Tomorrow's News, Tomorrow's Journalists

TNTJ August 2009: Rebooting TNTJ

Megan Taylor is a web developer, multimedia producer and journalist looking for work in New York City.

This month, TNTJ is asking for help. Over the last few months, postings have dwindled, and it’s time to get people motivated again.

The problems that TNTJ faces are not unique. It is the problem we face every time we try to create a community. Look at all the Ning communities that have been created for journalists. How many are still active?

Last month’s topic was “Have you fallen out of love with blogging?” There were a couple of responses, most of which seemed to say “We like blogging, but Twitter is faster and easier.”

I totally sympathize, as my own blog has been neglected. But I don’t agree. Blogging is for long-form discussion, rather than the short bursts of lazy links we all get on Twitter. (Mind you, I’m not hating on Twitter, but it is hard to get ideas into 140 characters.)

I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than 5 or 6 responses to a TNTJ question in a given month. Unfortunate, because I would love to get to know the other participants and hear what they are working on, learning and thinking.

I think that the topics have been lukewarm and mostly aimed at students. I don’t know how many students make up the TNTJ circle, but those narrow topics make it hard for graduates and out-of-work journalists like myself to contribute. Some of the topics have also been so narrow that the responses are kind of obvious and predictable.

TNTJ is also considering adding a podcast to the mix. Again, the success of this endeavor will rely entirely on the community. Will enough people be able to contribute? Will people have different opinions that will make these discussions interesting?

If the topic were interesting, I would listen. I would definitely participate in any discussion I thought I could contribute to.

What else can TNTJ do to stimulate discussion?

I think one of the major problems is the lack of mission. What is TNTJ trying to accomplish? Just gathering young journalists together isn’t enough of a mission statement. We need something to work toward.

What are we, as young journalists, trying to accomplish?

I believe that like most journalists at this time, (indeed, most people) we are trying to make places for ourselves in a changing world, while exerting what effort and influence we have to make that world better.

There are two major parts to this: seeing where we are, and seeing where we will go. That is what we should be discussing every month.

Some ideas for future topics:

• What new projects and experiments are you watching or working on?
• What technologies are emerging and how will they affect journalism?
• What are you learning?
• What are the elements of journalism that we should expand upon in order to do our jobs better?
• What business models might support journalism in the future?

TNTJ July: Value posts only, please

David Molloy is the Editor of Trinity News, the student newspaper of Trinity College Dublin.

So, I’ve been quiet on Twitter, quiet on Facebook, and quiet on blogging. So, it seems, has everyone else I follow in the student media. This isn’t a “I’m sorry, I’ve been trying to think of things to post” message: you’ll get no such response from me. I haven’t posted because recently I’ve had no value to add to those who subscribe to my various messages, and if there’s one thing every post should contain, it’s value for the listener.

As young aspiring journalists, we’re a busy bunch: I’ve spent my summer variously juggling setting up a newspaper with some attempts at freelance work in a competitive market and a part-time job to alleviate debts. What with one thing and another, my Google Reader inbox stands at 84 unread items (and it’s been “marked as read” many times). That’s fine. I’ve been too busy using the extended stretch of summer to improve some core skills. But I haven’t been reading. I haven’t been staying informed. So, who on earth would want to read my ill-informed opinions?

Social media is a two-way process: a relationship of sorts between content creator and audience. Creating content merely because one feels one should is pointless, if there’s nothing to be said. The recent explosion in popularity of the Twitter platform has led to a sad self-indulgence on the part of many media types I’ve been following: journalists and students, egos inflated by their growing number of followers, now seem to be taking this as an invitation to comment on their lunch each and every day, what movie they’re currently watching, or how drunk they happen to be. I’m sorry, but I don’t care. I’ve found myself slipping into this trap occasionally, and for that reason I’ve refrained from posting for the sake of it.

