56. Making money from journalism. Finding news stories you can sell.

In this and over the next few posts we will be going into detail about selling news stories.

Any idiot can give away content for free (and if you are struggling to do even that than perhaps you should reconsider your career options).

But why should you be doing it? The immediate answer is obvious: The cash.

That, however, isn't the only or most important reason (it is highly unlikely you will be paying off your university fees - more likely a couple of takeaways).

Getting into the habit of selling stories concentrates the mind more than any classroom exercise. You will be on the look out for news stories in your day to day life.

You will start to see what makes a story and what doesn't. You will be competing against journalists in the real world... and have to deal with the public in the real world.

And after that you'll have to put up with seeing your byline robbed and a 50/50 chance you won't get the money... or at least have to spend an age chasing it up.

So a few generalisations:

1. Local newspapers and websites rarely pay for stories - even front page ones.

2. Tabloids pay better than broadsheets.

3. Sundays usually pay more than dailies.

4. Human interest sells better than hard news - celebrity exclusives pay best of all.

5. Bad news tends to sell better than good news.

6. Stories about middle-class young people do better than stories about working-class old people.

7. Good new photographs will help sell a story.

8. Exclusives can pay more than selling all around - but you will only get paid on publication.

9. Prepare to be ripped off time and again (and not just by the nasty papers - who are actually more likely to pay).

10. Being first helps but until you gain trust it might not always be enough.

And remember above all else - the most important byline is the one on the top of the cheque, as the (old) adage goes.

First off if you intend to sell a story to a national or a magazine or an agency do not merely pass yourself off as a student journalist. While strictly speaking it may be true it's also dishonest.

People may be more inclined to help a student rather than a professional reporter - and, understandably, they may get mightily pissed off if they discover you've been flogging off their story and soon as you've left them.

It's a greyer area if you run it in your student publication and then sell it on because than it is in the public domain.

Secondly don't go around telling people you work for the publication you WANT to sell it to. News editors take a very dim view of this -  not least because it will be they who will be dealing with any mess you leave.

And anyway these days they have enough problems dealing with complaints (mostly imagined or exaggerated) about their own reporters without having to deal with wannabes claiming to be on their staff.

(Oh yes, that too is dishonest.)

When in doubt try: Freelance reporter, which more or less covers everything.

Now stories come from anywhere - and there are no hard and fast rules. Previous posts in this blog have given you pointers on where to find general news.

But essentially what makes a story can be anything. Your college is a good place to start (ie a college netball team playing in a foreign town hit by a hurricane would probably make a story that people would pay for - especially with photos).

If you are a journalism student and assigned a patch listen out for the unusual - a celeb moving into the local area (be careful about this as estate agents have been known to conjure up these stories at times when an expensive property in their area isn't selling).

54. The most important blog post a journalism student will ever read

Some what sensationalist, eh? I'll grant you it is a little on the dramatic side - but actually if you are a journalism student and you only read one post on this blog: this is the one.

Because if you are a journalism student and you are not hooked up to spend some of the next few years doing work experience with the local newspaper/news agency/radio station/TV studio/news website - then what are you doing?

Twenty years ago there was the NCTJ - and that was about all. It did for almost everything you could possibly want to get your first foot on the journalism ladder.

Today there are endless courses in fashion journalism, music journalism, investigative journalism, financial journalism (scrub that, for the purposes of this post no one wants to go into financial journalism).

All fine courses I am sure. This certainly isn't an attack on the individual courses or colleges - but this is a warning.

Imagine this: A college runs a BA (Hons) degree Being Prime Minister. This course will teach you the workings of becoming the PM of the United Kingdom. Modules include: Decision making; Meeting the Queen; Dealing with the Whips; Handling a scandal (this is a six part module); Talking to the US President. etc etc etc.

All useful stuff to be sure. And 99 other people are also signed up to this useful and informative course - the question is: How many of them would ever have a hope in hell of becoming PM?

Why do you think it would be any different? Oh and that's not to miss out on those that aren't taking journalism degrees and enter the trade via a different route.

And so we come to the point. According to the Higher Education Career Services Unit Media Studies graduates have "a high employment rate with 71.8 per cent" but they also have some of the highest unemployment among humanities degrees too at 12.3 per cent.

But the really startling figure is that after six months 28.6 per cent of those surveyed worked in the retail, catering, waiting and bar staff category. Nothing wrong with that but was it really worth three years study? Or in the case of an MA a lot of cash?

On reflection you may well think not. If you are going to stand any chance do not wait until you're wearing a mortar board and running around campus doing Batman impressions. By then it could already be too late.

Remember there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of media and journalism graduates, post graduates and the like coming out of the system each year - and there aren't hundreds of jobs (let alone being choosy).

Good luck with the work experience.

Journalism Tips 47. Christmas ideas and Freedom of Information. Start thinking now. Plus a few more book ideas.

Last week I suggested that you start thinking about your Yuletide stories - you'll find it here along with a few suggested books.

A week has gone by so let me repeat the basic message: You really do need to be thinking about them now, especially if they are going to involve festive Freedom of Information requests.

Even more so if you've never made an FoI request before and have no idea how to do it. And if you're a student looking for work experience on your local paper or you simply want an easy cutting in a real newspaper then here is your chance.

And while you may think you have plenty of time - there are 61 days until Christmas it's not quite that simple.

Remember it takes 20 working days to get a FoI response it is rarely that easy. So from tomorrow (Friday 26) there are 42 working days (in theory).

But you won't get a response from most places on Christmas Eve - so we're down to 41.

