Video news on the web: Is it just the sa...

My colleague at the University of Sheffield Marie Kinsey sent me a link to a video by University of British Columbia journalism student Daniel Hallen. The piece has been nominated for a Canadian Online Publishing Award. Chickens to roost in Vancouver backyards There’s no denying it’s a good piece of journalism – but is it web video? In Marie’s words: “Look how closely it follows broadcast conventions.” I subscribe to the web rule that ‘simple is best’ and show the web students this video on pocket-sized journalism (from the...

Three things a new online journalist sho...

Conference News re:wired brought news professionals together to look at success stories in niche markets. We heard from some great voices in the online journalism field – people who really understand how to cater for their market. I’ve picked out three points to look at in detail, they’re of particular relevance to new journalists: targeting your content to a niche market using technology to help you why being ‘good enough’ isn’t good enough. 1. Target your content to a niche market “Trust is central to it working” – Simon Perry, Ventnor Blog ...

Personal feelings vs professionalism...

I do some teaching at Sheffield University’s Journalism Department – currently to the Web MA students. I talk to them about the importance of the headline, about how to grab users in the first three words and give a few examples of getting it wrong – and right – from my own career. Last week I was a bit baffled by one student. I’d asked them to practice different writing styles – sport, news and entertainment. I had prepared three stories for them to re-write. This student was finding the entertainment story particularly hard going. It...

Education of the nation...

What skills do graduates going into online journalism need these days? I’ve been asking around and I’d like you to join in the debate: email me or post a comment with your answers on the following: What skills are essential for up-and-coming online journalists/web writers? E.g. writing, image manipulation What should they be able to do by the time they come for an interview? E.g. re-write a press release, upload into a CMS Do they need HTML? Dreamweaver? Is metadata and tagging still important? How much awareness do they need about the web? E.g. content...