Inspired by the nationals: is a desire for ‘CV fodder’ hampering student journalism?

For many student publications, the question of whether to emulate tabloids or broadsheets is an important one. But is mimicking the nationals enough? Not according to Martin Bottomley (@_mfab), former Forge Press comment editor and occasional contributor to the Student Journals…

Student media could be doing great things. Instead, it’s stuck in a straitjacket of being a feeble imitation of mainstream media. It’s a playing-with-dolls approach: In spite of their young, ambitious contributors, the ultimate aim seems to be feeling like a grown up and having your name in the credits.

In the meantime, it’s left to the big guns to do what should be blindingly obvious: In the case of the New York Times’ fantastic piece Snow Fall or Pitchfork’s Bat For Lashes feature, combine interactive storytelling with compelling investigation. In the case of Matter, it’s a new publication model combined with a dedication to quality in long-form journalism. Either way, they have begun to implement the long-overdue combination of digital interaction and truly excellent conventional journalism – something most of the industry are still figuring out.

Admittedly, some student media outlets have definitely broken new ground. There have been big shifts in organisation and financing, particularly in the cases of The Yorker, The Epinal, and The Tab network’s franchise approach. Liveblogging and even live multimedia coverage have proven to be winning formats for many student media outlets, and there’s a long-overdue drive towards cross-media integration.

But all these new developments have not produced a change in journalistic approach, and especially not a change in the basic model and tone of student media. Most publications are stuck in a fundamental desire to ape the most mainstream parts of professional media: Newspapers in particular are stuck between broadsheet and tabloid paradigms, the former being at worst stiff and more high-and-mighty than high-brow, while the latter range from the excellent, entertaining journalism of York Vision to the braindead trash of some Tab variants.

Guest blogger Martin Bottomley

There is good reason for all of this: Student journalists, by and large, want to be real journalists and need the CV fodder. Student media can provide them with both a recognisable, universally accepted showcase for their work as well as vital experience and hands-on training in the more practical sides of newspaper, TV and radio journalism. No journalism course will ever quite give you the experience and sensibilities throwing yourself into student media will.

But is that really all we’d want to use this golden opportunity for? The value of practical experience notwithstanding, student media doesn’t need to be commercial. It can afford to break ground in new ways of digital publishing that the professionals can’t.

The professionals, in turn, are looking to the new breed of journalists to break new ground. New trends such as data journalism and blogging aren’t inventions of the industry imposed on the young guns: They were groundswell inventions before large, established organisations saw their commercial potential. Student media could be part of this innovative forefront – students have the time, skills and ambition to do so.

Instead, we’re all listening to phony career advice we shouldn’t need. All the chatter about “have a Twitter profile” and “learn some HTML to customise WordPress” breeds a generation of pseudo-technoliterate conformists devoid of creative energy. All the energy student journalists could be investing in new forms of presentation and implementation – of creating web journalism that merges several disciplines into a philosophical whole – is wasted on pretending to be 45-year-olds just discovering Twitter.

Student media needs to be part of the digital revolution. It needs to be shaking up the world, acting as a voice for fiercely original up-and-coming journalists, a hotbed for experimental forms of journalism. True, it’s essential to build on the wisdom of the older generations when it comes to the core skills – writing, investigating, and the process of journalistic storytelling. But student journalists have fresh perspectives, skills, and ambition that need to be put to better use by breaking the mould and finding new ways of exploring student life.

What do you think? Is the current state of student journalism stifling development, or is there a reason tried and tested approaches are so popular?

The ‘Future of British Journalism’ conference at the Frontline Club brought student journalists from across the country together to share ideas and talk to some of the brightest and best in the industry. Ones to Watch’s Charlotte Prince went along, and compiled a list of top tips from the night:

1.        “Learn multimedia or mandarin” – Ian Katz (Deputy Editor of The Guardian and Head of News)

Journalism is competitive and you need to make a lasting impression when you put yourself out there. The Sunday Times’ Lucie Fisher said that if you know another language, read their newspapers! There are so many brilliant stories out there that haven’t been translated.

2.      “If you don’t know numbers, piss off right now” – James Ball (Data Journalist for The Guardian)

James Ball told us that there’s nothing “cute” about not knowing numbers. So many journalists are too afraid to approach date or statistics, and too many are getting their numbers wrong. Knowing how to read important data will make you a valuable member of any writing team.