Then you have to have your copy ready before the edition goes to print, so really you need to have it ready to go by December 14 (36 days) - even if the article is for between Christmas and New Year.

Of course it may take a few days to contact all the relevant people to make it a story - and it is Christmas so people will be busy... even if you have their contact numbers to hand. Let's say two days to contact the relevant people (34 days).

And if you haven't another two days (32 days) and then you have to actually write the thing - another day for you to write and read and re-read it (31 days).

The definition of a full working day means that even if you do get it in by 9.01am tomorrow morning - and to the right department the day will be practically over and the 20 working days won't actually start until Monday (30 days).

Allow for the request to be at the very least four days late (26 days); there to a problem with the request itself (does not comply etc) another five days (21 days) and a couple of days to actually make sense of what they send you (19 days) and you will see you are late already.

(Admittedly that was painful towards the end.)

So while you console yourself at missing this valuable deadline here's another few journalism books to add to your Christmas stocking... And in an exciting new development you can now click on the title and it will take you straight to the relevant Amazon page. I will master technology.

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
William Boot possibly the most famous countryside correspondent of all time. A legend - and a living one since he was based on W. F. Deedes - in his own and many other life times. Briefly: confusion runs at the Daily Beast and a lowly rural reporter finds himself (and an awful lot of stuff) in Africa awaiting the much expected civil war.
There, by accident rather than design he finds himself beating the rest of the assembled hacks - including that of the Beast's (Daily Mail) arch rival the Daily Brute (Daily Express) - to pull of an amazing newspaper coup.
Waugh is brilliant and typically acerbic. A must.
First published 1938.

A Crooked Sixpence by Murray Sayle
Set in the - then fictional - Sunday Sun of the 1960s. Australian hack James O'Toole comes to try his luck in Fleet Street. He soon finds himself writing an article about a hit  pop star Ricky Roger's dubious parentage (or at least it was back then) and finds himself up against Ricky's publicist Mary Lou. The story continues with Mary Lou: "You can't give us publicity like that. After all, it's not Ricky's fault, is it?"
"Look, Mary Lou," said O'Toole. "We're not in the business of giving Ricky good publicity. This is supposed to be a newspaper. We print what we think people will be interested in.
"For years you have been feeding us your cooked-up rubbish about Ricky's ties and his favourite dishes and we published it because deluded editors thought it was interesting. Ricky got rich in the process and you seem to be doing all right yourself.
"Now we've got something which is even more interesting. Maybe Ricky's income will go down but that's no concern of ours. We're not here to build him up in the first place. Those who live by publicity can't squeal if they die by publicity, can they?

Pratt of the Argus by David Nobbs
It is the 1950s and Henry Pratt has just finished National Service. joins a small Northern newspaper in the mid-1950s. We follow him as he makes contacts in the worlds of politics, crime and sport.
Naturally they all come together for an hilarious finale. It's part of a series but you don't need to read the first book as this stands on its own.
And it is very, very funny... especially if you are a journalist (even after all this time).

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41. Getting a job in journalism: How to make the most of work experience

Even the smallest of weekly newspapers can get inundated with requests for work experience. It means that in any given year 10 or 20 - perhaps even more on the bigger papers - wannabe reporters are coming through their doors.

Contrary to what you may be thinking (but not always) it is not purely an exercise in free labour. Believe me having dealt with the trail of destruction some trainees can leave behind it is often easier to do without them.

On the most part work experience is given for four reasons:

1. Almost everyone offering it will have done it themselves. It is the tried and tested method and they like to impart some of their own experience to the next generation.

2. It is part of the paper's "community remit". With budgets slashed to nothing it is a way of offering something extra to the people they serve.

3. They are looking for talent. That's right, they can even be looking for bright young journos (such as yourself).

If we are going to be cynical it can also be:

4. They need someone to churn out a dozen nibs, make tea and generally be a dog's body for a week.

Now reasons 1, 2 and 4 are all very laudable. It's No. 3 that we need to concern ourselves with. Bearing in mind a news editor can see so many trainees you will need to stand out from the crowd (let's call them people who haven't read this blog).

Newsrooms are usually much much smaller

So how do you do that? The answer is pretty simple... Make the news/editor's life easier. If you've been following this from the start you will have read tips 1 and 2 (I'm sure you can look them up yourself without need of a link).

If you've read the paper for a few weeks you should have a pretty good idea about what's going on in the local area, the topics they are interested in and gaps that aren't being filled.

The next thing to start doing is finding those stories - and that's before you go in. If you've never been in a real life newsroom before they can be daunting. The chances are you will start on a Monday and finish on a Friday. So far so normal. But unless you are working on a daily or a weekly that comes out at the end of the week you will get a rather disjointed view. 

For a start if the paper comes out on a Wednesday the reporters will be working to deadline. You won't see the process gearing up... it will be geared up. They will be busy trying to find a splash (front page) or chasing around after last minute quotes or trying to make the dang fool of an editor's "great" campaign - thought up over a tea and a biscuit 20 minutes before - become a reality. 

Sure they will try and throw you some stuff and take time out to go through it (if you are lucky) but, on the whole, they simply won't have time. You will certainly not their main priority.

This might be an altogether different story if come day one you walk in with that page 3 story that everyone was looking for two hours before.

If not, sit in a corner and expect to be largely ignored. Until Wednesday, with deadline passed the collective sigh of relief let's everyone relax for five minutes and even get around to asking you your name.

But that's only half the story. You may finish your week, if you are lucky, with experience of a newsroom, a couple of bylines, a notepad filled with squiggles purporting to be 15 words a minute shorthand and little else. 

