Reporter - Ilford Recorder

Archant title the Ilford Recorder is hiring a senior reporter.

Based in the part of Essex which is just outside the North Circular, you'll need to be NCE qualified and have a 'proven track record', both in digging out exclusives and also breaking news for the web.

Apply with CV and covering letter to Maxine Leckerman at maxine.leckerman@ilfordrecorder.co.uk. Deadline Tuesday 18 May.

How to get the most out of journalism work experience

If you're one of the many journalism students planning a week or more's work experience this summer, then it's worth heading over to the Headlines and Deadlines blog (for the second time this week) for some very practical words of wisdom.

Forget the usual 'make yourself useful' spiel - this goes into more detail. Find out how to avoid being palmed off on the editor's PA on day one. How to make the most of the inevitable 'paper-scanning' chore. And how to really make yourself useful to the newsdesk, without getting in the way. They might even remember who you are.

Sub Editor - ZDNet UK

IT news website ZDNet UK is hiring a sub editor.

You'll need all the usual subbing skills, and one year's subbing experience, but you'll also need to be particularly online-savvy, with knowledge of content management systems and basic xHTML, and a good understanding of blogs and social networking. They also require a 'more than passing interest' in IT.

Oh, and a 'competency' at 'humour'.

Apply with CV, covering letter and salary expectations to ukrecruitment@cbs.com.

And the winner is... the NUJ

No, we mean it, this is for real. The MediaGuardian reports that the NUJ has stepped in to revive the Regional Press Awards, after former Press Gazette publisher Wilmington Group announced last month that it would not be holding them this year.

The Playing the Game blog made the case for the awards last month, in brilliantly direct fashion:

Journalists work long hours for shit money and one of the highlights of the year is the opportunity to put on a tux and take the piss out of your peers at a free booze up.

It also helps to recognise that bringing out good papers still matters and allows junior staff to make their CV a little more exciting with a press award or two.

He suggested that the five big newspaper publishers could club together to reinstate the awards, but we're all for the NUJ stepping in. It's a practical intervention using its considerable size and clout to help frontline journalists in a very real, immediate way. More please.

Press Gazette offers bum deal

These days journalism is a constant flurry of cross-promotion between print and online.

'Go online to read this'.

'See the newspaper for the full story on that.'

Frequently, FleetStreetBlues gets confused and completely forgets which way we're supposed to be pushing the reader. Truth is, the men in suits won't be happy until they've been forced to read exactly the same story in print, on their computer and on their iPhone to boot.

But as publishers plumb the depths with increasingly clumsy online plugs, it's worth celebrating this brilliant cheeky effort from the Press Gazette, which yesterday enticed its online readers to take out a subscription to the magazine by running the picture below, beneath the undeniably attention-grabbing headline: 'Which political journalist's arse is this?'

If you recognise said pair of buttocks, feel free to drop us a line at fleetstreetblues@hotmail.co.uk. We tend to recognise colleagues by their faces.

The bloodhounds of hyperlocal journalism

You've heard the old adage. 'Dog bites man' is an event - 'man bites dog', now that's news. But it's one the Salisbury Journal seems to take with a pinch of salt.

How else to explain this genius story which appeared last Saturday, under the memorable headline 'Dog injures nose'?

It's four sentences of the vaguest, most pointless piece of journalism ever known to man (or dog). A nameless woman bumped into a nameless man somewhere in the vicinity of Ringwood, and one of their nameless dogs received a bump on the nose.

Well, pointless? Maybe not, in the crazy world of internet journalism. An update linked to the bottom of the story reveals it went viral, was Tweeted about by celebrities and was read by more than 130,000 people. No news on the dog's nose.

Reporter - Eastbourne Herald

Sussex Newspapers - which includes the Eastbourne Herald and Eastbourne Gazette, the Eastbourne and District Advertiser and the Hastings and St Leonards Observer - is hiring a senior reporter.

You'll need to be qualified with NCTJ or equivalent and, as ever, a 'good grounding in digital journalism' will be a big help.

Send covering letter and CV to editor-in-chief Keith Ridley at keith.ridley@sussexnewspapers.co.uk. Deadline this Friday 30 April.

Trainee Reporter - Suffolk Free Press

A rare trainee reporter position is going at the paid-for weekly the Suffolk Free Press.

You'll need to have completed your NCTJ prelims, have a full, clean driving licence and boast a 'burning desire to be first with the news'.

Email the editor Phil Minett at philip.minett@suffolkfreepress.co.uk. Deadline this Friday 30 April.

