Freelance Unbound

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 here, the irony of this does not go unnoticed.
However, sometimes it all gets a bit much. I’ve written before about the blogger’s brick wall, and I think it’s an occupational hazard. Even if you break through once, there’ll be another one along in a few months’ time.
In mitigation, I’ve been spending a bit more time on my stopframe animation blog. I noticed that my earlier post about starting this spin-off regularly tops the “most popular” list I have in the sidebar – so I figured I ought to give anyone who pops over to have a look something to see. And there are a few long posts in the pipeline I’ve been working on but haven’t quite got round to finishing.
But, really, sometimes you just need a break. Even if that break seems to involve spending all my free time trying to figure out PHP coding.
And this time away has given me a useful confirmation of the importance of updating frequently. Traffic here has been pretty healthy for the past month or so, but over the past week it’s dropped off noticeably. So next time I feel the need for a hiatus, I’ll make sure to schedule some material in advance to keep the site active.

I’ve been spending some time with UCA journalism students for the past week, overseeing their online journalism projects.
On the whole, things are going well. The third years are dipping their toes into PHP using a useful WordPress plugin called Widget Logic. This allows a user to specify on which pages of a WordPress site a sidebar Widget appears and is really useful for customising the sidebar according to the content you are displaying at any particular time.
And both the second and third years are grappling with the idea that how you categorise or tag your content affects where and how it is displayed in a database-driven site. This is all valuable stuff, and I’m pleased that most students seem to be taking it on board successfully.
But there’s one big hurdle. Getting students to produce content for their sites is like pulling teeth.
I have no idea why the prospect of filing a few 400 word online stories is so daunting. But enough students spend more time agonising over writing copy than actually doing it to give me pause.
What’s the problem here? Why should students treat churning out (sorry, carefully crafting) a few hundred words of soft copy as if they were writing Proust?
Of course it’s easy to forget what it was like back in my own college days. I do remember agonising about essays and worrying that somehow I would wear out my inspiration if I spent too much time drafting what I wrote. I somehow had the impression that I needed to wait for that perfect moment of inspiration before setting pen to paper (literally – this was before I even had a typewriter, let alone a PC).
But writing is like a muscle and it needs a regular workout. I’ve said it before, and it’s a crucial message to get across to journalism students in particular. Writing impenetrable essays about post-structuralism is one thing – writing online news stories is another. Speed is of the essence, and expecting students to write one a day should be natural – not the one a fortnight I seem to be able to squeeze out of them.
So – journalism students and graduates alike: please, please take this on board. Get over your angst and start typing. Practice really does make perfect. Or, in this case, halfway decent.

A while ago, I posted on the possibility that journalism might have to move towards software development. The Atlantic this month flags up an iPhone App that offers policy points for (US) conservatives to use when they’re arguing about Obama’s healthcare bill.
The Conservative Talking Points app will set you back £1.12 from the iTunes store – though it’s probably of limited use for UK readers, no matter their politics.
It’s not the only political-type App available. On the other side of the fence is the iSinglePayer App that lets US liberals call their Congressman direct to lobby them direct over the thorny healthcare issue. And if you’re not quite sure where you stand, there’s something called the Political GPS that claims to let you know where on the political spectrum you really are.
It’s important to understand the difference between these and the slew of news and media Apps available. There are endless Apps that let you listen to political podcasts, or give you a feed from online news sites, from Sky News to the highly targeted SpaceGeek NASA feed.
But the interesting thing about all this is that it underlines the way that devising content that people will want to use really does require moving away from the traditional news model.
Would I pay for an iPhone App that gives me the latest news headlines? Well, not really. But would I fork out my quid or so for an App that gives me useful arguing points in debate? Maybe.
It’s all to do with utility. If something is useful to me, I’ll pay money for it. If it isn’t, I won’t.
It’s certainly a challenge for the media. Not only do we have to come up with ways of packaging what we do so that it offers users this utility, but the pricing model changes too.
Yes, people may pay their £1 for their App – but that’s it. It’s a one-time payment, but the App will need to keep being useful. It can’t be tomorrow’s fish and chip wrapping any more, as we’ve become accustomed to.

For anyone who enjoys headline and typo of the day-type sites, Criggo has some top-flight material.

