Journalist Job Interviews Hall of Fame
My favorites from an excellent ongoing post at Journalism.co.uk, which is crowdsourcing memorable journalism job questions:
...was once interviewed by an editor who took a piss in his office's en-suite toilet, door ajar, still asking questions.
and this one:
'what is your management style?' could not resist saying 'Genghis Khan' got the job.
and this one:
Write your own obit, 500 words or less.
There are just so many good ones there.
Read moreLabels: job interview, journalism
A checklist to see if you really are a journalist
Getting a degree in journalism isn't on it, it might be interesting.
Written a 15-inch story in 30 minutes
Corrected a loved one’s grammar in a greeting card
Replaced one of the major food groups with coffee
Own your own police scanner
Eat in your car more often than you do at a table
Gotten fired/laid off for no good reason
Forgotten what it’s like to have the weekend off
Can no longer read a newspaper without scanning for typos and errors
Learned that being told to “fuck off “ and “go to hell” is part of the job
Woke in a cold sweat thinking you forgot to change the date on A1
Spend your down time coming up with the perfect lede
Slept in your car and not because you were too drunk to drive home
Found that fine line between harassment and persistence
If you needed bail, the first person you would call would be your editor
You analyze city council meetings the way sportscasters break down Monday night football
You think it’s normal to work 16 hours a day for 8 hours pay
Have conducted a phone interview while completely naked
Can write an entire interview on a cocktail napkin
Threatened to quit over an editorial decision
You couldn’t imagine doing anything else
And from the comments
You’ve every gotten into a long or heated discussion over the use of punctuation, spelling or word definitions.
Labels: journalism
Why blogs are still more important than Twitter, Facebook and all that noise-making machines
In a post about how blog search engines died, giving Google blogsearch an easily-won monopoly, Doc Searls
writes about howThe Near-Death of Blog Search
I hope they keep it (Google Blogsearch) going, because it's an essential resource for finding the kind of news that's syndicated live, still curates itself, and isn't just about pushing or riding whatever happens to be buzzing at the moment.
And how Twitter and Facebook have changed news (for the worse)
(Twitter and Facebook)'ve buried real news — stuff worth keeping around — under a mountain of buzz, all of which melts away after minutes, weeks or, at the most, months.
Related: Why Blogging still rules and reports about its demise are incorrectLabels: journalism, online news, trends
A Journalism idea reconsidered: Nutrition labels for news
Labels: graphics, journalism, news label
Bob Woodward on the News bubble: There’s too much emphasis on speed and feeding the impatience people have
Bob Woodward, of '
All the President's Men' fame, says to a gathering of journalism students that there is a severe “
news bubble” developing in forms of
Gawker.com-type page-view-led blogging or
AOL-type mass profit-led newswriting, all of which make '
authentic journalism' difficult to support:
“I think there’s too much emphasis on speed and feeding the impatience people have. … In many ways, journalism is not often enough up to the task of dealing with the dangerous and fragile nature of the world, or the community, or anything you might try to understand. [The world requires] high quality, probing journalism. And there’s just not been enough of it.”
AOL way is not the only way. A writer explains the
importance of great news stories, and of long-form journalism at a Rolling Stone/Long Reads panel:
A great story is a great story. The platform matters but it’s not the most important thing, ...The important thing is the story can’t be bland and it can’t suck. If something is great, people will want to read it, and they’ll read it whether it’s on the Web or in the magazine.
Labels: journalism, writing
Churnalism: How to detect whether a journalist is just printing a Press Release
Churnalism is a U.K.-based website that lets you paste content from a 'suspect' news article and then it will tell you whether the article is only a rehashed press release. Glorified printers of press releases, that is what most newspapers really. Indian newspapers do it on a wholesale basis, especially the business newspapers.
I covered
Print Labels from Tom Scott and the
Newscrud project in an earlier post. Both aim to bring out the truth behind most news articles, with help of succinct labels.
Also Read:
Can Journalism Warning Labels Create Better Journalism?
Labels: journalism
A lament for journalists
Rebecca Rose, who calls herself a '
piss poorly underpaid/underemployed reporter' writes a
lament for journalists of the world (actually a comment). Barkha Dutt should read this:
Nobody ever told me that I was going to be a billionaire covering the fucking news, OK? My career counselor didn't show me pictures of Ferraris when I asked what a journalist's life was like. Dammit!
