Peston’s message to young journalists: multi-skill

Bernie Russell Media

Robert Peston blogged his lecture at Edinburgh, which shamefully slid under my radar amidst all the Sturm und Drang over James Murdoch’s speech.

It’s well worth a read.

One key quote for us:

Certainly my strong advice to any young person thinking of becoming a journalist is to acquire all the skills, don’t think of themselves as wanting to be broadcast journalists, or radio journalists or print journalists: increasingly it’s all the same thing. What matters is what has always mattered – the facts, the story. The skill for a journalist is unearthing information that matters to people and then communicating it as clearly, accurately – and if possible as entertainingly – as possible.

Spot on.

Another key quote

There already appears to be a consensus that in the provision of regional news there has been a massive market failure that will require state intervention and subsidy to rectify.

Spot off.

There’s no such consensus. Not outside medialand, anyway.

How is it a ‘market failure’ when businesses go broke because they can’t make a product people want at a price they’re prepared to pay? I’d say it’s quite the reverse.

And why should people subsidize failing media businesses? What about pubs, bakeries, video-rental shops, clothes shops?

It’s bad when businesses go broke. But it’s worse when they’re kept alive by hand-outs.

Reuters handbook online

Bernie Russell Media
Another useful resource – and it kicks off with a strong statement on journalist ethics.
There’s a separate style guide for sports journalism as well.
http://handbook.reuters.com/index.php/Main_Page

Another useful resource – The Reuters Handbook of Journalism – and it kicks off with a strong statement on journalist ethics.

There’s a separate style guide for sports journalism as well.

In praise of the journalist

Bernie Russell Media
In praise of the journalist
Usually, anything you read about journalists sends us straight into no-one-likes-us-but-we-don’t-care mode, or terrifies us with doom-laden prophecies about the future, and the notion that we don’t have one.
This piece from the Poynter Institute is different. It’s a solid, straight summary of what makes a good journalist worthy of hire by anyone with an eye for talent, and a nose for skills.
The message: everything a modern corporation needs, whether it’s a media business or not (and they’re all media businesses now, anyway), a journalist can deliver.
Pass it on…
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=34&aid=160112

Usually, anything you read about journalists pushes us straight into no-one-likes-us-but-we-don’t-care mode, or terrifies us with doom-laden prophecies about the future, and the notion that we don’t have one.

This piece from Poynter Online is different. It’s a solid, straight summary of what makes a good journalist worthy of hire by anyone with an eye for talent, and a nose for skills.

The message:

  • everything a modern corporation needs, whether it’s a media business or not (and they’re all media businesses now, anyway), a journalist can deliver.

Pass it on…

Wold service

Bernie Russell Media
Wold service
LSJ graduate [2009] Jamie Bradley has just finished a promo film about Lincolnshire Wolds market town, Louth, for East Lindsey District Council. There may be more work like this in the pipeline.
http://www.e-lindsey.gov.uk/council/louth-so-special.cfm

LSJ graduate [2009] Jamie Bradley has just finished a promo film about Lincolnshire Wolds market town, Louth, for East Lindsey District Council. There may be more work like this in the pipeline.

Follow Jamie Bradley on Twitter.

Screen writes

Bernie Russell Media
Screen writes
LSJ graduate [2006] Michael Beddoes will be doing the film industry news for www.screenjabber.com from this week on. Here’s his first review.
http://www.screenjabber.com/district-9

LSJ graduate [2006] Michael Beddoes will be doing the film industry news for www.screenjabber.com from this week on. Here’s his first review.

Next…

  • Michael starts a Masters in Producing for Film and TV at Royal Holloway on September 24th.
  • He’s  co-writing, producing and directing a short called “Split Ends”, based on a stage play that went to the Edinburgh Festival. Pre-production has already started, and the aim is to shoot the film before Christmas.
  • Michael is also in early discussions with an established American producer about developing a script he wrote into a US TV pilot.

Follow Michael Beddoes on Twitter.

FT puts on the style

Bernie Russell Media, Teaching
FT puts on the style
Press Gazette reports that the FT has put its style guide/lexicon online.
http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/wire/5530
This looks like a great resource, and should probably be added to reading lists for all the writing and production units?

Press Gazette reports that the FT has put its style guide/lexicon online.

This looks like a great resource, and should probably be added to reading lists for all the writing and production units?

Citizen journalism: here to stay, says Northern Echo

Bernie Russell Media ,

Press Gazette reported on September 4 that the Northern Echo wants to hire “30 members of the public as contributors to its ultra-local websites“.

Long-term plan
The recruitment drive is part of a long-term plan by the Echo to “increase the amount of ultra-local content on its websites”,  according to assistant editor Nigel Burton.

The new recruits, who range from 17 to 70, will file about three stories a week. They’ll get training in photography, story structure and the site’s content management system.

Each correspondent usually has a journalist mentor, who will be a staffer with several years experience, as a point of contact if they have any problems. And, yes, they get paid.

Not about cost
Nigel Burton was adamant that the project is not about cost, saying “this is definitely not a move to replace our writers with so-called citizen journalists”.