3.       Get on Twitter:

Ian Katz said that he treats Twitter like a notepad for his thoughts. As anyone on the website knows, Twitter is seriously abused by some individuals. But the platform can also be used to make your voice heard and to interact with those that we want to impress.

4.       Know the product/newspaper that you want to work for really well:

Lucie Fisher said there’s no point reading the newspaper that’s offered you an interview just a week before your interview. You need to know the audience, the writers, the content, the politics, and you need to show that you’re really passionate about it.

5.       Making tea makes you contacts:

James Ball told us about one of his first internships where a fellow intern brought their own flask of tea to work and ultimately failed in making it into the industry. “Don’t bring a flask to work” may sound like a weird tip, but the ritual of tea-making is where you meet people. There’s a reason why the British love tea so much; there’s no better way to make contacts than in a relaxed environment over a brew.

6.       Focus on news at your university:

This is news that probably hasn’t been covered by national media. The Evening Standard’s Joshi Hermann made the point that newspapers already have journalists covering British politics and international conflicts. They have an enormous amount of qualified journalists who can write innovative comment pieces on current affairs. You can really prove that you have what it takes to uncover and investigate stories if you can write about stories that are directly surrounding you.

7.       “Refuse to leave your internship. Just keep going back” – Sam Coates (Banking Editor of The Times)

Sam Coates told us that when he finally reached the end of his last internship he told them that he’ll be back next week. The newspaper replied with, ‘Your internship has finished now,’ and Sam Coates returned, ‘It’s okay. I’ll come back next week.’ I’m not sure how literally this advice should be taken, but you can’t argue that a positive attitude and confidence in your abilities will mean that people may be happier for you to stick around after your internship has finished.

8.       “Don’t worry about your degree. Screw it up. It’s fine” – Steve Richards (Chief Political commentator of The Independent)

I’m also not sure if I want to take Steve Richard’s advice too literally. Yet when a member of the audience asked how we’re meant to balance building up our writing experience with our degrees, Ian Katz stated that some of the most talented people he knew in the journalism industry got thirds. Sarah Baxter, editor of The Sunday Times Magazine, also stated that she’d recently given a young person who didn’t study at a Russell Group university a shot with the magazine because he’d proven to be confident and dedicated

9.       “If you get rejected (which you will) don’t give up” – John Witherow (Editor of The Times)

Rejection is an unavoidable part of starting up in journalism. I guess this relates back to what Sam Coates said: be confident and don’t be a pushover! Prove that it would be worth their time and money to employ you.

For more on the Frontline Student Media conference, you can check out our Storify of the event here, and see all tweets from the evening here. You can follow Charlotte on Twitter here.

The new – censored – front page of The Student

Ones to Watch’s Alisha Rouse on the gagging of Edinburgh student newspaper The Student by its students’ union – and why we shouldn’t be surprised that it happened…

The rumour mill tells us that the University of Edinburgh student newspaper, The Student, has a great splash up their sleeves. Some say corruption, some say scandal, but we can all agree on something: we’re never going to hear about it.

Edinburgh Students’ Union took out a swift interdict on the story, which also prohibits The Student from publishing “any material purporting to suggest that the pursuer is an organisation which is poorly governed and whose management are inexperienced and unaccountable”.

Essentially: don’t print anything bad about us. Ever.

This move is part of a string of incidents within the last year, some of which you can read about in our previous Ones to Watch blog here. From papers being banned on campus, to UCLan officers trying to make student journalists sign a gagging contract, the legitimacy of student newspapers is challenged at every step.

At the University of Sheffield’s Forge Press (which I edit), we are inundated with union officials attempting to persuade us to print fluffy stories where a professor has made a big discovery about plankton, or a student has paraded round dressed as a bunny for 72 hours all in the name of recycling. When we get a sniff at some actual news, the aid offered to the young, budding journalists of tomorrow mysteriously disappears. In fact, that is when the newspaper got banned from university campuses. Apparently it would scare the Freshers.

Alisha Rouse

The crux of this is that student newspapers are just not taken seriously. The Student strongly insist that their piece is in the public interest, and since it involves the suspension of a democratically elected representative, we can only assume this holds true. Edinburgh Students’ Union have shown an utter disregarded for its own students and the very basics of journalistic integrity. If student newspapers are not allowed to complete their mandate, of holding the establishments around them to account, then young journalists are simply being built up to work in the union’s marketing department.