Essentially, I’ve made a conscious decision to refrain from publishing, reading, and commenting on blogs and posting on Twitter. I know I haven’t been doing it, and it’s ok to intentionally ignore it. Hopefully, that’s the same reason that many others on the blogging circuit have been quiet. It’s a far, far better thing to have a slow stream of quality content than a barrage of meaningless drivel. Content curation has been talked a lot about lately: for some of us, it’s time to practice it. The next time your mouse moves to the “Tweet” button, ask yourself: what value am I providing?

Cross-post: Without traineeships, how can we get experience?

Am reposting this piece from Ross Davies, a freelance journalist and recent graduate, who has blogged over on the Journalism.co.uk Editors’ Blog:

Ross Davies is a freelance journalist. His work includes bar and pub reviews for viewbirmingham.co.uk and album/gig reviews for thedetour.co.uk, a website dedicated to current music, fashion and art.

These are difficult times for young ,newly-qualified journalists looking for that first break.

In the UK, armed with a degree and preliminary NCTJ [National Council for the Training of Journalists] qualification, we have all pitched our ideas and sent expertly doctored CVs to a seemingly ever-expanding abyss that engulfs the modern day aspiring hack. Read the forums on sites such as this and you will find disgruntled tales of little opportunity, encouragement or reward – a mandatory concession that we have to make or is there a loophole?

Journalism has always been a notoriously tough profession to crack with high competition for trainee posts. We have all tried to garner as much knowledge as possible on work experience placements or articles for the university rag but there comes a time when your CV, rich with such flirtations, feels ready to be sent in application for that first role.

Here comes the problem – it doesn’t seem to be enough. You can picture the scene: you see a job advertisement for a trainee reporter so you scroll down to peruse the job description and specifications which are along the lines of ‘For first jobber with degree and preferably NCTJ trained’. You rub your hands with glee and get to work on a well-crafted covering letter demonstrating your dovetail perfection for the role. You then click send and wait for the good news.

Well, okay, job applications never follow such formulated paths, but you would think that if you are able to tick every box with regard to candidate specifications that you would stand a decent chance of at least gaining an interview. Wrong.

The global recession does not warrant any more attention than it has already received and of course is an entirely credible reason for job shortages and restricted opportunities, but young hacks must surely nod their heads in frustrated agreement that the familiar reply and opening gambit of ‘We are sorry to inform you but due to the current market..’ is predictable and disheartening. Perhaps worse is the further rationalization that candidates with prior journalistic experience take precedence – rendering the ‘first jobber’ job description disingenuous.

It seems to be that the prospective trainee journalist finds himself in the tricky quandary of being required to run before he can walk. It is accepted that times are tough, but is there much point in advertising trainee jobs if there is little intention of actually allocating them to trainees? Where are we supposed to gain our phantom years of experience if every role in itself requires experience? An even bigger puzzle – what constitutes as experience?

The answer is usually a burgeoning portfolio of articles that signify not only a writer’s depth and style, but also a dedication to journalism as most work experience is unpaid. The question of unpaid work is also a matter for contention creating a dichotomy between budding journalists that consider the byline as sufficient payment in itself and others that feel that any content provided should be financially rewarded, as it is effectively what keeps small magazines and websites in business.

I, like many others, have provided unpaid freelance articles on a number of occasions and in retrospect, have mixed feelings on the subject.

Yes, the leather wallet containing my published work has grown, but when it comes to a job application, is my piece for Poultry World, Heating and Ventilation News going to be enough? Many websites I have written for have long since vanished taking with them a few fading bylines, but still I feel it right to list them on my CV. Why? To demonstrate experience.

So, realising that your journalism career might take a little longer to ignite than expected, you are forced to review your situation whilst possibly taking on some menial job to pay the bills.

The next avenue could well be applying for an internship or work experience placement, again unpaid, at an eminent and respected magazine or newspaper that truly will look good on the CV. Unsurprisingly, there is much competition, but if successful it is worth the wait.

I completed a two-week stint at Record Collector magazine in November 2008 at its offices in West Ealing and came away from the experience with a great sense of fulfillment, knowledge and most importantly, a resolute belief that I truly wanted to be a journalist.

