Reporter - The Gazette

The Gazette, a Newsquest daily covering north Essex and based in Colchester, is hiring a senior reporter.

You'll need to be NCE qualified and, as ever, have a 'track record of producing cracking exclusives'. The ad's brief, so there's not much more, but evidence of working online, your own transport and any indication of local knowledge would all presumably be pluses as well.

Apply via the Newsquest (Essex) website here. Deadline Friday 16 December.

The national with just three reporters

Lots is coming out of the Leveson Inquiry - and despite our scepticism about the inquiry as a whole, some of it makes pretty uncomfortable listening for any journalist - but what's also interesting is the stories which are coming out almost incidentally. Ignore the knee-jerk journalist-bashing headlines and listen to or read the evidence in full, and for anyone interested in the British media the inquiry offers a real insight, albeit with a hefty Guardian-esque ideological slant.

Yesterday saw evidence from former News of the World deputy features editor Paul McMullan and the Guardian journalist who broke the phone-hacking story, Nick Davies, who between them pretty much cover the full spectrum of Fleet Street hackery. But the inquiry also heard from Richard Peppiatt, the former Daily Star reporter who resigned in a memorable blaze of glory back in March ('I made it up. Staring at a blank page, I simply plucked it from my arse') and has since established himself as a campaigner for press standards. 

In his evidence, as well as making much broader ethical points about the fabrication of stories and the influence of PR, he talked about the pressure overworked Daily Star reporters are under, and offered the following anecdote:

Richard Desmond’s investment in his newsroom operation was/is woeful, and this has resulted in too few reporters to adequately do their job. I recollect one day there being just myself and two other reporters to write the whole newspaper. We were forced to use pseudonyms just to make it appear to readers there were more of us.

Quote of the Day: 29 November 2011

Today's star turn at the Leveson Circus Inquiry was of course Paul McMullan, formerly deputy features editor at the News of the World. Trust the quintessential tabloid hack to come up with the quintessential tabloid headline: pithy, punchy and an outrageous overstatement obviously tailored to a red tops's audience - yet with just enough of a hint of an underlying truth to make you think twice:

'Privacy is for paedos.'

Part-time work while breaking into journalism? 'No, I'm all about the writing...'

Have you done work experience recently at the Times? If so, it's worth reading Kevin Maher's column yesterday on why job-seeking graduates need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. And if you recognise yourself, prepare to cringe...

Neither do the graduates I meet — the ones who want to know how to get into broadsheet-style journalism — do themselves many favours. All lovely people, naturally. And I’m loath to use the word “workshy”, but really, I met one recently who physically flinched when I suggested that he might not be able to just stroll into a national newspaper and start flashing his stuff, and that maybe he should think of supplementing his career work with some pub shifts. “No,” he said firmly and coldly, before miming the act of typing while announcing, “I’m all about the writing.”

Five questions for Lord Leveson

FleetStreetBlues realises that as the busy chair of an inquiry into the press, Lord Leveson barely has time to read the newspapers in the morning, let alone a blog. But in the spirit of being helpful and assisting the inquiry...

• Chris Jefferies' experience, as we first wrote way back before inquiries into the press were fashionable, was appalling. But is the claim made yesterday by a former News of the World journalist that he tried to sell his story to the paper true? It would be relevant, surely?
  
  
• In fact, given it is relevant, and in light of Kate McCann lambasting News International six months after it serialised her book, why not make it a standard question for all witnesses? Have you ever sold or ever attempted to sell your story to a tabloid newspaper?
  
  
• You've succeeded in getting Guido Fawkes to remove the Alastair Campbell evidence for now, and he'll be appearing to explain himself before the inquiry on Thursday. But thanks to the Press Association, a key quote from the evidence now appears all across the internet, everywhere from the Cambridge News to the Chorley Guardian. Will you be calling the Press Association in to explain itself?
  
  
• Yesterday, an ordinary member of the public was filmed without her knowledge or consent in a public place, and then had her face splashed all over the newspapers. When will you be inviting the angry tram passenger woman to appear before the inquiry?
  
  
• In fact, what about the wider privacy implications of YouTube in general? And if your remit only covers newspapers and newspaper websites but doesn't extend to cover other websites, doesn't that make coming up with any recommendations on privacy or intrusion pretty much impossible?

Trainee Reporter - North Devon Gazette

Vacancies have been a bit thin on the ground generally lately, so this is a welcome ad for a trainee reporter - Archant weekly the North Devon Gazette is recruiting.

You'll need to have your NCTJ qualifications with 100 wpm shorthand, as is standard, plus a driving licence and your own transport, which is also becoming increasingly standard. In return they promise to support you towards your NCE and to give you a lively patch.

Apply with CV and covering letter to the editor, Dave Tanner, at dave.tanner@archant.co.uk. Deadline this Friday 2 December.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, neglected wife

There's always been a certain tension between news and features. Features writers see hard news hacks as shallow, narrow-minded and forever obsessed with the top line; hard news reporters, for their part, portray features types as insubstantial, waffly and even occasionally prone to getting their facts wrong.

Both stereotypes, of course, are unfair, but like most stereotypes, they're also just occasionally true. And on the last point - getting your facts right -a features freelancer for the Daily Mail has somewhat let the side down.