Your week is up and you never see anyone in that newsroom ever again. That, after all, is what most people do.

Now think about it differently. This is the first stage of getting a job. Perhaps not this week, nor next month, maybe not even next year but you are feeling for an opening.

Firstly, you will know who to speak to when pitching a story. Secondly, you will have a good idea of when the news editor is busy (not a good time) and when it is quieter (a good time) to speak to them. Thirdly, you will have direct contact numbers for the people involved. Finally, they will have an idea of who you are when you are talking to them - and will give you some time.

For every story that makes the news editor will look kindly upon you, shine a little light in your direction, offer you more work experience and at some time in the future will advise you on any jobs that may be coming up ahead of the crowd. And if you are very useful may even give the editor a nod in your direction.

So instead of treating a week's worth of experience as a one off look at it instead as the start of a new and useful relationship with a newsroom.

After all the whole point of being a journalism student is to get a job in the trade. That is unless you really have more money than sense.

To keep up to date with future tips follow @journalismtips on Twitter.

Journalism Tips 37. How to get a job in journalism: Freedom of Information

Since the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) public bodies have been bombarded by millions of requests for all manner of pointless and trivial data. Take this about zombie attacks in Leicestershire there is a real danger that such requests will result in pressure for the FoI to be tightened up — and believe me that's what every council, MP and every other public body wants. To a certain extent you can't blame them as FoI Man points out says we should start listening to the Act's critics.

First and foremost I'd suggest reading David Higgerson's brilliant FoI blog which is full of updates and very useful advice and suggestions.

But simply putting in an FoI is only one part of the equation. Why do we put in FoI requests? To produce copy - too often people take their eye off the ball. The aim is produce a story - simply having the figures/documents in themselves is not enough. For example stats based FoIs are useless unless there is an angle - again this is where contacts (yes, those again) become invaluable.

A good contact may be able to steer you in a given direction and help you refine your FoI to get the results you are after - because don't think that once you've lodged your request you can sit back and wait for the stories to come popping out the other end.

For local bodies have become increasingly aware of what FoIs can do and will do everything to stall and cause problems - perhaps acting within the law but not within the spirit of it.

So it helps if you have an idea of what you are looking for - otherwise it just becomes a needle in a haystack. Too often you will get back stats that show no marked difference at all from one year to the next. In most cases that isn't news - certainly not in itself.

News, at least in this context, should be dynamic. If it is not moving than is it news? Simply reporting that there has been an average of 30 deaths a year on London Underground over the past five years is not, in itself news - it is simply a statistic, a sad one, but a statistic in itself.

Clearly this is not to say that the individual stories aren't stories themselves. Or if it emerged that one station was notorious for accidental  deaths or suicides and that nothing had been done about it. Or that every year a particular month saw figures jump. In other words you still need an angle. Simply saying that over the entire network the figures have remained more or less static is not news, it is simply misfortune. Life by its very nature comes with the risk of death attached (actually it's guaranteed so let's say premature death).

Now had the figure spiked or plunged in one of those years then there is the possibility of a story, say, an investigation into why.

But the figures in themselves are dull reading and too many student FoIs are ill thought out. Simply groping in the dark for a potential story and finding little of value or nothing.

Alternatively you should be looking for stories that will produce copy whatever the result. For example the number of pensioners who have been arrested and for what crimes. In this respect whatever the figure/details it is a story within itself.

Secondly FoIs do simply revolve around figures, reports can be opened up, expenses revealed and so much more.

Again it is a question of being judicious with your search. And again you don't have to be working on a  national newspaper to make an impact. Take this for January 2011 when Cornwall Council was making massive cuts with some of its lowest paid workers being axed and all manner of "exciting" cost saving schemes.

My initial intention was to see how much was being spent on flights by the officers. This request was rejected as too time consuming. So I narrowed my request. This time restricting it to named individuals - the Cabinet and the most senior council managers, including the £200,000+ a year chief executive.

The results were (from a story point of view) pleasing. An austerity council had spent £5,000 to sent the most highly paid man on a training course to New York. The story was subsequently picked up by the Daily Express.

So here you are seeing the situation change: Council making large cuts but the spending at the top not.

Or this. In 2007/2008 there were a spate of suicides of young people in Bridgend, Wales. The media came under fire for apparently, claimed the authorities, inflaming the situation. Simply reporting the facts, they said, was making matters worse. The fact that national interest in the situation was only aroused after the fifth such death after a local news agency began to see a "cluster" develop appeared not to be of importance. The media were to blame.

It later emerged that there had in fact been 13 similar deaths - many had gone unreported initially. Even so this was the media's fault.

The deaths continued at a grim and relentless pace. Relations between the police, health authorities and the media were, to put it mildly, strained.

But it was at one press conference that the health authority revealed it had set up a task force more than a year before the cluster had started to emerge. Under questioning - as to why they had set this group up - they admitted they were acting on the advice of a report drawn up.

The next questions were obvious. What was the report? What did it say? Who wrote it? Why was it commissioned?

It took an FoI to get the report and alas the story never got the due prominence perhaps it deserved. But it did at least come out.

So to recap don't expect the FoI to be your passport to a succession of news stories. Think about the current situation globally and see if you can adapt what you are asking. For example cuts in council budgets is there a corresponding drop in the amount the local authorities spend on, for example, entertainment - or as is becoming frequently popular these days, award ceremonies for local councils.

Look at comparing two or three councils - the contrast may give you the story you are after. For example the amount a Chief Executive spends on taxis in neighbouring local authorities. If one CEO spends nothing and the other thousands than you have a story.

