So, you want to be a journalist?

It’s been more than a decade since I trained to become a journalist so I’ve no doubt that things have moved along somewhat. However, the basic principles remain the same. So, if you’re looking for a job in journalism, here are my tips.

Get some experience
How do you know you want to be a journalist unless you’ve actually tried it? I know of many folk who’ve pulled up a chair at the newsdesk only to find it’s not for them a few months later. Go and spend a week on the local newspaper, radio station, a magazine or if you’re lucky enough, somewhere like the BBC. Try it out, ask loads of questions and then you’ll be better placed to say “Yes, this is the job for me” or “Actually, I’m not cut out for this”.

Be prepared to start at the bottom
It’s very unusual for a fresh-faced 18-year-old to step out of college and into a job writing music reviews for NME, football reports for the Daily Mirror or a regular column in The Independent. It’s more likely that you’ll have to start as a junior reporter on your local weekly newspaper but that’s no bad thing. Starting at the bottom gives you a good grounding of the basics of journalism and it won’t be too long before you can climb the ladder to the nationals or multi-media organisations. Those in senior positions who haven’t once been the office junior tend to be lacking something, in my opinion. Making a good cup of tea also helps.

Learn shorthand
My former editor wouldn’t employ anyone who didn’t have shorthand, preferably 100 words per minute. If you don’t know what this is, it’s a load of squiggly symbols which represent letters and words and makes writing down an interview with someone a whole lot easier. Why not record it I hear you ask? In this day and age there are plenty of dictaphones and voice recorders available but what if the battery is dead? What if you forget to press record? What happens if that two-hour exclusive interview you did hasn’t recorded? You’re f**ked, basically. Even if you do record the interview, take notes as well – detailed ones, if possible – and shorthand is the only way to do this. It’s invaluable and after a period of seeing roads signs in shorthand and dreaming in shorthand you’ll soon find that writing your shopping list becomes a whole lot quicker. Shorthand isn’t so common these days but it’s a useful skill to have.

Don’t take it for granted
Journalism is a competitive profession so if you’re lucky enough to be given a job, hang on to it. And this means working hard! I’ve trained reporters who think it’s perfectly acceptable to re-nose the intro on a press release and repeat all day long. Well, it isn’t. One reporter wrote me an intro which I didn’t understand so I queried it. She replied with, “Er, I don’t know actually, that’s what the press release said.” “Er, well, don’t you think it’s your job to translate the press release and write it in such a way that our readers will understand it? If you don’t understand what you’ve written, how is anyone else going to?” The penny had dropped. There’s no place for laziness in journalism.

Do your research
When you’re being interviewed it’s always useful to have a vague idea of what you’re talking about. So do your research! I used to get so many letters from work experience potentials addressed to Mr Slingsby. I am not a Mr, I’m a Miss and to confuse someone’s gender, or spell their name wrong, is not a good start. Also, if you’re being interviewed for a job, make sure you know about the company, the industry, the circulation, the area. It all helps. No one’s expecting you to have the answers to all questions but a little knowledge goes a long way. I once interviewed someone for a trainee reporter role who went silent when asked “what is news?” and someone who didn’t know the difference between a tabloid and broadsheet newspaper. These aren’t encouraging signs.

Qualifications mean jack shit
Okay, that’s not strictly true, they’re an added bonus. But I’d be more interested in seeing a portfolio of your work than a crib sheet listing your qualifications. An A Level in media relations is great but it by no means implies that you can be a journalist. Once again, get some work experience, submit articles and feature ideas, start a blog. Get writing!

Print is dead, get online
This isn’t strictly true either, but print is certainly not the popular news medium it once was. So, in order to give yourself the best possible chance, show how versatile a journalist you can be by getting some experience in online and social media. Set up a Twitter account, start writing a blog, read other people’s blogs, publish photos in Flickr, have a go at making a podcast or doing a video interview. It all helps. Even if writing is your passion, there’s a fair chance you’ll be doing it online at some point, so to have knowledge of what else is out there can only be a good thing.

