The FT: 'We print fiction'

This is shocking. And it's bad news for journalism that more people don't think it is. A national newspaper has finally admitted, on-the-record, officially, that it makes stuff up. And no, it's not a redtop or the Daily Mail. It's the Financial Times...

Briefly, here's what happened. The FT's writer Lucy Kellaway wrote an agony aunt column in which some of the anonymised details seem to closely match a minor sex scandal in the City last month at insurance giant Aviva.

The Daily Mail picked up on it, reporting that 'avid followers of scandal within the Square Mile quickly put two and two together and came up with. . . the Aviva triangle.'

And so Lucy Kellaway stepped in with a brief statement in which she made it clear that there was no connection to the Aviva scandal, and that she had in fact written the entire letter herself. That's OK then.

We've all been there. Who hasn't been tempted to call it a day on the vox pops a little early, 100% secure in the knowledge that neither readers nor news editor will be able to tell the difference? Who hasn't been tempted to conjure up an anonymous second source with the perfect quote that puts your killer story in exactly the right perspective?

And yes, sometimes, in some places, it happens all the time. Agony aunt columns are a regular offender. Letters to the editor, when the letters page is due and you're short. FleetStreetBlues once knew a journalist - a top-class, investigative journalist, who would never dream of cheating on one of his top-class splashes - who confessed to having made up an entire column of NIBs when he was working a local paper. In the process he got a bit carried away, and accidentally fabricated a minor crime wave in a sleepy rural village, sparking panic among the residents.

It happens. But it really, really shouldn't. As journalism struggles to come to terms with the 21st century, the one thing we've got going for us is that we print facts. And opinion, sure, but it's honestly held, up-to-date, exclusive and fact-based opinion.

The idea that in an age where the sum of all human knowledge is sitting at the end of our keyboard, members of the public will pay to pore over content - agony aunt column or otherwise - that some hack has dreamt up the day before to fill their space on the page is unrealistic, and frankly insulting.

And worst of all? It undermines public confidence in journalists when we have never needed it more. The FT employs a lot of fine journalists who write some of the best, most insightful stuff out there. This morning, there's no reason why their readers should believe any of it.

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First, they came for the reporters

As the pre-Christmas job cuts at magazines roll on - staff at IPC Media are the latest victims, but we're hearing worrying rumbles from elsewhere - the fall out from Media Week's move to online-only continues.

paidContent has a detailed analysis of the Haymarket reshuffle here - but according to our man in Hammersmith, it may not have all the detail entirely right.

paidContent says: 'The company’s Campaign and Marketing titles—which are less reliant on ad revenue—are entirely untouched by this round of cuts.'

Hmmn. The way we've heard it, both Campaign and Marketing are being effectively stripped of their reporting teams. Under the new structure, each title will have an editor, deputy editor and four section editors - but none of their own reporters. Separately, there'll be a centralised 'reporting hub' of eight reporters, overseen by a group news editor.

There's no official confirmation of this, of course (and hey, this is a blog - we do enough fact-checking in the day job). But if true, it wouldn't be surprising, and is part of a growing trend in trade magazines. Just three months ago Emap pulled a similar stunt, merging the news teams of the Health Service Journal and Nursing Times.

It's not a good time to be a magazine journalist - and with 2010 budgets still to be signed off, it's probably going to get worse before it gets better.

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Reporter - Kent & Sussex Courier

The Kent & Sussex Courier, billing itself as one of the country's biggest paid-for weeklies, is recruiting a senior reporter.

You'll need to be NCE-qualified or equivalent, ready and able to work in an integrated mutlimeeja newsroom, and up for the challenge of working under a new editor. Oh, and you'll be based in Tunbridge Wells. Should be no shortage of letters then.

Apply with covering letter, CV and clips to editor Ian Read at editor@courier.co.uk. Deadline Friday 4 December.

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Write about football for the Guardian

We've said it before and we'll say it again - if breaking into journalism is tough, then breaking into sports journalism is really tough. So while this tip from our Blackburn Rovers-supporting correspondent is a bit of a long shot, if you're really determined to make it then it might help you get some experience.