Learn to hone your FoIs. And keep a note of all the details - this is the start of your contact book. Once you have the details it does get easier.

Also learn to use public bodies' websites. All too often the info will be there but, as you can imagine, it is hidden away deep inside a labyrinth - and make a note of where it can be found.

And always, always, always state that your information comes from a Freedom of Information Act request. This info should be available to the public without us having to search and beg and plead or indeed have a special law...but that's the way it is.

Journalism Tips 36. How to get a job as a journalist.

Every year thousands of students graduate from some form of journalism or media course. It makes sense therefore that competition for the few jobs available really must be pretty fierce. Or so you would think.

Actually on the whole it's not particularly competitive because most young trainee reporters cannot be bothered - to rise above the herd really doesn't take very much. These odds are shortened by the growth in traineeships on national newspapers - which Hoover (it's a trademark - hence the cap) up most of the cream of that year's journalism graduates.

That is unfair since I have seen some brilliant - well almost - trainees fail to get one of the coveted places despite having an excellent CV and references...but you see where I am going with this.

Clearly you are the smarter than average trainee/student reporter - how do I know? You are reading this.

So what do you need to do? Well an excellent portfolio helps (more of what I mean by this on a later blog). A devotion to work experience helps also (ditto).

It's often said it is not what you know but who you know that makes a difference. When I started in this industry I didn't know any journalists - but I learned what I needed to know and got to know the people who helped me find work.

Within five years I was talking to former Observer reporter John (There are three rules in journalism. First, find a crocodile. Two, poke it in the eye with a stick. Three, stand back and report what happens next.) Sweeney whose original article on the tabloids - it was written in a fun not pious manner - got me interested in journalism.

A few years on (I was pretty slow) I was working with The Sun's brilliant chief reporter John Kay. It was reading his copy that helped shaped my own (it was never as good).

Each and every opportunity gets developed by experience and your knowledge....unless your parents are execs on a newspaper, in which case forget all I've said.

Some people are naturals most are not...if you're not preparation is the key and this is in part what this blog is all about. Going back to one of the earlier posts you will see that I claim most work experience is a pain in the butt for the majority of news editors. But if a good attitude, decent work ethic and a few stories makes the difference.

It helps also if you can bring new skills to the table but get the old ones first. If you are sent out on a story there's no point getting a first class video if you haven't got the names of the people you're interviewing. You'll note the headline is deliberately geared to SEO - we are all learning new skills, as we shall see in another post that too will prove important as your career progresses.

Given the state of much of the competition you should find a job with two/three months. If you are doing work experience and following this blog (and assuming there is a position available) it shouldn't take even that long. If you are getting lots of stories and the news editor is not rewriting all your copy ask him or her if they know of any jobs around - note not necessarily on their paper. It might even be worth asking for feedback at the end of the week (but be wary news editors put in massively long hours and come the end of the working week are more interested in getting out of the newsroom that sitting talking to the workie).

Again follow up good work experience places with more calls offering stories. Being dynamic and useful are welcome attributes. But make sure you are not the cause of more problems - write the story up so it is ready to go.

Being a pain is more likely to guarantee you won't get an opportunity even if you may have an occasional good idea.

For several months I had one caller who would ask in a vague manner if I'd be interested in certain stories when I asked him to send them over he'd tell me he hadn't written but didn't want to waste his time if I wasn't going to be interested... I took his name and didn't take any more of his calls.

Most of what you do will be a waste of your time. But do enough of it and, not only will you improve as a reporter, it will get you noticed. But, but, but it's got to be to at least to a half-decent standard - again this is something that past and future blogs will cover.

But first and foremost read the papers...you'll be surprised how much you can learn.

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30. Keep contacts on a Word doc not a paper address book. It's neater, easier to update, can be backed up & harder to lose.

As a reporter I've always made a point of watching journalists I admire and tried to learn their "secrets".

And I've certainly been lucky to work alongside some of the very best. They are all very different characters but had one thing in common: contacts.

These days a reporter doing his or her job - and doing it well - can be arrested for having contacts - for that you can thank The Guardian.

Despite this contacts remain an essential part of the industry. They are one of the things that make the difference between a good and bad reporter - and all the elements in between.

So it is a surprise in the digital age to see the number of trainees still using address books to keep their contacts.

Apart from the obvious - you can lose the bloody thing - they soon become tatty and virtually impossible to read.

People move and numbers get scrubbed out...anyone living in London for any length of time will by now have got used to their fourth change of area code (01, 081/071, 0208/0207 and now 0203).

Plus there is not much room for notes - a useful thing when meeting contacts.

Personally I use Word. You don't have to. When I first put this up on Twitter a student contacted to tell me I'd got it all wrong, I was out of date, why wasn't I suggesting Cloud.

I didn't need to use the full 140 characters of Twitter 14 sufficed. **** off, ****.

But I did look into it. And by all means if you have nothing better to do with your time look at Cloud contacts or whatever.

Personally I found Word simple and easy to use. You can search with ease and, if you keep them in a rough A-Z format you can check if you've made a spelling mistake.

It's also incredibly easily transferrable. I email my contacts on a semi-regular basis which means that if I lose one I have it somewhere else.

29. Pen – paper. Paper – pen. You only need two things to do this job. Always carry spares (esp when covering court).

(Press For Time: Bike not required)

If you strip away everything else - the local newspaper reporter only needs two things. A pen and a pad. That's all.

(Although you walk into a newspaper office without a mobile phone - which naturally they won't pay you for - and you won't be staying very long.)

So it always surprises me the number of trainee journalists who walk into a newspaper office without either.