If you don’t know, ask
No one likes to admit that they don’t know what they’re doing but when we start out in a new job that’s quite often going to be the case. But, instead of plodding on with little idea what you’re supposed to produce, ask the question. Bosses don’t like being interrupted constantly when they’re busy, this is true, but I guarantee they’d rather you ask when you’re not sure about something than go full steam ahead and get it wrong. Because you’ll only have to do it again. Never assume and don’t be afraid to ask for advice.

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know
Making contacts is invaluable and get sometimes get you a foot in the door. Get yourself known and doors will open.

Call yourself a writer?

Inspired by this blog post, here’s a few ramblings about writing…

Which words do you use too much in your writing?

Cripes, I have no idea. I guess my biggest fault is that I find it hard to write formal stuff these days. Thanks to the introduction of blogging and the old citizen journalism I find it much easier to inject my own personality into my writing. Serious interviews don’t interest me that much these days and I find it hard to not to be a bit of a joker when I write. I do abbreviate words quite a lot, like kinda and gonna, and I guess this may be a tad irritating. What am I trying to be, like a 14-year-old? Like totally? For real? Whatever!

Which words do you consider overused in stuff you read?

I don’t think it’s which words, it’s how many words. There’s a lot of over-writing out there and a lot of folk think good writing is flowery, wordy and intense. It isn’t. Good writing, for me anyway, gets to the point using as few words as possible and is written in a way which engages the reader and makes them visualise what they’re reading about. Why say dwelling when you mean house, facility when you mean toilet or receptacle when you mean a glass? Keep it simple and your writing will be accessible to everyone.

What’s your favourite piece of writing by you?

I’m way too over critical to be able to name one. I much prefer reading my stuff after a few years have passed, when it’s a totally fresh read because I’ve forgotten all about it. Re-reading this blog post, for example, and I’ll think it’s pants. As a writer I’m not sure you can ever be 100 per cent happy with what you’ve written, I guess it’s how others perceive it. A few months ago I took a trip back to the Newport Advertiser, where I was chief reporter aged 20, and I skimmed some of the back editions which was great fun and reminded me that hey, perhaps I could write after all. It wasn’t bad stuff, even if I do say so myself. Worst case scenario, I guess some of my published work would make very good bog roll (apart from the online stuff, of course).

Regrets, do you have any? Is there anything you wish you hadn’t written?

It’s better to regret something you have done, rather than something you haven’t – I live and I’ll die by that statement. As for writing, I probably wish I hadn’t written the headline “Man found hanged” on a story about a man who actually gassed himself in his garage – he didn’t hang himself at all.  I don’t know what I was thinking but I read the reporter’s story, picked up on the suicide and out came that headline, which fit perfectly into whatever column inches I’d left for it. It was a front page story and, amazingly, no one picked up on it. Not the reporters who proofed the page, not my editor, not the printers, and not one of the paper’s 30,000 readers. Amazing! I was somewhat let off the hook by the fact that in that same week my editor wrote the headline “Grass cunting” when she should have written “grass cutting”. It was a dull two par-filler made less dull by the headline typo, and so all attention was taken away from my suicide headline and focused on the very rude word that had found it’s way into our paper – and later FHM magazine.

How has your writing made a difference? What do you consider your most important piece of writing?

I really doubt that my writing has made a difference to anyone, to be honest. I got into journalism because I wanted to write, not because I wanted to help people, (selfish, but true) although I’ve had a fair few boxes of chocolates and thank you letters along the way, so some folk must have been pleased with what I’ve bashed out. When I was assistant editor on the North Shropshire Chronicle we picked up an award for Campaigning Newspaper of the Year for our Sink or Swim Campaign – to save a local swimming pool from closure. It’s small town news really, but was a big issue for the locals, and thanks to out campaign putting pressure on local government, the pool stayed open. That was pretty heart-warming and we got a fair few pats on the back for that.

Name three favourite words

By. Robyn. Slingsby. (my fourth word would be exclusive)

And three words you’re not so keen on

By. Staff. Reporter.

