Two editor’s picks for the price of one here – as they go hand in hand.

Firstly Marcelo Ballve on True/Slant sums up the problems of media navel-gazing, suggesting that the industry’s ruminations on its own fate may be of less interest to the general public than we give them credit for:

“It’s always going to be the case that a profession will have its water cooler talk, and with the internet, much of it is going to be public. But there’s too much of it and too much of it is seeping into spaces where a reader or viewer might simply want to be informed or told a story,” he writes.

Elsewhere, in an unrelated blog post, Adam Westbrook announces his plans to publish practical guides for journalists on video, branding, storytelling, audio, business skills and ‘making things happen’.

The 6×6 guides will start from next Monday and are intended to encourage the industry to look forward.

“People don’t want to be reminded how bad the newspaper/journalism sector is right now; they don’t want to read more introductions to articles reeling off the various nails in the coffin,” says Westbrook.