The 32-year-old, who has three A-levels and a journalism degree, said: 'I had always been fascinated by the idea of being a stripper. I was disillusioned about the work I was doing. I think many people who have worked hard at school and university get out into the real world and find it's not what they expected. Someone I knew had a partner who worked as a stripper, so I went to see her perform at a pub in the East End.'
'I think it's everyone's dream to be self-employed, to not have a boss and to work as much or as little as you want. In journalism, it didn't matter how many hours of overtime I put in, I still got paid the same. Now I can work really hard one week and earn good money, and then I can have a week when I don't work so hard and don't earn so much.'Which won't be for everyone, of course, but as Plan B's go, it's a beauty. And if it all goes, er, tits up? There's always the journalism to fall back on.
An MoD spokesman says there are no embedded journalists in Afghanistan now with the exception of a documentary team
The fracas took place on the steps of the Daily Mail's offices in Kensington, West London, shortly after 2.30am yesterday.
The Mail's CCTV cameras captured the incident and appear to show punches being thrown among the warring groups.
A Liquid Newsroom would challenge the restrictions of space and organizational form. Instead of a given organisational type, the news site will come into existence from the time someone decides to open a topic.”
I would like to start an experiment with my readers and Twitter followers to start an open innovation project on a global level to develop such a concept using social media tools and simply our connectedness.Oh, another one of them then. That wasn't what we had in mind at all...
UK breast cancer rates four times higher than Eastern Africa
Breast cancer rates in the UK are over four times higher than those in Eastern Africa, World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has revealed.
According to the latest cancer statistics, 87.9 women per 100,000 in the UK (adjusted for age) were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, compared to just 19.3 women per 100,000 in Eastern Africa, which includes countries such as Kenya and Tanzania.
Part of the difference is likely to be because the UK is better at diagnosing and recording breast cancer cases. But WCRF has warned that lifestyle is also an important reason for the difference.And here's the first three pars of the Guardian's take on the story, also published on 9 August.
British breast cancer rates 'four times higher than eastern Africa', says report
Breast cancer rates in the UK are more than four times higher than those in eastern Africa, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has revealed.
According to the latest cancer statistics, 87.9 women per 100,000 in the UK (adjusted for age) were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, compared to 19.3 in eastern Africa, which includes Kenya and Tanzania.
Part of the difference is likely to be because the UK is better at diagnosing and recording breast cancer cases. But the WCRF has warned that lifestyle is also an important reason for the differenceIt gets worse. Compare the whole 400-plus word article with the original press release, and - bar six words, by our count, which were changed to meet Guardian house style - it isn't just similar. It's absolutely identical.
“What is your name?” Chávez says in faltering English, his voice strong and deep.
“Matthew,” I reply.
“Machu?”
“Matthew. Like Matteo.”
“Si, si. OK, Matteo.”And Freelance Unbound's verdict?
This is beyond banal. Why on earth should anyone care about this stuff? Why is it infecting the journalism that used to pride itself on its rigorous ability to stay outside the picture?Stylistically, he certainly has a point (and while we're at it, what's with the increasing number of broadcast journalist-noddies in TV interviews?) But Freelance Unbound is also a journalism tutor - and what really concerns him is his students, and the grim, churnalistic future they face.
Easy access to online information and the reluctance of publishers to finance primary reporting means that all many, many journalists do is sit in front of the computer rehashing other people’s work. It’s a lot cheaper and, crucially, it’s a lot easier. It actually comes as something of a shock to many journalism students that they can’t just write a feature about their favourite celebrity or England’s prospects in the World Cup from internet snippets and their own, all-important opinions.
In fairness to them, however, if they ever manage to find work in this business, a lot of their day-to-day activity might be exactly that – rehashing and filtering the slew of existing online information.
This is exactly why many journalists must be so keen to insert themselves into genuine reportage – it’s so rare nowadays. To have actually been in South America, meeting Hugo Chavez and speaking with him in person, is so far removed from the usual journalistic experience that it’s worth reporting on as well. “Look, I’m actually here, not cutting and pasting this from Google! This is fantastic!”Read the full piece here.
