Catherine Quinn’s tips for freelancing
‘Never say you’re a student journalist, ever’ was the advice given to us at the Centre for Journalism today by the freelancer Catherine Quinn. Why? Because it often ends up potential interviewees suddenly becoming too busy to help and leaving the soundtrack to my life being ‘Don’t hang up’ by The Orlons. I thought I’d share some other tips she gave us after talking to some journalism students at the NCTJ student council, who said they’d like some information on freelancing: - Quinn said that being a freelancer is the ‘ultimate sales job’. It’s 70% selling and...
Read MoreYour university degree is useless
There are times when I find myself pawing at the window, wondering what the outside world is like. My housemate shouts “bye” up the stairs and trots down for another evening at the pub. This same housemate has been sitting on the sofa all three times that I have returned home from university. She can often be found eating or playing the Playstation. In fact she often does both simultaneously. I know that I will hear her come home, and I will still be in the same place when she left hours ago. Except, I won’t be watching endless repeats of Friends and Scrubs on E4, but furiously...
Read MoreInteractive event in Kent: Transformed by you
There’s a potentially interesting and interactive event happening in Kent happening on Saturday 20th March called ‘Transformed by you’. Organised by Kent County Council and Medway Council, it involves using the web and other technologies to improve your area. You can read more about it on Simon Wakeman’s blog. Simon is Head of Communications and Marketing for Medway Council. Might be a perfect chance for the CfJ to plug an idea for a hyperlocal website which will incorporate any ideas raised at the event..? Anyone want to come? If only to get a story for your...
Read MoreAllan Little’s top tips for student journalists
BBC correspondent Allan Little visited the Centre for Journalism today for the second time. Unfortunately this time, Little’s visit was declared ‘off the record’ by the gods of journalism at the CfJ. This therefore ruined my planned blog for the day. However, Little did advise never giving excuses for failing to get a story. So whilst I won’t report on the more topical issues discussed in a Q&A session, I will point out five of his top tips for student journalists as his talk was largely covered on the BBC College of Journalism website anyway: Have something to say. He...
Read MoreTop 10 internships this week
Here are my top ten internships that I have found this week. Just in case you wanted to be exploited for free and be left to wonder why you can’t pay your rent. Again. Actually, a couple are paid – hoorah! Men’s Fitness magazine. Multimedia Intern at The New York Times and a summer intern at DNAinfo, NY City The Centre for Investigative Journalism is looking for interns – scroll to the bottom of their front page. Interstingly enough, 6 Music are looking for summer interns. Turns out they’ve had their “highest ever audience this quarter”. In case Paxman is your hero and...
Read More