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Journalists

IMHO in modern times to be a "journalist" means to be an interpreter or re-presenter of facts. Someone who takes reported fact and packages it in a "house" style (if they're capable of doing so without a subs' intervention). A true journalist is more likely to be a columnist or other media lesion than to be a seeker-after-the-truth. :)

Give me the good old days of fewer columnists and loads of shabby chain-smoking hack reporters any day! :D
 
ViolentPanda said:
IMHO in modern times to be a "journalist" means to be an interpreter or re-presenter of facts. Someone who takes reported fact and packages it in a "house" style (if they're capable of doing so without a subs' intervention). A true journalist is more likely to be a columnist or other media lesion than to be a seeker-after-the-truth. :)

Give me the good old days of fewer columnists and loads of shabby chain-smoking hack reporters any day! :D
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Given the woeful payscales for local journos working on local rags we just won't get the network of hacks the industry once had.

The dread hand of murdoch is one of the factors that led to our current crapola fest of newspapers
 
ViolentPanda said:
IMHO in modern times to be a "journalist" means to be an interpreter or re-presenter of facts. Someone who takes reported fact and packages it in a "house" style
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That's pretty much what I do for a job, no way I'd class myself as a journalist though since it's only news-repacking rather than news-gathering.
 
AnnO'Neemus said:
Yes.

Mainly, I like the idea of highlighting social injustice, all the stuff about holding politicians and industry leaders to account for wrongdoing and inequalities.

Also, bringing random, every day and quirky stories to a wider audience, the kind of things that give other people an insight into the lives of others, help promote tolerance and understanding.

Of course, that's the idea, the reality is that I've mostly been a production journalist, behind the scenes stuff.

And I must admit, I enjoy the buzz of working in busy newsrooms, a lot of the work is routine and somewhat mundane, but then you get some breaking news and you just switch up a gear or two and have to deal with whatever is thrown at you. I like that kind of challenge.
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Finally a sensible reply. When you say production journalist do you mean television not print journalism?
 
electrogirl said:
Have you READ the pages before that post? it was bloody gibberish. I wasn't just trying to pick a side. It was a joke.
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I thought my opening post was quite lucid, but then it was quickly followed by the normal Friday night drunken crap from certain other posters.
 
Are you a journalist?

I was quite surprised to find a journalist trying to defend her chosen profession on here last night. She reckoned it was the only thing she ever wanted to do

In some ways I can understand the attraction of reporting on. Many years ago I even flirted with the idea of journalism, mostly as a result of reading the 'new journalism' of Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer and so on...

(moderators feel free to move this somewhere else if it's in the wrong forum)
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Move aside Mr Frost.

Vaguer waffle followed by personal reminisence does not equal lucid.
 
trashpony said:
So if that's a journalist, how does that differ from the other definitions people have given? :confused:
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Is russell brand a journalist then ?:rolleyes:

My god the smurfs are out in force on this thread.!! Butchers does not need my assistence in turning you all into smurfsoup, however the inane peaches geldork brat mentality on display so far on this thread , in response to Butchers is a joke. You see IMO thats why he is only giving you lot one line replies- he is treating the inane, lazy, gullable, and ignorant posts with contempt they deserve . Maybe some of you should try asking some serious questions centred upon ,or thinking about the relative differences between PR and Journalism or Investigative Journalism vs 'Twittering' , and the role of ideaology etc etc and you might be suprised.
 
When I was younger, one of the things I fancied being was a journo, as I like the idea of spending my working time writing. With hindsight, it would have been short-lived as I wouldn't be happy writing to someone else's agenda, and thus influencing people towards a viewpoint that may not be my own.
 
soulman said:
Are you a journalist?

I was quite surprised to find a journalist trying to defend her chosen profession on here last night. She reckoned it was the only thing she ever wanted to do :confused:

In some ways I can understand the attraction of reporting on. Many years ago I even flirted with the idea of journalism, mostly as a result of reading the 'new journalism' of Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer and so on...


(moderators feel free to move this somewhere else if it's in the wrong forum)
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I'm a journalist. Feel free to elaborate about what I should be 'defending' here.
 
...studying toward the NCTJ at the moment. No jobs anywhere, newspapers closing down, etc, etc. These are journalism's (print, at least) darkest days. God knows what I'll do when I graduate.
 
Corax said:
When I was younger, one of the things I fancied being was a journo, as I like the idea of spending my working time writing. With hindsight, it would have been short-lived as I wouldn't be happy writing to someone else's agenda, and thus influencing people towards a viewpoint that may not be my own.
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Yeah that was pretty much my experience as well. Although I thought about it again in the late 90s, and even got to the point of searching out how I could go about it. This was before the internet had really taken a hold and gave folks the opportunity to report for themselves what they considered newsworthy.
 
Greenfish said:
...studying toward the NCTJ at the moment. No jobs anywhere, newspapers closing down, etc, etc. These are journalism's (print, at least) darkest days. God knows what I'll do when I graduate.
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Reporting started going down the shitter when you started needing a qualification in "journalism" to get your foot in the door, and most papers jumped on the "unpaid/low-paid intern" bandwagon, doing the cubs out of a job.
 
ViolentPanda said:
Reporting started going down the shitter when you started needing a qualification in "journalism" to get your foot in the door, and most papers jumped on the "unpaid/low-paid intern" bandwagon, doing the cubs out of a job.
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...and probably what turned it into a largely middle class profession?
 
I've always thought of investigative journalism as the most valuable to society and the most satisfying for the journalist, but it's almost died out because there's no money in it. If I spend two weeks working on a 1000 word article I'll still get paid by the word with nothing extra for research time. So if I'm lucky I'll get £500. The best feature I ever wrote took me two weeks but it was in such a prestigious paper that I was supposed to be delighted to get two hundred fucking quid for it. This is why so many stories are knocked off in a couple of hours, using a press release full of lies and a couple of phone calls by way of research.

The internet has wrecked newspapers' incomes and the recession's doing more damage, so publishers are slashing salary bills. But there's no shortage of willing writers - hordes of people are still keen to get into journalism. Many will work for peanuts. Two years ago I was taught on an NUJ course that only 40% of working freelances make a living at it. 40% are supported by their spouses (the archetypal female writer with a husband in the City) and 20% are failing to live off their earnings. Those figures will be worse now. A broadsheet I wrote for a few months ago cut my fee by 40% because of its financial problems. And a lot of staff writers have recently been made redundant. They will get first dibs when it comes to commissioning freelance stuff.
 
Greenfish said:
...and probably what turned it into a largely middle class profession?
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I wouldn't say that, as it was fairly m/c-dominated even back in the 70s, but it certainly meant that you no longer got local kids doing bits and pieces for a local paper, learning the ropes (and the local personalities) and succeeding through application rather than because they had a qualification that got their foot in the door.
 
They're not a lot of use because so much press stuff is done on the phone or by email. Emailing someone a link with your byline is what you need. I doubt that many journalists have one. They're supposed to be handy for showing to the filth, but the last time I got mine out I was put in a special press kettle. And it didn't even have a bar.
 
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