Said features writer, whose blushes we'll spare, was commissioned to write a feature for the Femail section on 'marital tipping points'. She approached Mumsnet readers for comment and input, using as the hook the recent (and, we should stress here for any lawyers reading, not necessarily proven) stories about Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Only this time she wanted to tell the story from the wife's perspective.

I'm writing a feature for the Daily Mail about marital tipping points, for our Femail section. It comes in the wake of news that Dominique Strauss-Kahn is reported to be finally considering divorce from her philandering husband - she put up with years of affairs but then reports that he had been text messaging escort girls became the straw that broke the camel's back. We are looking for good stories where women have tolerated bad behaviour for a long time only for something to finally prompt then to say enough is enough and to look at why that was. Ideally we'd like you to be identified and provide a photo but we'd also consider strong anonymous stories. In the former instance we could pay a small fee. Please do get in touch if you think you can help or know anyone who might want to take part - we are looking to feature a number of different stories. You can contact me via mumsnet or via my personal email address.

Cue scores of mocking comments from much better-informed mums, and while nothing is ever really deleted from the internet, Mumsnet have now removed the entire thread to protect the 'privacy' of the original poster.

The article doesn't yet seem to have run, and for all we know it may now have been dropped, but just in case it would be good to get word out to the Daily Mail. Can someone in news let someone in features know Dominique is a boy's name too?

Alastair Campbell worth reading in full

On Wednesday, Alastair Campbell was due to take centre-stage at the Leveson Inquiry, but earlier today his written evidence was leaked, and published by - who else? - Westminster blogger Guido Fawkes.

Genuinely shocked someone has seen fit to leak my statement to Leveson. Less surprised that Guido Fawkes headline misrepresents itSun Nov 27 13:07:22 via Twitter for BlackBerry®Alastair Campbell
campbellclaret

Cue another interminable row about who leaked what when, with the Leveson Inquiry summoning Guido (aka Paul Staines) to explain himself. But what's of more interest is the evidence itself.

We won't quote it directly here - we wouldn't put it past his Lordship to summon the whole internet to court to explain itself - but Alastair Campbell's written evidence can be read in full elsewhere.

UPDATE: Well, it was available elsewhere, but now a restriction notice has been issued, Guido Fawkes has taken it down ahead of his appearance before the inquiry on Thursday and so we'd better remove any further reference to it as well. It should be good though...

Snappers hit back at call for blanket ban on photos in public spaces

One of the more alarming suggestions to come out of the Leveson Inquiry this week was the proposal that it should be illegal to photograph a private individual in a public place without their explicit permission.

Gerry McCann told the inquiry:

You should not be able to publish photographs of private individuals going about their private business without their explicit consent, signed.

Even more than reporters, photographers came in for a bashing this week - and now one has hit back, and explained exactly why such a ban would be disastrous.

Writing on Leon Neal's blog, Christopher Pledger, a freelance photographer for the Daily Telegraph, says:

A ban of this type would be the death of the free press in the UK. Current guidelines require that individuals should not be photographed while they have a 'reasonable expectation of privacy'. In practical terms this means that anyone in a public place can be photographed without permission, as they cannot expect privacy in a public space. If laws were introduced requiring the written consent of an individual before they were photographed, it would mean press photographers would have to ignore events unfolding before them.

Some of the biggest news stories of the year could not have been reported. Pictures of Charlie Gilmour swinging from the Cenotaph would have been taken illegally, likewise pictures of Oliver Letwin disposing of government documents in a park bin. Press photographers would be as hamstrung as reporters are when they are prevented from covering stories of public interest that are subject to super-injunctions.

A good point very well made, and there's more there too about the distinction between press photographers and paparazzi. Let's hope Lord Leveson's listening...

Local paper cuts coming thick and fast

Away from the bright lights of the Leveson Inquiry, it's been a tough month for journalists working on local papers.

Last week the Chase Post, Stafford Post and Sutton News were closed. The Liverpool Daily Post has switched to weekly publication. The Darlington and South Durham Herald and Post ceased publication on Monday, while the Bridgwater and Burnham Times in Somerset closed yesterday.

Now FleetStreetBlues understands staff at another Somerset title were told yesterday their paper will be closed at the end of December, and that as well as staff on that paper being made redundant there will also be associated job losses at a subbing hub. Happy Christmas folks...

'Rusbridger needs to roll his neck in. Frankly, we all do'

Yesterday's letter to Lord Leveson attracted a strong response from readers - though not, as yet, the man himself. But the one that stood out was a magnificently angry (and sweary) rant from one anonymous hack in the comments - so magnificently angry and sweary, in fact, that we thought it worth reproducing in full here.

You may not agree with everything he or she says, and at one point they actually tell us to fuck off, but it feels like a bit of anger from rank-and-file reporters is justified about now. Reminiscent of the late, great Playing the Game:

The trouble is, it isn't the unconscionable actions of a handful of hacks that have landed the profession in hot water - it's the campaign against the perceived Murdoch hegemony by the Graun et al. Let's not kid ourselves this was a pursuit of the truth, or some other lofty ideal. It was the recognition that there was enough room between News International's ribs to fit a fucking knitting needle.

