HOW TO GET AHEAD IN JOURNALISM

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT PAGE (AND PAGES 29, 36 & THAT ONE AFTER THE CLASSIFIEDS NO ONE WANTS

THEIR BYLINE ON)

Journalism...● “... is organized gossip”

● “...is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space.”

● “...is the first rough draft of history.”

● “... is history on the run.”

● “...largely consists of saying "Lord Jones is Dead" to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.”

● “...a tension between getting it first and getting it right”

● “...is the evidence of a society that has got at least one thing right”

It can be...

But it can also be...

And it’s by committee more often than you might think

Journalism toolsEssential tech and kit

LAPTOP MP3 RECORDER MIFI/WIFI HOTSPOT GENERATOR VIDEO – HD, FLIP ETC NOTEPAD AND PENCIL LARGE FREEZER BAGS WELLINGTON BOOTS

But... If I could only take on piece of kit out of the office, I’d take my

smartphone

Journalism tools Online apps and sites

● Data visualisation – Flowchart

● Data collation – Tableau

● Collaboration – Google Docs

● Photography – Flickr

● Video – Vimeo and YouTube

● Word clouds – Wordle

● Word trees - ManyEyes,

● Strip panels – Stripgenerator

● Animation – Xtranormal

● Online surveys – SurveyMonkey and Ask500people.com

● Livestreaming (mobile) - Bambuser/qik

● Liveblogging – Coveritlive

● Audio – Ipadio/ Audioboo

● Uploading multi-site content in the field – Pixelpipe

● Interactive timelines – Dipity

● Maps – Google Maps, Umapper

● RSS mashups – Yahoo pipes

Putting it into practice

THE SALE OF LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB ALLOWED US TO EXPERIMENT WITH MULTI-PLATFORM STORYTELLING

WE REPORTED LIVE ONLINE, ENGINEERED NEW PRINT DEADLINES TO ALLOW MAXIMUM TIME FOR STORY-GATHERING, HARNESSED CROWDSOURCING AND SOCIAL MEDIA

WE ALSO SPENT MORE TIME IN THE OFFICE THAN AT HOME...

It was worth it

WEB

STATS

PRINT STATS

STARTING OUT: Getting your foot in the newsroom door

● Make yourself a brand and market yourself

● Access the experts

● Make your CV multimedia (and don't restrict it to A4)

● Look for the gaps to create content (a hyperlocal blog, a niche website, a podcast, internet radio etc)

● Embrace Creative Commons

● Participate through comments or offer reviews

● Ensure your skills are part of you, not just what you do

Work Experience● Do your research – house-style, running stories, the

editor's name...

● Don't ask if there is anything to do; ask if you can do X

● Spend time in all departments

● Phone the newsdesk and introduce yourself in advance

● Get your rss and alerts set up on Day 1

● Don’t be constrained by print space

● Retain perspective, and a sense of your own worth

Journalism quotes: ThinkExist.comRoyal Welsh Show photo: Malcolm Brown

Hyperlinks for useful sites

ManyEyes Flowchart Dipity Bambuser Qik Flickr Vimeo Wordle

Tableau Coveritlive Audioboo Ipadio Pixelpipe Umapper Stripgenerator Xtranormal

Alison Gow, Executive Editor, digital, TM Merseyside0151 2395944alison.gow@liverpool.comTwitter: @alisongowBlog: Headlines and DeadlinesLinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/alisongow