Here's the deal. The Guardian is currently recruiting what it's calling a 'fan's network' to represent all 32 countries that qualified for the World Cup finals.

The ad for the fan's network is extremely vague - but our correspondent emailed them and was sent more info. It reads:

'Guardian Sport has today launched the 'Guardian fans' network'. The Guardian is looking to build a community of supporters for each of the 32 countries that qualify for the World Cup finals. The aim of the network is to enhance the Guardian's coverage of the World Cup, so we can point to fans' blogs and Twitter feeds around the world for every World Cup match.

Those who are selected for the network could also get the chance to write pieces for the newspaper and relevant supplements.

More information on this great opportunity for football bloggers, including details on how to apply, is available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/09/world-cup-2010-guardian-fans-network

Please note, this opportunity is open to bloggers all over the world, as long as the team you support qualifies for next year's tournament. The deadline for applications is 22 November.'

So, the bottom line? If you're selected you might - and that's definitely might rather than will - get published in the paper itself.

Like we said... getting into sports journalism is tough.

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Quote of the Day: 18 November 2009

Cardiff University postgrad Josie Allchin, on why even having BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones in as a guest lecturer didn't do much to illuminate the future of journalism:

There’s a reason that our lecturers seem to be telling us the same thing – nobody knows what else to add because they don’t know what will happen next.

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Sub Editor - Bolton News

The Bolton News is looking for a sub editor.

You'll need to be both experienced and qualified (NCTJ NCE or equivalent). And confusingly, thanks to the magic of subbing hubs, while you'll be proofing copy about Bolton, you'll actually be living and working in Blackburn. Local journalism for local people.

Apply with CV and covering letter to editor's secretary Lisa Schofield at lschofield@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk. Deadline this Friday 20 November.

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RIP Media Week

Another day, another closure.

This time it's a trade magazine, over at Haymarket. Jon Slattery has the details. Media Week was launched in 1985. Yesterday's edition will be its last.

It's not quite dead, of course. It's going online-only. But that's not the exciting fresh start which it should be. After all, look what's happening to Haymarket's other online-only titles:

Online-only brands Marketing Direct and Promotions & Incentives will be integrated into Brand Republic.

It's not particularly surprising news, of course. But even leaving aside the 18 journalists about to lose their jobs, five weeks before Christmas, there have been 24 years of blood, sweat, tears and frustration poured into that magazine, as into any other publication. Read the tributes from some of the alumni on the Media Week website.

Each newspaper, each magazine, each publication that closes deserves to have its passing marked, if only for the sake of all the journalists who ever worked on it. Let them not go quietly into the night.

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Political Reporter - European Voice

One of the FleetStreetBlues team once spent some time working in the European parliament, and it's an acquired taste. Byzantine regulations, anonymous politicians, unintelligible acronyms and always the nagging question... what's the point of it all?

But if you can tell the difference between a Rapporteur and a Commissioner, and a special delegation and a special derogation, this would be ideal. European Voice, a weekly newspaper which is part of the Economist group and based in Brussels, is the European political paper-of-record - and it's recruiting a political reporter.

The job requirements are vague, the ad asking only that you can 'write clean, accurate copy', and ideally speak French or another European language. European political knowledge will be a big plus as well though.

Full details on Gorkana, not directly linkable. Apply with CV, clips and covering letter to Operations Director Anne Marchadier at anne.marchadier@economist.com.

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Senior Reporter - Shropshire Star

With some journalism jobs, liking the location doesn't matter that much - the people, the job or the stories can be more important. But if you're going to be senior reporter in the district office of a rural regional paper, it's pretty crucial.

Just as well, then, that the district office in question is in Market Drayton, a pretty little market town in north Shropshire and also the 'home of gingerbread', apparently. The paper's the Shropshire Star, and they're looking forward to a fully-qualified senior ready to chase the big exclusives.

Apply to deputy editor Jon Simcock at jsimcock@shropshirestar.co.uk. Deadline Friday 27 November.

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Reporter - Legal Business

Legal Business, a monthly B2B aimed at the commercial legal sector, is recruiting a reporter.

Unlike some trade vacancies, here the job requirements are very specific. You'll need 'experience of working on a title targeted at the commercial legal market', an understanding of business and commerce and a proven track record of investigative journalism.