Do you have a writing mentor, role model or inspiration?

I tend to be inspired by places, rather than people, especially places where there are no distractions like household chores, ringing phones and people to talk to. I’m inspired by scenery, beautiful places, buzzing places and even simple places like coffee shops where I can people watch. As for mentor, my former editor John Butterworth played a huge role in pushing my career on, handing me challenge after challenge and new job title after new job title each time I got bored. And that happened a lot. If he hadn’t encouraged me I doubt I’d have had the confidence or the skills to be  series editor at 26.

What’s your writing ambition?

To have my first novel published. I’m currently working on the second draft of my first novel, pure unadulterated chick lit. It’s a tough slog and there’s plenty of work to be done yet but if I can bag myself an agent and get the damn thing published I’ll be a very happy girly. Journalism is easier – it’s reporting the facts (for the most part, at least) but writing fiction is a different ball game and one that’s challenging me along the way.

Plug alert! List any work you would like to tell people about?

Well, er… keep an eye out for my novel which may be published in the next five years, and even then only if I’m very, very lucky. In the meantime, most of my work is published on the website I work for – Platform.

Tag alert

Here are some fellow journos who may wish to blog in a similar manner…

Tracy Buchanan

Jane Matthews

Lorna Rutter

Coasting for a day

It’s not all bad being a journalist. On Monday I drove up to Clevedon, near Bristol, where the five presenters of the BBC/Open University co-production Coast were having publicity shots taken and giving interviews.

I got to chat to Neil Oliver, Mark Horton, Nick Crane, Alice Roberts and Miranda  Krestovnikoff about their favourite UK holiday destinations, amongst other things, as they warmed up following a grey day outdoors, gales aplenty.

The windswept  and ruddy-cheeked presenters and the army of BBC production executives were a pleasure to chat to and it was well worth spending six hours in the car. Nice one Cyril.

End of an era

A lot of my journo friends say they are pretty skint but their social lives are rocking at the moment – because of all the redundancy parties they’re going to. Well, last Friday I headed back to the shire to attend the leaving do of John Butterworth, former weekly series editor at Shropshire Newspapers Ltd and the cornerstone of the Shrewsbury and North Shropshire Chronicles.

I started my career as a trainee reporter with Shropshire Newspapers back in February 1999 and worked my way up from trainee to senior reporter, chief reporter, news editor, deputy editor, assistant editor, supplements editor and acting editor. And when I got bored and wanted a new challenge it was JB I’d go to and he’d lay the next challenge on the table for me. I’ve learned  lot from all the journalists I’ve worked with over the years but JB was particularly supportive of my career and was unsurprised when I handed in my notice in July 2006 for an editorship of my own in Leicestershire.

Shropshire Newspapers, like many other businesses, has been hit by the recession – along with the fact the newspaper industry is a declining one in light of all the internet can offer in terms of on-demand news consumption.

But when JB was made redundant it sent shockwaves across the newsdesks of Shropshire weeklies. The man was handed an MBE for services to journalism last year and this year he’s told to clear his desk. Disgusting.

But, what’s done is done. It’s the end of an era for the Shrewsbury Chronicle and who knows how the floundering regionals will get on. One’s thing’s for sure, I don’t regret my decision to leave newspapers 18 months ago and begin a career in communications and online stuff. Is print dead? Nope, but it’s certainly on its sick bed.

Anyway, on a brighter note it was lovely to see all the old faces I used to work with, some who’ve moved on to bigger and better things and others who remain to fight the good fight.

25 things you don’t know about me (and probably don’t care either)

The baton has been passed to me by Ellie Lovell to create this list of 25 things you don’t know about me, not that you probably care! Here goes

1)    I interviewed Prime Minister Tony Blair in a hotel room in Newport, Shropshire, when I was 21. I asked him about the recent petrol crisis and what advice he’d give to young voters like me. He didn’t get my vote.