NI haven't helped matters. Far from it. The obfuscation by James Murdoch merely lends weight to Tommy Two-Dinners' allegation that JM is the worst Mafia don in history. But in the same way that these crimes were not limited to one hack, they weren't limited to one rag either. As you correctly point out in your letter, the Guardian admits it (although you'll clearly have been disappointed if you actually read the fucking shit sheet in expectation of such clarity). Then again, the Information Commissioner's stats on abuse across Fleet Street have been in the public domain for years. Why oh why is that not widely known? Back of the class, cunt.

Guido Fawkes (of order-order.com) is right to refer to this as the circular firing squad. Some high-minded editors and BBC brass have used the idiotic actions of a few (including JM) to make a rod for News International's back and instead used it to break all of ours.

And let's not forget that print bastards can get away with editorial bias. Broadcast news cannot, yet still get lumped in with the inky-finger boys as EEEEEEVIL. FFS.

Rusbridger needs to roll his neck in. Frankly, we ALL do, for the time being at least. But let's be clear: Tommy Two-Dinners did some of the donkey work. Journalists did most. This scandal would not have been exposed BUT for the efforts of Fleets Street. And yet the profession as a whole is excoriated? Again, FFS.

Fuck them. Fuck Leveson and his sotto voce 'take as much time as you need' bollocks to folks who've now been given as much media advice as any FTSE 100 CEO, yet who himself turns up in court and admits to not reading the papers that day. Fuck the pseudo-leftie hacks and politicians and done-over slebs for whom this is nothing other than payback time for Murdoch. Fuck the under-30 keyboard warriors who never even buy a fucking newspaper yet feel entitled, simply because of their ability to two-finger type to cast aspersions on an industry whose actions have ultimately protected their right to write such unadulterated shit. Fuck the cunts who attack the Sun, the Mail, the tabs in general - yet fail to acknowledge they exist because people buy them, and that amongst that cadre are the people they're constantly defending against cuts to benefits, wages, nursery places, employment opportunities.

Most of all, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, fuck YOU for opening your letter in forelock-tugging, hand-wringing terms. This is the time we need to remind everyone that what we do we do not for money. Not for prestige. Occasionally for fiddled expenses. But always, ALWAYS (at least for the vast fucking majority of us) because it needs to be done and is the right thing to do. Hold the fuckers to account.

And maybe, just maybe, have a good time whilst doing so.

News Editor - Lincolnshire Free Press

Johnston Press titles the Lincolnshire Free Press and Spalding Guardian are recruiting a news editor.

You'll undoubtedly need experience, but above all you'll need to be a jack-of-all-trades - as well as leading a team of six reporters, you'll be writing stories yourself, pushing stories on social media and we're told production experience would also be an 'advantage'.

Apply with CV and covering letter to jeremy.ransome@jpress.co.uk. Deadline tomorrow, Friday 25 November.

'I couldn't make love to Gerry'

As predicted, the McCanns' evidence to the Leveson inquiry was compelling. But while as always they seem to cut desperately sympathetic figures, when it comes to the demonisation of News International, something doesn't quite add up.

The Guardian reports:

Kate McCann told a hushed courtroom at the Royal Courts of Justice in London how she felt "totally violated" after the publication by the News of the World of her personal diaries in which she recorded her thoughts about her missing daughter.

She said the now defunct newspaper had showed "absolutely no respect for me as a grieving mother" when it ran the story in September 2008 under the headline Kate's Diary: In Her Own Words. "I'd written these words, my thoughts, at the most desperate time of my life," she said.

Absolutely fair, as far as the diaries are concerned, but it's worth noting that by May this year, Kate McCann had appeared to forgive News International for the intrusion. Forgiven them, in fact, to the extent she was prepared to let the Sun serialise revelations about her sex life.

The splash - one of several that week - began:

After Madeleine was taken from us, my sexual desire plummeted to zero.

Our sex life is not something I would normally be inclined to share and yet it is such an integral part of most marriages that it doesn't feel right not to acknowledge this.

The article which follows, as with the rest of the serialisation, is cringingly personal, was published just six months ago and was written entirely voluntarily. As it contemplates another round of devastating headlines tomorrow, News International might once again feel a little hard done by.

A letter to Lord Leveson

Dear Lord Justice Leveson,

A few weeks ago, a senior journalism academic suggested that FleetStreetBlues should submit written evidence to your inquiry. We thought little of the idea at the time - as lowly grunt reporters with no knowledge of phone hacking, what did we really have to add? But the profoundly depressing spectacle of the past few days, and the promise of weeks more to come, has prompted us to write this anyway. Make of it what you will.

First, an acknowledgement, and an apology. Like most journalists, we've never hacked a phone in our lives, or knowingly crossed the line in any other way - but others in our trade self-evidently have. 

There have been so many phone hacking accusations flying around in recent months, few of which have been proven in court and some of which are inaccurate, that it's hard to list definitively journalism's misdemeanors. But on Monday, the testimony of Bob and Sally Dowler was heart-rending, and the case of Alan Watson, the 15-year-old Scottish boy who killed himself after reading derogatory articles about his dead sister, is equally horrific. Later today, Gerry McCann will take the stand, and in due course Christopher Jefferies will follow, and their evidence is likely to be pretty damning. Such stories shame us all.

