#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – creative toolkit for industry guidance

Media and entertainment union BECTU has launched Creative Toolkit, a new site offering resources for those entering the industry on issues such as the national minimum wage, internships, sources of training, employment status and tax.

According to an announcement by BECTU regular users of the site will be encouraged to post a profile and interact in the community forum to share their work experiences.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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Guardian Student Media Awards 2011: shortlist announced

The shortlist has been announced for this year’s Guardian Student Media Awards. The list of 45 individuals or publications, which were whittled from 648 entries by a panel of judges including Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger and freedom of information campaigner and journalist Heather Brooke, will compete in nine categories. The awards will be presented on 23 November.

See the full list of nominees below:

Publication of the Year

York Vision, University of York

Mouth, Kingston University

Cherwell, Oxford University

River, Kingston University (won 2010)

Felix, Imperial College London

Website of the Year

www.redbrickpaper.co.uk, University of Birmingham

www.thestudentjournals.co.uk, University of Warwick

www.susu.tv, University of Southampton

www.liverpoolstudentmedia.com, University of Liverpool

http://toglobalist.org/ , Oxford University

Reporter of the Year

Simon Murphy, Newcastle University

Lizzie Porter, Oxford University

Tom Farmery, University of Lincoln

James Burton, University of Cambridge

Michael Smith, University of Sheffield

Feature Writer of the Year

Jamie Ross, St Andrews University

Alex Dymoke, Oxford University

Thomas Hocking, University of Sheffield

Minas Panayi, Cass Business School, University London

Camilla Apkar, University of York

Columnist of the Year

Rhiannon Williams, University College London

Charlotte Hogarth Jones, University of York

Mehreen Khan, Oxford University

Samuel Gilonis, University of Southampton

Helen Robb, St Annes College, Oxford

Critic of the Year

Rachel Aroesti, Durham University

Daniel Barrow, Warwick University

Alex Gruzenberg, Darwin College, Cambridge

Toby Parker Rees, Homerton College, Cambridge

Thomas Killingbeck, University of York

Photographer of the Year

Rajan Zaveri, SAE Institute London

Ibolya Feher, University of the West of England

James Marsh, University of Wolverhampton

Bernat Millet, Middlesex University

Rosangela Borgese, University of West London

Digital Journalist of the Year

Joseph Stashko, University of Central Lancashire

Helen Stead, University of Salford

Jake Lea-Wilson, Imperial College

Dylan Lowe, Imperial College

Nick Eardley, Edinburgh Napier

Broadcast Journalist of the Year

Claire Freeman, Nottingham Trent

Clare Davis and Michael Greenfield, City University

Munawar Shaikh, University of Leeds

Elaine Ly, Nottingham Trent

Joanna Beaufoy, Emmanuel Cambridge

Image by Michael Brunton-Spall on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Podcasts to practise shorthand

If you are trying to nail that all important 100 words per minute at Teeline or if your shorthand is a bit rusty and you are in need of a refresher, there is a handy iTunes podcast feed called Machine Speed Shorthand to help.

You can search for “Teeline” in iTunes and download podcasts with scripts read at various speeds so that you can practice using your iPhone, iPod, iPad or other mp3 player while on the train when you find yourself with a spare few minutes.

There are also three shorthand dictations available – at 40, 50 and 60 words per minute – in iTunes U

The podcasts appear to have stopped being produced and the quality of the recordings is not great but they still provide a handy free resource for those learning Teeline.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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NUS Awards: York student newspaper Nouse nominated for fourth year running

University of York student newspaper Nouse has been nominated for Best Student Media in the NUS Awards for the fourth year running.

Nouse was a runner up in 2008, won the award in 2009, and then missed out to fellow York student publication the Lemon Press last year.

In 2006, the newspaper was nominated for Best Student Newspaper at the Guardian Student Media Awards, an award it won the year before, and the National Student Journalism Awards.

The other two nominees for this year’s award are 2009 finalist Forge Press, University of Sheffield, and the National and London Student Journalism Support Networks – University of London (submitted by Queen Mary Students’ Union).

Forge Press editor Matthew Burgess is nominated for the the Student Journalist of the Year prize, alongside Simon Murphy, news editor of Newcastle University’s the Courier, and Nick Stylianou, media and communications officer at Royal Holloway and former editor of university publication the Orbital.

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Wannabe Hacks: Sunday Times foreign editor on ‘rough ride’ of profession

In an interesting interview with the Wannabe Hacks Sunday Times foreign editor Sean Ryan offers plenty of tips for journalists interested in becoming foreign correspondents. There are plenty of warnings too, calling on journalists to be sure to consider the realities of reporting from across the world:

There’s also a psychological toll which I think as an industry we’re becoming increasingly aware of which is the tendency to suffer from depression as a result of traumatic experiences that you’ll inevitability accumulate along the way. So we have had cases of post-traumatic distress disorder diagnosed in several of our reporters and it’s deeply distressing to witness. It takes a lot of treatment and a long time to recover from, although I’m pleased to say that in all cases, we’ve seen a full recovery and people have gone back to work and come to terms with what they’ve experienced in the past. But it’s not easy and it’s not good going into being a foreign correspondent thinking it’s all travel and meeting people and being on the frontline of a war because there’s a heavy price to pay.

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Wannabe Hacks go in search of 50 best journalism placements

Work experience has caused a bit of a stir in the nationals recently, what with Clegg and Cameron slugging out over social mobility. In an industry like the media, controversy over its almost mandatory unpaid placements is never far away.