It shows a distinct lack of preparedness by the reporter. No, you shouldn't have to pay for your equipment but at the same time if you are doing an NCTJ course or a degree in journalism you would hope you would be carrying these things around with you at all times anyway.

It's what makes you look like a potential journalist and not the GCSE student considering journalism as a possible career.

Having said that pen - paper. Paper - pen.

(Tommy Cooper: The joke only works with a jar AND spoon)

It's amazing how difficult it is to bring these two elements together. But it shouldn't be.

Carry spare pens with you at all times (although I have been in court and seen three pens fail on me during a case...I should have brought a fourth).

And always have a pen and paper ready when you call or get a call from news desk - you don't want to sound unprofessional rummaging around.

It is the most basic lesson you can learn as a professional journalist - because if you are not recording it,  what are you doing?

28. Look for stories while at college, write it and tell the local paper. You never know if there's a job coming up there.

As a student journalist you should be writing news or taking photographs for the college newspaper/website/radio (obviously not taking photos for the radio station - that would be pointless).

Please note that I said news. Not reviews, not musings, not comment, not a column, not analysis, not poetry, not critiques, not op eds — just news. Let me be more specific local news.

Hard though you may find this to take no one is interested in your views on the unfolding crisis on Syria as you saw it two weeks ago but finally got round to writing it between lectures.

Neither are they going to read your 2,000 word piece on the plight of women in the Gobi Desert - even the friends who say they have, haven't.

(Press Gang: It's sort of relevant)

It's all very well wanting to be a Guardian journalist — but all you will learn by writing such articles is why the Guardian isn't very well read and how to haemorrhage readers...just like the Guardian.

(By the way unless you are reading this from Oxbridge they probably aren't going to be too interested in having you anyway - it's all rather patrician is our Guardian.)

You will learn nothing about journalism or being a journalist and will bore the pants off of any editor when they try to read your oh-so-worthy cuttings. Actually they won't even look at them and anyway the point of this blog is to steer you towards a job without much need for an interview.

And trust me it works. I know.

Like countless journalists my career began in the student newspaper. If anything it was a wheeze thought up by a friend to get us out of any real work experience (odd since three of us went and remain in the media - probably a far higher ratio than any who did it properly).

Since none of us had a clue about newspapers we went charging into it. Our first big story was that sabbatical officers had all been taking huge loans from the Student Union off the back of their wages - so large in fact that they wouldn't have been able to pay them back out of their remaining pay.

Thus fulfilling the first rule of student journalism (the paper was paid for by a Union grant)  - bite the hand that feeds you.

The fact it I had a source, we dug through files, we asked questions - if only we'd known it we had stumbled across investigative journalism.

The story made the front page of the local paper - and yup, I was hooked. Journalism was simple, fun and I enjoyed it. I've spent the next 20 years trying to maintain that...it hasn't always been easy.

But what does this all mean? The first step is that your student newspaper/website/radio is your first step to understanding journalism - you can make all your mistakes (hopefully not too many legal ones) and not too many people will care. More importantly you can learn the tricks of the trade.

Want to be a political reporter? Attend student council meetings. Get to know the student union, find out what's happening with the block grant.

Want to do investigations do general news and make contacts - they will soon start telling you things you can devote more time too.

And as for those worthy pieces?

I can assure you an article about Student Union bar price increases for next year will be read a 1,000 times more than a piece on the West's Imperialistic ambitions in a post-dictatorship Middle East. Honestly if I wanted to read that I'd pick up the Economist and read it by someone who has been there and interviewed the leading players not some spotty oik with pretensions of being an armchair John Snow.

This is not to stamp on people's ambitions. But to give a good grounding in the basics.

25. If in doubt ASK. But don’t over do it. If you want to know if a word is hyphened look in a dictionary or online.

As journalists we are expected to ask questions — sometimes even pretty dumb ones..

(My favourite is to wait for an expert to finish some particularly complicated explanation before adding: "Yes, I get it. But how would you explain that to the layman?" Often mumbling something about wanting it in their own words. However the stupid question is often necessary to extract the raw emotion of the situation. You may see the emotions etched on the faces of, say, a family who has lost a loved one but still need to ask how they are feeling to get the quote.)

No, dumb questions are sometimes required.

Except in the office. And certainly not from the workie who wants to become a journalist.

So keep your questions to a minimum (except the best ones such as: "Would you like tea or coffee?").

A personal favourite was told to me by a friend. A secretary was escorting a potential trainee out of the office when he asked if the paper he had just been interviewed for was a daily or a weekly.

(He didn't get the job...but he's probably now editing something on the web.)

Write everything you are told down, few things rile people more than having to keep telling a student journalist the same thing over and over again.

Remember you have a huge dictionary, atlas, encyclopaedia, gazetteer sitting on your desk - and hopefully you will have been able to switch it on - all by yourself. (Actually it is amazing the number of workies who can't...instead they sit there waiting for the news editor to crawl on their knees to get to the on button - once you've established it's your desk for the week please feel free to switch the bloody thing on.)


So don't go asking how do you spell something like onomatopoeia - check it quietly to yourself online (like I've just had to - having missed the fourth "o"). Actually, if ever tempted to use the word onomatopoeia, don't.

Also don't use the word psephologists (which I can spell and which I did once) it's flash and an unnecessary technical term...I'll let you look it up.

Certainly don't ask things like is the local MP Conservative or Labour - especially if doing work experience in, say, the U.S., Australia or Scotland.

Just be careful not show off your ignorance. If you can possibly avoid it. Here's another from an agency news editor: "I had to tell a new junior who Belinda Carlisle was the other day."