I particularly liked the slightly surreal “Protesters protest protest-signs protest” here. A sub’s dream…

[HT: Jessica]

As a regular commuter (god help me), I often pick up the Metro at the station to get a sense of the current news agenda. And because sometimes it’s hard to motivate yourself  to crack open that book about PHP scripting at 8am.
Like most newspapers, the Metro has tried to develop an online strategy. Which mainly involves things like including a web address so you can log on later to see someone make a prank call about a birthday cake. You know – once you’ve got access to a computer.
Here’s where that goes wrong.
When I get tired of the usual blend of guilty celebrity pleasures and yesterday’s rehashed news (around Aldershot, usually), I sometimes dig out a pen and start in on the sudoku puzzles.
To be honest, I’d prefer to do the crossword. But I can’t. Because, in its wisdom, Metro has decided to put its crossword… online.
So, one of the few things in a newspaper that is ideally suited to the print format – handy to use while you’re stuck in a railway carriage or bus; designed to be completed using a pen or pencil – has been migrated online as part of a strategy to draw people on to the web to consume added-value content.
It’s possibly the single most misconceived editorial tactic I’ve come across. Not only do I not really want to do a crossword in front of a PC using Javascript, but when I get to work the time for doing leisurely puzzles has normally passed. Because I’m, you know, at work.
In a final touch of idiocy, the paper offers you a version that you can print out. So if you wanted to solve it on the train home the old-fashioned way, you could.
Although it might save time and effort if it was printed in the paper in the first place.
Well done Metro.

The BNP seems to be engaged in some clever, if off-the-wall, underground marketing campaigning at the moment.
My students at yesterday morning’s online journalism seminar flagged up an odd post on the Vice Magazine site (which is, as you might guess, essentially sleazoid trash. Not that there’s anything wrong with that).
The post – Babes of the BNP – was presented as an interview with three young female BNP supporters, complete with pouty and slightly under-dressed photographs.
Several things struck me.
First, the site prefaced the post with some obligatory anti-BNP rhetoric.

You no longer need to be a hatchet-faced National Front refugee to join the whites-only club. The fascist menace no longer wears jackboots […] Feminism’s here, so now girls can dig race hate too. As the BNP’s attempts to reposition itself as a mainstream party have advanced its perimeter far beyond the usual crewcuts-n-tats brigade, we spoke to three of the more acceptable new faces of the unacceptable. What a bunch of hotties! Phwoar! Makes you aroused to be British.

So – this isn’t a pro-fascist piece or anything. Great.
Second, the girls themselves came out of the interviews seeming, well, a bit dim. Here’s full-time mum Rebecca (23) on the thorny question of national identity:

What do you think symbolizes Britain best?
Well, I used to know Britain as strong, and over the past couple of years, I don’t know if I’ve grown up, but I’ve seen it going soft. The memory I have is the war, and how we fighted [sic] all the people in WWI and WWII, and it makes me proud to be British.

So far, so derogatory.
But wait. How did this piece come to be written?
It’s the first thing I asked my students – and their reaction was on the lines of “well, this blogger has found these girls and just done this funny interview with them”.
Sure. Vice Magazine just happened to find three young, fairly presentable, female BNP members and went and interviewed them. And got hold of pouty pictures.
Nah. Actually what Vice did was visit bnpbabes.co.uk – a strangely empty web site that features, oh, what a surprise, the same three interviews and photos. And nothing else. A fantastic piece of investigative journalism.
There’s no other information about the site at all – except a disclaimer at the bottom of the page:

© BNP Babes — BNP Babes is in no way affiliated with the British National Party or other similar organisations.

I don’t buy it. I suspect whoever’s behind the BNP marketing effort had a hand in this. Let’s face it, unless there’s a BNP Facebook page where all these girls have a profile (there isn’t, I checked) this has to come from somewhere – and that somewhere will have involved the BNP membership list at some point.
Of course the alternative is that this is all a hoax – someone’s just trying it on to see how far it’ll spread.
But I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s part of a BNP normalisation tactic. Yes, the girls seem very unpolished and, yes, it’s all packaged in an “aren’t the BNP ghastly” wrapper. But underneath that area couple of other messages

• BNP members are ordinary – just like you, or your (slightly dim) girlfriend.
• BNP members can be quite sexy – why not come and meet them?