But what now? How many more internships do I have to complete before I have the sufficient experience that editors are looking for? How long will I have to go unpaid for the articles I provide? When will the markets pick up again? Whatever the answers are, it is undeniable that the journalists of tomorrow are going to need a lot of patience…and luck.

TNTJ August: How can we spice up the blogging ring?

We’re one year old this month. And, as you probably have noticed, the postings have been slim during the last few months. We have some theories why and would like to know what we can do to fix that. Any insights would be greatly appreciated – we’re here as a forum and outlet for you all.

For example, would you prefer a more broad monthly topic instead of a question? Weekly topics? More focus on current events?

On a related note, you might have seen on Twitter that we’re considering adding a TNTJ podcast to spice things up. Let us know if you

A) Like the idea and would listen

B) Would be interested in participating

We’re thinking between a frequency of monthly and weekly, which would depend on several factors, but we would need to be sure we have enough people and interest.

By the same token, if you’re no longer interested in blogging (or not interested podcasting), we’d like to know — and know what you would be interested in contributing to as part of TNTJ.

So, guess what? This is the August topic. A public discussion so you can all comment and build off of each others idea. Of course, if you’d like to respond privately by e-mail to greglinch [at] gmail [dot] com, that’s welcomed too.

We look forward to hearing from you!

TNTJ July: Blogging and why I’m a bad boyfriend

Rich Abdill is a sophomore journalism major at the University of Maryland and blogs at BurningType.

I’m still in love with Blogging, but I’m a very needy boyfriend.

I don’t mind taking her out, paying attention to her and giving her regular updates, but I need validation of my affections – this isn’t the first time we’ve been together, you see, and every other time we’ve broken up it’s been because I just wasn’t getting the comments, page views and pingbacks that I need. It’s nice knowing that somebody appreciates what I’m putting out there. I had thoughts and opinions way before I met Blogging, but it’s that feedback she brings me that keeps me wanting her around.

This time around, I think Blogging and I will be together for a while, but it’s a constant struggle against the temptations of that sultry damsel, Twitter – it’s instant gratification with her, and sometimes I can’t help myself.

I mean sometimes I find a link, it’s late at night… and she’s there. And right away, the retweets, the responses, all of that starts right away! How can a guy resist that? It’s easy and only needs 140 characters’ worth of thought – which is also why Twitter’s really not relationship material.

Don’t get me wrong, Twitter’s great – she gives me a little bit from a lot of people and, if I’m in the mood to write, she’s a lot of fun for a quick fling. But Blogging lets me think, she lets me report things and compare things, make complex connections and real, original material. I love her.

And please, don’t tell her I’ve been hanging out with her friends Digg and Delicious.

TNTJ July: Anything But Blogging!

Emily Kostic is rising senior at Rowan University and blogs at Journalism 3.0.

In truth, I’ve never loved blogging, but I have always felt compelled to do it. There’s something so personal about it. Because although we can all share our ideas through other means, blogging is the one that gets to our core. It is, after all, our own thoughts and words.

I used to blog quite regularly but have recently hit a wall. As you see, I haven’t blogged in almost two months.

I’ve noticed a trend in all this though. As I become more involved and more interested in the industry, I’ve blogged less. As I become more interested in online media, I’ve spent more time in my Google Reader, reading blogs on topics similar to my own. Ultimately, a bad decision, because reading other blogs regularly has hurt my own in countless ways – mostly because I feel that I rarely have anything original to say.

In fact, I’m always a bit skeptical of bloggers who can post several times a day, updating as they go about their business. How is that possible? Sure, you can blog while living life, but can you do blog while enjoying it?

Instead, I’ve taken what is probably the lazier (but no less effective) approach of sharing stories and blog posts I like on Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, etc. Considering a majority of stories and ideas today are shared through means other than blogging, I suppose this is what they say when they say “blogging is dying.”

TNTJ July: Blogging is not ready to disappear from our screens yet

I’ve been  blogging since I was a wee sixth former. My first endeavour was your typical ranty, ill-thought out ramble that those who’ve never read a blog still think they all resemble. I checked up on it the other day. Blogger removed it due to sheer inactivity.

