Spalpeen

This article was originally published in Hullfire, Hull University’s very own magazine. Since they have a horrible web presence, I’m republishing the article here.

The days of journalism taking place in smoke-filled newsrooms by hardened hacks with inky fingers are long gone, if they ever existed in the first place. As a student trying to get into journalism, it’s best to abandon all sense of romanticism about the craft you wish to enter. Journalism can be done by anyone, at any time. All you need is the willingness to look for fresh angles, an ethical perspective that means you’ll always look for and present the truth and the nouse to start a blog and send a pitch to the right commissioning editor at the right publication, at the right time.

There are some simple things you can do to improve your quality of writing and your understanding of the craft.

If you don’t already, you should start a blog (Wordpress is a good place to start), and get yourself on twitter, a micro-blogging service that allows you to converse with peers and keep in touch with friends. Find a niche, and write posts with a consistent high level of quality, and you’ll get attention. The combination of a blog with good examples of your work and a twitter account to promote it to the right people can be more valuable than a well targeted CV.

Like students in other fields, you’ll at some point encounter the Catch 22 problem of not being able to get any experience because you don’t have any experience. The solution is to volunteer. Get yourself published for free, with the aim of using this experience to get yourself published for money. A good place to start would be to join the University’s Hullfire or Jam Radio publications.

Find a publication that you love and respect, and set yourself the goal of writing an article for them. It’s not as hard as you think. It’s simply a case of writing an article on a subject which has a fresh angle or perspective, and which said publication would find relevant. Then all you need is the right commissioning editor’s email address and some persistence. Sell your article, and if they don’t like it, pitch another idea. Rinse, repeat.

Event coverage is a great way to hone your skills of reporting, and gives you an automatic audience. Go to local events and write them up on your blog, or integrate a story into your next holiday (say, a big European conference). Find out which journalists are going, and see if you can meet them briefly at the event.

Joanna Geary is a recent graduate (English Lit. and History University of Birmingham, 2003) who used the opportunities offered by the internet to help her first employer (The Birmingham Post) stand out online, which helped her get a job at The Times.

Joanna on why she became a journalist
I don’t remember ever wanting to be anything else. It was my childhood dream.

Joanna on why her blog is so important
It allows me to connect with people in a way I wasn’t doing previously in my day-to-day job. Through it I am able to get story tip-offs, vox pops, ideas and very honest feedback on how we can make our service better for our readers.

Three tips for aspiring journalists from Joanna
1) Get fired up by the fact that the industry is changing faster than it has at any point in its history because of digital. You have a real opportunity to shape it so make sure you have good multimedia skills and an understanding of how to participate in online communities.

2) Fill your RSS reader with useful blogs related to your interests - particularly Paul Bradshaw’s Online Journalism Blog and get reading!

3) Start your own blog and use it as a place to experiment with using different online applications that could be used to tell stories.

Dave Lee graduated from the University of Lincoln with a First in Journalism in 2008, and now works as the co-editor of the BBC’s Internet blog, and a published freelancer on technology topics for publications like The Guardian, Sky News and the Press Gazette.

Dave on his inspiration
I’ve always seemed to be writing and telling stories, but it wasn’t until university that I took the idea of being a professional journalist seriously. I was in an ICT lesson in sixth form when I had a massive strop and decided I wanted to use whatever computing skills I had for something that was actually useful.

Dave on the importance of his blog
Without it, I think I’d lose my biggest asset. When I was studying, it was a way of putting myself on a level playing field with anyone in the media. The great thing about blogging is that it allows me to engage with people who I’d otherwise not ever be able to meet. Imagine if, as a student, I strolled into the Guardian and demanded a debate with Roy Greenslade? It wouldn’t happen. But with a blog, it can.

Three tips for aspiring journalists from Dave
1) Identify a discipline you’re least comfortable with, and work out how you’re going to improve. All of us have weaker areas in our craft. My personal one is broadcast — I don’t have a great voice for radio, and I’ve never wanted to be an ‘on-screen’ journalist. But now I realise I have to be good at everything if I’m to make a sucess of my career. So, that’s why I’m producing podcasts for my students in New Zealand — rather than written guides — and I’m about to start my training at the BBC to become a video journalist.

2) Use Twitter to make contacts, but don’t force it! Get signed up, get following, and get chatting with people who could kick-off your career. But just don’t expect it to happen straight away.

3) Choose a publication you want to write for, and then do it. It amazes me how so many students think the national press is unattainable. The very fact that you’re a student, with student opinions, makes you pretty unique in an editor’s eyes. Join Journobiz.com and ask for advice about how to get your work out there. The pay’s good too, by the way.