Category Archives: Freelance

End of the Digital Railroad? Photography site is in financial trouble

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Last week it emerged that the online photo archive and marketing site for professional photographers, Digital Railroad, may well be forced into liquidation.

According to a report over at the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), the site is struggling to keep its head above water.

The NPPA report that the Digital Railroad has “informed their members, customers, and partners today they recent efforts to find additional funding ‘required to sustain its current level of operations’ have been unsuccessful, and as a result there will be staff reductions and greatly reduced spending.”

Digital Railroad was founded in 2003 by Evan Nisselson, and the aim was to provide web based archiving and marketing for the professional photographer on a global basis. 

Journalism.co.uk creates maps for freelance journalists

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Want to put yourself on the map as a journalist? Sign up to Journalism.co.uk’s freelance directory and you will be.

Thanks to two new maps created by Journalism.co.uk, potential employers and commissioners can track down freelance journalists and photographers wherever they are in the world.

Freelancers will also be able to see who else is working in their region, giving them the chance to build new contacts and colleagues.

Both maps can be searched by a specific location or postcode.

Clicking on a pin in the map will open up a freelancers name and a link to their directory listing. Areas where there’s a high concentration of freelancers are marked with green ‘cluster’ arrows.

To feature on the maps you will need to be a paid-up member of Journalism.co.uk’s freelance directory. Only basic address details, and if possible a postcode, need to be provided.

Freelancers: things you should never say to a client?

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Mason Hipp over at freelancers website Freelance Folder has posted a ‘Top 12’ of ‘Things you should never say to a client…’

For the full list visit Mason’s post, but a couple of selected highlights are:

“3. ‘Sure, take as long as you need with payment’

Almost every one of us has been in a position of financial difficulty at some point, so it is very difficult not to empathize with people in the same situation. That being said, you still shouldn’t slide on your payment dates.

If a client hires you for something, they should be prepared to pay you on time. It’s not fair to you if they don’t, and it shows them that it is an acceptable practice, which it isn’t. Of course, you should evaluate your specific situation before deciding exactly what to do.

And:

“9. ‘I really need this project’

It’s something about human nature — everyone wants to get the best deal. If you tell a client that you really need more work from them, they are probably going to exploit that fact and you’ll end up at the wrong end of a bad project.

Even if you’re really desperate for work, it’s usually better not to show your clients and prospects. What you can do instead is lower your prices a carefully determined amount before hand and then go out and sell to clients/prospects.”

Any other words that should never be uttered?

Press Gazette: Freelancers must register or face fine, warns ICO

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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has urged freelance journalists to register as ‘data controllers’, because the personal information the handling as part of their work is covered by the Data Protection Act.

Freelancers who do not register with the ICO could face a substantial fine.

Innovations in Journalism – Reporterist, the ‘next generation wire service’

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We give developers the opportunity to tell us journalists why we should sit up and pay attention to the sites and devices they are working on. Today it’s ‘next generation wire services’ for independent journalists from Reporterist.

image of reporterist website

1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
Hi, I’m Hemant Bhanoo. Reporterist is about bringing together journalists on a common platform where reporters can sell their pieces and editors can source reliable, quality work.

There is enough demand for original news content around the world that we believe this will grow into a next generation wire service for independent reporters.

2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
As a starting point, journalists can put up their work on our public portfolio. Right now we enable you to set up rules like “send my story (or story idea) to Editor A. If they don’t bite within 3 days, send it on to Editor B”.

You can specify different prices for each editor, and see if/when they have looked at your work.

3) Is this it, or is there more to come?
This is definitely not it. There’s a lot more to come, and it’ll hopefully evolve a lot faster as we bring on engineers to help us accelerate development.

A preview of some our features:

  • Full multimedia support (right now we’ve rolled out photo support to a few test users)
  • Directory to help journalists find publications that they may want to pitch to
  • A way for editors to put up specific events or story angles that they need to be covered (and for reporters to go cover them).

4) Why are you doing this?
I’m a big fan of public radio, and have been really moved by investigative/enterprise stories that I’ve heard. It scares me that there are fewer ways to earn a living actually doing investigative or enterprise reporting. Given today’s political climate, we need more people going out of their way to hunt down stories and bring them to the world.

