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Online Journalism News

Budding journalists flood news site

Posted: 10/03/05 By: Jemima Kiss
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News site greatreporter.com is enjoying its second birthday this month following a record number of visitors in February 2004.

The site provides a platform for graduates and aspiring journalists and has published nearly 350 news stories and features since its launch.

Around 2,000 journalists have signed up to the site, submitting their work free of charge. Greatreporter's editorial team then works to sell the stories to news organisations around the world, and writers receive 65 per cent of the fee for any work sold.

Around half the submissions to the site are not suitable due to inappropriate, badly written or badly researched content, but the editors will sometimes re-work stories if they have a strong angle.

"Find the strongest and most interesting angle, find at least a couple of relevant people who can talk to you about it, both for and against, find a newsworthy peg to hang it on and lastly, check, check and check again until it flows from start to end and it is 100 per cent accurate," advised Richard Powell, founder of greatreporter.com.

"A well-researched piece like that between 1,000-1,500 words is likely to be attractive to a commissioning editor in one part of the world or another."

Greatreporter has recently teamed up with outlets asking for entertainment features and celebrity interviews for US audiences. Real life stories, health, travel, technology and lifestyle features are also in demand.

Renowned journalist John Simpson wrote the inaugural feature for the site, explaining the fundamental skills and demands of working as a reporter.

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