How (not) to handle a bomb threat

What do you do if the newsdesk gets a bomb threat?

It's a question considered by the Headlines and Deadlines blog, and while the real-life call sounds exciting enough, the following version also has the definite ring of truth.

bellow>"NEWSDESK" [subtext: I am an extremely busy newsdesk person and you are boring me already]
"Hello this is the [insert ridiculous pressure group name here]; we are fighti-"
"WHO??" [Bloody PRs]
"We are figh-"
"Who do you want to TALK to?" [Jesus, deaf AND in PR]
"Um..."
"If it's an emailed press release then we'll consider it on its merits" [I'll never even open the email]
"I'm ringing to tell you there is a bo-"
"What name do you have on your database? Because we've had a reorganisation here and it sounds like your information might be out of date".[Get your database up to date and stop bothering me. I have another edition to get out]
"No problem! Sorry to bother you! Bye!"
[Click. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr]

The big picture

Something that newspaper websites rarely do well at is making the most of pictures.

There are picture galleries, sure, and we're definitely a fan of the 'Round the globe in the last 24 hours' efforts that the BBC and the Guardian sometimes run.

But using pictures online doesn't have to be complicated. Simply get some stunning photos and put them on a web page really, really big.

It's something the Boston Globe is really good at, with its feature 'The Big Picture' - and this set from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption is photojournalism at its best.

Reporter (x 2) - Horticulture Week

Here's a reason you don't see given very often when job ads are explaining why there's a position vacant: a 'decision to expand our news desk'.

But it's true, Horticulture Week is doing the unthinkable - and because of a promotion as well, that means there are two reporter vacancies going at the Haymarket trade title.

You'll need a journalism qualification (NCTJ or equivalent) and a minimum of one year's news reporting experience - experience of the horticulture industry is not required, but you'll need to be 'great at operating within government circles'.

Apply via the Haymarket website.

Shortage of luxurious lingerie? #nickcleggsfault

The Daily Mail's at it again, and this time, they're in Mrs Clegg's underwear drawer. She's not the only one who's been well-briefed.

#nickcleggsfault might be an in-joke on Twitter, but for newsdesks across Fleet Street, it's fast becoming a mandatory requirement at morning conference. Only 11 more days till the election...

Two-footed tackles

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's the Fleet Street talking point of the week, as immortalised in the Mirror.

Trading places

Jon Slattery has a fascinating guest post on his blog from the editor of a council-run newspaper who, understandably given the frank nature of the piece, wishes to remain anonymous.

It's refreshingly honest about what such papers are and are not - but one bit really stands out:

There is another disheartening story about local newspapers and councils. Sitting across from me are the table of press officers, a very nice bunch, all late 20s, early 30s, you would like them.

They all went to university and then straight onto local newspapers because they wanted to be journalists. They worked hard, making it to senior reporter or news editor or editor of their local edition.

Then they wanted to get married or buy flats and they looked around at an industry shedding jobs at every level. And they all applied for council press officer jobs that have seen their salaries jump by, on average, around 50 per cent.

That is not the fault of local government. It is not exactly anyone’s fault but it does highlight an ailing industry that pays people peanuts and hopes they will still do the job because they love it so much.

The man the White House wakes up to

If you don't work in Washington politics, within the Beltway bubble (and chances are you don't), you may not have heard of Mike Allen's Playbook - or even, for that matter, its parent site Politico.

If not, you should read this feature in the New York Times, all eleven pages of it: 'The man the White House wakes up to'.

It's a fascinating portrait of what for many of us is likely to be the future. There's a business model - no chasing millions of unique users, just a well-read insider briefing aimed squarely at a small number of key 'influencers' and opinion-formers. It's relatively low-tech - no multimedia fireworks, just a normal email, sent every morning before dawn. It's short and sweet - bite-sized nuggets (or 'data points'), mixed with a bit of Guido Fawkes-style gossip,

And at the centre of it all there's a hell of a journalist, Mike Allen, a mystery man who may or may not be able to survive almost entirely without sleep.

Forget Twittering, web 2.0 and multimeeja skills - what he's got is a journalist's tenacity and a contacts book to die for. If you exchange six or eight emails a day with the White House communications director, and more with Rahm Emanuel, Robert Gibbs et al, then you're connected. What Mike Allen and Playbook and Politico have managed to do is parlay that access and knowledge into an apparently workable business model.

Again, the feature's worth reading in full. It's not the only vision of the future, but it's certainly a plausible one. And it's one we could live with.