Don't ask. Just nod, make sure you get the name right and then check it online as soon as you can.

You should also pick your time to ask questions. When you see everyone getting stressed, staring intently at screens and barking down the phone with a little bit more intensity than they were four hours before is NOT a time to start asking dumb questions...

Btw if anyone can put this clip onto YouTube I'd be able to upload it onto here. Thanks.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-WQEVJ7b7nhbbYt/the_paper_1994_racing_towards_deadline/

Oh and if you find this useful - please RT.

23. 99% of national newspaper showbiz journos start by doing news and learning the trade basics - including this ex one.

One of the most depressing things I picked up from returning to local papers were the number of journalism students who claimed they wanted to cover showbusiness - without having the foggiest idea of what it actually entails.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the first part of this. I know and admire many brilliant reporters who cover this area of the news agenda.

And whatever Hugh Mungo Grant (a man who was quite willing to pay an impoverished mother desperate to cover her utility bills to perform a sex act on him - a fact that appears to be forgotten in politicians' haste to laud him as some latter day crusader against newspaper ethics) may say it is important to cover a wide spectrum of heavy (hard) news and light (soft) news.

It is easy to dismiss showbusiness as frivolous - because it largely is. But the skills in being a good showbusiness reporter should not be dismissed.

I know not least because I did it myself - albeit incredibly unsuccessfully and under duress.

I could not muster the day to day enthusiasm required to be a good showbusiness reporter - I did have my moments but they were, I admit, few and far between.

It is telling that now I don't have to show an interest in the subject The Spectator and The Economist are my usual reads rather than Heat or Hello. (I'm not even sure about the Radio Times, if I'm honest).

You may think when you dash off 300 words of your thoughts about the latest goings-on in the Big Brother house on your blog that this is "showbusiness journalism".

Let me break this to you gently...it's not, it's shit. Gentle enough for you?

No one - and I will repeat this later on in the blog - gives a stuff what you think about Big Brother or Justin Bieber or Madonna's music or the films of Quentin Tarantino.

Because it is just your opinion. And what's your opinion worth? Well, I think at the last count naff all. (I'm using so many alternatives to swear words I may do an 18+ journalismtips - what do you think?)

So before you start writing your blog all about your views on what piece of crap you've been watching - think this. Why would it impress a showbiz editor? And does it stand out from the million other navel gazing vomit spewed onto the Internet?

And if the answer is: Haven't a clue. Wonder why you are starting it. And wonder too what you can do to change this situation.

Finally learn the basics, they are all applicable to showbusiness reporting and without them you are just another airhead wannabe.

(Unless, of course, you happen to have access to celebrities that no one else has...you haven't? Oh, then you ARE an airhead wannabe.)

But let me be helpful. What to do that would make a difference and help you achieve your ultimate goal?

If you are reading this from college get to know the Ents Secretary and the editor of the college newspaper or website. Find out what are bands/acts are coming up. Get ahead of the curve. You've got your first "showbiz story" (look, you're starting from the bottom here).

Get in contact with the act's management and ask for interviews - you will get a lot of knock backs and disappointment (yes, welcome to the world of showbiz).

Ask about music and their personal lives. What's it like going on tour? Have they been to your town before? Read, read, read...the big interviews in the red tops - see what they are doing.

When they arrive on campus - get pix (they may be the biggest band in the world next year...ok, probably not. But why risk it?)

You'll notice that so far your opinions don't come into it - there's a reason for this.

Get to know the staff at the local arts centre - it doesn't have to be the big one with 3,000 seater events. Meet with the Ents editor of the local paper...and ask if you can do reviews - of everything - in exchange for free tickets. Yes, even the local am dram (showbusiness isn't just music, or fim or TV).

(Just remember never rundown a local am dram - it really should have been my first journalismtip - they can be such hateful people.)

Find out who the local celebs are try and make contact - plead for interviews with their agents for your college mag (you're building contacts all the time and learning to network...the bloke who manages the 1980s micro-celeb may well be best mates with this year's big teen boyband).

These are the skills you need. Sitting in a darkened room, lit only by the glow of the laptop pouring out your views to all and sundry is a sad and worthless activity which will...get...you....no...err...where.

And certainly don't go to a local newspaper and expect anyone to be impressed by you revealing your ambition - just expect to be laughed at (not always to your face).

More importantly when you get - even small stories - get in touch with the showbusiness team of the paper you want to work for...even more so if you have photos.

NOTE: As always if you find @journalismtips useful or even mildly amusing please RT. Thanks.

12. At least feign enthusiasm when doing work experience on local newspapers – even if you don’t actually feel it

In a newsroom people's impressions of you are made very quickly.

It is filled full of people making snap judgments through years of interviews and doorsteps.

So one mistimed word, an ill-conceieved phrase, an insolent look can ruin your chances of ever working in that newsroom again.

Do everything - without complaint. Better do - and offer to do - even more.

You see it's very well turning up to a newsroom believing it to be staffed with cynical seen-it-all hacks.

Nothing could be further from the truth, he lied.

Sure there are a lot of reporters who see out one day to the next - occasionally (but not always) bothering to stir when something suitably big or exciting comes along.

And then there aren't. There are the ones that can get up each morning and know that what ever is going on in their patch that day they will get to see or experience the best and the worst of it.

I must confess after returning to local newspapers - following a decade long stint on the nationals - I did wonder how so many (but certainly not all) reporters end up the way they do.

After all journalism colleges churn out thousands of bright, young things all with dreams of becoming the next Woodstein or Burnward or - holy of bloody holies working for The Guardian - and within a year they are as depressed and depressing as even the oldest hack.

