So Iv applied to write a Fans Blog for the Daily Mirror. I think it would be a great opportunity to get my name out there, get my writing read by a larger audience and, of course, let the truth be known about my football team, Reading FC. It would also give me the chance to keep my blogging regular, as no amount of all-bran is providing the posts that this site deserves. Although, as sarcastic as I am, Im not sure Il be able to match the work of Royals lover, Oliver Holt. Oh wait...
Anyway, so cross your fingers for me. Heres hoping Im the most interesting applicant they get for Reading FC. And if not the most interesting, then the only applicant. Which lets face it, is one and the same.
Showing posts with label newspaper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label newspaper. Show all posts
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
Saturday, 14 July 2007
Work Placement Reports
Since I'm getting into the habit of sharing with the world I thought Id let you in on the reports of my work placements from early 2007 at two local newspapers, The Wokingham Times and the Reading Evening Post.
Wokingham Times - Sally Bryant:
"Todd is very highly thought of here - he writes quickly, accurately and stylishly. His interview technique is fine and he is very pleasant to work with.
His time-keeping is excellent, we can't really fault him and wish him every success."
Reading Evening Post - Steve Hughes:
"This is the second time Todd has been on a placement here and he has proved to be a useful asset to the newsroom on both occasions. We get a lot of people here on work experience and often they end up writing nibs and peripheral stories. That has not been the case with Todd and he has shown us twice now that he is capable of taking on lead stories and tuning them round quickly and accurately - exactly the kind of qualities we require of our daily reporters. He also seems confident on the phone, has been forthcoming in asking to take on work and has proven he has a grasp of the writing style needed to become a news journalist. I understand from my colleagues at our sister paper - The Wokingham Times - that Todd has been very productive in their newsroom as well."
Well that all seems very complimentary to me - what do you seasoned experts think?
Wokingham Times - Sally Bryant:
"Todd is very highly thought of here - he writes quickly, accurately and stylishly. His interview technique is fine and he is very pleasant to work with.
His time-keeping is excellent, we can't really fault him and wish him every success."
Reading Evening Post - Steve Hughes:
"This is the second time Todd has been on a placement here and he has proved to be a useful asset to the newsroom on both occasions. We get a lot of people here on work experience and often they end up writing nibs and peripheral stories. That has not been the case with Todd and he has shown us twice now that he is capable of taking on lead stories and tuning them round quickly and accurately - exactly the kind of qualities we require of our daily reporters. He also seems confident on the phone, has been forthcoming in asking to take on work and has proven he has a grasp of the writing style needed to become a news journalist. I understand from my colleagues at our sister paper - The Wokingham Times - that Todd has been very productive in their newsroom as well."
Well that all seems very complimentary to me - what do you seasoned experts think?
Thursday, 12 April 2007
Reading Evening Post storms online
Having worked for the Reading Evening Post for almost an entire week now, I have not failed to notice the vast improvement in it's website since my placement at the company in March 2006. They seem to be waking up to the potential of online journalism, and have placed a much greater emphasis on interactivity. I was particularly impressed with the way in which they have utilised comments into each story, with some articles recieving well over double figures. Not only are the website encouraging healthy debate about the town, and tapping into their crucial market of middle-class workers who read from their desk, but they are incorporating the website's good work into the newspaper itself.
A double page spread has been dedicated to reader views and comments has been set up in the popular newspaper. Comments from the stories are used, as well as letters, debates and images sent in by readers, to form a 'viewpoint' section. This shows the website and publication working closer together, which can only be a good thing with the technological changes that are threatening the industry somewhat. It is about time too, with the site attracting almost 700,000 page impressions a month. And that information is 9 months old, with the figures only likely to have increased since.
However, not all is well with the website. An admirable Community Blogs section has been set up, but embarassingly does not seem to work, at least not on my Internet Explorer window. They could do worse than follow the fine example set by the Birmingham Mail Blog, which despite getting few comments is setting an early standard in newspaper blogs.
Similar inadequacies can be found in the Post's message board. This ugly, plain layout is not winning any fans amongst it's readership, with very few users. In fact, there is only one real discussion amongst it, and even that petered out a long time ago. A solution would be to try and create something similar to the pioneering Birmingham Mail, whose forums attract far greater interactivity. They even became the source for a story that I scooped the newspaper itself for!
The site has no doubt improved since I last worked there, but the webmaster must not stop there. The internet is the future for newspapers, and the Reading Evening Post still has a lot of work to do to maximise its potential.