Frankly, it sounds a bit ambitious, but if you fit the bill and you're interested, then you'll be based near High Street Kensington in central London. Full details on Gorkana, not directly linkable.

Apply with CV and covering letter to Director of Operations Mairead Keohane, at mairead.keohane@legalease.co.uk.

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Reporter - The News

The News - the local daily paper in Portsmouth - is hiring a reporter.

You'll need to be NCTJ qualified with a nose for an off-diary story and 'the tenacity to get the job done without taking no for an answer'. No other real details in the ad, but if it helps, the news editor's a big fan of Britpop and the Stone Roses (ah Twitter, the end of privacy).

Apply with a covering letter, CV and three examples of your work to graeme.patfield@thenews.co.uk. Deadline Friday 27 November.

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If I were a newsreader

In the brave new world of multimeeja journalism, the old boundaries aren't supposed to exist anymore. Benedict Brogan pops up on Telegraph TV. Adam Boulton writes a blog. The line between print and broadcast journalism is becoming increasingly blurred.

And yet... a fundamental divide, real or imagined, remains. Print hacks? Hard-living, socially awkard, perfect-face-for-radio types. TV news reporters? Overpaid showponies more interested in the TV bit than the news.

The stereotypes endure. Stereotypes not much dispelled by this kind of thing.

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Sub Editor - Practical Boat Owner

Practical Boat Owner may sound like it's aimed at a decidedly niche market, but it's Britain's biggest-selling yachting magazine - and they're recruiting a sub-editor.

You'll need experience and the usual subbing skills - including proficiency with InDesign - but the big ask here is that you have a 'good sailing knowledge'. And, as befits a nautical magazine, you'll be based by the coast - Poole, in Dorset, to be exact.

Full ad on Journalism.co.uk (which has a new and decidedly clunky registration barrier to negotiate if you want to view the full job ad). To apply, email CV and covering letter to Andrea Janes at andrea_james@ipcmedia.com. Deadline next Friday 20 November.

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The other expenses scandal

Mention the word 'expenses' to an old-timer hack, and the chances are their eyes will mist up with a wistful stare into the middle-distance. But for the new generation, taught to count every penny, there's another problem.

We've all done it - you delay filing your expenses, you lose a receipt, and suddenly you've somehow managed to end up paying for your own train fare or lunch with a contact. Somehow - incredibly - you've ended up subsidising your employer.

Well, subsidise no longer - and follow the lead of those at the top. BBC Director General Mark Thompson, we're told, 'claimed 63 times on his expenses for parking meter charges as low as 70 pence.' Can you afford not to follow suit? Not if you earn less than £834,000 pa, you can't.

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Quote of the Day: 12 November 2009

Former Daily Mirror editor David Banks on why newspapers won't be able to switch off their websites (or free access to them):

'Bollocks. It's impossible. It's just not doable. What's that old song? How you gonna keep them down on the farm now that they've seen Paris? We've seen the other side, we've seen the good life. Nobody's going to turn it off, nobody can turn it off. And there'll always be someone like me - they'll turn off their websites, I'll turn on mine.'

(Spotted via Josh Halliday.)

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Reporter - The Bolton News

The Bolton News - which won Scoop of the Year at the O2 Media Awards last month, apparently - is recruiting a reporter to replace someone who's been 'poached by the BBC'.

You need NCTJ prelims and 100 wpm shorthand - ideally they're looking for a senior with the NCE as well, although an exceptional trainee will be considered. You'll be writing for print and web, filming and editing video and also doing podcasts.

(The impressive 33 days holiday is worth noting too).

Apply in writing to editor's secretary Lisa Schofield at lschofield@theboltonnews.co.uk. Deadline Friday 27 November.

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Welcome to the 24-hour news cycle

So here's what happened in the cosy world of Westminster journalism the other day - what still happens in some form on most days, in fact.

The Government - or the Opposition, for that matter - has a Glorious Anouncement to make. The Minister for Doing Good is due to unveil a new policy at 11am.