(Which is largely unfair to old hacks - many of us retain some interest in our chosen trade.)

(Scene from The Paper - features the word "art" they mean photographs)

It has  to be the newspaper industry itself which weighs upon them. Uninspiring leadership, the churn it out, finish at five attitude (at least for the editor...everyone else can stay until the paper is finished).

But clearly I'm going off on a tangent. The point is that as a young reporter you are expected to rise above all this. You haven't got a mortgage to worry about, you haven't seen half the staff disappear from the newsroom like some Stalinist purge, you pay levels kept to near subsistence levels for four years on the trot, or senior reporters replaced five months after they left with a green junior - a bit like yourself (on three-quarters of the pay because if it was any less it would be beneath the NMW), or good stories spiked because the editor doesn't want to upset someone, or put up with good editors replaced with cheap and nasty versions. Or indeed just become fed up with the fact

You've yet to see any of these things so don't think for one minute you can walk into a newsroom and have the same world weary cynicism that even the office junior is allowed to adopt...because no one will thank you for it.

Indeed, you'll have plenty of time to be cynical later on in your career.

The truth is newspapers rely on the young and enthusiastic (in other words the naive, cheap and stupid) so don't think playing the hard-bitten reporter is going to wash with anyone - because the jolly chap in the corner cheerfully writing about the W.I. meeting might just be a former national man with more experience in their back pocket than you shall ever have in your entire career (btw I was not that reporter - bloody hated WI reports and can be seen moaning in a corner...very loudly).

So what people want is the enthusiasm. This is not to be confused with going up to news desk or bothering the reporters every 10 minutes asking for something to do...see earlier point.

Later I'll go on to other ways you can fill your time productively while doing work experience.


Tomorrow: Don't get too settled. The (bad) pay in local journalism.

10. When starting work experience, a new job or going to an interview bring in a story or idea – editors will be impressed.

I can tell you what it's like to work for a newspaper. Imagine a combine, one of those huge threshing machines that eat up a row of wheat like nothing, bearing right down on you. You're running in front of it, all day long, day in and day out, just inches in front of the maw, where steel blades are whirring and clacking and waiting for you to get tired or make one slip. The only way to keep the combine off you is to throw it something else to rip apart and digest. What you feed it is stories. Words and photos. Ten inches on this, fifteen inches on that, a vertical shot here and a horizontal there, scraps of news and film that go into the maw where they are processed and dumped onto some page to fill the spaces around the ads. Each story buys you a little time, barely enough to slap together the next story, and the next and the next. You never get far ahead, you never take a breather, all you do is live on the hustle. Always in a rush, always on deadline, you keep scrambling to feed the combine. That's what it's like. The only way to break free is with a big story, one you can ride for a while and tear off in pieces so big, the combine has to strain to choke them down. That buys you a little time. But sooner or later the combine will come chomping after you again, and you better be read to feed it all over again. --Ray Ring
from the novel Arizona Kiss
(Taken from: http://www.schindler.org/quote.shtml)

And it's true. Newspapers need constant filling and it is a grind. You can make a good impression by actually bringing a story in.

Believe me bringing in even a half decent story will get you noticed - bring in two or three and you're practically in the door.

But watch for the pitfalls...we've all done them. Before suggesting a story idea check that it hasn't been done before. Hopefully you will have been taking note of the earlier tips about reading the paper first but it's worth double checking the paper's website too.

Secondly don't get disheartened if your idea isn't taken up. There may be reasons, not immediately obvious, why the paper won't run it (there may be legal issues with previous stories, you could be writing about the editor's best friend, could be something to do with advertising).

However the very fact that you bring in something will at least be noticed.

Don't wait until you start the job/work experience to write it up. Write as much as you can - you may want to leave the official comments until later (many press offices will refuse to talk to people who are not bona fide journalists - so calling from the paper's offices does have an advantage).

If you are very organised try putting in a Freedom of Information request weeks beforehand. Don't make it too complicated and don't expect a reply within the time - a general rule of thumb is six or seven weeks before.

For ideas check the brilliant David Higgerson blog. So what if it's a rip from a successful FoI in Dundee, if you are in Surrey the same idea can be used. The chances are no one in the newspaper office has had the time to do it.

Alternatively use your local knowledge. Listen out for stories - and check them out to make sure they will work.

There is no point putting up a great idea and then watching it fall apart after you've told the news editor.

And really don't take offence if he wants a staff reporter to help you with it. It means it was a good idea and they want to make doubly sure.

If nothing else bringing in an idea shows you are a go-getter.

Being a smart Alec I once turned up to an interview bringing in 67 ideas for stories and follow-ups based on that week's newspaper which I'd written on - quite literally the back of an envelope. (Note I can say literally because it was on the back of envelope as opposed to a cigarette packet which, if I had done and I hadn't, would mean I have very small hand-writing....or perhaps short ideas....ok let's just park that and move on).

So back to ideas. Bringing in your own story/stories also helps because in the vast majority of cases no one knows what to do with you or what you are capable of....be that for good or ill.

But if you do it and do it well, you are more likely to be entrusted with more work - perhaps even proper work...it sure beats sitting twiddling your thumbs and being offered the chance to join a real reporter at the Magistrates' Court if you are very lucky...

So a quick recap. Make sure it's not been done, make sure it's doable, don't promise anything you can't deliver.

Tomorrow: Why being cool or curmudgeonly doesn't work.

3. During work experience a news editor would rather you do two news in briefs well than 50 stories they have to rewrite.

You may think with the attitudes of some journalism students coming in for experience that their prose is polished to perfection.