(Hat tip: Niklas Fagerström)

Sub Editor - Third Sector

Charity trade magazine Third Sector is recruiting a part-time sub editor.

It's a Haymarket publication, so you'll be based in Hammersmith, west London, and they need someone to work Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, covering print and online. They're offering a £15,000 salary.

You'll need the usual subbing skills and experience in 'a busy news environment' - knowledge of the voluntary sector is a bonus. Apply via the Haymarket website.

The Telegraph strikes again

As debate day dawns, it's a cracking headline. The story may not live up to it...

Crying wolf

So, we're more than a little sceptical of the sudden volcano volte-face (did safety-first just get too expensive?) and we're all for pushing a top line to its logical conclusion.

But even by its recent standards, the Daily Star's splash this morning was a tad embarrassing. (As the MediaGuardian reports, copies were pulled from airport newsagents after fears the computer-generated picture could cause 'absolute panic' among passengers'.) A new low for David Cameron's favourite paper...

Reporter - Barcroft Media

This is a temporary position - news and picture agency Barcroft Media is looking for a reporter to cover both hard news and features for a two month period - and the deadline is today.

You'll need agency or regional newspaper experience, and must be able to travel at short notice - you'll be based in north London.

Full details on Gorkana, not directly linkable. Apply with CV and covering letter to jobs@barcroftmedia.com. Deadline is today, Wednesday 21 April.

The Independent's redesign

So, Roy Greenslade thought it was 'ghastly', and certainly FleetStreetBlues wasn't wowed by the bizarre white space holes on the front page and the dodgy 'Viewspaper' font. But former associate editor (design) Michael Crozier, writing for the Press Gazette, was more impressed - and certainly if any paper badly needed a lift from a successful redesign, it's the Indy.

Let us know what you think in the poll at the top left.

Journalism, upside down

What makes good journalism?

It's a straightforward question with no straightforward answer. It's got to be relevant. It's got to be current. It's got to be exclusive. Other than that, it's hard to define - we simply know a cracking story when we see one.

There's always been a tension, though, between what readers want us to provide, and what's good 'journalistically' - and that's a tension thoughtfully explored by new journalist blogger-on-the-block, Kangaroo Kicker.

The Kangaroo Kicker is a reporter originally from the UK who 'jumped ship to Australia for some sun and surf and ended up working for an Aussie paper'. And here's what he has to say on the matter.

Ultimately, there are some tough decisions that need to be made in newsrooms. Readership is declining. But we still sit here and think we’ve put out a cracking paper, if not every edition then as many as we possibly can. I often pick up a tale and get super excited about it and think it’s going to get the world talking. But has being in the industry warped my perspective? And is it the same for editors, long in the tooth and accustomed to the usual journalism fare? Maybe those great exclusives we fight for are not worth all that much to the readers, who want a page of nibs for easy digest and big pictures to look at on the train.

Nothing startingly original, perhaps - but it's frequently forgotten, and equally applicable in both hemispheres. Worth reading in full.

Reporter - Market Rasen Mail

Lincolnshire newspaper and Johnston Press title the Market Rasen Mail is recruiting a senior reporter.

It's a decidedly rural post - you'll be in the heart of the 'Lincolnshire Wolds' and there's the promise of 'rolling countryside' - but as well as becoming a part of the community the successful candidate will be expected to develop off-diary stories and work with 'flair and accuracy' online and in print. You'll need to have passed your NCE or equivalent.

Apply with CV and covering letter to kim.yates@jpress.co.uk. Deadline Monday 3 May.

Should stranded journalists have holiday docked?

When is being on holiday a bad thing? When you're stuck in volcano ash-cloud hell somewhere in a ferry terminal near Calais, unable to get home, spending money like water - and you're forced to take the extra time off as holiday anyway. That's when.

Given that it could be days before some people get home, there are clearly going to be some awkward situations with HR in newsrooms up and down the land. Either people surrender a sizeable chunk of their holiday once they get back - or they're given the benefit of the doubt while their hard-pressed co-workers cover for them.

So, we want to hear from you. Are your stranded colleagues being told to take their time coming back? Or have they been told their holiday's already been docked? And what if anything are the NUJ doing about it exactly? Let us know in the comments...

Staff Writer - Cycling News

Consumer cycling website CyclingNews.com - the biggest cycling website in the world, apparently - is hiring a staff writer.

You'll be writing news, producing race results, sub-editing and publishing stories from colleagues and writing features and interviews. You'll need to be an experienced journalist, passionate about road cycling and fluent in written and spoken French. Speaking another European language would also be an advantage.

