

I soar up the Technorati rankings

Out of curiosity, I just went back to Technorati for the first time, probably, since I registered there.  Kind of gratifyingly, I find I am now ranked at 2,476,024 in the universe of blogs. Well, in the universe of Technorati-registered or otherwise noted blogs. I don’t actually know the difference, strictly speaking.  Eagle-eyed readers with a […]

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

How newspapers failed to invent the internet

This fascinating piece in Slate from early this year describes how newspaper publishers were actually ahead of the curve when it came to trying to handle the impact of digital media.  One publisher, Knight Ridder, even tried out its own digital distribution service in 1980, though you had to buy a pricey digital terminal to […]

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Portfolio magazine axed

Sad news from Condé Nast as it closes Portfolio magazine.  I discovered Portfolio late last year when I stumbled on a dissection of the Wall Street collapse by Liar’s Poker author Michael Lewis. It was riveting and very well written – as you would expect, I guess. The reason for the closure seems to be plummeting ad […]

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Ways to survive the media recession, part 5

Part 1;   Part 2;   Part 3;   Part 4;   Part 5; At last, the end of the journey and a handy summary. But first, Recovering Journalist Mark Potts has a very good post on Life After Journalism that is really worth reading. A former 20-year journalist (hmm – like me), Mark Potts is now “an entrepreneur and […]

Monday, April 27th, 2009

Why journalists should sometimes look beyond the phone

I just got into an interesting spat with Tim Luckhurst, professor of journalism at the University of Kent’s Centre for Journalism.  Apparently he thinks only the phone is good enough for journalists to use to chase up stories. For contact with interviewees or sources of information the telephone is ALWAYS the right way to make the first […]

Monday, April 27th, 2009

How to build your online community

No, it’s not advice from me. It’s advice from hyperactive blogmeister John Scalzi, who has posted a handy video of a forum from the Tools of Change online media publishing conference thing in New York in February. I was aware of the event, and it looked very interesting. I would have liked to have gone […]

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

Ways to survive the media recession, part 4

Part 1;   Part 2;   Part 3;   Part 4;   Part 5; It’s been a bit of a marathon, but finally we’re getting to the end of the recession-busting advice. In the next post, I’ll put together a handy summary, so you don’t have to wade through so much copy to see the bullet points. First – […]

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

The charm of local newspapers

Nice headline from my local Surrey & Hants News this week – which is apparently “Surrey’s oldest newspaper”, and which seems to be run by a team of five that includes no editorial staff. So – does he think it’s facing the wrong way? Maybe he doesn’t like the view towards West Sussex…

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Ways to survive the media recession, part 3

Part 1;   Part 2;   Part 3;   Part 4;   Part 5; It’s round three of media survival tips for recessionary times. Last time, I talked about Assessing Your Skills, Learning New Skills and Updating Your CV. Now we’re pretty much focusing on networking, networking and networking. And maybe some advertising. First, though: Draw up a plan Be organised. […]

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Ways to survive the media recession, part 2

Part 1;   Part 2;   Part 3;   Part 4;   Part 5; Now for your second slug of recession-busting (NB: slightly updated). Earlier, I posted about my recent, slightly panicky drive to bring in more freelance work. In case anyone finds it of any use, here are some of the lessons I picked up from it. Here we […]