That said, your job is not only to highlight the worst instances of media intrusion but to quantify it, and put it in perspective. Journalists are by nature intrusive - we get paid to ask the questions people don't want to answer. Most of us know where the line is most of the time, but it's a fine one, and not easily defined in law. 

Hacking the phone of a murder victim is against the law, sure - but so is hacking the phone of a 'corrupt arms executive', as David Leigh, investigations editor of the Guardian, claimed to have done. Likewise, in the case of Alan Watson and his murdered sister, journalists broke no laws - it isn't possible to defame the dead.

As a lawyer and a judge, your instinct may be to say that it should be - but tread carefully. The breaches you are investigating were committed by a very small minority of journalists, generally, although not exclusively, covering a pretty limited patch. New laws you recommend will apply to every journalist, on every publication and most likely in every medium, writing about everything from farming to finance.

Your priority must be to look at where the balance of public interest lies. That's not the same, of course, as what the public is interested in - even if a certain actor once famously said: 'When I think about actors I know, I'd much rather hear about who they're shagging than what film they're doing next.' But it does mean acknowledging that the public extends far beyond the Guardian-reading chattering classes, and even includes the 2.6 million readers of the News of the World and two million readers of the Daily Mail. 

Above all, it means considering not just the roll-call of those queuing up to have their day in court and vent against their tabloid tormentors, but also the much wider picture.

Consider whether there's not actually too much journalistic scrutiny of the rich, powerful and famous, but too little, at every level. Locally, courts and councils go uncovered because newspapers are sacking staff. Nationally, those who can afford it turn easily to the courts to serve out all manner of injunctions. And the really powerful go about their business largely unnoticed, insulated from the press by an army of lawyers. It's no surprise your witness list is packed with past-it MPs and minor celebrities - they're the only ones we dare to take on.

Consider the role of public relations, and the extent to which celebrities willingly - even desperately - collude with and manipulate the popular press for a precious few column inches. Yesterday Steve Coogan vehemently denied that this was something he had done, but certainly it applies to others. Staged photo shoots, planted stories, astonishingly powerful PRs - if you're keen to examine 'press standards' on behalf of the reader as well as the celebrity victim, call witnesses on this as well.

And finally, consider this. When your inquiry is completed, its recommendations have been considered, and new regulations are in place or maybe new laws are enacted, what kind of press do you want to see?  You have a powerful pulpit from which you can help shape what British journalism will look like in 2012 and beyond. 

We can all agree that phone hacking has no place in journalism - but phone hacking's not the only topic in town. Earlier this year, until the Guardian so dramatically changed the media agenda, it was all about superinjunctions and Ryan Giggs. As you decide whether to recommend further regulation of the press, remember that in some areas the courts are doing a pretty good job already. It's a sobering thought to think that, if things had gone a little differently, you could be presiding over an inquiry into extending the freedom of the press rather than curtailing it.

There are many things wrong with the British press. There have been appalling abuses of power, ethical breaches and some have broken the law. In some newsrooms, there is a culture of 'the story at any cost' which needs to be tempered. There are political and popular agendas that tabloids and broadsheets alike slavishly follow and in doing so skew their news coverage. There are cash-strapped papers cutting staff left, right and centre, leaving huge gaps in areas which a democratic press needs to cover. There are too-powerful PRs, and churnalists, and 'celebrity reporters' writing nonsense. There is an obsession with minutiae and a pack mentality which means all too often important stories go unreported. There are some topics and some subjects we dare not touch at all.

There are many things wrong with the British press, Lord Leveson. Hugh Grant has little to do with any of them.

Yours respectfully,

FleetStreetBlues

He's Alan Partridge

Well, actually he's not, he's Steve Coogan. But as one superstar after another queues up at the Leveson inquiry to share their tales of tabloid pain, the Telegraph can be forgiven for getting a little confused.

Hat tip: Matt Rudge

Heinz's tomato 'looks like an alien'

Following in the fine tradition of pointless local paper stories jam-packed with food-related puns (see: 'Whitstable mum in custard shortage'), the Cambridge News last week published the following story:

'My cherry tomato looks like an alien'

Three years ago Cambridge tomato grower Heinz Zielke found a monster growing in his garden – now he’s unearthed a sinister-looking alien.

Former motor mechanic Heinz, 77, who moved to Britain from Germany in 1964, is well known for his skill in producing the red-skinned fruit.

The article adds: 'It has a swollen cranium, two eyes and a mouth.' It doesn't add: 'The tomato is the one on the right'.

Chief reporter - Petersfield Post

The Petersfield Post and Bordon Post, part of a local paper series in Hampshire based somewhere north of Portsmouth, are recruiting a new chief reporter.

You'll need to be NCE qualified, have a great set of clips and your own set of wheels. You'll also need 'significant digital experience' and must have the ability to lead a small team of reporters.

Send your CV, covering letter and examples of your recent work, particularly online, to the editor Graeme Moir at graeme.moir@thepost.co.uk. Deadline Tuesday 29 November.