“I cannot see a time when a paper like The Northern Echo would resort to using news submitted by reporters who have no formal NCTJ training.”

Augmented actuality
He makes the point that the Echo has the largest circulation area of any regional newspaper in the country, and that the staffers just couldn’t cover an area that size in detail. The network of local correspondents will augment news coverage by providing “ultra-local news on our community micro-sites”.

And the community has responded positively, though he concedes that there’s a problem with churn, and the Echo needs to keep pushing for new blood.

But, hearteningly, he says that people are keen to write for their local paper.

Talent-spotting
He also said that this is another way to find good journalists, saying that “we have identified three correspondents who have the talent to go all the way, and have held discussions to see if they are interested in the NCTJ pre-entry course”.

J-schools
What about the implications for journalism education? Does it mean we should look more closely at developing networking  and communication skills, maybe even training and project management skills, as well as production skills?

Maybe, says Nigel Burton. But the production skills remain key, especially internet and multimedia skills:

“I think it’s more important to make certain students have a really good understanding of the internet and multi-media. The Echo always looks for people capable of filming and editing video/podcasts etc, as well as crafting a neat turn of phrase or two!”

Next move?
This is obviously a development we need to monitor and respond to in our curriculum development. Note also the stress on NCTJ standards and web skills.

Perhaps we need a brief survey of other local newspapers which could include looking at content, talking to correspondents, etc.?

Full interview
You can read Nigel Burton’s answers in full here: Continue reading →

10:10 later than you think

Bernie Russell Media
There’s another eco-campaign – 10:10, which defines itself as “an ambitious project to unite every sector of British society behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010”.
Not every ‘every sector of British society” is involved, of course. The Guardian quotes someone called Artist Bob Smith saying that “a night in the cells would be good for people who drive a 4×4.”
(Just one night? Don’t be a wimp, Bob. I’d chuck away the key.)
Will it work? Well, the project says it aims “to replicate the grassroots success of the Make Poverty History campaign”, so…er…well…
But the celebrities are certainly doing their bit to set a good example, and provide some of the intellectual underpinning for the campaign. (Quotes courtesy of the Guardian.)
You know who
I should say that I don’t actually know who some of these people are. My ignorance, no doubt. I’m sure they’re all fairly famous, but apologies if they’re not. Anyway…
Sarah Waters says “it’s in the ether but there’s a risk we don’t see it properly”.
Colin Firth admits his carbon footprint is “not good”.
Kevin McCloud says it’s the Pope’s fault for allowing people to fly to see him in St Peter’s Square, and that “he should be encouraging all those nuns to quit the plane and make the pilgrimage on foot”.
Tamsin Grieg plans to turn the heating down and put on a jumper.
Kwame Kwei-Armah has just flown round the world following the Queen, and drives a 4×4 (don’t tell Rob Smith). But, in his defense, he points out that he’s been so busy “challenging social injustice for years”, he hasn’t had time to go green.
Ahdaf Soueif wants her children and grandchildren “to live in a planet that hasn’t been destroyed”.
Ed Miliband said something oily that I can’t bring myself to repeat.
Al Kennedy has two baths a day, but could “probably turn one into a shower”.
Daniel Merriweather says the Aussies have been green for years, and and have “laws such as putting a brick in your cistern”.
Sarah Cox plans to get some “80s draught excluders”
Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall admits “I keep leaving lights on”, but plans to correct this by “turning off the lights”.
And Anthony Horowitz says he plans to “cut down one flight in 10”, which is good because “you have  to eat that awful processed food with plastic forks and spoons”.
Can’t fail.

There’s another eco-campaign been launched – 10:10, which defines itself as “an ambitious project to unite every sector of British society behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010”. Continue reading →

Murdoch was right

Bernie Russell Media ,
Murdoch was right, says Guardian editor
Peter Preston has written a thoughtful response to James Murdoch’s lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/30/media-bbc-edinburgh-internet-recession
He says that, stripped of the rhetoric, he agrees with Murdoch about the anti-competitive threat posed to independent media by the BBC.
And he calls for a “civilised discussion, not an Edinburgh shouting match, in order to start finding media solutions”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/30/robert-peston-james-murdoch-bbc
Good luck with that one. Robert Peston has already had a slanging  match with Murdoch.
And the BBC has circled the wagons.
BBC1 controller Jay Hunt said “I think we can be pretty confident about what we do”, and denied that the BBC – which spends £150m a year on its web site – is distorting the market.
Jana Bennett, the BBC’s director of vision (?) said: “Given the way the audience and the public want to trust their news, I think it would be a regrettable step to go for patrician news as if that is really going to help public debate and civil society.”
(Not too sure what that means. It sounds very…er…visionary. I’m assuming she thinks Murdoch is wrong as well.)
Here’s the whole lecture, if you want to make your own judgment.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2009/aug/29/james-murdoch-edinburgh-festival-mactaggart

Peter Preston has written a thoughtful response to James Murdoch’s lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. Continue reading →