Oh you didn't? Well that would be correct. Because for all their looking down their noses at the poor bloody hacks toiling away on the lowliest of weeklies they still don't have the foggiest idea of how to construct even a news in brief.

Which is fine. The whole point of work experience - internships, what have you - is that in exchange for the student's time and efforts they will have exposure to a newsroom.

The fact is that having someone in for work experience is usually hard work for the staff - so please don't ever get carried away with the idea you are being exploited during your week most reporters would rather not have you.

So to the point, one of the constant issues is finding something for the workie to do. Why is it people are so reluctant to hand work over? Simply because it is easier and quicker and less frustrating to do it themselves.

As we shall see later, there are ways to avoid this even before you walk into an office.

But for the time being let us concentrate on your first day. Naturally with someone of your skills and talents and A+ essays about journalism ethics you should be handling the murder that has just come in -but for reasons you can't quite figure you've been asked to write about the fete taking place next week.

You dash it off in five minutes and send it off to the news editor - you fully expecting to be given another story having proved your industry…but nothing happens. This is probably because the news editor is trying to correct the spelling mistakes, literals and gobbledegook you've crammed into the 87 words you bashed out in such a hurry…he, or indeed she, is also inserting the date and time of the event into the newly written 52 word article since it was missing in the original.

No one is asking you spend hours crafting it into a beautiful piece of prose - just succinct copy. If it takes half an hour that's fine (you won't always be allowed to be that slow but this is day one). A news editor will always be more impressed if they can just push it through - believe me they were expecting nothing from you. You have already proved them wrong.

If it helps, dash it off quickly. Then leave it for 10 minutes and read it back - it will give you a chance to see what the reader will be reading. Perhaps you don't need that quote from Proust, maybe the location of the fete would be useful, Sr Pettir's is a rather unusual name for a church - why not double-check it?

2. If doing work experience you MUST read the local paper (yes the paper itself) not online at least a month beforehand

Yes, more reading. Take note: Journalism is full of it. If you are easily bored by words then this probably isn't the career for you.

Even if you are pitching up at the local rag for a week of work experience read the paper beforehand. For just like the nationals you should get a feel for the style of stories and the writing.

I lost count of the number of students who walked into the newsroom who hadn't even bothered to read the newspaper they were about to work on.

Let's put aside sheer curiosity for just a second - surely research must play some part in this?  Apparently not. And again, we are not talking about schoolchildren cajoled into burdening offices up and down the country on work placements - these are students who, say at least, they want to become journalists.

Too many walk into the office and have to be handed the newspaper which they look at as if you've given the instructions to calibrate a spectrophotometer and told them to get on with it.

You might almost think that local newspapers were impossible to get hold of...

You may not think much of it and, indeed, there is often very little to recommend some of the turgid writing that passes for local newspaper journalism — but there are still some stars out there.

So by actually reading the paper itself you will have a chance to figure out what the various reporters do. You can see whose style (presuming there is more than one reporter — not always a given these days) you enjoy. Or perhaps the reporter whose stories are the most interesting, in other words you will have a head start and since a week goes by very quickly you will have saved a considerable amount of time.

(Be warned even the cruddiest reporters can have very good weeks.)

But more importantly, such is the very low standard of preparation for work experience, that actually reading the newspaper and knowing something about it will put you ahead of the pack.

Figure out the roles of the reporters from what they write. See if you can generate follow-ups (see later on in this blog) from their stories that you can take into the paper when you arrive.

As we shall see at a later date this can also save some embarrassment.

However ignoring all of this as a matter of courtesy and professionalism you should be reading the paper you are about to do work experience with from the smallest weekly to the largest daily.

1. Read a national newspaper at LEAST twice a week – and not just the Guardian or Independent. Try the Mail and Sun as well.

Quite why this has to be stated is beyond me…the fact that it does says a lot about some of the competition (or lack of it) that trainee journalists face. In other words not a lot.

Indeed some have criticised journalismtips for being patronising - oh but I wish it was.

I decided it needed stating after talking to a second year - yes, a second year - journalism student. Having read the first draft of her copy - about a woman celebrating her 100th birthday - I asked her to re-write it into something that resembled newspaper copy.

Five drafts later and I wanted to know what newspaper she read. Her reply was actually more shocking than her copy, "The Guardian" she said with no small amount of pompousness in her voice before adding "...occasionally."

I suggested she might want to broaden her (limited) reading material to include the Daily Mail and The Sun…I may as well have asked her out on a date given the sheer revulsion that spread over her face.

Oddly enough she was unable to fulfill the rest of her week long stint of work experience, which was a relief for all concerned.

What she was doing in a newspaper office was beyond me…more worryingly, what they had been teaching her for the past 18 months was mystifying.

But she was - is - not alone.

So if you want to work in the media (any type of media not just in print) you should be reading national newspapers and not just The Guardian.

To do so is media equivalent of a dietitian only studying the nutritional make-up of muesli and no other foodstuffs on the grounds it is good for you. Yes, it might well be but a mixed diet is healthy and can be fun too.

I say a couple of times a week - I actually mean seven days a week. That's right every day - even at weekends. But, for the sake of form, twice is at least a start.

And please feel free to read the Guardian but make sure you include the Mail and the Sun and the Mirror and the Express and the Times and the Telegraph and the Independent. At £3 a pop you can skip the Financial Times (although it has a very good magazine at the weekend) unless you want to go into financial journalism.

You should be getting a feel for what makes news and the way to do that is by reading an actual newspaper. 

Don't rely on the internet that will only draw you to a few articles you are interested in. So yes, buy the newspaper.