But bloggers Wannabe Hacks have taken a step back from the debates about how to solve a problem like work experience to ask: What are the 50 best journalism placements?

The Wannabe Hacks – who have “all done reams of work experience themselves” – will be asking aspiring journalists to nominate their best placement in no more than 40 words.

They can be paid or unpaid, and contributors are asked to include the publication name and section if applicable.

Nominations can be sent to Ben Whitelaw on top50@wannbehacks.co.uk. The deadline is Friday, 27 May at 5pm.

I’m sure there is something else going on that day too…

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Media Trust and the Sun launch new Column Idol contest

The Media Trust and The Sun have joined together to launch this year’s Column Idol competition,.

The contest, now in its second year, is open to 18 to 25 year olds. Six shortlisted entrants will have the opportunity to be mentored by journalists from the Sun newspaper and the overall winner will then be given the chance to have their column printed in the tabloid.

Applications are now open and can be submitted until 20 June.

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Media release: PA signs UK video news deal for US with AP

The Press Association has signed “a landmark deal” with the Associated Press to distribute PA’s UK video news footage through the US wire’s archive.

Under the new agreement AP’s archive customers will be able to access more than 18,000 UK videos, with new content from PA added on a daily basis.

A release from both parties says the deal will help the PA extend the reach of its footage beyond the UK and “significantly bolster the UK news element of AP’s video offering”.

It added the stories supplied to AP have been “specifically designed as ‘archive-friendly’ compilations of the rushes from which the story was created”.

Fully shortlisted, the stories provide customers with longer sequences and greater depth than the tightly edited packages offered by other suppliers.

See the full release here…

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to negotiate freelance pay

Never be the first to mention a figure when negotiating freelance pay. That’s the advice of Joanne Mallon, a freelance journalist and specialist career coach for people in media who gave a talk at a National Union of Journalists meeting in Brighton last night.

“Avoid mentioning a rate even if you’re asked,” she said. “Tell them you don’t have a set rate and ask what their budget is.”

Her advice is to “use quite neutral language” and discuss money as an “object in the room”. Avoid asking “what are you going to pay me?”

If you are locked in stalemate in a conversation with a commissioning editor, give a range of rates, she advised. “Don’t be afraid to say no” if the pay is too low.

“Ask questions to establish yourself as a confident person,” she suggested.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall.

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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Kelvin MacKenzie sparks big debate on journalism training

Kelvin MacKenzie’s rubbishing of journalism courses has sparked a heated debate across numerous websites.

“There’s nothing you can learn in three years studying media at university that you can’t learn in just one month on a local paper,” he wrote in today’s Independent, saying he would shut down the colleges.

This post on Wannabe Hacks gives four reasons why MacKenzie is wrong and makes this interesting observation of why the former Sun editor – who has only one O-level – ended up in journalism.

This is key for me: the fact Mr MacKenzie had no choice but to scrap at a local paper when he was 16. He had few prospects and no options beyond an early entrance to the newsroom. But when you have the chance to go to uni or do a postgrad course, I think it’s natural to want to do so and to push yourself academically. It’s not for everyone and the jury’s out as to whether courses do you good. But let’s not take advice from a man who didn’t have a choice.

Over on Jon Slattery’s blog, he points out it is not the correct climate for newspapers to take on trainees.

The trouble with the local press route into journalism is how are regional newspapers going to take on trainees when they are cutting staff? Look at today’s news. Midland News Association, publisher of Britain’s biggest selling regional, the Wolverhampton-based Express & Star, is planning 90 [95] redundancies.

The National Council for the Training of Journalists agrees. HoldtheFrontPage has this interview with the chief executive of the NCTJ, Joanne Butcher.

She said: “Kelvin MacKenzie, of course, exaggerates to make some valid points about media degree courses and the value of learning the journalist’s craft by cutting your teeth on a local paper.

“But he does seem stuck in a time warp. Unlike when Kelvin trained on the South East London Mercury and was sent away to college, newspapers simply don’t take on many raw recruits these days.

In this post, a journalism student from University of Central Lancashire, Wordsmith, also argues the difficulties in being accepted on a paper directly from school.

On papers you don’t have time to fail, because of the pressure on you and the hundreds of people waiting to take your job.

A blog post on Rantings of a Sub Editor suggests a non-journalism degree first does help and some training, in a sub’s case the “basics of libel, copyright and privacy law, which are essential, a grounding in public affairs – local and national – and a working knowledge of Quark” and Substuff has some pretty good advice for wannabe journalists too.

Roy Greenslade also believes it is important to get a university education before going on to take a postgraduate journalism training course and, in this blog post, responds to MacKenzie’s jab at Greenslade’s City University lectureship.

I came up by the same route as Kelvin. He is right about it having been a terrific combination of learning-on-the-job and fun. But that was then, and this is now.

A university education is far better for journalists – and for journalism. It sharpens their critical faculties. It provides a great grounding in the basic skills. It is so good that many graduates are able to step straight into national papers.

Over on the Press Gazette blog, Dominic Ponsford argues MacKenzie “has a point about the ballooning cost of journalism training”.

MacKenzie does highlight a looming problem for the journalism industry, and one which it desperately needs to address. On the whole journalists are nowadays expected to fund their own training (the industry used to provide it on the job via block-release schemes). With first degrees costing up to £9,000 a year, and post-grads another £10,000 on top, and with food and board added in,  you are looking at spending £50,000 to to bag a job which, in the regional press, offers starting pay of £15,000.

How many aspiring journalists are realistically going to do that?

Journalism.co.uk’s earlier comment post – where you can tell us why you think MacKenzie is right, or wrong.

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