Journalism: Blogs, Twitter and RSS Feeds

Goodness! Can't believe it's more than a week since I wrote on here ... what happened to last week? It didn't help that it started with a Bank Holiday, they always throw my sense of time out of the window. And there's another one at the end of the month, will just about have caught up with myself by then!

Not Really a Journalist!

Have just about finished my article on Blue Bins and Recycling, will have to work out how to post pictures on here without sending my spacing crazy. I might post words and pictures separately.

Last Fridays' Open Media Day at the local Resource Recovery Centre was a fab experience. (Though jumping out of a friend's wagon in the car park and falling headlong in the dirt wasn't a great start!) I met some lovely people, found the waste processing fascinating and the resulting stacks of multicoloured bales amazing, like huge modern art installations.

It was a very positive experience in lots of ways and has inspired me to be even more of a "Recycling Freak" (in the words of Eldest Daughter.)

As far as writing goes, I don't think journalism will ever really be a serious option for me. I lack the objectivity needed for one thing, though I enjoyed the experience of 'being a journalist for a day' and learned a lot. There's no point in me competing with the guys (real journalists) who were there, so I've written my article from a personal perspective.

But for those of you who want to know more about journalism, here are a few links:

Journalistic Blogging

Blogging and journalism work well together, being expressions of the moment. Blogging is, after all, often seen as a form of online journal. Journalists from all over the world write blogs (individually) as do most major news agencies and networks. Blogs are also a great way to discover newsworthy ideas.

The Blog Herald: Blogging Lessons For and From Journalism

10 Journalism Tips For Bloggers, Podcasters & Other E-Writers by Spencer Critchley

Journalism Tips from the Telegraph blog

A consideration of the interaction of blogs and journalism by JD Lasica

Journalism and Social Media Tips from Blogs.Journalism.co.uk

The Blog Herald: A look at how twitter can be used for journalism

Breaking News on Twitter

Am fairly new to Twitter, but I can see how it has pretty awesome potential for journalism. News spreads quickly across the globe via those little tweets! Someone wanting information from widespread sources can ask a simple question on Twitter and have access to a phenomenal number of different perspectives. Twitter has a culture of community, of sharing information and ideas. I am fascinated daily, as a person and as a writer, by the possibilities (indeed, the realities) of Twitter. I imagine as a journalist I would find it a very useful resource:

The story of how James Buck used Twitter to alert people of his arrest in Egypt

Reuters: Breaking News, Twitter Style

Lots more examples in Marshall Kirkpatrick's post 'How We Use Twitter for Journalism'

Journalists are even using Twitter to find jobs

How to master Twitter if you're a journalist

With the leading national and international news agencies, newsrooms, journalists and a huge variety of other professionals, including academics, social commenters and politicians (even 10 Downing Street) on Twitter, sourcing immediate information is simple.

Another recent discovery that I've found very useful as a writer, which I expect is another excellent resource for journalists is the RSS Feed.

RSS Feeds and Journalism

For some basic general information, further links and steps to setting up your own RSS feed from a blog, see the post I wrote on Write Here! for RSS Feed Awareness Day.

Using RSS feeds as a journalist: advice from SourceWire

How to use RSS and social media for newsgathering by Paul Bradshaw

Finding Journalism Jobs by RSS feed

For anyone interested in becoming a journalist, I wish you well on your journey.

More about my own small experience later this week.

Have an excellent one!

(Also worth checking out, as somewhere with lots of information and advice relevant to online journalism, is contentious.com, Amy Gahran’s news and musings on how we communicate in the online age.)

Freelance Writing: Journalism

What is journalism?

From Wikipedia:

Journalism is the discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles.

The word journalism is taken from the French journal which in turn comes from the Latin diurnal or daily; The Acta Diurna, a handwritten bulletin, was put up daily in the Forum, the main public square in ancient Rome, and was the world's first newspaper.

News-oriented journalism was described by former Washington Post editor, Phil Graham, as "a first rough draft of history", because journalists often record important historical events as they are happening, but at the same time, they must produce their news articles on short deadlines.

Gyan Pathak suggests five categories of journalism in his book Forms of Journalism: An Internal and External History:

1. Information Journalism
2. Story form of Journalism
3. Mixed form of Journalism
4. Performance Journalism
5. Interactive Journalism.

American philosopher George Herbert Mead had previously suggested in his article "The Nature of Aesthetic Experience" published in International Journal of Ethics, 36, (July 1926) that there were only two models of journalism:

1. Information Journalism
2. Story Form of Journalism.

Within these broad categories (even if we consider there to be five), there are many sub-categories of journalism, which use many different forms of media.

What skills does a journalist need?

"Practicing journalists become experts in a range of skills such as researching information, interviewing, organizing, drafting and revising, writing for specific audiences, and judging the quality of current publications. Effective journalistic writing often has criteria different from other kinds of writing: it must be clear yet sophisticated, artful yet free of obvious embellishment. It must establish a voice of its own, yet be a window to credible facts. In addition, formatting skills require practice." (The University of Minnesota's Center for Writing)

A journalist doesn't just write. In fact journalists actively seek out and tell news stories, while they are happening. They interview people, research backgrounds and search out supporting details. They write a piece, proofread and edit it, consider the publishing layout and submit it all within an incredibly short time ... there are no extensions to deadlines in journalism!

As a broadcast journalist, for example, the skills needed include:

* following story 'leads', or generating story ideas

* researching stories, using sources like the internet, archives and databases

* visiting locations and deciding on the best way of presenting a story

* writing scripts or website content

* preparing interview questions and conducting live and pre-recorded interviews

* presenting in TV or radio studios or on location, and recording voiceovers for recorded material
* asking questions at briefings and press conferences

* directing a small camera/sound crew, or possibly operating recording equipment yourself

* editing stories to fit exact timings

* deciding on the best running order for bulletins

* making any necessary changes to bulletins as new stories break.


What is journalistic writing?

John Nery's NewsStand blog is well worth checking out for some great journalism insight. Here, he explains what distinguishes journalistic writing:

Journalism----news reporting in particular----involves the use of a special language.

“News English” is not ordinary English, although of course it uses the same grammar, the same diction. “News English” is spare, pared down, frequently direct, even formulaic, and with a syntax all its own.

Gospel.com have some useful advice about journalistic writing online.

And the Riley Guide has a fanstastic collection of useful resources for writing, boadcasting and journalism.


Why is journalism important?

The ASNE (American Society of Newspaper Editors) awards recognise "the unique ability of newspaper journalists to inform, to provide clarity and context, to entertain, to give voice to the voiceless and to right injustices by exposing wrongdoing."

Now that makes journalism attractive to me. The truth is I can't really see myself as 'a journalist.' But as a fledgling writer, I am enjoying experimenting with all sorts of writing. So I'm really looking forward to the open media day and to an attempt at writing a journalistic piece.

:o)