When I found out how many good stories don’t actually see the light of day because journalists can’t find the right outlet or because they go stale while waiting for editors to take a look at them, I was taken aback.

I hope Reporterist will enable some of those important, untold stories to reach people.

5) What does it cost to use it?
We will take a percentage (10 per cent) of the transaction, though it’s free right now. There’s currently no listing fee – but we’ll charge one for large media (audio, video, pictures) once we fully roll out multimedia support.

6) How will you make it pay?
We can build a sustainable business from the transaction and listing fees. However, we plan to expand our offerings in various directions. We will also be building premium portfolios for journalists, and tools for news publishers that we will charge for.

Our core focus has been, and will be, on helping reward quality journalism.

Innovations in Journalism – AngryJournalist

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Each week we give developers the opportunity to tell us journalists why we should sit up and pay attention to the sites and devices they are working on. This week it’s online rants about the perilous state of the news industry with AngryJournalist.com.

Image of angry journalist website

1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
I’m Kiyoshi Martinez. I’m a former journalist who’s now gone into government communications.

AngryJournalist.com is a simple concept. Type why you’re angry with your media job and hit “vent.”

It’s an airing of grievances, rants on the life of journalists and bitter tales from the newsroom. All the comments are moderated before posting in order to keep the site on topic.

I like to think of it as the punching bag for the news business.

2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
Hopefully, the site helps relieve some stress. It’s probably not as helpful as professional therapy, but it’s less damaging than picking up other vices. Outside of this, I think it’s a great glimpse for newsroom managers and executives of what’s actually going on in the minds of their silently brooding employees. For all the over-the-top responses, there are kernels of truth there worth following up.

3) Is this it, or is there more to come?
There’s been some talk of others independently wanting to start up foreign-language versions of the site, which I think would be really neat, but I won’t be directly involved.

Another person is helping me with creating a widget for others to add to their blog and potentially a Facebook application. I’m considering the idea of doing a “best of today’s responses” list that will get sent out via Twitter, but I’m not sure if I really like that idea or not just yet.

I might take the time eventually to do a really thorough analysis of the responses and perhaps write something on it, but that’s further in the future. As someone who’s a nerd about data and loves to read reports, I know others might appreciate something like that.

Finally, I’m also debating if I want to add revenue-generating features to the site.

4) Why are you doing this?
It initially started as an experiment I wanted to conduct that stemmed from a variety of things I’d read, discussions I had with friends and just generally observing the industry turmoil.

I have my own opinions on the journalism industry and made up my mind to leave it, but I wanted to see the responses from those who’d been in the industry longer than me about their impressions of what’s wrong with the profession today. I was curious to know if others had thoughts echoing my own.

So, I created the site with the idea that I wanted to get the unfiltered, raw angst of the industry’s workforce in the most efficient way possible.

5) What does it cost to use it?
It’s 100 per cent free. Users will never be bombarded with advertisements while surfing the site, nor will they ever have to register, give an e-mail address or jump through any other hurdles to participate.

6) How will you make it pay?
From the beginning, I’ve made a commitment to not put advertising on the site. For me, the purpose of the site wasn’t to make money, but to provide a forum for the industry to be brutally honest with itself.

The costs associated with the site are extremely low and I consider the time spent like that of a person spending time on one of their hobbies. Plus, I see advertising as annoying and there’s increasing evidence that online display advertising is becomes less effective. Explore the best of global gaming with our carefully curated selection of the top online casinos in the world . On our website, you’ll find a world-class array of games, unmatched bonuses, and an unparalleled gaming experience. Dive into the excitement and discover why these casinos rank at the top. Visit us now and start your journey at the most prestigious and thrilling online casinos in the world! I didn’t see a point in cluttering my layout and distracting from the content.

Still, this doesn’t mean I’m opposed to finding ways to cover the few costs I have and maybe make some additional cash. I’ve been toying with a few ideas.

One would involve creating a job board on the site. However, there are already several great resources for journalism jobs. I’d want to find a way to make my job board more effective and less impersonal.

Another idea is to sell merchandise. I really like the idea of AngryJournalist.com coffee mugs on the desks of reporters in newsrooms across the country. Also, T-shirts with some of the responses could be mildly entertaining.

I’m also considering writing a book based on the responses. Conceptually, I see it as part critique on the industry, part management techniques with a healthy dose of dark newsroom humour.