Scooping yourself, buying women's clothes for Grazia and meeting the Invisible Man: Read all about it

Posting on FleetStreetBlues will be light for the next couple of days, so if you're looking for something journalism-related to read, here's what's caught our eye:

• After a hiatus which has lasted far too long, the Press Gazette's Grey Cardigan is back - and he's just endured a Hitchcockian management meeting with the Invisible Man
  
• David Hencke on a bizarre initiative by Barnet Council to force bloggers to register as 'data controllers'
  
• A few days old now, but this Independent story about BBC documentaries having 'outside sponsors' shouldn't have been drowned out by the interminable Leveson inquiry last week
  
• Can you scoop yourself? You can if you work for a newswire and break a story on Twitter, says the Associated Press
  
• And finally, Pitching the World has been doing some actual pitching, for a change - and wants to buy women's clothes for Grazia magazine...

The 55-goal misprint

It's not all apologising to asylum seekers and backtracking on Winterval - sometimes the subs just screw up. Take today's entry in the Mail on Sunday's corrections and clarifications column (hat tip: Laurie Hanna):

A lower league football result was printed as Fleet Town 11 Northwood 44. In fact the score was 1-4.

Struggling to find a journalism job? Try Scotland...

It's been looking a little thin on the journalism jobs front lately. Gorkana is currently advertising 124 vacancies in London, which is about 30% down on normal, while there's currently only a smattering of positions on HoldTheFrontPage.

So it's a good time to point out jobs in places that you might not normally look, and our man in Scotland has been in touch with a handful of positions north of the border - jobs which don't normally pop up on the normal English sites.

• Up in the islands, a trainee reporter position at the Stornoway Gazette position has been re-advertised. Salary £14,000 pa.
  
• The Greenock Telegraph has a position for an experienced sub editor with knowledge of InDesign. Greenock is on the west coast, south of Glasgow, and 'probably commutable' we're told.
  
• The Oban Times and West Highland Times are recruiting a reporter with a journalism qualification, shorthand and full driving licence. Oban is a 'really, really nice place by the sea' and perfect for someone who likes the outdoorsy lifestyle.
  
• And finally the Argyllshire Advertiser is taking on a junior reporter - again you'll need a journalism qualification, shorthand and full driving licence.

'What I write will never make you happy'

'Always be nice to the readers, they're the ones who pay your wages.' 

That's what FleetStreetBlues was always taught back in the day - but it's clearly not a belief shared by Observer food critic Jay Rayner.

Popbitch reports that his piece last Sunday deriding slow eaters drew a particularly cranky email on Wednesday from an elderly 80-something reader who is himself a slow eater, which concluded with the suggestion that if Jay has to 'write crap about something', he should 'write about something worthwhile'.

Hardly fan mail, but it's not unusual for a columnist on a national to get their fair share of criticism. So how did Jay respond?

Have you always been this pompous, patronising, joyless and tiresome or did it just come with time? And dont try claiming it’s a function of old age. My mother dealt with about as many calamities as the passing of the years could throw at her and it would never have ocurred to her to throw out such a self-pitying piece of cobblers. She had no time for it and neither do it. For what it’s worth that one column amounts to less than 1% of my yearly output. I write about food poverty, modern agriculture, the food supply system and a lot of fun stuff too. But you wouldn’t know about that because you never read me. And can I suggest we keep it that way. What i write will never make you happy.

Take that, octogenarian slow-eater. At least he didn't demand a 'letter of fucking apology'.

Christmas is cancelled

With Christmas party season fast approaching, FleetStreetBlues has heard a few tales of cash-strapped newsroom woe already - and not just at the Guardian. But our local paper source tells us that Christmas spirit is in particularly short supply at Archant.

With staff morale already low, following an editorial hiring freeze, journalists on the group's London titles were looking forward to their Christmas party, and their hopes were raised by a group-wide email from the editorial director on Tuesday.

With the Christmas party season fast approaching...

At last, the invite they'd been waiting for. Where would it.. oh, wait a minute.

With the Christmas party season fast approaching, I thought it timely to remind you all of the Archant Policy on Drink and Drugs – with particular emphasis on alcohol consumption and work. See attached policy and link to Connect.

If you have any questions, or require clarification please contact myself or one of the HR team

http://connect.archant.co.uk/news/Pages/Drugs-and-alcohol-policy-updated.aspx 

Regards

As our insider puts it: 'A bit of a Grinch at the best of times, the editorial director and Archant bigwigs seem to have forgotten to organise said party.' Bah humbug.

Quote of the Day: 16 November 2011

The brilliant Fleet Street Fox, arguing in defence of tabloid journalists yet again, and in particular praising the Daily Mail for this memorable front page on the Stephen Lawrence case back in 1997:

No-one speaks in praise of us, but then no-one ever does. It doesn't matter much, because a good tabloid doesn't need friends. It has readers instead.

Live blogger - Guardian America

If there's three key ambitions that most young wannabe journalists out there have in common, it's these: they want to work in online multimeeja journalism and get involved with live-blogging and such like, they'd like to work in America and they really, really want to work for the Guardian. This job lets them do all three at once.

The official job title is 'live blogger', and you'll be based in New York working for the Guardian's new US front page, www.guardiannews.com.

You'll need 'extensive experience' reporting for a 'major news website', great writing skills and news judgement and of course experience of actually covering stuff using a live blog. There's also one giant catch though, not explicitly stated in the ad, which will crush the dreams of most of those reading this: you need to be a US citizen or already have a US work permit.