Since picking up the habit again, my new blog has slowly evolved into not only somewhere to highlight my own work (blogs are almost always, to some degree, self-promoting) but comment on the media industry. It’s gone beyond ‘ranting’ you see, now it’s ‘commenting’. Similar, only more professional – I need the justification.

To answer Dave’s question, have I fallen out of love with blogging? I think you get to this point where it starts being a chore and nothing else. Where you feel the need to post on a topic of the sake of doing so, rather than having any active desire.

I’ve fallen into this framework frequently myself. I’ve gone six weeks without posting anything, occasionally real world commitments like my past month’s work experience have an impact, or the demands of my course.

Twitter is an easier platform

There is no doubt Twitter has had an impact too. It’s just easier – I can stay logged in on the same programme. I could retweet and comment on ten different items in the same time it would take me to write a blog post on one of them. When writing a blog post, I feel a pressure to source multiple opinions, defend my own, refer back to previous posts and put some multimedia in there. With Twitter, I can’t, but ironically this allows me to communicate more.

Not to mention that far more people (not including the random advertising/job/self-proclaimed marketing experts) follow me on Twitter than read my blog. You’re more likely to get a response as well, be they retweets, reactions or counterarguments. It’s all present on one easy programme, and unlike blogs it doesn’t need to be confused by leaping from one separate page to another.

But despite this, I still set up a new blog focusing on the Middle East a few months ago, running concurrently alongside my pre-existing one. I’ve still got things I want to say, content I want to produce that’s longer than 140 characters. If anything, Twitter and blogs could complement each other: I lose count of how many new blogs I’ve discovered via the little bird.

What do you mean by blogging again?

Besides, what is a blog anymore? Charles Arthur states that:

“People are still reading blogs, and other content. But for the creation of amateur content, their heyday for the wider population has, I think, already passed. The short head of blogging thrives. Its long tail, though, has lapsed into desuetude.”

These days, every writer on the Guardian’s Comment is Free could be seen to have a blog, not to mention numerous BBC correspondents. It’s possible that, if a collective fallout with blogging has occurred, it’s because it’s now longer an amateur pursuit. As a medium, it is now undoubtedly professionalised. The most famous bloggers are either professional journalists who have jumped on the platform, or ex-amateurs who may have started out rookies but are now invited on Newsnight thanks to their posts.

So the role of bloggers as scrappy underdogs, biting at the heels of the establishment and the mainstream media – that has almost certainly come to pass. I may no longer be able to love it, and it’s certainly not time to nurture its demise. But until something as expansive and as flexible comes along, I’ll keep pressing the publish button.

Internships in environmental journalism

Update (17/10/09): Applications for these internships have now closed.

Cross-post from the J.co.uk Editors’ blog that might be of interest for UK-based young journalists:

A new media company is teaming up with one of the UK’s largest magazines to create a green and ethical supplement and needs two interns to help them inform people on ethical issues and green living. Details are on a need to know basis at the moment, but there’s a very big name editor lined up to work on the project.

One of the interns must be a ’star of the future’ for environmental journalism and could become the supplement’s editor in time. Their role will be to help with content for the website and editorial planning for the magazine, as well as writing advertorials.

The second intern will be a Green Press person and should also have an interest in music PR. They will be working with a green record company and with Britain’s greenest festival.

To apply or for more details email: alex.lockwood [at] sunderland.ac.uk or contact him on Twitter @alexlockwood.

TNTJ July: A lot of a tangent. (But bear with me.)

Rob Wells is a journalism student at the University of Lincoln. View his personal blog.

A lot of a tangent. (But bear with me.)

Unfortunately I can’t really answer the main question of this month’s Tomorrow’s News, Tomorrow’s Journalists discussion, as I’ve never been “in love” with blogging. I certainly never felt the strong pull that some did⁴.

On with the tangent

One thing that looks like it isn’t helping young journalists getting truly interested ² is the inclusion of blogging in journalism school courses. For example take this selection of blogs from University of Lincoln journalism students:

The brown ones are blogs that haven’t been updated in 60 days. For some of the others, they’re only saved because of a recent post after months of neglect.

