Earlier this year, a US study claimed that becoming a journalist is the fifth worst career choice. As well as citing factors such as stress, industry outlook, income levels and general working environment for the ranking, the study quotes a reporter as saying the younger generation “doesn’t care about the news”.

This is against a background of continuing decline in public trust of communications professionals, no doubt exacerbated by the ongoing findings of the Leveson inquiry as it investigates the underbelly of journalism and politics.

Of course it’s not all bleak. In many ways, this is a time of renaissance for journalism as our ways of gathering and disseminating news proliferate online. And journalism will always offer rewards that outweigh the financial ones for the majority of us.

Nevertheless a life of low salary and high stress can take its toll, if not on you then for some of your colleagues. So why not do something small to help that collectively can amount to something big?

The Journalists’ Charity “started in 1864 when a group of parliamentary journalists met up in a London pub to set up a fund to help their colleagues and dependents who had fallen on hard times. In the days before state benefits, grants were made to meet the costs of providing some of the necessities of life”. The Victorian novelist Charles Dickens was a founder supporter.

These days it has widened its remit to include all journalists and is always ready to help them and their dependents with advice, grants and other forms of financial assistance. The Journalists’ Charity also runs a care home for journalists, Pickering House, in Dorking, Surrey as well as sheltered and extra care housing.

Given that most of our pensions are not going to add up to much, that’s quite a nice safety net isn’t it?

On 8 June I’m going to cycle solo and unsupported from Brighton (home of Journalism.co.uk) to Oslo, Norway to raise money for this under-appreciated charity. I will be cycling approximately 850 miles in 11 days, an average of 77 miles a day, cycling through England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark.

You can do your bit by sponsoring a fiver or more on my sponsorship page and helping to spread the word via Twitter, Facebook etc.

Sponsors who do not wish to remain private will be rewarded with recognition and thanks on our @journalismnews Twitter channel (58k-plus followers) so that’s pretty decent exposure, especially if you sponsor on behalf of your media-related business.

And if you’re still not convinced that the Journalists’ Charity is a worthy cause, I will also be raising money for two cancer charities – alternative sponsor page here.

Journalism.co.uk owner John Thompson (@johncthompson), who will be cycling Brighton to Oslo in 11 days to raise money for the Journalists' Charity

The route I plan to cycle from Calais (once I have cycled to Dover and taken the ferry)

• Video: what the Journalists’ Charity does and how you can help
• ‘Twitchhiking’ freelancer Paul Smith completes journey
• Democracy site MySociety to receive $575,000 from US investment firm
• Italian newspaper joins Times safer cycling campaign
• Reporters Without Borders publishes details of 2010 financial aid

1. Al Jazeera to relaunch citizen media platform Sharek

2. Eight top tips for those stepping into data journalism

3. ‘It is time to take storytelling seriously’

4. #jpod – Open data and journalism: How and why journalists should be digging for stories

5. Mail Online editor: Knox verdict report due to ‘human error’

6. Channel 4 scoops three gongs at One World Media Awards

7. BBC accuses China of ‘deliberate’ jamming of World News

8. Vogue editors sign international pact on model photos

9. Arabic rolling news channel Sky News Arabia launches

10. Al Jazeera English closes Beijing bureau after visa refusal

• Voice of America: China’s Foreign Ministry questioned on Al Jazeera journalist visa issue
• World Association of Newspapers calls for press freedom in China
• Beatblogging.org: Globe and Mail/Reuters using Twitter photos of China riots
• Committee to Protect Journalists: Bahrain government freezes Al Jazeera operations ‘indefinitely’
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 26 November-2 December

1. Vadim Lavrusik: 10 ways journalists can use Facebook

2. How journalists can create Guardian-style data visualisations

3. Sky News apologises for ‘briefly revealing’ rape victim name

4. Liveblog: Rupert Murdoch’s evidence at the Leveson inquiry

5. Neal Mann (@fieldproducer) to join WSJ as social media editor

6. Fleet Street Blues apologises to X-Factor judge Tulisa’s PR firm

7. Orwell Prize: Journalist and blogger shortlists unveiled

8. Google Currents: Five UK publishers hit 100K in two weeks

9. Google closes down online news payment system One Pass

10. MPs discuss local newspapers in wake of Johnston Press cuts

• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 24-30 September
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 24 June-1 July
• Radio4Today: Would Orwell have been a blogger?
• MediaGuardian: Independent editor to rule on Johann Hari plagiarism claims
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 20-26 August

