Thanks to Greg Watts and FleetStreetBlues for weighing in on my Beyond Journalism essay. I used a comment by FleetStreetBlues on my media recession poll as a springboard for some ideas I have been developing on creativity and the way that we tend to put boundaries around the things we do in life. Though they […]
I approached yesterday’s feedback session with journalism students with some trepidation. Although I wanted my criticism to be robust, I also wanted to avoid putting them off writing for life. As it was, I needn’t have worried. It went pretty well. No one actually went for me with a sharp object, and some said they […]
I’ve only just come across this recent study from the Pew Research Center in the US, which finds that public confidence in the accuracy of the news media is at a two-decade low. Apparently only 29% of Americans polled trusted news organisations to be accurate, while only 26% thought they were unbiased. It’s also interesting […]
I missed this on Tuesday (I’m not obsessed with the media you know), but it seems the London Lite is to close. I’m kind of glad – but only because I now don’t look so stupid for predicting it prematurely. Does this mean the London Evening Standard will get a free ride to success? In […]
Paul Bradshaw on the Online Journalism Blog responds to a journalist’s query about whether there’s a glut of journalism courses by saying, essentially, that it’s the wrong question. He argues that there are only too many journalism degrees or courses if you think a journalism degree is about training people to be journalists. Which, as […]
I have noted before that journalism students seem loath to actually write anything – as if creativity is a limited resource and they need to save it for when it’s really needed (ie when they have a hand-in). But they also seem strangely reluctant to offer their work up for feedback from tutors. It’s a puzzle. […]
I really enjoyed this post from Business Insider editor Henry Blodget (really – someone is actually called that). His argument: The debate is not about journalism but change. The people moaning about the death of journalism are really moaning about the death of newspapers. These are the people who stand to lose out in […]
I was happy to see the stalwart folk at FleetStreetBlues flag up my online how-is-your-media-recession poll a while ago. But a comment they made in their post begs for a little more attention. (Actually, it begged for it weeks ago, but I’ve been a bit preoccupied.) Freelance Unbound reckons he’s survived the recession just about OK, […]
The excellent and sweary Playing The Game blog has some top, on-the-money advice for journalism students going on work experience. I particularly agreed with: Please don’t take it personally that you write for shit and someone dares to help you structure a story. Because, actually, journalism students, you can’t write. Not for the most part. […]
As my dozens of regular visitors may have noticed, things have been a bit quiet around here for the past week or so. In my last post I took journalism students to task for strenuously avoiding core things on their course such as, well, actually writing copy. In the light of the lack of updates […]