The Jobless Journalist: Post seven – Shifting my job search

I started this blog as a recently redundant journalist, but, while not fully re-employed, for the past couple of months I’ve been doing shifts on the website of a national paper.

This has its pros and cons. Obviously, an income – albeit modest and inconsistent – is a welcome thing and the experience is invaluable. But the hours are irregular which makes it hard to plan when to do job applications (or write blog posts).

Working night shifts and weekends not only puts paid to your social life, it also tends to throw your body clock so that doing normal things things like buying toothpaste or keeping a doctor’s appointment become strangely impossible.

So when you see an advert for a job with a closing date in a week’s time, it’s an uphill struggle to get the application done when you might be working a five-day week with a couple of nights thrown in.

On the plus side, shift work affords you greater freedom and flexibility to take up other freelance jobs, and in the fallow weeks where you only have a couple of shifts it’s worth trying to cram in as many job applications and CV updates as you can.

The real beauty of shift work, particularly on a website where you’re expected to write, sub-edit and edit pages, is that there will be plenty of new skills to add to your CV.

Even if it feels like you’re treading water, the fact that you’re out there building on your experience will make you eminently more employable than someone who has been out of the loop for a while.

And talking of loops – as it’s been three months since I was made redundant, I’ve also decided to get out my contacts book again. It’s time to revisit all the editors and journalists I approached first time round to remind them that I’m still here and still available for work.

This is the seventh post in a series from an anonymous UK-based journalist recently made redundant. To follow the series, you can subscribe to this feed.

You can also read posts by our previous ‘Redundant Journalist’ blogger at this link.

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#soe09: Audio – Trinity Mirror’s Neil Benson on newspapers as PR agencies

There was a mixed reaction (as you might expect from a room full of newspaper editors) to Trinity Mirror Regionals’ editorial director Neil Benson’s suggestion yesterday that newspaper groups could make money from running ‘arm’s length PR agencies’.

Journalism.co.uk spoke to Benson at the Society of Editors conference to find out more about the scheme in Northumberland (in which he refers to Brian Aitken, editor of the Journal) and the potential for newspaper groups to work with local authorities:

Below he explains why newspapers running PR agencies in-house could work:

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#soe09: Guardian’s Paul Lewis wins ‘Rat up a drainpipe’ Award

Guardian journalist Paul Lewis was last night awarded the ‘Rat up a drainpipe’ or Bevins Prize for investigative journalism.

Lewis won the accolade for his investigation into the death of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson at this year’s G20 protests in London.

Lewis was shortlisted for the Paul Foot award last month for the same investigation.

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MediaGuardian: Alan Rusbridger resigns from PCC code committee

Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, has resigned from the Press Complaint Commission’s code committee, MediaGuardian reports.

His decision follows the PCC’s criticism of the way the Guardian had handled new allegations about past phone hacking at News of the World.

The PCC last week said it had found no new evidence further to its 2007 enquiry, a report which the Guardian, reporter Nick Davies and the Media Standards Trust strongly challenged.

On Sunday, the self-regulatory body’s chair Lady Peta Buscombe, cited police lawyers’ claims that a Metropolitan Police detective inspector had been ‘wrongly quoted’ in phone hacking evidence given to the House of Commons.

In response, the lawyer who gave the oral evidence, Mark Lewis, called for Buscombe’s resignation.

Full story at this link…

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MediaWeek to go online-only; 18 Brand Media editorial jobs cut

Due to a restructure at Haymarket, MediaWeek is to end its print edition and publish online-only, as part of a BrandRepublic.com team.

Today’s issue (November 17) is the last, the publication has reported. Monthly digital marketing magazine Revolution is to become a quarterly supplement.

Eighteen editorial positions (out of 58) will be lost from Brand Media, the group reported.

“We will do everything we can to keep job losses to a minimum, and we are looking to redeploy affected staff in other parts of the group,” said Jane Macken, managing director of Haymarket Brand Media.

“I would like to place on record my appreciation of the efforts of all our editorial staff. Throughout a very difficult time they have continued to produce editorial content of exceptionally high quality.”