If you are eligible and interested, apply via the Guardian website here. Deadline Wednesday 30 November.

What causes cancer? At last, the definitive guide from the Daily Mail

Science and health reporting, in the nationals at least, is often a frustratingly imperfect art, with apparently contradictory headlines appearing in short succession. You should drink red wine - no, you shouldn't. Don't take too much calcium - no, make sure you have enough. Vegetables good, potatoes bad, red meat good.... you get the picture.

While some of this is down to the difficulties of condensing complex, nuanced academic research into a five-word headline, it's also down to the pressure for a good story, and in this respect the Daily Mail comes in for more criticism than most. There's even a great website - Kill or cure? - which through an archive of past stories promises to 'make sense of the Daily Mail's ongoing effort to classify every inanimate object into those that cause cancer and those that prevent it'. (Sneak preview - peanuts and poverty bad, pumpkins and pets good, on pizza and pregnancy the jury's out).

Now at last, it appears, the Daily Mail is willing to acknowledge this ambivalence - and the sometimes contradictory messages both its reporters and the studies they cover give out to readers (hat tip for the picture: Kevin Arscott).

A great feature for readers, obviously. But a handy cut-out-and-keep guide for its health desk as well.

News Editor - Press Association

The Press Association is recruiting a news editor.

You'll be playing a central role in helping to run the PA newsdesk - writing, editing, prioritising coverage and ensuring gaps in news output are filled. You'll need good news sense, solid editing experience and the need to work well 'under pressure' is twice in the same sentence, so it's guaranteed you'll be working to some pretty tight deadlines.

Apply with CV and covering letter to Teilo Colley at teilo.colley@pressassociation.com. Deadline this Sunday 20 November.

'Freddie Starr Ate My Camel'

As a fresh round of News International-bashing gets underway, and with further developments no doubt still to come, it's worth taking time out to celebrate the Sun doing what the Sun does best. Today's effort see the paper on top puntastic form, with its tribute to possibly its greatest-ever headline rivalling other notable efforts such as 'It's Paddy Pantsdown' and 'I'm Only Here For De Beers'.

(And if you're an aficionado, you might want to check out the somewhat specialist blog Sun Headlines, which does exactly what it says on the tin.)

It ABTA happen to someone...

It's really too late in the year to be making this kind of mistake - we're nearly in 2012, after all - but we're reliably informed that this month's copy of ABTA Magazine looks a little something like this...

Hat tip: Charlotte Jones

Tripadvisor comes to journalism: the new site which allows you to rate your reporter

Ever since journalism first went online, there's been a tiresome, yawn-inducing amount of waffle about how it's a paradigm shift in media power, the end of the 'Dead Tree Press' and how we're all citizen journalists now. For the most part, we're still waiting on the revolution.

But new American website News Transparency (flagged up to us by reader Melanie Hall) does appear to do something genuinely new, even if it doesn't necessarily do it very well.

News Transparency helps you find out more about the people who produce the news and allows you to hold them accountable, the same way that journalists hold other powerful institutions accountable, by posting reviews and sharing information.

Creating a third party database of journalists is not an entirely new idea, of course - Journalisted does it pretty well here in the UK - but enabling the rating and reviewing journalists definitely is. You can already do it with teachers, doctors and hotels - now if you've got an axe to grind about a particular reporter or columnist, News Transparency asks you to log on, sign in and vent in public.

Quite whether it will take off, or take off this side of the Atlantic, remains to be seen. From a quick scout around the site it seems pretty incomplete, and with a heavy American bias, although Paul Dacre and Johann Hari, for instance, do have a partial profiles. Actual reviews, as opposed to links to critical articles, appear to be thin on the ground.

But still, as a concept, it's not an entirely reassuring one. The founder of the site, Ira Stoll, may have pedigree as a former Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and Jerusalem Post journalist, but the general thrust seems resolutely anti-journalist, and we strongly suspect that once it gets going the negative comments will overwhelmingly outnumber the positive. Let's just hope he remembers his libel law...

Writer/Editor - The Week

Here's an interesting one from the world of magazines: The Week - which rounds up coverage in the British and international media every, er, seven days - is hiring a senior writer/editor.

It's initially a six-month maternity-cover position, but is one with 'the potential to become permanent', and they're looking for someone to start early in the New Year. Other details about what the job will actually involve or what they're looking for are sketchy, although they do ask for 'strong relevant experience' and we're told you'll be working 'across all sections of the magazine'.

Apply with CV and covering letter to jame_white@dennis.co.uk. Deadline Thursday 15 December - but if they want someone in place in early January, you'd be advised to move sooner than that.

The hand of God?

Sports photography is an art in itself, and FleetStreetBlues has always been in awe of snappers' ability to capture the perfect shot to sum up an entire match. But sometimes the Photoshop gremlins intervene, and pictures don't end up on the page exactly as they were intended.

Take the Sun Sport cover from earlier this week, with a report into Tottenham's 3-1 victory over Fulham, which keen-eyed FleetStreetBlues reader Sam Brodbeck noticed looked a little askew.

Let's take a closer look.

It's hard to tell - but we're pretty sure the disembodied goalie glove floating somewhere above Gareth Bale's right ear wasn't meant to be there.