These are just the ones that I’ve put in my feed reader because I think it’s likely they’ll be updated again. From the original list I had, I’ve excluded ones that hadn’t been updated in 2009. (I’ve also excluded Bradley King’s regularly updated Hoof It, because I can’t even pretend to be interested in football.)

Roughly half of these blogs are non-updated ‘dinosaurs’. Most of the ones by first-year students also seem to have been created for assessment as part of the journalism course.

On her course blog Samantha Viner writes that:

[T]his is for my assessment, a minimum of 6 entries of at least 150 words each. (Link)

That isn’t blogging as self-motivated publishing. That’s work.

I’m generalising, but the kind of blogs that people want to read and – more importantly – want to write, are the ones that come out of enthusiasm and interest.

Or, to steal a phrase from John Gruber and Merlin Mann, the blogs that are the product of ‘obsession times voice‘.

That’s why I read their sites: because they’re obviously passionate about what they say, and they have a distinctive way of saying it. By requiring 900 words spread over six installments you suck all the meaning out of it. And all the fun.

I can see why this has happened at Lincoln. It’s sensible to have students that understand blogging, for many reasons – technological literacy, the increasing use of “new” and “social” media³, ways to interact and communicate with others, etc. Feel free to add your own. I can probably even think of how they were made (fully) aware of it and its potential, and the person who convinced them that familiarity with the practice was a good idea.⁴

That person fully embodied “obsession times voice”. He oozed it. It was unsightly at times. (Kidding. Sort of.) That kind of passion would surely have inspired students to have a go themselves, at least a little more than having it imposed from above.⁵

Hang on a second

I can finally answer the TNTJ question.

I love blogging. I love it because I can write stuff like this, put it online for nothing, and share it with anyone who’s interested. Twitter’s great. But it’s just another outlet for ‘obsession times voice‘, the same as a blog.

On Twitter you get stuff like this, this, this, and this.

On blogs you get stuff like this, this, this, and this.

And I’m sure you can find examples that show why you love, loved, or will love them. They’re just methods of publishing, so publish away.

1. *Cough*Dave*cough* [↩]
2. This comes from, you must under­stand, a ter­ribly researched and utterly non-scientific survey. [↩]
3. Threw up a bit in my mouth. [↩]
4. Dave, I’m looking at you again. It was that bloody guest lec­ture last year. [↩]
5. For the record, the thing that con­vinced me to blog some­what reg­u­larly was buying a domain. “I’ve bought it, now I better do some­thing with it,” was the logic. [↩]

TNTJ July: Have you fallen out of love with blogging?

Every single day I travel home on the train. It’s a long journey and, unless I’m too knackered, I tend to occupy myself with something useful. A decent book, perhaps, or a few podcasts. If I’m being particuarly productive, I pull out my Asus netbook and get tapping away on a blog post.

Not recently, though. In fact, if you were to look at my blog you’d see I hadn’t posted in over a month. A MONTH. That’s enough time to declare it legally dead, surely.

I started blogging because I had opinions, and thoughts, and ambitions which I wanted to share with the world. My blog was the best place for me to do it.

Have I lost my ambition, then? It doesn’t feel like it. Have I lost my need to share my opinions with the world? Uh, no, as anyone who follows me on Twitter will probably vouch for.

Aha. Twitter — now there’s something to blame it all on. Now, if I get an urge to debate something, I’m on Twitter straight away. Why? Because more people follow me there than subscribe to my RSS feed. Fair enough. Why else? Because the very reason I got into blogging was to converse, to interact, to get stuck in. And that sad truth, for me at least, is that Twitter fills that void for me, in a way my blog always tried, but never could.

This is all a long drawn out way of introducing this month’s topic: Have you fallen out of love with blogging?

I know I have. And I know Charles Arthur, tech editor for the Guardian, wonders if the days of blogging – or at least some aspects of it – are numbered.

The ironic thing here, of course, is that we’re inviting you to debate this by writing a blog post. Ah. But, if you can bear to put that to one side, we’d love to know your thoughts on the matter.