...STOP SELLING OUT THE PROFESSION!! You are the reason why people think that the media is biased! You're the reason why no one trusts the news anymore, and why they have to turn to assclowns like Andrew Breitbart and James O'Keefe. Because you guys are giving the rest of us a bad name. You are why my friends roll their eyes in skepticism every time the media tries to break an important news story. You're why people react with doubt when the press tries to actually inform the public about something that needs to change. You're why. YOU ARE WHY.
Also read:
What is good journalism?Labels: journalism
Can Journalism Warning Labels Create Better Journalism?
Think of Journalism Warning Labels as intelligent tags that can help readers gauge the trustworthiness of traditional news coverage. Two guys in particular, Tom Scott and Eric Donovan have tried to develop Journalism Warning Labels in physical and online forms respectively.
Tom Scott's
Print labels are titled as follows: [notes in brackets are mine]
1. This article is based on unverified, anonymous tipoff.
2. Stats/Survey results and/or quotations were sponsored by a PR Company. [Prevelant in Indian Press]
3. This article is basically just a press release, copied and pasted. [Most Business stories in all the papers]
4. Medical claim in this research have not been confirmed by peer-reviwed research.
5. To meet a deadline, this article was plagiarized from another source. [Prevelant in Indian Press - all the major brands do it]
6. This article contains unsourced, unverified information from Wikipedia.
7. Journalist does not understand the subject they are talking about. [Prevelant in Indian Press - especially articles and TV shows about gadgets and technology ]
8. Journalists hiding their own opinion by using phrases like "some people claim". [Prevelant in Indian Press - especially in political coverage and consumer stories]
9. To ensure future interviews with subject, important questions were not asked. [Prevelant in Indian Press - especially in political and business journalism]
10. Includes content written by [insert any highly biased writer/journalist].
1. Statistics misrepresentation
2. Opinon masked as fact
3. Medical claims
4. PR as news [Example: All the news items on News TV aboout latest movies]
5. Hidden motives [Most news channels, newspapers and political/business journalists are guilty]
6. Re-hash of other article [Newspapers are actually huge Rewriting Factories]
7. Plane stew pig [the bland writing we see in Plane magazines and and all the supplements.]
How can we take this idea forward? The world of traditional journalists is often said to be intolerant and insular. Journalists can criticize whoever they want, but they don't take criticism well themselves.
In the short term, these two projects will get some heavy linkage on the internet, some condescending words will be uttered by others, dismissing the idea as 'humorous warning labels', and that will be the end of it. Back to the old ways, then.
This idea needs a collective push. Like, a Digg for Journalism Warning Labels. What do you think?
Labels: graphics, journalism, news label
What is good journalism?
I did not go to any journalism school. I have never worked for a newspaper or a magazine. As the founding Managing Editor of a Blog Network, a blogger and as the founder of a
platform for Local Journalism, this is what I have learned so far:
Labels: bighow, citizen journalism, guide, journalism, online journalism
"The world is not interested if you are not interested"
As a blogger and as a founder of the web's only all-in-one free online publishing tool,
Bighow.com, I look into the dark void of failure and loneliness of the
struggling entrepreneur on a regular basis.
[The image above is a screen-shot of the
publishing options at Bighow.]
Success I have yet to see. Failure is a constant companion. I try not to be seduced by failure.
A student of journalism puts out her
frustration with the state of the news business:
As I sat through most of my classes this semester, I realized the overrated-ness (if you will) of journalism. Journalist can be very ruthless, not caring about where their next story comes from - as long as it comes. I spent four years of my life studying to become a journalist, which means I sat in classes learning about the history of journalism, the technology boom, and how the news is shifting from newspapers to the Internet. I also spent a lot of time learning about the importance of “newsworthy-ness” only to realize that the only time I ever sit down and watch the news is when I’m bored, then EVERYTHING becomes newsworthy....
5 of my friends began their college careers as eager journalists. 5 of my friends are now either in a different field or no longer eager about being a journalist but eager to graduate. My choice is to go back and get another degree in Graphic Design - something that results in product that highlights as opposed to false light.
So, is journalism over-rated? Let's leave that for the pundits.
Although, out here in India, many of my colleagues who were in online publishing have moved onto
'secure' offline jobs.
Not easy: making it in the tough world of publishing, especially Online Publishing.
Not easy: Seeing so many talented journalists, writers and creative people struggling out there in the Matrix.
Don't panic.
Immortal words from the Great Douglas Adams.
Here's a short guide to succeeding in online publishing:Easy: Being positive and having a strong spine.
Easy: Being interested.
The world of online publishing is a tough place but it is a big place.
Incidentally, this is how I came with the name Bighow for my startup.
There is competition. Sure, but where isn't completion?
There is turbulence. Newer ideas and technologies threaten existing structures.