CyclingNews.com is a Future Publishing website so you'll be based in Bath. The role involves working on alternate weekends and occasional international travel.

Apply via the Future Publishing website. Deadline Friday 14 May.

Quote of the Day: 19 April 2010

Tory cheerleader and Daily Telegraph columnist Boris Johnson on why the countless stories about the Lib Dem surge ('the fierce urgency of Nick, the audacity of Clegg') amount to nothing more than an inverted pyramid of piffle:

Will this amazing and ludicrous burst of Cleggophilia keep the Tories from government? Will I have to cancel the summer holidays and sell the car to pay back my old chum Hastings? Will I hell. My bet remains quite safe. I am certain that the Tories will win, and that the current fantasy of a Liberal Democrat resurgence is the biggest load of media-driven nonsense since the funeral of Diana.

Economics correspondent - Daily Mail

You always know it's a serious job for a major publication when they keep it short and sweet. And this ad - for an economics correspondent at the Daily Mail - is just three sentences.

National newspaper experience is the sole, essential, stated job requirement - chances are, if you're going to get this job, they'll know who you are when you apply anyway.

The ad's on Gorkana, not directly linkable - apply to edwina.oreilly@dailymail.co.uk.

Reporter - Bucks Herald

The Bucks Herald, based in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, is recruiting a senior reporter.

You'll need to have passed your NCE and have all the usual contact-building, off diary story-getting, exclusive-grabbing skillset. Multimeeja skills 'a bonus'.

Apply by post with CV and covering letter to:

Ellen Campbell, editor

The Bucks Herald,
The Gatehouse,
Gatehouse Way,
Aylesbury,
Bucks,
HP19 8DB

Deadline Thursday 29 April.

Paying for it

Stephen Glover's column in the Independent this morning tackles what's still set to be the big media story of the year, even if it's gone a bit quiet since it was announced a few weeks ago. Yep, it's the great paywall debate again...

As newspapers shed paying customers to the non-paying internet, they lose revenue, and are less able to support costly journalism. The longer the process goes on, the worse it will become. One can reasonably wonder whether Mr Murdoch's plan will work – whether enough people will pay for The Times and Sunday Times online when there are so many rivals continuing to offer their content for nothing – but surely one cannot reasonably dispute his right to try.

And what if he fails, as so many are predicting he will, invariably pronouncing that "Rupert does not understand the internet"? No one has come up with a Plan B. Maybe there isn't one. What then? Well, newspapers will continue to weaken until, in the end, no one apart from philanthropists and governments will be able to afford to publish them.

To charge or not to charge? It's a question on which journalists are very divided - but for those of us who aren't Alan Rushbridger or Jeff Jarvis and are still trying to make a career in an increasingly bankrupt industry, it's all becoming rather academic. What matters isn't whether newspapers should charge for their work, it's whether they can.

Whisper it, but among the grunt reporters FleetStreetBlues speaks to, even the Guardian-reading Murdoch-hating sceptics are wishing the old man all the best. Routinely charging for online content may drive away readers, make reading newspapers a minority sport and harm the profile and popularity of important news at the expense of free-to-access showbiz trivia. It may, in the long run, harm journalism. But it might just save journalists.

Reviews Editor - Stuff

Here's a job which should come with a tasty freebie or two - Haymarket title Stuff magazine is recruiting a reviews editor.

You'll need an 'encylcopaedic knowledge of gadgetry and technology', must be seriously organised and an excellent writer able to step up and take on the toughest reviews in person. Experience of commissioning and a hefty contacts book will be a distinct advantage.

The job's based in Teddington, south west London, and they're offering up to £30k depending on experience.

Apply with CV, covering letter, 100 words on the iPad and three group test ideas via the Haymarket website.

Fair and balanced

The BBC is renowned for twisting itself into knots trying to self-consciously prove how completely unbiased it is come election time, so it's a refreshing change to see it forget trying to allocate each political party exactly the same amount of space. And we're all for the sudden surge towards the Lib Dems - the soon-to-be-published Mail on Sunday poll putting the Lib Dems as the single-biggest party may be hard to credit and unlikely to be accurate, but it gives good story.

But still, we think that the Tory bloggers over at Iain Dale and Conservative Home might have a point when they claim that this piece by Sarah Bell about the election contest in Richmond is a little off-key. Six Lib Dems quoted, and no one else. Could she really not find a single Tory?