2)    I am a control freak. This means that I’m highly organised, possibly even anal. I like to be prepared for things and I don’t like surprises, so I plan ahead for every eventuality. My control freakishness is mellowing as I get older and I’m much more open to being spontaneous these days.

3)    There’s nothing I love more than making people laugh. This sometimes means I say inappropriate things at inappropriate times but if it makes people smile it’s worth it. You can’t beat laughing, it’s one of my favourite things.

4)    I have spent a night on board HMS Ocean off the coast of Portugal with a bunch of Royal Marines. It was a tough job but someone had to do it! I had about five hours sleep in two days and I stupidly wore high heels – not good for walking on a beach – but it was a great experience. I even got to fly in one of those Squirrel helicopter things.

5)    I love reading and I read a lot. However, the books I read are pretty much limited to crime novels. I’d love to read other stuff but just can’t get into books without blood, murder, mystery and intrigue to get me turning the pages. In another life I would be Perry Mason, Detective Columbo, Poirot or Miss Marple.

6)    I failed my double award GCSE in Science at school. It was sent off to be remarked and I missed out by two points and was the only one in my year to fail it. If I’d taken a lower paper I would have passed. I will forever blame my teacher Mrs Miller for this.

7)    I have an extra vertebrae in my lower back. Most people have four and I have five.

8)    I’m a real believer in old fashioned pleases and thank yous. There’s no excuse for bad manners and rude people just make me cross.

9)     When I was little I wanted to be the female equivalent of Linford Christie, then I wanted to be an author, then I wanted to be a journalist. At least one of those things came true.

10)    One of the most embarrassing moments of my life was doing the high jump on sports day when I was in the second year of high school. The teacher made me take my skirt off so it wouldn’t knock the bar, so I had to do it in a T shirt and gym knickers. The boy of my dreams, Seth his name was and he was in the 4th year, was watching and I wanted to curl up and die. I was jumping over a pole in my pants for Christ’s sake! No boy needed to see that. I actually won the event though and he came up to me and said well done afterwards. I wanted to marry him.

11)    I have twice been a finalist for the Headline of the Year category in the Midlands Media Awards when I worked as a newspaper sub-editor.

12)    My biggest fear is loneliness, closely followed by heights, closely followed by going bald.

13)    I had a huge crush on Jean Claude Van Damme when I was younger and as a result now own a lot of his films. The crush ended when I found out he was short.

14)    I have never smoked a cigarette.

15)     I live on my own and I totally love it. I think I’ve become institutionalised and pitty the man who ever decides to spend the rest of his life with me.

16)    I cannot touch my toes, I’m not even close. I am the least flexible person I know.

17)    I probably wouldn’t survive the week without playing competitive sport. I play volleyball and netball and not only does it keep me fit, it gets rid of all those tensions and frustrations. It’s a very good stress reliever. And the social side of sport is an added bonus.

18)    I had my nose pierced when I was 16 and wore a silver hoop in it. My mum said I looked like a pig.

19)    I’m not a very deep person, what you see is what you get with me. I generally say what I mean and I don’t do hidden meanings. Sometimes I feel like I’m not as intelligent or as clued up about things as I should be and I sometimes find it hard to get as excited about things as other people do.

20)    I have no idea why this is the case but a lot of people tell me their problems or come to me for advice about things. It’s nice to think that folk see me as approachable.

21)    I have always wanted to write a book and am determined to do so by the time I’m 30. 10 months to go then!

22)    I have mixed emotions about my childhood and while it wasn’t unhappy it was a tad turbulent at times. When my parents divorced I said I would never get ever get married if divorce was a possibility. That’s not a choice I’ve had to make yet but I do hope to be married one day. Now I am very close to my family and love them all very much, they’re great.

23)    The most stressful time of my life was when I moved house, moved county, moved job and got dumped all at once. I had a house to sell so was paying mortgage and rent at the same time, started a stressful job as a newspaper editor in a town I’d only ever visited once, and my boyfriend dumped me a week before the move. It was a miserable, miserable time.

24 )   I once witnessed a jewellery store robbery from the window of my flat. I ran the story as an exclusive in my newspaper the next day, quoting myself as an anonymous witness, and only then did I call Crimestoppers.