It’s the latest of the media industry titles to feel the pinch: in April 2009, Press Gazette’s closure was announced, before it was bought by Progressive Media and re-opened.

More details at this link…

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#soe09: Google doesn’t need newspapers – but do newspapers need it?

Google doesn’t need newspapers – it’s official; but its users do, Matt Brittin, UK director of Google, told the Society of Editors conference today.

Some key points from Brittin:

• “Taking content out of Google news is a political statement (…) but experimentation is good.”
• “One of the reasons we’re working with a lot of publishers is because we passionately believe that the internet needs to have quality content on it.”
• “Does Google need news content to survive in this year? No (…) Economically it’s not a big part of how we generate revenue, but the value of the internet to consumers is all about finding great content online.”
• “We’re a technology company and we’ll try and contribute technology that helps [e.g. Fast Flip, micropayment system] (…) We’re absolutely not [a newspaper company].”

The audio below features Times editor James Harding (first), Evening Standard editor Geordie Greig, and The National editorial director Martin Newland with their opinions on removing content from Google News:

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#soe09: Hyperlocal, mobile and experimentation for newspapers, say Brittin and Newland

“We must try any way possible to keep what we do alive so that in the end when the advertisers come back for quality we’re still here,” Martin Newland, editorial director of Abu Dhabi paper The National, told the Society of Editors conference today.

Newland said state subsidy, paid-for content online and new forms of advertising should all be considered – but in a vein of experimentation.

“Is there a model in what you are doing?” asked fellow panellist and Evening Standard editor, Geordie Greig.

“No,” said Newland, who had earlier apologised for ‘moving East’ when his industry in the UK descended into crisis. “But we’re experimenting.”

As such The National is developing a website with verticals, on of which will be news, and all of which can be separately branded and advertised around, Newland said. This is to cater to the more promiscuous habits of online news consumers and serve different people’s different tastes, he added.

Mobile
Newland’s plea for experimentation was subtly back by fellow panellist Matt Brittin, UK director of Google, who stressed the potential of mobile for newspaper publishers and local media.

“What could be most useful to the UK newspaper industry is the mobile internet (…) We’re seeing the beginning of people paying for news applications and using micropayments,” he said.

The geotagging capabilities of mobile also provides ‘a major opportunity for local media’ in particular for serving up targeted ads and building relationships with local businesses, he added.

“We will see subscription-based content, micropayments primarily mobile-based, and subscriptions through mobile (…) But there will also be a significant proportion of content remaining free.”

Hyperlocal
Newland also stressed the importance of hyperlocal as a future model for regional newspapers: “Going down, down, down is the way to go.”

“If you are in the local market, going even more local is probably the way to go (…) Could advertising that has fled be brought back with hyperlocal sites?” he asked, citing the potential for reverse publication of hyperlocal online content in a print product, which could carry advertising.

Times editor James Harding, who spoke to the conference about the paper’s plans to charge for content online, added his own support for hyperlocal or ultra-local news coverage by the local press.

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Currybet.net: Journalists in the comment box

What happens when journalists jump in the comment box? Martin Belam picks up on the way outed sex blogger Zoe Margolis responded to Guardian commenters’ criticism after her quick post on the unmasking of Belle du Jour.

Belam writes:

“What interested me here was that I think it illustrates something about the respective culture of ‘blogger’ versus ‘journalist who has comments enabled at the bottom of their articles’.”

As information architect for the Guardian, Belam has an interesting take on the technological aspect too.

Full post at this link…

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#FollowJourn: @robram/writer and editor

#FollowJourn: Rob Mansfield

Who? Brighton-based writer and editor.

What? Writer, editor and new media content manager with a background in editorial development and team leadership. Has more than five years experience in online media and another 10 offline, with organisations including the BBC, Emap, AOL, Telegraph Group and IPC Media.

Where? On Twitter @robram or check out his website http://www.robmansfield.net/.

Contact? Email rob [at] robmansfield.net or use this contact details page.

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – projects for ‘citizen watchdogs’

Some inspiration from the States on the PBS Media Shift Blog, with 10 projects that help citizens become government watchdogs. Tipster: Judith Townend.

To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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