I spoke to Nina Seale, The Student’s editor-in-chief who said: “We were obviously furious that our union thought it was appropriate action to take out an interdict and silence the story. Each issue of The Student takes hours of work from our staff and having four thousand copies of an undistributed paper was a waste of everyone’s effort, as well as an issue of freedom of the press.”

If student media cannot work holding its university and union to account, then it has about as much use as a condom made out of fishnet tights. Student newspapers cannot act as a mouth-piece for students’ unions or they simply become marketing leaflets; praising the student officers, policies and chancellors as if they were produced in a strange, higher education, North Korean dystopia where Liam Burns is king.

Do you think students’ unions have the right to gag student newspapers? Post your comments below.

Hugh Grant fronted the Hacked Off campaign

Ones to Watch’s Alisha Rouse on what the Leveson Report and the possibility of press regulation means for student media:

The Leveson circus has come to a close, but many questions still linger in the tent.

For student media, the future is even more uncertain, as many will be unable to become members of the new voluntary, self-regulated body. Meanwhile their readership is coming to expect a lot more vigilance.

Essentially, the outcome of Leveson is, if anything, more potent for student newspapers. Not only are they run and written by future journalists, but their freedoms and activities are already regulated and gagged significantly more than the national press. Some unions and universities have demonstrated a huge disregard for the importance and independence of student media.

Take what happened at Loughborough, where a Union president banned sports figures from talking to the Epinal about a story. While, over at the Leeds Student, the NUS attempted to exercise editorial control over an interview with the BNP’s Nick Griffin. Since then, Leeds Students’ Union is discussing whether to exercise its own control by extending the NUS’ ‘no platform for Fascists’ policy to include student media -  essentially censoring its own student newspaper and not letting young journalists do their job.

The University of Sheffield banned student paper Forge Press from distributing the paper in student residences after it investigated how it was allegedly using a loophole to cut university staff wages. The threat was clear: you print this story, we ban you.

Alisha Rouse

Over at UCLan the situation is similar. A recent story about a Union officer suspended for tweeting offensive material about missing child April Jones was pushed back from a major story on page four to a 200-word piece at the bottom of one of the back pages of student newspaper, Pluto. The offending officer had written for the paper himself just days before the incident. A student newspaper – whose mandate should be to be written by students, for student interests – covered up an officer’s mistake and even became a platform for his views. The story was picked up by the Huffington Post, naturally. Leaving Pluto looking weak, knowing that they missed such a big story on their home turf.

Post-Leveson, the Hacked Off mob and many more, said that the prime minister’s actions are indicative of politicians living in the pockets of the press. For student media, it’s often the other way around, with universities, unions and staff thinking they can steer the direction of their newspaper.

While people may call for greater national press regulation, the consequences of this for student media would be dire. Student newspapers are already gagged, disrespected and under-appreciated, with many acting as a nice little mouthpiece for their students’ union.

But with what Lord Justice Leveson has recommended, a voluntary, self-regulated body (albeit underpinned by legislation), times don’t look too difficult ahead for student press. Granted, student newspapers probably won’t become members of the body, but in the same way they always have with the PCC, they will adhere to the guidelines voluntarily.

What Leveson has done for young, student journalists, is put their future in uncertain territory. The public are crying out for both an independent press and stern regulation to prevent incidents like the phone hacking scandal, leaving budding journalists under-confident about the future of their industry.

Somehow Hugh Grant and co. have managed to make ‘journalist’ a dirty word.

Any national narrative about state press regulation would certainly leave student media in a bad state, the regulation they receive on a daily basis as a direct result of legitimacy problems often leave them incapable of achieving the standard of journalism they are capable of.  Perhaps if the NUS and its cronies left student journalists alone, the country would breed much better journalism in the long run.

Have an opinion on an issue affecting student media? Pitch your blog ideas to: editor@onestowatchmedia.com and you could get published on the Ones to Watch blog.

Be prepared for the British weather

Following Jack Bradshaw’s blog on the skills you need to be a sports journalist, Raphael Sheridan, former sports editor and current editor-in -chief of Redbrick at the University of Birmingham, argues that it is the enthusiasm to stand for hours in the cold that separates a great sports writer from just a good one…

There aren’t many times you’ll find yourself in a field on a freezing, dark and sodden evening. Nor, if you’re unlucky enough to end up in said field, would you expect to end up between a mate’s legs, huddled under a flimsy coat looking at a pile of mushy notes whilst another reporter shelters under a beach towel desperately trying (and failing) to keep a dying laptop free from water. Welcome to the world of university sport reporting.

