A week or so ago I wrote a blog brainstorming a few ideas for a young journalist blogging ring. It was inspired by Jessica DaSilva, the rather brave intern who blogged her way into a bit of a nightmare, but then pretty much blogged her way into a glistening career at the same time. Wonderful, I thought.
Anyway, it made me realise that I don’t really know many young journalists that are bloggers. Apart from either friends who I’ve bullied into starting blogs, or some of my NZ students…. who I’ve bullied into starting blogs too 
So here’s the deal. John Thompson, from journalism.co.uk, has set up a new section of the site for our ring. It’s a Wordpress-powered site (woo!), which we can all sign up to and post to.
Now I know what you’re thinking: Can’t I just post on my own blog and then get the lovely link traffic?
Feel free — I’ll be doing it with my posts, for sure. However, by posting onto journalism.co.uk I think this will become an effective, managed resource that can be searched and archived in one sole location, thus making a sort of young-journalist knowledge bank on the web. And of course, let’s not disregard the clout journalism.co.uk has in the online journo world. There are few places better suited to hosting all of this stuff.
One of the concerns from my original post was exclusivity. I suggested — wrongly — that I (and others) pick and choose bloggers who had already made a name for themselves on the web. Wrong. How would that work? The whole reason for this idea coming into existence was because of Jessica…. who I’d never heard of. So to exclude bloggers who weren’t already famous from contributing is just a really stupid idea. Thanks to all who made the point perfectly clear via comments and emails. We’re debating already!
But there will be some restrictions. We need to keep this focused in order to make it useful and interesting.
So, to take part in the Journalism.co.uk Young Journalist Blog Ring, you will have to be:
a) Under 30-years-old. I know there will be a couple of disappointed people out there with this restriction, but without it I feel we lose the point a bit.
b) You blog (or plan to blog) about journalism in some shape or form. Bit of an obvious one, this, but I think it’s important that we’re all coming from the same place here. I’m not bothered what stage of you’re career you’re at, so long as that career’s journalism.
c) You promote the ring! If we all bring attention to this by shouting it from the rooftops, then there’s no reason why this can’t become the best point for young opinion on the media on the web.
Finally… I can’t write ‘the ring’ without thinking of that horrible Gollum chap. So, anyone who can come up with a good, catchy name wins… wins… your very own DVD copy of Batman: The Dark Night!* Wow!
So, if you’re interested, please email me: davelee.mail@NOSPAMgmail.com . Obviously, want to be removing that NOSPAM bit. If you’ve already emailed me, please do it again… I don’t want to miss anyone out, and my Gmail inbox is busier than a Barack Obama gig campaign rally.
I’d like to add, of course, that any suggestions are still very welcome as to how the ring should work. I’ve set those three requirements as a means of getting the ball rolling. But please, ideas wanted!
(*Which you can redeem by waiting until it is released, going to the nearest DVD store and handing over your money. Tee hee hee.)
J-students must stick around and clear up the mess
May 6th, 2009It’s May. And, tough as the journalism market is right now, it’s about to get tougher. Journalism schools around the UK are about to spit out their latest crop of hopefuls.
Last year, I was among them. This year, with an added year of experience and cynicism, I’m feeling cautiously optimistic. And, no doubt, there will be many worried students out there, wondering if their three years (or more) of study were worth it.
Here’s my advice: stick around and clear up the mess.
In an interview for Journalism.co.uk recently, I described how the job market has changed in the past year. In 2008, we were well aware that competition was tough. Reporters jobs were extremely thin on the ground. One position I applied for — on a smallish London newspaper — had, the editor told me, nearly 1000 applicants.
But now there isn’t any competition. There isn’t anything to compete over. Newspapers are getting rid, chopping down and slicing up. The reporter that left last week isn’t being replaced.
So what do journalism students do? Give up? Get a job in PR? Get a job in Sainsbury’s?
Maybe — if that’s what it takes. But here’s the crucial tip: whatever you do, stay close to journalism.
So what if there aren’t any full-time reporting roles on newspapers. Are the pages empty? No! They’re still full of words, pictures, stories. All of which are — until Murdoch invents some sort of Churnobot — written by humans. You’ll struggle with local newspapers, they don’t have much of a budget, but you could have better luck elsewhere. On the web, in the nationals — they all need writers.
So if you need to work at Sainsbury’s — do it. Work lates. Get a job in a pub.
Just spend your day being a journalist. Get shifts, even if it’s one day a week. Apply for anything that’s remotely near to a newsroom. Work on the reception if you have to.
You need to make sure you’re in the industry when it’s back on the way up.
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Posted in Comment, Newspapers, Regional, Student Journalism, The Future
Tags: graduates jobs journalism journalism.co.uk students