This world of ours has always been turbulent.
There is nothing called the 'good old days' except in the cliche handbooks of lazy writers and senile old people.
Quality will out.As long as you are able to serve what your community/readers/viewers/listeners require, you will do fine.
Start at finding out your own group of people who will listen to you.
In my experience, people who share your passions will be the first one to listen to you and talk with you.
This is the new reality that people from journalism backgrounds fail to grasp.
The Online Journalist is a community builder from start.
Seth Godin says,
"Build your own tribe."For that to happen, you will have to be interested in the world.
Labels: bighow, journalism, online journalism
The Editor is dead, Long live the Editor
Jack Griffin, President of Publishing house Meredith says "
We don’t hire editors anymore. We hire content strategists." Spoken like a founding member of the World Desperate Publishers Union. The Onslaught of the internet is doing strange things to people.
I look at these new-fangled posts at some publishing houses:
- Content Strategists - Community Conversation Ambasadors - Community Conversation EditorThe organizations that have these positions perhaps to convince themselves that
"Yes, we understand what web 2.0 is". In some measures, that is not a bad thing if you have your other bases covered.
By other bases, I mean content.
Content always first.
Engaging the reader community is a good thing.
Question is, how far will you go?
You did well by using web 2.0 tools.
The erstwhile 'cool' magazine Fastcompany.com now allows readers to publish blogs on the site.
For a while, you might convince the reader that you
'care'.
Nevertheless, putting more resources to cover issues that readers care about is far more important.
It is bad form (and a bad idea) to depend upon the reader to come up with the goods - to do free work for you.
Out here, in India, I see the other side of a service economy. On the plus side, it encourages you to see much more managerial talent, well versed in global MBA-speak, honed after years of work in our MBA factories.
However, the usage of Jargon is spreading like a contagion. You see someone calling the Project Manager as ‘PM’ and team members as 'Resources' and it spreads through the organization first and then outside.
A friend, working in an e-learning company complained about everyone using the same catchphrases:"At the end of the day,”, "As in", "Meaning", and virtually the same style of making Powerpoint presentations. More on this in some other post.
Some brilliant soul decided to call writers as content writers and it has spread like a virus, shitting out related terms - content developer, content editor, content lead, senior specialist lead...
When I joined as an editor at a Blog Network, the management told me that I was also responsible for bringing in the traffic. Having no mainstream media background, I took it as a challenge. I cannot say I succeeded in bringing in great traffic but I learnt New Media on the Job.
The Guardian newspaper has new posts -
Tag Editor (helping reporters tag articles better) and
Search Editor. These positions complement, not displace the editor's job.
The Guardian is one of the few newspapers who understand that the editor of the future needs to understand and then master New Media tools and techniques.
A short survey of the New Media toolset reveals the following: SEO, usability, design and layout best practices, public forum management, story and comment voting, ‘readersourcing’ (using readers to help in a story), reader engagement best practices, SMM (social Media Marketing), basics of video and audio content production (& promoting it using video sites like Youtube and Social media sites).
I do not know what a content strategist does. But I do know it does not take a two year New Media course to master all this.
and the smart editors are already adapting to the new realities. The movies and the recording industries face a bigger challenge from the internet.
However, I do not see the Film Director being renamed as Film Strategist, Film Co-ordinator, Film Marketer...
To sum it all up: out with the jargon and in with the New Media skill set.
Link thanks to
BuzzmachineLabels: angry journalist, journalism, news business, tip
What the Angry Journalist Thinks: A Tag Representation
You must check out the
AngryJournalist.com site, where journalists from across the world are venting out their rants about their jobs and the state of the news industry in general
The above tag cloud is just a representation. For better juice, head
here and to this comment from
angry journalist #470 where a young journalist is urging others to stop whining.
The Tag Cloud was generated using the
Tocould.com service, which sadly does not provide links for the resulting tag cloud page. I just pasted the whole text onto a box and generated a Tag Cloud. ToCloud does provide a html version of the tag cloud but I am afraid I don't know hoe to integrate it with Blogger.
Idea: What would an Angry Blogger not making any adsense money might think?
Labels: angry journalist, journalism, news business, tag cloud
The four models for paying journalists
I will try to summarize the three main models of paying journalists for the news they bring to the public:
1. Regular Pay: The safest option. Alas, the print advertising money that paid your salary is shrinking under the onslaught of the internet.
The problem is acute enough so that even journalism teachers are starting to
question this noble profession.
2. Micropayments: Where your readers pay you on each article read basis. Micropayment was once believed to offer reader and the writer a more flexible option than subscriptions. However, so far, no one has found a hassle free method of making micropayments.