Reporter - Broadcast

Broadcast, the B2B magazine covering TV, radio and online video, is looking for a senior reporter.

Knowledge of the industry is a bonus but not essential, but a nose for the big exclusives is - the BBC will be part of your patch, so you'll be scrapping with the nationals, and particularly the Daily Mail, for scoops.

Full details on Gorkana, not directly linkable. Apply with CV and covering letter, making sure you put 'Senior reporter application' in the email subject line, to chris.curtis@emap.com. Deadline Friday 7 May.

Trainee Reporter - East Lothian Courier

Plenty of jobs going north of the border for some reason at the moment, and this is one of them. The East Lothian Courier is looking for a trainee reporter.

The ad states that you'll need to have passed your NCTJ prelims, including shorthand, have multimeeja knowledge and should 'preferably possess a clean driving license'. No word on whether you should possess the ability to spell 'clean driving licence'.

You'll be based in Haddington, which our Scottish correspondent reliably informs us is an old mill town, about 20 miles away from Edinburgh.

Apply via the Clyde & Forth company secretary at dromanes@cfpress.co.uk. Deadline Friday 30 April.

How journalists should use Twitter

Tip 1 - think, what would Stan Collymore do? No, really...

OK, so it's largely a recap of something he's written before, but Trinity Mirror head of multimedia David Higgerson has pulled together a useful 'quick guide to Twitter and making it work for journalists'.

If you're not on Twitter - and lots of you aren't - well, we sympathise and hate it too, but you probably should be by now. Worth checking out.

Reporter - HoldTheFrontPage

We link to its job ads often enough - but this time, the journalism website HoldTheFrontPage is itself recruiting a reporter.

HoldTheFrontPage's USP versus its main rivals - Journalism.co.uk, the Press Gazette and the MediaGuardian - is its coverage of regional journalism, and accordingly they're after someone with regional daily experience and a 'keen interest in the regional press'. You'll need to be NCE-qualified, and as this is an online role some knowledge of HTML is an advantage, along with other web skills.

The job's based in Derby, and they're offering £18,000 - £20,000 pa.

Email the publisher, Paul Linford, with your CV at paul.linford@and.co.uk, and they also ask for a covering letter explaining in 300 words or less what you think you can bring to the role, three things you like about the site and three ways you think it can be improved. Deadline Tuesday 20 April.

Reporter - unquote"

unquote", the somewhat confusingly-named private equity website owned by Incisive Media, is recruiting a reporter.

The key job requirement is languages - you'll need to be able to speak either 'French or Scandinavian' (which we're pretty sure isn't a language but you get the gist). Market knowledge isn't essential, but an interest in the financial and business sectors is, and 'ideally you will hold a degree with an excellent academic and research record'.

Apply via the Incisive Media website here.

On deadline, permanently

Think demands on journalists' time are getting ridiculous? Try working across the pond...

A job just posted by the CNHI News Service asks for an 'experienced journalist to cover Oklahoma state government in Oklahoma City for 14 daily newspapers and their websites'.

It's not just wire work, either. They want a proven ability to do investigative reporting, plus you'll also be taking photos, shooting video and recording audio for the web. For all 14 dailies, presumably.

The right candidate must be one who 'works well under deadline pressure', and the ad ends by warning 'this is not an entry-level position'. No kidding.

Subs don't do graffiti

But if they did...

Spotted over at Rantings of a sub-editor.

The jobs lottery

There's been a lot of whispered talk about the journalism jobs market perhaps picking up a bit, and indeed there are a few possible signs of... well, we'd hesitate to call them green shoots. But a simple stat puts any possible recovery very much in perspective.

We're told the recent Daily Mail graduate scheme vacancies attracted a whopping - if not record - 750 applications, of whom about 30 were interviewed, 10 shortlisted and four or five actually offered a job. That's 1 in 150. Compared to some vacancies, it represents a noble attempt to interview a decent range of contacts, but still... how the hell do you wade through 750 applications?

The lesson, not that you needed it? Apply for as much as you can, and it's always worth a shot at the plum jobs - but always more in hope than expectation. Just because you're perfect for a job doesn't mean there aren't several hundred equally perfect, shorthand-writing, Twittering, qualification-sporting applicants after the same position. It's official: you're more likely to win the lottery.

News Editor - Health Service Journal/Nursing Times

Journalists are used to working extra hours for little or no overtime. It comes with the territory. But with this job - news editor for not one but two of the country's top trade publications - the ad's promise of '35 hours per week' seems particularly optimistic.