So the previous afternoon, journalists from all the nationals, the BBC and Sky are called in for a briefing. It might be the lobby itself, at its regular briefing, or it could be the specialists - defence, health or education correspondents, say. They write and file their stories ('the Minister for Good is expected to say...') for the next day's edition, and so come the day of the Glorious Announcement, it's trailed in all the right papers, and dissected on the Today programme.

By the time the Minister for Doing Good actually makes his Glorious Announcement at 11am, of course, it's old news, but that's not the point. The policy has been officially launched, it's been covered in the papers. Job done.

Except ... in an age of instant communication, the system just doesn't make sense anymore. What's the point of embargoes, when information can be tweeted and retweeted instantly to a waiting world? What about that strange limbo period, between the time of the briefing the afternoon before and the Minister's speech itself? The policy is out there. It might even be staring up at you from the front page of the Daily Mail. And yet it doesn't officially exist.

The lobby correspondents, or some of them, at least, are up in arms about the proposed briefings shakeup. Guido Fawkes is cock-a-hoop, crowing (on Twitter, natch) that 'Guido killed the Lobby Star'. Neither is right - the shakeup is nothing to do with blogging. But it is everything to do with the internet. The internet has turned the timing of journalism - once so rigidly tied to first edition, second edition and final - completely upside down. It is still entirely possible to have and to keep an exclusive story. Just look at the Telegraph's tight grip on the MPs' expenses scandal.

But how you break an exclusive, and how you cover non-exclusive stories, is bound to change.

Whether or not the lobby shakeup will make a real difference, or lead to better journalism, or just give Peter Mandelson a new job title, is open to debate. But one thing is certain: for years we've been talking self-importantly about the 24-hours news cycle. We're about to see what one really looks like.

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Media law 2.0

The beauty of online journalism is it's just so easy. Write. Click. Publish.

The trouble with online journalism is it's just so easy. Write. Click. Publish.

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How I got a job I love in journalism

A couple of weeks ago, we ran a piece by a seriously disillusioned journalism postgrad entitled 'The Price of My Soul'.

Another recent journalism postgrad, who also wants to remain anonymous, contacted us in response, and asked to share his story - a story with a somewhat happier outcome.

(And in light of the elitism debate which kicked off last time, it's worth stressing -though he didn't when he submitted it - that the author of this piece was educated in a comprehensive and his parents live on a council estate).

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I’ve always aspired to be a high achiever and three months ago I pulled off one of the greatest accomplishments known to man in the modern world – I got a job as a trainee reporter.

The media, particularly newspapers, weren’t in a particularly good position during the boom years with circulations and ad revenues falling across the board. And now the boom is over, the industry is having a particularly bad credit crunch with redundancies, cutbacks and closures the main subjects being discussed in publisher’s boardrooms.

It took me over 11 months to find a job after I’d completed my postgrad. Meanwhile I was working long hours for scant reward in catering and my daily routine involved looking for jobs on Hold the Front Page, Journalism.co.uk, All Media Scotland, Gorkana and a few other sites daily with the added bonus of reading the comic that is the Guardian Media section every week all to no avail.

Continually finding nothing, I was about ready to give up and go into something else until I had an interview for my present job and then, miracle-of-miracles, got the call-back I’d been longing for.

And now I love my work. Never have I experienced such job satisfaction and I’m truly grateful didn’t throw in the towel when I felt tempted. However, I’m not resting on my laurels. In spite of my love I know I could end up on the scrapheap if circumstances change just a little. I’m going to make sure that if that happens I'm qualified and experienced enough to work in another field. Hopefully though this will be just insurance.

Back in the summer I would have written a post like 'The Price of My Soul' that appeared here last month. I thought the career I’d dreamed about for so long would never happen. But I now know that it is still possible to break into journalism. It’s harder than it has ever been, and I’ve had to alter my career expectations somewhat but I now believe I have a future in the media.

And I found my job on FleetStreetBlues. Proof that if you aspire to become a journalist this is the best site to be on.

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Routes into journalism

The bad news is, there's no easy answer, no silver bullet... But if you're a trainee/student journalist desperately wondering how you're going to break into the industry - and a lot of you are - then this careers Q&A over at the Guardian might be worth checking out.

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