- The old school reads about the current state of journalism in their union newsletter, while youngsters are browsing the Nieman Journalism Lab.
- The old school complains about how we’re not covering justice and national politics the way we used to, while a new generation is upset that so many journalists look down on regional and local news. So much potential in hyperlocal.
- The old school laments the decline of investigative journalism, while the new school is thinking up new ways to hold people in power accountable, and to catch them when they’re lying.
- The old school would wish the government intervenes to support quality journalism, whereas we’d rather win the support of our fellow citizens through and Spot.Us and Kickstarter.
- The old school just wishes there was more money to go round, whereas those new to the newsroom doubt if money would solve anything. They’ve seen their bosses throw money out of the window; they know we fail to act on lucrative opportunities time and again.Now we're far from convinced by the whole 'two schools of journalism' thing - most of the real, working, grassroots journalists we know have never joined a union but wouldn't have a clue what to do with the Nieman Journalism Lab either. They're too busy working.
LOSELEY ANNOUNCES ON PACK BUTTER AND YOGOURT PROMOTION THROUGH STOCKISTS AND WITH BBC GOOD FOOD MAGAZINE
An in-store on pack promotion has been agreed with Loseley Chilled Products and all its stockists whereby customers who buy Loseley Summer Meadow Butter or Loseley Rich & Creamy yogourts will have the chance to win some great prizes. The on pack offer will be running on 70,000 Loseley Summer Meadow butter tubs and on 100,000 Loseley Rich and Creamy Yogourt pots. This is to be run In conjunction with the UK’s biggest selling cookery magazine, BBC Good Food and Loseley Park where the brand was originated and the first herd established.(Yes, we're aware there are lots of different ways to spell yoghurt, and we wanted to be fair, so we've done some research. 'Yoghurt' is the traditional English spelling, 'yogurt' more American. As far as we can tell from this picture though, Loseley have gone with the bizarre international spelling 'yoghourt'.
Sir,
I note with interest your story on the Argus headline about Worthing. I live in Worthing, and recall my politics tutor some years ago telling me about a story he saw in our local, the Worthing Herald. Basically, the front page headline was "WOMAN GETS STUCK IN WINDOW" - hardly world breaking news - however, on page 12 of the same issue was the horrendous story of a frail pensioner who had accidentally wandered into a deserted quarry in the middle of the night and had to be rescued by firemen and police. This could have been used to draw attention to the shocking state of elderly care in the area, but no, the Herald chose to go with this total non-story about a woman who had mislaid her keys and got stuck breaking into her own house. It was also the page 3 story, complete with pictures of the woman and the window. Madness.
Warm regards,
Chris Glew
“Have a look at this Grey,” he said. “We’ve just been issued with them. The troops are supposed to fill one out before they go out on a job.”
It was a booklet of forms, with spaces for name and date, followed by a list of a dozen or so questions with Yes and No tick-boxes. I’ll give you a small sample.
Does the task you are about to undertake involve working:
… in places where there are slip, trip or fall hazards?
… in crowds or hostile situations?
… with or near moving vehicles?
… with or near animals?
… in bad or extreme weather?
… with or near harmful substances?
Do you believe that you are safe to proceed with this task? If you are in any doubt, answer NO. Please return this form to your line manager.It is, as Grey Cardigan concludes, 'the potential death of the death knock', but much more besides. Give up that little list and you might as well give up on being a journalist - on all the fun stuff, anyway.
The Press Association is taking on a City reporter to join its financial team.
A businessman who works nearby asked the Advertiser to investigate the brothel after claiming that months of complaints to the authorities had gone unanswered.All well and good. Except, as the Inside Croydon blog points out, the self-same 'massage parlour' had been advertising its services very publicly for years - including a classifed ad on page 52 of the very same issue of the Advertiser.
Not only that, but it has been advertised pretty much every week in both the Advertiser and Post for the past few years, making the newspaper a fair amount of money. In fact, last year, CCAT gave the editor of the Advertiser details of all the premises advertised by the Advertiser that were selling sex; this included names, addresses, nationalities of women, prices and services provided. The very brothel that they had ‘uncovered’ was on the spreadsheet that we gave them.