Working for both the Health Service Journal and Nursing Times, you'll be leading a team of five reporters to cover health policy as it effects both NHS managers and nurses. You'll need to be an experienced journalist with top news sense, current affairs knowledge and contact building skills - we're guessing specific health knowledge would also be a big plus.

Apply with CV and covering letter to deputy editor Rebecca Evans at rebecca.evans@emap.com. Deadline Friday 30 April.

Nick gets it wrong?

An interesting exchange over at Roy Greenslade's blog, where they're picking through Nick Davies' Vanessa Perroncel piece at the weekend.

Like we say, Nick Davies is the man Fleet Street loves to hate, and there's plenty of evidence of that in the comments - but there's also an interesting riposte over the phone-tapping charge, which always seemed to FleetStreetBlues to be harder to stand up than other inaccuracies in the story. It's worth quoting at some length (typos and all).

Roygetsitwrongagain

Vanessa Peroncell goes to Max Clifford to handle her PR - and wonders later why, days later, her quotes end up verbatim in a tabloid newspaper.

But rather than consider the bleeding obvious, Nick Davies gets sidetracked with more wild conspiracy theories about phone-tapping which, as factsstraight illustrates, wouldn't be possible anyway.

It's another example of the lazy and fanciful journalism of Davies - hyped by his lackey Roygetsitwrong.

And for the record, the only newspaper which used the 'sex maniac' quote which Roy/Davies seems to think was tapped from her phone was the Daily Star - a paper Peroncell isn't even mounting a complaint against.

Why didn't Davies do a simple cutting search before writing his story on Saturday. Cos he doesn't like the facts getting in the way of the story.

Nickdaviesguardian

I just read the comment from 'roygetsitwrongagain' and wondered if anybody could get some psychiatric help to this guy. He's mad with anger. There's no conspiracy theory here - Vodafone have confirmed that Perroncel's closest friend had her voicemail accessed at the height of this story. Nothing lazy or fanciful about that. And the Daily Star was not the only paper who used the quote. I know because I did do a simple search before I wrote the story. And all this makes me and Roy 'broadsheet scum'? Pass the valium to that man.

roygetsitwrongagain

Go on then Nick, name the other papers which used the quote and post the quotes as they used them. Should be a simple cut and paste job from factiva. I'd like to see your evidence.

Nickdaviesguardian

Sure, Mr roygetsitwrongagain who hides behind a pseudonym.

Here's what I wrote: "They (Perroncel's lawyers) are particularly concerned about the origin of a widely-used quote from Perroncel, when she was alleged to have told a journalist: "They're saying I'm some kind of bed-hopping sex maniac. It's so hurtful - and it's not true."

You found the one journalist. How come you can't find, for example:
The times of india; The banaglore mirror; entertainment and showbiz, Celebrityandworldzopag; soccer.msg.com; nba.msg.com; freshnews; mynews; digitalspy; imdb; and many others?

But here's the point. Just supposing I hadn't done a search before I wrote the piece and hadn't found examples of the quote being 'widely used', would it be a sane and reasonable response to describe me and Roy as 'broadsheet scum'?

roygetsitwrongagain

You site a load of foreign sites and blogs which you well know would never have done any original research into the Peroncell story and simply lifted the quote from the Star, a newspaper which Perconcell has not complained about and one which has never done a smidgeon of original research in its entire existence.

Yours - and presumably Perconell's - central allegation is a fanciful one: that the story of her alleged affair with Terry was sourced by tapping into her phone.

You were clearly implying heavily that one of the tabloids Perconell is complaining about and named in the original posting by Greenslade HAD tapped her phone, yet there is no evidence for this (when has that ever stopped you making a headline grabbing accusation?) If they had tapped the phone, why didn't they use the disputed quote which you are saying was sourced by tapping? You and Perconell can't have it both ways: your argument is totally inconsistent.
Peroncell employed Britain's most notorious PR - a man who talks to all the tabloids every day. Is it not more likely that Pernocell's quote came from that source?

Disrespectful, no doubt, but the man deserves a reply, we think. Follow the full debate here.

Reporter - Hemel Hempstead Gazette

The Herald and Gazette series in Hemel Hempstead is hiring a senior reporter.

You'll need to have passed your NCE, have experience covering a patch and knowledge of online journalism - interestingly, you'll be managing your own district website. You'll also need a full driving licence.

Apply with CV and covering letter to the editor, Adam Hollier, at adam.hollier@jpress.co.uk. Deadline next Monday 19 April.