Michael O'Leary, PR genius

Ever since Nick Davies wrote Flat Earth News, there's been an awful lot written about the evils of 'churnalism' - but there's a special kind of hell reserved for stories like the Ryanair-to-screen-in-flight-porn effort which did the rounds yesterday.

We all know how it works. Company has a product to plug. PR comes up with a far-fetched headline-grabbing stunt which will obviously never happen. Journalist gets easy copy, reader gets a fun story to chew over, company gets the coverage. And none of it is actually true.

Of course, we might be mistaken. Catch a £9.99 red-eye to Tallinn this time next year and they might be watching Debbie Does Dallas in aisle 4. But somehow we suspect in-flight porn will go the way of the toilet tax and standing room tickets, As long as they keep dreaming up hare-brained schemes, we'll keep writing about them...

Web editor - Stylist

Stylist magazine - sister publication of Shortlist - is recruiting a website editor.

They're looking for someone with experience, who's already a website editor or deputy website editor on an established site, and you'll need to know your social media from your SEO. A 'love of Stylist and all things digital' is also essential.

Apply with - deep breath - CV, covering letter, a critique of the site, five content ideas for the current site, five content ideas/areas would would suggest could benefit the site and five traffic-driving strategies, to the editor Lisa Smosarski, by post only at:

Stylist Magazine
Shortlist Media
26-34 Emerald Street
London WC1N 3QA

Deadline Friday 18 November.

Shop a dog - and win a mug

This actually dates back to late September, but a reader alerts us to a local newspaper campaign which has whipped up a fair bit of controversy in recent weeks - the News Shopper's 'Shop a Dog' campaign.

Launched alongside what we're sure you'll agree was an understated campaign logo, the campaign was inspired by some harrowing stories of members of the public who had been mauled by dangerous dogs.

SHOP A DOG is News Shopper's new campaign to bring justice to the victims of dog attacks and help prevent further maulings across south-east London and north Kent.

According to NHS statistics, at least 163 people have been injured by dogs in the News Shopper area in the last two years, leaving some victims with horrific wounds while many irresponsible dog owners have got off scott free.

The campaign's demands were far-reaching, to say the least, asking for increases in prison sentences for owners of banned or dangerous dogs, but also demanding all Staffordshire Bull Terriers be forced to wear a muzzle in public. And there was an incentive, too:

You can win yourself a free News Shopper mug by sending in a photo of a banned dog. All you need to do is email the image to newsroom@london.newsquest.co.uk with your name, address, phone number and exact details of where you took the photo.

So, how did the campaign go down? Well, 243 people commented on the article announcing the campaign's launch - but most of them were outraged Staffordshire Bull Terrier owners accusing the News Shopper of 'doggie racism'. Elsewhere, dog owners were mobilised, and it even drew an official condemnation from the Battersea Dogs Home. Our correspondent, too, was none too impressed:

This seemingly random promotion - which is targeted at the Staffordshire Bull Terrier- is backed by some sketchy facts such as: 'In past two years 163 people have been injured by dogs in the News Shopper area'. However, only FIVE in the last THREE years were caused by Staffordshire Bull Terriers. It is unbalanced reporting at it's best and it makes me wonder whether one of their news staff has been bitten by a staff...

In the face of such dog-owning militancy, quite what became of the 'Shop a Dog' campaign we're not sure, although we suspect that somewhere in the News Shopper newsroom is a pile of neglected mugs. But we did notice the paper's website published an opinion piece from its 'Young Reporter Awards' yesterday, arguing 'It's a wuff life for Staffies'.

Staffies suffer a damaged reputation due to some people’s misconception of their behaviour and character. They are sometimes known as “devil dogs” in some quarters and assumptions are made that they are aggressive and unsafe due to their unjust reputation. However, Staffies have also been renowned for their reliability and patience with small children, awarding them the title of the “nanny dog.” In fact the Staffie ranked high in being the best, loyal family pet with their loving and devoted nature.

The moral of the story? Take on pet owners at your peril. Time to mend some fences...

'I'm just trying to make a wage here': Meet the man with the Midas touch

We've written a few times now about Stuart Hughes, the man behind the regular stories which hit the national press about unlikely-sounding luxury products supposedly coated in gold, diamonds and dinosaur-bones.

The £3 billion superyacht we know for a fact didn't exist - as far as the $12.2 billion house and the £5 million iPad 2 are concerned, let's just say the burden of proof should surely be on him.

On Wednesday we suggested any investigative journalists reading might like to make a few calls - and now Yahoo! editor and blogger Brian Whelan, the guy who first revealed the Johann Hari affair, has an exclusive interview with the man with the Midas touch, and has given him the full tabloid treatment.

I can now reveal that the supposed international gold and diamond dealer Stuart Hughes is a father of two who lives alone in a modest apartment in Merseyside, Liverpool and regularly moans about the state of his finances.

Last night when confronted with information I had gathered about the real state of his finances Stuart confessed that he had made up the stories about selling the world’s most expensive house and yacht.

However, he insists the gold iPad with T-rex bones is real and is being kept somewhere in Russia so is unable to show it to me...

... Asked why he would bother to place such obviously fake stories in the press he claimed “I’m just trying to make a wage here” – although he failed to explain what part of his business he was making money from.