I’m noticing quite a bit of this lately. One is the high-profile “should the BNP go on Question Time” meme. Then there’s the experience of a freelance friend of mine, who is having to bring the BNP into an article about election marketing.
Normalisation – it’s everywhere. I’d be very interested to hear anyone else’s take on all this.

It’s always interesting to observe the changing requirements of media employers. But sometimes you have to wonder what’s going on at these companies.
Eager young journalism graduates wanting to make their mark in the world of showbiz reporting might well be tempted to apply for this recent ad from entertainment news agency Bang Media International (run by former red-top showbiz legend Rick Sky, no less).

Top entertainment news agency seeks a vibrant talented reporter. Local newspaper or agency experience and a passion for showbiz and news gathering essential. Limitless opportunities await.

Sounds great. Oh, but there’s more.

Work experience positions or internships are currently also available as well as vacancies for dynamic ambitious people to join our money-making media marketing team – one of these vacancies would suit a budding journalist who wants to gain a foothold in the wonderful world of showbiz news as both media marketing and journalistic training will be given.

Hmm. So what you’re saying is that if I want to be a fully-fledged entertainment journalist the best route would be an entry-level media sales post. Because “full journalism training will be given”.
Well – it’s cheaper than a three-year BA, that’s for sure.

I love this old Time Magazine story on climate change from 1974.

As they review the bizarre and unpredictable weather pattern of the past several years, a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval.

Yes, well. It just goes to show that today’s media orthodoxy often becomes laughably outdated tomorrow. Another way of reminding us that we’re all just tomorrow night’s fish and chip wrapping.
But the polar bears would have loved it…

Some interesting new stats from online market analyst Hitwise on visitor behaviour on the web show that web users visit social media sites more than any other kind of content. (I had trouble downloading the actual data, though, so this is not backed up with first-hand research).
[UPDATE: the nice people at Hitwise sent me the PDF, so here it is if you fancy downloading it.]
Perhaps more significantly, social media is a terrific referral mechanism. Site owners still get most of their traffic from search, but social media is in second place when it comes to referring users to other content.
The crucial difference is that search engines are often used to look for things to buy, whereas social media referrals tend to be to web content (videos, stories, pictures, whatever). The key problem for brands is how to exploit this.
Market analyst Experian explores this in a post on its Hitwise Intelligence blog. Apparently financial services brand Capital One has moved a chunk of its budget online, including Facebook, which is now a big source of traffic for the brand in the UK.
Expect to see this as a trend. When Facebook is eclipsed by another kind of online experience, watch the advertising money go there, too.
Lessons for journalism? Be the kind of content that social media users send traffic to…

My post on internship experience of UCA journalism graduate Adam Leveridge attracted some interesting comments, including one from another UCA Farnham graduate, Matt Burton, whose work I also liked at the UCA graduate show.
I’d like to flag it up here because Matt’s experience is so directly relevant to the whole debate about whether there’s a future for journalism graduates in the industry at all.
After a number of unpaid work placements and one piece of paid freelance writing, Matt writes:

In the end, a well-paid marketing officer job came up locally for an exciting new sports project in Surrey, and after applying for it I got the job. So four months after graduating with a journalism degree and after 5 weeks of work placements including paid work, I am now working in marketing and PR.

It begs the question of whether Matt’s journalism degree was worth the cost and hassle to get. I’ve no doubt that the degree and his work experience helped him get his job in PR – but that’s not really what it was for.
Then again, I bang on that people who go into journalism would be better off doing a degree and getting experience in something else first – so maybe journalism qualifications and experience are a better route into marketing and PR than a marketing degree might be.
One telling thing is Matt’s choice of specialism – football. It’s so popular a choice that I suspect he was on a hiding to nothing trying to make a living reporting on a sport that so many other fans would like to cover.
At least Adam Leveridge picked Formula 1 as his specialist interest, which is a bit more niche. We’ll have to wait and see if that will help Adam carve out a paid niche in the world of sports journalism.
Anyway – at least Matt seems to be doing well and enjoying his new career. I wish him – and his peers – good luck in such a difficult market.
But I imagine there’ll be plenty of other journalists making the same transition before this is over.