Reporter (x3) - Aberdeen Press & Journal

The Aberdeen Press & Journal, confidently billing itself as Britain's 'best regional daily newspaper', is hiring senior reporters for its offices in Inverness, Elgin and Aberdeen.

You'll need to be fully qualified and familiar with the business end of an off-diary exclusive - otherwise, there's little to go on in the ad, although some readers have suggested to us previously that local knowledge counts even more than usual when it comes to applying for Scottish jobs.

Applications by post only. Send CV and covering letter to:

Derek Tucker,
Editor,
The Press and Journal,
Lang Stracht,
Mastrick,
Aberdeen AB15 6DF

Deadline Friday 23 April.

Deputy Editor - Your Home

Your Home magazine is looking for a deputy editor.

You'll need to be able to hit the ground running - they're asking for 'plenty of experience working on a monthly title' and experience in the interiors sector is preferred. It's a jack-of-all-trades position, with your duties including writing and attending product launches as well as commissioning features and overseeing production.

Your Home is a Hubert Burda Media UK title, and you'll be based in Colchester in Essex.

Full details on Gorkana, not directly linkable. Apply with CV and covering letter to rachel.taylor@burdamagazines.co.uk.

Vanessa Perroncel gets the flat earth treatment

An interesting interview this morning from the man Fleet Street loves to hate, Nick Davies, and with a slightly more glamorous subject than usual - John Terry's femme fatale Vanessa Perroncel.

It doesn't make comfortable reading, not only for the tabloids who may or may not be the focus of a new phone-tapping investigation, but for the others who couldn't resist wading in as well.

The same newspapers who had seen her reject their vast offers of cash now flipped the story around and accused her of selling her silence to John Terry for even more. The Times said she had taken £400,000. The News of the World said it was £750,000 ("Wily Vanessa teamed up with PR to the stars Max Clifford and the pound signs began rolling in her eyes," its reporter claimed). The Sunday Times adopted both figures. The Evening Standard beat them all, claiming it was £800,000. The reality was that she had not sold her silence at all – and her ability to talk to the Guardian proves it.

Back before the story broke, as John Terry's lawyers headed for court, his agent had got her to sign an agreement that she would not discuss his private life and, as a technical requirement, he undertook to pay her £1. As it happened, the agreement was legally invalid. "And they never even paid me the one pound. I haven't had a penny off John Terry."

Unlike Nick Davies, FleetStreetBlues doesn't pretend to claim the moral high ground. To some extent, muck-raking is what all journalists do. But if you're going to do cover the personal lives of the rich and famous, make an effort to get it right - or at least not so embarrassingly wrong.

Political Editor - The News, Portsmouth

The News, based in Portsmouth and billing itself as the 'south's biggest newspaper', is hiring a political editor.

They're looking for a 'senior journalist' who's already proved themselves elsewhere, probably on another daily, and this is a key role at the paper - there's an emphasis on contact building and exclusives as well simply covering local council meetings.

To apply, send a CV, three clips and three ideas for stories you'd cover in the job to news editor Graeme Patfield at graeme.patfield@thenews.co.uk. Deadline Friday 23 April.

Quote of the Day: 9 April 2010

ITN political editor Tom Bradby on the difficulties presented by an interview with the Prime Minister.

Interviewing him is emotionally complicated. He doesn’t seem to understand that we are here to ask difficult questions and test his arguments by establishing contrary positions. He nearly always tells us we are wrong, both on and off camera, and that we have not done our research. He often gets angry, sometimes sulks and from time to time looks brutally hurt.

I really don’t know what to make of it. It’s not politics as we know it.

He may not get asked to do another one.

Getting a media visa for the US

A reader has been in touch with a question - and they need your help.

If a UK journalist is planning to go to the US to cover a trade conference for a few days, and needs to get an 'I' classification media visa, assuming all goes smoothly with the application process, how long should the whole thing take?

FleetStreetBlues has never had the pleasure, but we're sure some of you lot have. If you can, please help - let us know in the comments how long it took you to get your visa, or if you prefer email fleetstreetblues@hotmail.co.uk and we'll pass it on...

Sub Editor - Basildon Echo

Essex Newsquest titles the Basildon Echo and Southend Echo are recruiting a sub.

They're looking for someone with a 'proven track record' and both papers are dailies, so experience on a daily would probably help as well. There are promotion prospects promised - 'the opportunity to prove yourself and rise to a more senior level'.

Apply via the Newsquest (Essex) website, quoting position number JA73. Deadline Friday 16 April.