A double page spread has been dedicated to reader views and comments has been set up in the popular newspaper. Comments from the stories are used, as well as letters, debates and images sent in by readers, to form a 'viewpoint' section. This shows the website and publication working closer together, which can only be a good thing with the technological changes that are threatening the industry somewhat. It is about time too, with the site attracting almost 700,000 page impressions a month. And that information is 9 months old, with the figures only likely to have increased since.
However, not all is well with the website. An admirable Community Blogs section has been set up, but embarassingly does not seem to work, at least not on my Internet Explorer window. They could do worse than follow the fine example set by the Birmingham Mail Blog, which despite getting few comments is setting an early standard in newspaper blogs.
Similar inadequacies can be found in the Post's message board. This ugly, plain layout is not winning any fans amongst it's readership, with very few users. In fact, there is only one real discussion amongst it, and even that petered out a long time ago. A solution would be to try and create something similar to the pioneering Birmingham Mail, whose forums attract far greater interactivity. They even became the source for a story that I scooped the newspaper itself for!
The site has no doubt improved since I last worked there, but the webmaster must not stop there. The internet is the future for newspapers, and the Reading Evening Post still has a lot of work to do to maximise its potential.
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Work Placement
Easter is upon us and Im spending my week working for the wonderful Reading Evening Post. Iv only been there for one day so far and it wasn't exactly the most thrilling, as I wasn't really given that much to do and it's kinda hard to find your own stories when you havn't been to the town for months and you don't get given a password to the wonderful world of the web until after lunch. Still, at least I was able to catch up on the nationals - I must have read almost every copy cover to cover this morning!
That said, I did manage to contribute a number of stories today. Quite a few were just nibs and most of them weren't particularly exciting. However, I did manage to get a international scoop on Guinea Pig day at a local vets! Im working on a story about flight paths over Reading, apparently the planes from Heathrow are flying very low these days so hopefully that will amount to something. I don't want to say too much though...you never know who could be watching, especially as it hasn't been published yet.
One thing that disappointed me was that I didn't get out of the office today. When I worked at the Wokingham Times I was out almost every day - at inquests, court cases, vox pops and the like. Today I spent the day inside, working off the phone. I realise that this is the way of the journalism world these days, but I still fancied a trip out in the sunshine!
When I thought about it though, this is actually a practice that I tend to do myself when writing for UCE News site. If you were to watch me writing stories for the site, chances are you would see me lying in my bed at stupid o'clock in the morning researching things from websites and wondering whether 3am is too late to call somebody for a quote (unless they live in Australia it is). I like to think Im catering for our "foreign market".
I tried to adapt some of my Online Journalism skills to finding stories (when I finally got internet access!) but so far Im hitting blanks with my Technorati blog searches. Il keep trying tomorow.
Anyways, as I'll have Journalism on the brain this week, chances are you'll be reading more about my life this week. Hopefully some of my stories will be posted on their website so that I can show you all links and you can smile politely.
Bon Soir
That said, I did manage to contribute a number of stories today. Quite a few were just nibs and most of them weren't particularly exciting. However, I did manage to get a international scoop on Guinea Pig day at a local vets! Im working on a story about flight paths over Reading, apparently the planes from Heathrow are flying very low these days so hopefully that will amount to something. I don't want to say too much though...you never know who could be watching, especially as it hasn't been published yet.
One thing that disappointed me was that I didn't get out of the office today. When I worked at the Wokingham Times I was out almost every day - at inquests, court cases, vox pops and the like. Today I spent the day inside, working off the phone. I realise that this is the way of the journalism world these days, but I still fancied a trip out in the sunshine!
When I thought about it though, this is actually a practice that I tend to do myself when writing for UCE News site. If you were to watch me writing stories for the site, chances are you would see me lying in my bed at stupid o'clock in the morning researching things from websites and wondering whether 3am is too late to call somebody for a quote (unless they live in Australia it is). I like to think Im catering for our "foreign market".
I tried to adapt some of my Online Journalism skills to finding stories (when I finally got internet access!) but so far Im hitting blanks with my Technorati blog searches. Il keep trying tomorow.
Anyways, as I'll have Journalism on the brain this week, chances are you'll be reading more about my life this week. Hopefully some of my stories will be posted on their website so that I can show you all links and you can smile politely.
Bon Soir
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
