Staying positive while looking for a job in journalism | Wannabe Hacks

I've been applying for journalism jobs since April and to be totally honest, I never thought I'd be in this position. With all the 'necessary' qualifications (BA, MA, NCTJ) and a decent amount of experience under my belt, I had always hoped that I'd be one of the lucky ones who landed a job pretty quickly. Needless to say, still being unemployed after nine months has not contributed positively to my confidence or self-esteem.

wannabehacks.co.uk/2014/01/20/staying-positive-while-looking-for-a-job-in-journalism

The perks of being a journalist | Wannabe Hacks

Too many people are put off the idea of becoming a journalist. Many talented writers, opinionists, and potential reporters simply don't want to be associated with the negative reputation that surrounds the press, following recent damaging events such as the Leveson Inquiry, and subsequent hacking trial.

wannabehacks.co.uk/2014/05/09/the-great-things-about-being-a-journalist

Notes from the International Journalism Festival | The Buttry Diary

My notes from the International Journalism Festival would have worked better as tweets, both for immediacy and because they were a bit disjointed.

Wifi at the conference was spotty and I was able to livetweet only for Margaret Sullivan's keynote address on Saturday.

In addition, more than once, I've joined a session early or ducked out late, either because of appointments to meet fellow panelists or other friends or because I wanted to see overlapping panels. So in several cases, my notes cover only parts of sessions (the best parts, I hope). But I enjoyed each session, so I'll share my disjointed notes here, starting with some tweets from the Sullivan keynote:

stevebuttry.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/notes-from-the-international-journalism-festival?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

5 lessons in start-up journalism from De Correspondent

5 lessons in start-up journalism from De Correspondent

Last April, Rob Wijnberg and Ernst-Jan Pfauth raised $1.7 million in crowdfunding for De Correspondent, a new, online-only publication

The idea was to go from 'the news' to 'the new'," said Wijnberg, De Correspondent's editor-in-chief, who was previously editor-in-chief of nrc.next.

He and Pfauth, publisher of De Correspondent and former online editor of nrc.next, said they had tried to change the direction of their previous publication and failed. Instead, they took the ideas they had tried to implement for their own project.

"I thought the conversations I was having with the people writing articles were more interesting than the articles they were writing," said Wijnberg, and resolved to create a new publication based around each journalist – or correspondent – the stories they can tell and the conversations they can create.

A year after securing a reported world-record in crowdfunding for journalism, Pfauth and Wijnberg shared the lessons learned from their experiences so far at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia.

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/5-lessons-for-start-ups-from-de-correspondent/s2/a556629/

Journalists Covering Protests Face Growing Violence

Journalists Covering Protests Face Growing Violence

Journalists' ability to cover breaking news is under threat in a number of key countries, ranging from Brazil's more open media landscape to the contested spaces of Egypt, Turkey, and Ukraine, and Venezuela's repressive environment. Those who attempt to report on protest movements in particular risk physical harassment, detention, and even reprisal attacks designed to prevent them from documenting these important stories.

http://www.freedomhouse.org/blog/journalists-covering-protests-face-growing-violence

10 Misconceptions About Being A Journalist

10 Misconceptions About Being A Journalist.

It's easy being a journalist, right? We get paid to eat out every night, write sex columns and expose huge corruption scandals in government on a daily basis. All in a day's work. Wrong. Here are ten common misconceptions the rest of the world has about being a journalist…

http://wannabehacks.co.uk/2014/04/22/10-misconceptions-about-being-a-journalist/

5 Ethical Conundrums For Journalists In the Digital Age

5 Ethical Conundrums For Journalists In the Digital Age.

In the world of crowdsourcing and citizen blogging, many newsroom codes of ethics seem about as antiquated as fedoras. Some journalists are prohibited from voting, donating to political campaigns, or even volunteering — rules that stand in stark contrast to the first-person, subjective, anecdotal writing that permeates the web. But transitioning to a digital medium not only complicates existing ethical concerns, it also raises new ethical questions.

http://thefreelancestrategist.com/5-ethical-conundrums-for-publishers-in-the-digital-age/5547

One life in investigative journalism

One life in investigative journalism.

One night, a few summers ago, friends of mine in York were disturbed by a loud banging on their door. There stood a Kurdish family — men, women and children — distraught. A young relative of theirs in Cumbria, where I live, had been detained by the immigration authorities. Her two-year-old son was left parentless for four days. My friends found them a lawyer — on the 31st phone call, and prompted letters appealing to the Home Office. I created a media campaign. After 26 days locked up at Yarl's Wood detention centre, the family was released and, eventually, allowed to remain here. There had been no reason to detain them.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/clare-sambrook-and-rebecca-ominiraoyekanmi/one-life-in-investigative-journalism

We need to talk: 26 awkward questions to ask news organizations about the move to digital » Nieman Journalism Lab

Here are 25 awkward questions (and one counter-question) that I wish media reporters/critics would routinely ask of editors and mainstream news organizations, each year. These might be uncomfortable, if truthfully and publicly answered, but even if you "no comment" your way out of that query, the questions might actually help spur newsroom leadership to focus on what really matters. In no particular order of importance, here is a starter kit of questions:

www.niemanlab.org/2014/04/we-need-to-talk-26-awkward-questions-to-ask-news-organizations-about-the-move-to-digital

A Lot of Top Journalists Don't Look at Traffic Numbers. Here's Why.

The Verge is one of the biggest and most influential technology news sites in the world, with 8.6 million monthly unique visitors and a staff of top-notch tech reporters. These are some internet-savvy editors and writers who probably know as much if not more about how to build an audience online than anyone in the business.

Yet the editors at The Verge have a policy that seems a little bit odd and anachronistic: They don't let writers see how much traffic their stories generate. Ever.

blog.hubspot.com/opinion/journalists-dont-look-at-traffic-numbers?curator=MediaREDEF