Editor - Restaurant

Restaurant magazine, a William Reed trade publication aimed at the restaurant industry, is looking for an editor.

The ad doesn't precisely indicate the size of the team you'll be heading, but it won't be huge - we're told that 'personal copy output is vital'. There's also a lot of liaising with the commercial side though - as well as the magazine itself, there are regular supplements, roundtable discussions to host and 'a club for the industry's leading chain restaurant operators'.

Apply via the William Reed website, or by sending CV and covering letter to recruitment@william-reed.co.uk. Deadline Friday 30 April.

Campaign trail blues

With hundreds of journalists now deployed to follow the various political campaigns from Bedford to Ben Nevis, the BBC has a timely reminder of the perils of election reporting.

You can watch fifteen seconds of pure comedy from the Eighties (the hair, the outraged 'Argh') here, as a very young Martha Kearney gets hit by an egg it's assumed was aimed at then-leader of the Liberal Party David Steel. Be careful out there people.

1,000 posts and counting...

Almost two years since we first started this thing, and we've hit a milestone: 1,000 posts.

Highlights since then include words of wisdom from journalism professors, a prescient bit of subbing in the Sun, our poor redundant journalist finding a job and covering the slim pickings out there for the rest of you (including the job which had a whopping 1,200 journalists applying for it).

Lowlights? Well, there have been a few, but our biggest regret is probably inadvertently forcing the Inside the Daily Mail blog into hiding. Sorry about that.

If you want to advertise with us and reach the 300-odd UK journalists who read FleetStreetBlues every day, or the 600-odd who follow us on Twitter, get in touch (or if you're feeling particularly flush, you can show your appreciation with the 'Donate' button on the right).

If you want to write for us, have a suggestion or just want to pass on some unsubstantiated gossip, email us at fleetstreetblues@hotmail.co.uk, and we'll try to be better at getting back to you than we have been in the past.

Thanks for reading...

Senior Reporter (x 2) - East Anglian Daily Times

The East Anglian Daily Times is recruiting not one but two new senior reporters to cover its West Suffolk patch.

It's definitely a rural position - the patch includes Bury St Edmunds, Sudbury, Newmarket and 'dozens of picture postcard villages in between' - but the ad promises 'this will be no quiet sojurn in the countryside'. They're chasing national headlines, there's a fast-growing web presence to look after and some production knowledge will also be helpful as the job includes editing the weekly Mercury papers on a rota basis.

To apply, email West Suffolk editor Mark Crossley for an application pack at mark.crossley@archant.co.uk. Deadline next Friday 16 April.

Will Twitter boost turnout?

So, with the election at last officially underway, the multimeeja spin machine will kick into overdrive. The 24 hour news cycle is dead. The revolution will be Twittered. The birth of a new politics. Etc, etc.

Time will tell - but we're not convinced. Certainly, the day-by-day campaigning will be covered in more excruciating detail than ever before, and the political junkies will have plenty of new ways to feed their addiction. And there could be a citizen journalism Gotcha! moment - mobile photo footage of Gordon Brown cursing having to kiss another set of babies, or a snatched snap of David Cameron taking a comfort break beside the side of his battlebus, perhaps.

But consider this: Channel 4's pioneering and much-hyped Ask the Chancellors debate received 1.8 million viewers - less than the 9.3 million who watched Eastenders on BBC One, of course, but less also than the 2.9 million who watched a different battle of raw wit hosted by a moderating feral beast - University Challenge. It was enthusiastically Twittered, became a 'trending topic' and received media coverage off the back of it - but the actual number of Tweets in total was 20,000, not insignificant, but with lots of people Tweeting lots, hardly a mass movement. Same as the attendance at a League One mid-table clash, perhaps.

The media will cover the 2010 election in a different way, and a result, politicians will fight it in a different way. It will be the most closely-scrutinised election ever. But voters will vote much the same way they always have - the vast majority never having seen or heard a Twitter, blog, or viral video. If they vote at all...

The Reuters journalists killed by the US military

We don't post this disturbing video, which shows the killing of two Reuters journalists, Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh, at the hands of the US military, to be political. After all, even 'Collateral Murder' admits that 'some of the men appear to have been armed', and Journalism.co.uk reports that 'an investigation by the US military concluded that the soldiers acted in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own rules of engagement.'

But as a chilling display of asymmetric warfare, and a haunting reminder of the risks routinely faced by all journalists in warzones, it deserves to be watched. Particularly because they didn't want you to...