25)   My dream job would be an FBI agent. Freeze!

Apparently I’m supposed to ask 25 people to do the same and compile their lists,  so if you’re reading this, that means you!

The “write” career move?

Happy Monday folks! Apologies, I feel I’ve been neglecting this blog a little of late and posting pretty crappy content, but I’ve had my reasons. Apart from writing at work (it’s what I’m paid to do so I kinda have no choice there) I’ve been investing my spare time in writing…writing a book. Eek.

I’ve wanted to write a book for yonks, in fact I’ve started but not finished on many occasions. When I was clearing out files on my old PC over Christmas I came across something I’d started writing five years ago. I read it, having little memory of what it was all about and I thought: “You know, Robyn, this ain’t half bad.”

Writing is difficult and re-reading your own stuff over and over tends to mean you can’t see the wood for the trees. So skimming my own prose five whole years after writing it made me realise I can write and, actually, it was pretty funny stuff.

So, this year I enrolled on a Start Writing Course with The Open University to spur me on. In fact, what I write best isn’t actually fiction as such, more like real life stories and experiences gelled together, so this course will hopefully encourage me to focus on characterisation, plot and feed me some good writing tips.

Us journos write fact, fact, fact so it’s a bit hard to jump into fiction and knock out an award winning novel just like that. My friend Rhubarb Ruby has done just that though; I’m proud and jealous of her at the same time as her book is sitting in the laps of no less than three agents as we speak. Nice one.

So, I am 25,000 words into the first draft of my booksy and have another 50,000 to go I reckon. I’m not gonna tell you more than that, the rest’s a secret. Who knows if the finished product will even get read by anyone other that my journo/media mates but I have to at least give it a try.

So watch this space folks, will this be the next “write” move on my career ladder? Here’s hoping!

Changing media (i’m trying to keep up!)

Ooh, I can remember back in the day when I was a junior reporter knocking out stories on a dusty Mac and conducting interviews by phone and in person. Oh, how times have changed. And that’s just in the last 10 years.

When I was on the first rung of the ladder into a journalism career there was no internet, there was no email, no Wi-Fi, no broadband, no touch screen technology, no iPods and no satnav.

Now kids are downloading podcasts, creating web pages and posting blog entries as easily as we tie our shoelaces. And my attendance at the Media Guardian’s Changing Media Summit in London yesterday reminded me of this fact.

There’s a huge generation gap when it comes to digital technology and a lot of us are playing catch up. The internet generation is just as comfortable with uploading videos onto YouTube as we were playing hopscotch in the school playground.

Despite the incredibly early start yesterday – 5.30am, yawn city! – my work buddy and I attempted to take in a whole day’s worth of interviews, panel discussions, speeches and question and answer sessions with some of the biggest names in media. And it was a tad mind-boggling.

We’re both relieved that “the print is dead or dying fast” rumour won’t put us out of a job; the internet has opened up a lot of journalistic opportunities according to Guardian News & Media managing director Tim Brooks, so there’s hope for us print hacks yet.

We both agreed that writing for the web, be it websites, online newsletters or blogs, isn’t much different to writing for newspapers and magazines, and we’re excited at the prospect of getting to grips with all this digi stuff.

And just as I thought social networking was fading out, Travis Katz of MySpace showed us what’s in the pipeline and how it will keep on expanding. He also came out with this lovely quote: “Social networking is where people, content and culture collide.” Ah, ain’t that nice. Not a fan of MySpace myself; I prefer Facebook ‘cos you can choose who views your profile and avoid random messages from whacko strangers at the same time. But that’s just my preference. My ickle sister (aged 13, going on 21) prefers Bebo.

Anyway, enough of my media ramblings. If you want to learn more about this changing media business and yesterday’s summit, read my work blog Getting to knOU.

PS Here’s a random thing - I only bumped into one of the lovely Essex girls I met skiing in France a few weeks ago at this Changing Media Summit. Small world or what!