1. How the sinking of the Titanic was reported

2. NUJ fears jobs ‘massacre’ as five Johnston Press dailies go weekly

3. Sun journalists to be trained in mental health reporting after complaint

4. Advice on securing your first job in media production

5. Tom Watson phone hacking book out this week

6. US local newspaper launches paid-for HTML5 web app

7. App of the week for journalists: Signal

8. Regional Press Awards shortlist unveiled

9. Reporting the Anders Behring Breivik trial

10. Mail Online expects to become profitable this summer

• Scoopland: Alternative NUJ Regional Press Award Winners
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 10-16 September
• NCTJ and PTC shortlists for new journalist awards released
• #jpod: The top news stories from Journalism.co.uk, 8 April 2011
• Shortlist announced for 2011 Professional Publishers Association awards

1. Newspaper reporter: fifth worst job? US careers study seems to think so

2. How the Texas Tribune is making $5K a month from Google microsurveys

3. Cameron, Blair and Brown to appear at Leveson inquiry, reports say

4. Hearst unveils new ‘tablet-friendly’ women’s magazine

5. BBC Breakfast moves to Salford: Early reaction

6. Hacked Off: Motorman data leaks are ‘inevitable’

7. App of the week for journalists: Byword, a great text editor for iPhone/iPad

8. Johnston Press confirms further editorial mergers

9. Investigative video news channel to launch on YouTube

10. How citizen video journalists in Egypt are ‘pushing at traditional journalism’

• App of the week for journalists: Byword, a great text editor for iPhone/iPad
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 20-26 August
• App of the week for journalists – 1st Video, to record and edit video on your iPhone or iPad
• App of the week for journalists – Flipboard
• App of the week for Journalists – Klip, a great new iPhone app for video sharing

1. Rusbridger: Guardian paywall ‘has not been ruled out‘

2. Five tools for the journalist’s toolbox

3. Two British freelance journalists killed in Syria, CPJ reports

4. Mission America: How the Guardian’s US move has added 4m readers

5. WikiLeaks: ‘We have not finished’

6. Tool of the week for journalists: Timeline

7. Orwell Prize 2012 Journalism and Blog longlists announced

8. How the Guardian’s community of commentators contributes to the story

9. Ex-cricketer awarded £90K damages in Twitter libel case

10. Lost journalists documentary hits $50k goal on Kickstarter

• Radio4Today: Would Orwell have been a blogger?
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 24-30 September
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 10-16 September
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 24 June-1 July
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 23-29 July

Journalism.co.uk runs a range of training courses to help boost your skills in a particular area of journalism.

Here is a list of the training courses we are running this spring. We will be adding more soon.

Successful freelance journalism

• Date: 2 May
• Tutors: Olivia Gordon and Jo Payton

Do you want to know how to get off the ground as a freelance writer and build a successful business? Led by two experienced and in-demand journalists, this course on how to be a successful freelance journalist will help anyone thinking of working as a freelance journalist, as well as new freelancers, or those who are already working in the field but want a refresher to up their game.

Advanced online research skills

• Date: 3 May
• Tutor: Colin Meek

An intensive course covering quick tips for slicker working and a range of other investigative techniques and strategies for taking your desk research to the next level.

Online sub-editing

• Date: 4 May
• Tutors: Emmanuelle Smith and Jane Wild

Whether you’re a print sub-editor looking to update your skills and transfer them to the web, or looking for that first job in online journalism, you will benefit from this one-day course. As the media and the way in which readers consume it evolve, multi-skilled journalists who can produce great copy for the web are more in demand than ever.

An introduction to data journalism*

• Date: 9 May or 28 May
• Tutor: Kevin Anderson

As governments and institutions release more data, complex numbers have become an important part of many stories. Data journalism is now a skill that can set you apart in a competitive job market.

*This is the last time we will be offering this course led by Kevin Anderson due to his commitments – so take advantage of the final opportunity to learn from this former BBC and Guardian data journalist.

Intermediate data journalism

• Date: 29 May
• Tutor: Kevin Anderson

Now that you know the basics about data journalism, get ready to take your skills to the next level. You’ll leave the course with more confidence on how to tame data, make more powerful visualisations and build stronger cases from your investigative reporting.