It's compelling stuff - worth reading in full, and if anyone fancies picking it up, then Brian has the tapes to back it up - but for FleetStreetBlues the story's never really been about Stuart Hughes, it's been about the extraordinary amount of coverage he's been able to generate with some pretty thin material.

Some 70-odd news outlets covered the £5 million iPad 2 story this week, and Mr Hughes was pretty upfront about the reasons why.

'It's just a wow factor, they don’t believe it but guess what – it sells their…I get personally on average about 20-25 requests from all the glossy magazines. It sells their gear, that’s what it does.'

There's every right to be sceptical about some of Mr Hughes' claims, of course. But that sounds depressingly close to the truth.

Cannes? CNN can't...

As the battle to save the eurozone is played out, the G20 summit in Cannes this week has seen intense coverage from the world's media. Those of them who found it, anyway...

Hat tip: Patrick Hennessy

And the winner is...

So you're a local news anchor cheerfully doing a draw for a lottery draw for a pretty decent prize - $2m or a house - live on air. And then this happens...



Hat tip: Alex Ogle

The dinosaur bones are back

Any frustrated investigative journalists out there working on a computer or tech magazine?

We only ask because of the story which appeared on the MailOnline website and elsewhere yesterday, about a £5 million iPad 2, so priced because it is encrusted in 12.5-carat diamonds, 24-carat gold - and 57g of fossilised Tyrannasaurus-Rex thigh bone.

If the dinosaur bone bit sounds a little familiar, then it might be because the same Liverpool-based company, Stuart Hughes, issued a press release back in July trumpeting the building of the world's most expensive yacht - a 100ft, Italian-built Baia 100 customised with 100 metric tons of solid gold platinum.

The yacht, we were told, had been sold to an undisclosed buyer - just as one of the 'limited edition of two' iPad 2s has been sold to an undisclosed buyer - and the nationals lapped it up, with pun-filled picture-led stories in the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Metro and elsewhere. The only problem was it didn't exist.

It turned out back then that the alleged makers of the yacht, Baia Yachts, not only hadn't built the yacht, but they recognised the pictures splashed across the nationals from their own website, but heavily photoshopped. The lie was nailed by some dogged reporting by Motor Boat & Yachting magazine, who eventually published the following story: £3 billion golden superyacht story confirmed as a fake.

Stuart Hughes's company press releases a whole range of luxury products, gathering an astonishing amount of media coverage in the process, and it's not the only time questions have been raised. The company Computer Choppers complained about the 'Supreme Ice Macbook Air', while the Sydney Morning Herald queried a story about what is allegedly the world's most expensive house, featuring - you guessed it - lots of gold and dinosaur bone, and costing a cool $12.2 billion.

While the yacht story definitely wasn't true, FleetStreetBlues has no reason to doubt the existence of the £5 million iPad 2. After all, Stuart Hughes must sell some products - and with the questions over the past press releases, we're absolutely certain that the Mail and the host of other publications who've already covered the story did due diligence, picked up the phone and made sure the story stood up. Absolutely certain.

Still, over to you, IT hacks. Might be worth a call.

Wanted: a BBC cat

Much excitement in Broadcasting House this afternoon as BBC journalists preparing to go on air were rudely interrupted by a mouse running around causing mischief.

I am trying not to behave like the lady on the stool in Tom and Jerry cartoons.Tue Nov 01 12:21:54 via webMartha Kearney
Marthakearney

World At One editor Nick Sutton - the best person to follow on Twitter to see the papers' front pages as they come out - was as usual first with the pictures:

Rodent infestations are far from uncommon in newsrooms of course, but it seems to be a particular problem at the BBC. Over in Bush House, they even have their own Twitter account.

Editor - Credit Today

If you're a financial journalist looking for a decently paid role heading up a small monthly magazine, Credit Today is recruiting a new editor.

You'll be managing two full-time staff members across both print and online, and as well as the actual editing and proofing, there's a significant strategic and publicity role - doing product development work, hosting events, chairing advisory panels and such like. You'll need to be able to establish yourself as a 'figurehead in the industry' quickly. Salary is £40,000 depending on experience.

Apply with CV and covering letter to the current editor, Heather Greig-Smith, at heather@credittoday.co.uk. Deadline Sunday 13 November.

That was the month that was: October 2011

October saw a steady rise in traffic for FleetStreetBlues, mainly down to one post which somehow ended up on page three of the Evening Standard. Be careful what you tweet about your editor...

Top ten stories of the month, then, went as follows:

1. 'My editor's a c**t': the reality of open newsrooms

2. The new Max Gogarty 'drops a truth bomb IN YOUR FACE'

3. At last, man bites dog

4. Foxy Knoxy photo leads every front page

5. How (not) to handle an online backlash

6. Commercial clowns

7. Shop your stupid sales team

8. How to win a Pulitzer, Daily Express-style

9. Why most journalism job applications are 'disappointingly poor' - and how to ensure yours isn't

10. Comedy headline-about-a-terrorist-attack of the day

We're coming up to 4,000 followers on Twitter and 800 on Facebook, and best of all got a lovely and completely unsolicited piece of fan mail last month, for which we're very grateful. Please keep the tips, submissions and criticisms coming to fleetstreetblues@hotmail.co.uk. Thankyou for reading.