tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249083102011-04-21T21:29:17.934+01:00Writes & WrongsJournalism: Best job in the worldWrites & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1165001928861394282006-12-01T19:35:00.000Z2006-12-01T19:38:48.893ZSO FAREWELL THEN TO THE PRESS GAZETTESneaking a look at the editor’s Press Gazette (then UKPG) was one of the first of many newsroom dark arts learned at the knee of old hands who should have known better.Now it is no more – maybe not for long according to latest reports – but we’re pleased to publish this ode from PT Stodd, not to be confused with EJ Thribb, on its passing.So farewell then to Alan Geerenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1163790661253274092006-11-17T19:02:00.000Z2006-11-17T19:14:12.096ZDON'T MAKE A MOCKERY OF A BIT OF FUN As the proud owner of a number of mock-up leaving pages – including, ironically, one from the South China Morning Post – I read this story, Subs sacked over leaving page, in the MediaGuardian with both horror and fascination.Maybe to have c**t not once, but twice, on the page wasn’t the brightest idea the two subs ever had but for the editor-in-chief to not Alan Geerenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1157151594057004912006-09-01T23:58:00.000+01:002006-09-01T23:59:54.056+01:00FOLLOW-UP TO PREVIOUS POSTThe question of low salaries in newspaper journalism was raised in Press Gazette's Grey Cardigan column on 24 August. If you didn't see it, click here.Brendan MartinWrites & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1153828827007740152006-07-25T12:54:00.000+01:002006-07-25T13:00:47.410+01:00WOULD YOU LET YOUR DAUGHTER BE A JOURNALIST?Media commentator Kim Fletcher, (Media Guardian, July 24,) is guilty of the same arrogant mistake that many of his ilk make: believing there is no other type of journalism apart from newspapers. There are also online publications (something newspapers have yet to do properly), broadcasting and magazines. The latter offer wannabe journalists the best Writes & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1149764813128305012006-06-08T12:05:00.000+01:002006-06-08T12:06:53.136+01:00FOR WHOM THE BELLS TOLLS...AND OTHER GOOD SOUNDBITESWriting a piece to mark Sir Paul McCartney finally reaching the age he immortalised in song...64, I recalled an interview I did with the ex-Beatle some years ago. It was in his office in London's Soho Square and we were discussing his vast back catalogue of songs from his days with Wings and as a solo artists.At one point, I asked the man who Writes & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1149256257502433862006-06-02T14:46:00.000+01:002006-06-03T12:39:50.383+01:00SLOW MOVERS AND FAST WORKERS IN VIETNAM And so to Vietnam where I learn that dairy farmers worried about foot and mouth disease are turning to tortoise production (yes, for food) and am relieved that they know at least one more Englishman apart from Prince Charles and David Beckham.Whether Gary Glitter is someone we’d all like as a symbol of Britishness in this far-flung country is another Alan Geerenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1147123235001938022006-05-08T21:56:00.000+01:002006-05-25T09:37:49.460+01:00WHAT YOU'RE NOT TOLD ABOUT BREAKING INTO JOURNALISMI spent some time today reading the forums on a website called News Monkey. It appears to be a site aimed a journalists in local and regional newspapers. What came across to me was the lack of information offered to people when they decide they want to become a journalist.Many go into local newspapers because a careers officer at university has Writes & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1146353308375794352006-04-30T00:24:00.000+01:002006-04-30T00:36:59.916+01:00DID SHE MEAN TO SAY THAT?Every so often, someone utters a sentence that becomes one of the those quotes that make you smile. In today's Mail on Sunday, John Prescott's sister said: "He should have kept his trousers up and that's the bottom line."Well, it made me laugh anyway. - Brendan MartinWrites & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1145458349424610772006-04-19T15:49:00.000+01:002006-04-20T14:35:32.710+01:00TOM CRUISE IN HISTORICAL MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHWalking around London today, I was struck by the headline on the Evening Standard billboards: "Tom Cruise has baby girl". His girlfriend Katie Holmes having a baby has a news value but nothing in comparision to the news of the great medical breakthrough of Tom Cruise himself giving birth! Is no mission impossible to that man? - Brendan MartinWrites & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1145023257497154812006-04-14T13:38:00.000+01:002006-04-19T15:55:14.930+01:00TRAIN TO BE A JOURNALIST IN 10 WEEKSWhat do editors look for in a journalist?Someone with the skills to to do the jobWhat are those skills?