Media law refresher

• Date: 21 May
• Tutor: David Banks

A one-day course offering an update on key aspects of media law that can affect anyone publishing in the UK.

It covers areas such as libel, contempt, reporting the courts, sexual offences, children, privacy and confidentiality and copyright.

The course includes updates on the legal areas being explored by the Leveson inquiry, such as Bribery Act, RIPA, Data Protection Act and Misuse of Computers Act.

Online media law

• Date: 11 June
• Tutor: David Banks

A course that focuses on the media law that particularly affects those working in new media.

The course covers libel, contempt, privacy and confidentiality, copyright, Data Protection Act and Misuse of Computers Act with special reference to cases affecting those working online.

Adding a second string to your bow

• Date: 23 May (evening)
• Tutor: Steve Bustin

Times are tough for freelance journalists, with increasing numbers of writers chasing a decreasing number of commissions, leaving many facing a reduced income.

This course examines ways to boost your income by developing a ‘second string to your bow’, developing and selling other services such as corporate copywriting, PR services and paid public speaking.

How to set up a hyperlocal news site

• Date: 28 May
• Tutor: Philip John

Want to get a head start in the exciting new world of hyperlocal journalism? This course will guide you through the process, from inception to sustainability. You’ll learn about using the right mix of technology, how to encourage contributions and marketing on a tiny budget, plus we’ll cover the unique set of issues facing hyperlocal sites.

To suggest a course or find out more email me using this link or call 01273 384291.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – try this tutorial on using Google Fusion Tables
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – try this Google Fusion Tables tutorial
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – dive into the data journalism handbook
• #jpod – Open data and journalism: How and why journalists should be digging for stories
• Tool of the week for journalists: Data.gov.uk’s map-based search

1. Twenty inspirational women journalists

2. Frances Harrison: My double life as mother and foreign correspondent

3. Local newspaper paid-for iPad apps hit Apple’s Newsstand

4. Marie Colvin funeral to be held in New York this weekend

5. BBC to launch online corrections page, Trust confirms

6. Sun’s former digital product manager joins Johnston Press

7. Paul Conroy talks about Syria: ‘It’s a massacre’

8. Emap considers selling its print magazines and events

9. Richard Fletcher named as Telegraph website editor

10. Evgeny Lebedev: Independent to launch new campaigning website

• Johnston Press chief: BBC should be limited to three stories per city per day
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 18-24 February
• Computerworld UK: Johnston Press sales staff get 800 iPads as part of ’24-hour digital’ shift
• Media moves: Telegraph gets Mike Seery; Guardian appoints new CFO
• New political blog for Telegraph

We have been updating the Journalism.co.uk Facebook page (Facebook.com/Journalismnews), following the launch of the Facebook page redesign last week.

We have used a free search tool called Wayback Machine, to search an archive of images of our home page over time.

To do the same, type the URL of your news site into Wayback Machine and then use the calendar to find crawled web pages from the archives.

Save a screen shot and then upload to the new-style Facebook page. To find out how to convert to the new style and add “milestones”, follow this helpful guide.

You can see how Journalism.co.uk has changed over time by clicking here and looking at our Facebook timeline.

This is what Journalism.co.uk looked like on 25 January 1999.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – style guides for the web
• Yahoo releases Style Guide for writing and editing
• New York Times gets new-look Facebook page with timeline of 160-year history
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – How to check the score of your Facebook page
• AP updates Stylebook with social media guidelines

1. Murdoch claims three million sales for Sun on Sunday launch

2. Report: Social media top for future news outlet investment

3. New York Times gets new-look Facebook page with timeline of 160-year history

4. Financial Times to set up new ‘live news’ operation

5. How to: submit a Freedom of Information request

6. Tool of the week for journalists: Cuttings.me

7. Crowdfunding journalism: How one project secured $50,000 in 38 hours

8. Tom Watson: Report could link NOTW with police payments

9. Nick Davies wins Paul Foot award for phone-hacking investigation

10. ABC: Express and Star sees biggest monthly traffic increase

• Greenslade: Phone hacking book deals already signed
• UK regional newspaper picks up US acclaim
• ‘I knew they’d never get the lid back on’: Tom Watson talks to the Guardian about phone hacking
• Independent: Labour MP to make new claims about phone hacking in Commons debate
• Leveson inquiry: full list of core particpants

