I totally missed the news about the demise of Press Gazette. It’s kind of sad, given that it’s been around so long. And also because I worked a few shifts there back in the late ’90s. But does it matter? Many, many, journalists will, at this very moment, be jumping up and down, foaming gently […]
During last autumn’s climate of fear about a collapse in the publishing industry, I registered with People Per Hour – a freelance marketplace that allows you to bid on projects posted by a whole range of potential clients. I was curious to see how it worked, and also thought I might even get some paying work […]
There’s more to sub-editing than shuffling commas around and checking spelling (vital, obviously, though these things are). And it’s something that it seems the subs at the otherwise admirable Financial Times seem to have forgotten yesterday. Bear with me – digression first. I find these days there’s a tendency for people to use proverbs, idioms […]
Apparently desk editors at the Independent are to take on subbing duties at the paper, according to a Guardian story from April 1. That’s the sort of thing that should be an April Fool’s Day joke – but I found out it wasn’t when I was unlucky enough to buy a copy of the Indie on Easter Saturday […]
A quick look at this blog’s stats shows a bit of a nosedive of views over the past few days. Yes – we’re coming into Easter, and I’ve noticed that people tend to look at blogs during the working week rather than at weekends or holidays. But it’s clear that traffic has some kind of […]
Having watched as shovelfuls of public money has been heaped on bankers and, lately in the US, should-be bankrupt car makers, a production editor friend and I joked that it would be nice to see the government bail out the ailing publishing industry. Unbelievably, it seems that this is actually being talked about in La-La […]
Yes – a spectacular air crash in a north London suburb (Mill Hill, where I grew up) killed 28 people and demolished a local house. It should be all over the internet, right? It’s not. I wondered why. The story: a friend of mine asked me to research an air crash in London in the […]
Everyone in journalism knows about greenwash – where companies or governments talk big about their environmental credentials, but actually fail to deliver. Weirdly, I’ve just been experiencing the exact opposite (what’s that even called?). In my real freelance life – where I write stuff for people that I’ll actually get paid for, unlike here – […]
Legendary (or mouthy, depending on your stance) film critic Mark (”The Exorcist is the best film ever made”) Kermode had another life in the late 1980s in which he made this demo of anti-war folk song The Recruiting Sergeant. I was on bass, which is why I can post this with impunity. Of course, the […]
Curses: I’ve just discovered the 7,000-plus Dilbert strip archive on Scott Adams’ web site. This is a productivity disaster, of course, especially as I’m going to press. But I thought this strip about the recent spate of government bailouts was pretty much on the money. Now – if I can just navigate away before my […]