3. Public Support: This method is currently in vogue. Web sites such as Newassignment.net have come up, channelizing outside funding to journalists who want to do investigative reporting.
Although, it appears sound (and noble as well) in nature,
the big problem is:
Who gets the money?
Since there can be an indeterminate number of people in any ongoing investigation, proportioning money can be hard. Harder than doing the investigative work itself :-)
4. Advertising: Many journalists (Oma Malik, Rafat Ali) who have left their mainstream media jobs to start their own largely blog-based news sites and blog networks find the ad model appealing.
This is something that they can easily implement - book a domain, set up wordpress, add all the necessary accessories, sign up for Google Adsense, paste the code provided by Google and Voila! You are set.
However, since the ad model is the easiest, it is also the hardest to stand you from the huge crowd.
To succeed using the ad model, you will need to:Find a profitable niche, develop a unique voice and work hours building and nurturing your target audience - commenting on other blogs, participating on forums etc. It is a long slog.
I am sure there are other models to pay journalists. Please share.
{Note: Model No. 1, the Pay Model is thriving here in India, where the print media is projected to make more money as a booming economy and a young, upwardly mobile demographic means that more Indians have access to reading matter than ever before. More on this, later]
Labels: adsense, blogging, citizen journalism, journalism, news, news business, online journalism
Mika Brzezinski’s lesson to journalists afraid of web 2.0 revolution
The biggest problem for journalism is not web 2.0 or something .
It is that there are too many journalists out there who in the name of news reporting are covering banal, useless news.
Mika Brzezinski is not one of them. A seasoned newscaster and journalist, she was there on Ground Zero when the South tower of World Trade Center went down.
Recently, she
refused to read her segment’s lead news item on recently freed jailbird Paris Hilton.
In India, there are more politicians, small-time dancing actors and assorted cricket administrators along with ghosts on News TV than meaningful hard news.
The Indian news media takes scues from the West and I hope some of them are inspired by what Mika Brzezinski did.
When Paris Hilton came out of Jail, it was a bigger moment than Michael Moore’s “Sicko” a documentary on the U.S. healthcare system.
While most Americans aren’t that enamored of Ms. Hilton, the media and the blogosphere don’t want to let go of Paris – many online properties including Digg.com and Gawker.com owe their early success to covering Paris Hilton.
The media continue covering celebs, of all kinds, low lifes especially, knowing fully well that the subject probably benefits more from the coverage – an interviewee on CNN noted that each extra minute of TV coverage increases Paris Hilton’s value – he meant the money Ms. Hilton would receive from nightclub owners for making an appearance.
But when Mika Brzezinski tried to put fire to the script on Air, she gave vent to many journalists’ frustration against the present
‘celeb-centric, ratings-manic’ media establishment.
A blogger writes:
I have a new hero and her name is Mika Brzezinski.
Journalists who fret that the two-way web 2.0 revolution will eventually eat their lunch are wrong. Conviction about what’s news will win the day. Look around and you will many stories that need your attention - go aheda, write a blog about it; make a video blog on it.
Link to Youtube Video of Mika Brzezinski is
here.
Labels: enterprise web 2.0, journalism, paris hilton, trends
Leave Journalism alone
Responding to
Kevin Farnham's idea that
'Blogs are a medium for journalism; twitter, MySpace comments, etc., are not journalism’,
Fred Wilson argues that
'I think journalism itself is a dated concept. We are now in the world of conversation. We are talking to ourselves.'I suppose we are getting too much caught up with semantics and labels, from Web 2.0 and two-way conversation to News 2.0 and User communities, going around in circles, ever trying to do a Tim O'Reilly and put our own spin to the bewildering pace of change.
To most journalists, bloggers are not journalists. Bloggers rarely go out, ferret out new stuff, rather, we dig new stuff from our RSS readers, or talk to people, check and counter check facts.
This is a very important aspect of the news reporting job, which is not going to change much in future.
Students at the Virginia Tech might talk up the incident in Facebook forums, and bloggers opine about it, but someone still has to go there, sniff around and… you know the drill.
Kent puts it right when he says that
blogs and Twitter are plain tools.We must not make the medium the message.
The last time something changed journalism was when Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson had a hearty stab at it, and later by the likes of Ryszard Kapuscinski.
Hunter's
Gonzo ethos is thriving well among the good bloggers,
That said, we are bloggers.
Talk is talk and journalism is journalism.
As it is, journalists have enough on mind.
In the words of Pink Floyd,
Leave the kid alone. Labels: journalism, news 2.0