1. A Guardian hotel? Publisher says it is ‘exploring options’

2. How to: use Facebook Subscribe as a journalist

3. Former NOTW web journalist launches newsgathering tool

4. Tool of the week for journalists: Press Pass, to search for journalists on Twitter

5. Campaign launched to ‘save the Freedom of Information Act’

6. Johnston Press in consultation with senior executives

7. Emap understood to be seeking new London HQ

8. Ofcom: BBC news report breached girl’s privacy

9. More details emerging about Sun on Sunday launch

10. John Witherow: ‘Marie Colvin was an extraordinary figure’

• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 5-9 March
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 17-23 December
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 17-23 September
• #jpod – Dying for the story: Citizen journalism and the Arab spring
• Ofcom: Galloway’s Press TV programmes in breach of code

1. Sun editor: Page 3 ‘part of British society’

2. Page 3 campaign grows as Leveson recalls Sun editor

3. Telegraph hires Sky producer James Weeks for video role

4. Heather Mills records 65 hours of ‘harassment’

5. Briefing Media to buy UBM medical and farming titles

6. Police officer cleared over NoW Milly Dowler ‘leak’

7. Tool of the week for journalists – Pinterest

8. ProPublica-inspired global news site launches in Australia

9. EU privacy rulings: ‘huge consequences’ for UK press

10. Ian Edmondson: ‘Culture of bullying’ at News of the World

• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 26 November-2 December
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 2-8 July
• Tool of the week for journalists – Pinterest
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – follow ProPublica’s ‘tools and data’ Pinterest board
• ProPublica-inspired global news site launches in Australia

1. How to: prepare for a journalism job interview

2. Johann Hari declines invitation to return to Independent

3. News International to launch Sunday version of the Sun on 29 April, sources say

4. A guide to mastering 100wpm shorthand

5. Women’s groups condemn ‘harmful’ stereotypes in media

6. Is your blog in this PR database of 1.3 million blogs?

7. PA editor: Name mistake ‘catastrophic example of human error’

8. Mail Online publisher: ‘If you don’t listen to your users then you’re dead’

9. App of the week for journalists – Flipboard

10. Tool of the week for journalists – Formulists (use it before it disappears)

• Tool of the week for journalists – Formulists (use it before it disappears)
• App of the week for journalists – Flipboard
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 4-10 May
• paidContent UK: Mail Online on iPad next week
• Flipboard adds Telegraph and Guardian ahead of royal wedding

1. How to: write a covering letter and CV

2. Slovenia’s national paywall goes up: what the publishers say

3. Ten LinkedIn tips for journalists

4. App of the week for journalists: Tweetbot

5. Express and Star scraps paywall in favour of paid-for apps

6. Tool of the week for journalists – Spool, an Instapaper for video

7. ITV News announces two new ‘specialist editors’

8. Ian Hislop: ‘Statutory regulation is not required’

9. Google-sponsored Data Journalism Awards open to entries

10. Sunday Times editor confirms Gordon Brown ‘blagging’

• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 7-13 April
• Polly Toynbee apologises for ‘crass’ plane crash analogy via Twitter
• Entries now open for 2012 Online Media Awards
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 17-23 September
• Awards round-up: Index on Censorship winners; Mind Journalism Awards; Paul Foot nominations call

1. Mail ‘receives 300 to 400 Pippa Middleton pictures a day’

2. French landmark case: A new dawn for investigative journalism?

3. Slovenia to launch £4-a-month national paywall

4. Tool of the week for journalists – ProPublica’s TimelineSetter

5. Johann Hari to return to Independent in ’4 or 5 weeks’

6. App of the week for journalists: Zite

7. Trinity Mirror to close five offices with 35 redundancies

8. Daily Star editor denies paper has anti-Islamic agenda

9. Taking a closer look at development journalism

10. Why the internet can help save newspapers

• Daily Mirror publisher faces ‘three to four’ phone-hacking cases, says lawyer
• Telegraph.co.uk: Google’s UK chief Matt Brittin on the UK media industry
• Update on cuts at Trinity Mirror’s Media Wales – 15 (.2) jobs at risk
• INM signs £40m print deal in Northern Ireland
• Editorial job losses at Express Newspapers reduced from 70 following union talks