CCAT thinks that it is incredibly hypocritical to sell newspapers by writing a story about ‘sinister brothels’ on the one hand, but on the other, to be making money from the profits of these premises and actually promoting their services, services which, our evidence suggests, are highly likely to have trafficked women working in them.Hmmmn. They kind of have a point...
Tile falls from Worthing shop
Firefighters have cordoned off a section of a street after a tile fell from a shop roof.
The tile fell from the roof of the Phones4U mobile phone shop in Montague Street, Worthing at around 5.30pm last night.
Firefighters from Worthing have cordoned off a small section around the shop to protect passersby.Send in your silly season spots to fleetstreetblues@hotmail.co.uk. The bar has been set pretty high.
In a big step forward on boosting our local coverage, during the next six months we will hire 34 new journalists for our newsroom and digital teams, and add 2,600 pages of additional news and opinion to our newspaper annually. I'm very excited to announce that we are making this significant investment in people and pages to provide more and stronger coverage for Long Islanders.FleetStreetBlues isn't entirely sure it can get its head around the concept of 'significant investment in people and pages'. But it sounds nice.
Well I’m happy to say that it didn’t come via AFP. I wrote the caption for my photo and AFP didn’t change anything during validation. My caption reads;
“UNITED KINGDOM, Ledbury : An audience member listens to the Malian Tuareg group, “Tinariwen” performing on the main stage at the Big Chill festival near Ledbury in Herefordshire on August 6, 2010. Running from the August 5-8, 2010 the festival features some of the more popular bands and musicians from the underground music scene as well more established acts such as Lily Allen and Massive Attack. AFP PHOTO/Leon Neal ”
Hope that helps to clear both myself and AFP!Does that clear it up? Of course not. You can't believe everything you read on the internet. But FleetStreetBlues suspects a certain someone on the Independent's subs desk is keeping a very low profile...
Hi,
Please find below a press release that is encouraging the nation to vote for a chance to win their local area some greenery through a tree planting scheme.
It would be great if we could get some support around this and rally up the regional papers so that your region can be in with a chance of winning! – Please change the XXX make it relevant to area.
Thanks so much,
Ginny
COME ON XXX - GET VOTING FOR YOUR VERY OWN ‘GREEN MAKEOVER’, THROUGH VELVET’S CAMPAIGN FOR TREES
A new survey released from toilet tissue brand, Velvet, has shown 66% of us would like more greenery in our neighbourhoods – and via Velvet’s new Campaign for Trees, XXX could have the chance to win just that...
...The Campaign for Trees initiative resonates with Velvet’s on-going commitment to the environment whereby for every tree used three more are grown. And what’s more, all Velvet products carry the FSC label, a credible link between responsible production and consumption of forest products.
To further support Campaign for Trees, a national survey was commissioned of which the results highlight the nation’s lack of understanding when it comes to the importance of trees! – Which is why we need to inject some much loved greenery into XXX...Gotta love that 'level of personal care and attention'. Or, as our co-correspondent puts it: 'Surely this is the pinnacle of PR laziness.Most companies at least write in the name of your region to make it look as if the release might relate to you readers. I wouldn't wipe my arse with it.'
BARROW BT CLOSURE DOC SNAPPED ON TRAIN
AN eagle-eyed Evening Mail reader uncovered news of the BT job losses on the train – just hours before staff were told.
The man was travelling on the 10.04am train from Preston to Barrow when he noticed a woman reading the document – BT Directory Enquiries Centre Closure at Barrow in Furness, Cumbria.
He was shocked that the woman was reading the confidential document on the train.
He then took a photograph of her reading the document on his mobile phone.The resulting story gave the Mail the jump on the job announcements, and a surprisingly high-res photo of the document in question. But while our reader - not based at the North West Evening Mail, we should stress - was impressed with the opportunism, she was also a little surprised at a member of the public showing the initiative to take the photo.
If I was doing work experience at a local paper I could see myself taking this snap and being quite pleased. But for a random person, it is just weird!We can't help agreeing - and while we have no special inside track on how the story came about, we're still slightly puzzled by the identity of the paper's anonymous source. Is this a top example of citizen journalism in action? Or do the North West Evening Mail's staff just have really good camera-phones?