* News-reporting* Feature writing* Sub-editing* Page layout using Quark XPress or Adobe InDesign* Proof-reading* Knowledge of media law* ShorthandWhere can I get those skills?The award-winning Journalism Training Centre's 10-week Diploma in Magazine JournalismWrites & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1145017229529950952006-04-14T12:49:00.000+01:002006-04-14T13:23:50.716+01:00PUBLISHERS TO FIGHT INTERNET COPYRIGHT ABUSEThe Press Gazette of today's date reports that British magazine publishers are joining forces to tackle the growing problem of copyright theft. (PG uses the word "abuse" but using someone's else copyright material without permission is theft.) The problem arises because a growing number of news services and RSS feeds simply take copy from publishers' Writes & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1144607873800253552006-04-09T19:34:00.000+01:002006-04-09T22:31:06.096+01:00ARE YOU SITTING CONTENTEDLY?And so to one of those navel-gazing conferences that is going to tell us all where the media is heading.I signed up to understand the ‘commercial impact of blogging’ and learned all about ‘platform promiscuous consumers’. I found out how ‘mobile technologies are changing social relations’ and hoped to find ‘new ways to connect with consumers in a collaborative world’.Writes & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1144277987565689302006-04-05T23:57:00.000+01:002006-04-06T00:12:29.146+01:00GENE PITNEYThe death at 65 of Gene Pitney brought to mind an interview I did with him many years ago. His name and number are those of the latest in a long line of dead stars that grace my contacts book - that essential tool of all journalists.When I spoke with Pitney in Dublin on one of his Irish tours, he struck me as a friendly man but with a reserve designed to keep you from getting too closeWrites & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1143738411921177642006-03-30T17:58:00.000+01:002006-04-02T22:40:20.913+01:00WHY THE SPORTSMAN COULD BE LEFT AT THE STARTThe Sportsman is now a week old and still bullish about the prospects of pulling in enough ‘sports’ fans (aka gamblers, punters, betters, losers) to trouble the Racing Post and establish a foothold in the daily newspaper market.Media pundits have given The Sportsman a generous sporting chance but fail to identify where enough regular readers are going Alan Geerenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1143639527112124482006-03-29T14:33:00.000+01:002006-04-06T00:22:39.153+01:00STUBBING OUT CIGGIES IN PHOTOGRAPHSThe Beatles seem to feature a great deal in Writes & Wrongs at the moment. Today's story caught our collective eye here at the Journalism Training Centre (JTC) as it concerns a practice close to our hearts: photo manipulation.For years magazines and newspapers have been manipulating images with great abandon. Never more so than in the past 16 or so years thanks Writes & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1143584248517446512006-03-28T22:39:00.001+01:002006-03-28T23:52:45.366+01:00APPLE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DISPUTE REIGNITESOnce again The Beatles' company Apple Corps is taking Apple Computer to court over the use of what the musicians regard as their trademark.In 1968 when The Beatles formed Apple, the personal computer was just a dream in some computers geek's pre-pubescent dreams. The trademark chosen by the fab four was a plain picture of an apple (see left). The Writes & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24908310.post-1143575196891132242006-03-28T20:37:00.000+01:002006-03-29T00:54:26.703+01:00BLIND JUSTICEThe scales of justice may be blind but to my mind they are deaf as well. Forced to take a fellow journalist to court for money owed, I had hoped a judge would be dispense justice with an even hand. I was prepared to lose and accept the court's judgement. But I hadn't reckoned on the judge hearing the case without listening.You would think we lost from the way I am talking. But we Writes & Wrongshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01352001243071780347noreply@blogger.com0