It’s an odd breed of person who’ll willingly put themselves in such compromising positions week-in week-out, nobly fulfilling the British ‘we love weather-based physical discomfort’ stereotype. And as the team sheet billows off into the far horizon and your fingers stop working, the pressure of a fast approaching deadline looms large. You’ve really got to love what you’re doing to keep putting yourself through it. When I started reporting for Redbrick I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. Honestly, and this is a dire confession, I was following what Geoff Shreeves does for Sky Sports, wishing I had paid more attention to how the Times or the Guardian did their stuff. Blind enthusiasm was what drove me to keep coming back, reporting on different sports and trying different things.

You aim to be a fairly hidden figure at pitch-side, only venturing into the lion’s den when you have to interview a coach. And inevitably there will be a time when you unwittingly get pulled apart. It happened on the first ever game I covered: a rugby game where Birmingham won comfortably. Terrified at the prospect of having to interview a coach (surely he wouldn’t take me seriously) I plumbed for a sure-fire, cliched first question. ‘You must be happy with a win,’ I asked. The coach shot me a look that could kill and proceeded to tell me how wrong I was.

On another evening, one beleaguered reporter quietly saddled up to the losing coach, pen in hand ready to annotate, and asked how the game went. Cue a rant about the referee that Alex Ferguson would be proud of. And then, after all that, the report ends up buried within the paper. It’s enough to put only the most fanatic reporters off sports journalism for good.

When, a few months later, I got the sport editor’s job at Redbrick the difference between enthusiasm and skill was shown in its starkest form. The majority who fancied themselves as ‘journos’ wanted only to report on football or, if you were really fortunate, rugby. Put simply, they thought they’d reached the promised land and would venture no further. But those few who were seriously interested in becoming journalists took any job, regardless of location, deadline or, in extreme instances, their degree. They appreciated that, to become a good writer, they’d have to learn about new sports in their own time and make a coherent report interesting. Sure, some of the reports weren’t brilliant but over time the expertise would build and the reports would become more varied. In a university environment where over a dozen sports are regularly covered, you need to be willing to show dedication and that means learning about new sports, taking ‘unglamorous’ fixtures and going beyond what you’re comfortable with.

Besides, sports reporting isn’t all wet fields and cold evenings. We now ask our reporters to appear on a variety of mediums and become a jack of all trades: no student when they arrive at university has the ready-made expertise to appear in front of the microphone, or a camera. We aim to have them leave confident with everything and the more enthusiastic you are, the better you’ll become. In the fast-changing world of journalism, simply writing a print report, we think, is probably leaving yourself without a safety-net. The same principle applies to taking different sports: do as many as you can because when you finally get the football match you’ve secretly wanted to cover for two months you’ll produce a far better report. That’s if you can make out the action through the rainy mist. Or through your mate’s legs.

The Olympics is upon us so it only seems right that for the next few days the Ones to Watch blog is all about sport. We’ve got student sports journalist lined up to write about their field and what it takes to become a sports reporter.

Kicking off the series is Jack Bradshaw, sports editor for the University of York’s York Vision. He argues that while you need bucketfuls of enthusiasm, it takes skill and technique to become a good student sports journalist…

Being sports editor for the University of York’s student newspaper, York Vision, has definitely been one of the most exciting things I have ever been involved with. There’s so much reporting to do, so much organising, but when it all comes together it’s a great feeling. Undoubtedly, my passion for sport in general has helped my case and was the reason why I became involved in the first place.

However, I would argue that to be a successful sports reporter, you need a certain skill set and knowledge base first. You can have all the enthusiasm in the world, but if you aren’t presenting your work in the right way then you may attract criticism. If you’re considering trying your hand at sports reporting for your university paper, I would recommend following a few guidelines to avoid some common traps.

The first thing to bear in mind is the specific occasion you are reporting on and its overall importance, because this will dictate the overall tone of your article. You don’t want to be using light-hearted language for a match which decided the destiny of a league title, and conversely you should not write seriously and critically for a low-key kick-about.

For example, when I went to this year’s Roses tournament, the largest inter-university sports tournament in Europe (between the University of Lancaster and the University of York), my reports were highly detailed and critical, focusing primarily on the overall result and singling out those key mistakes or moments of inspiration which shaped the match. Not only were the players of both sides in the match going to read my reports, but also major sporting figures at the university and many others back home in York.

By contrast, when I reported on the end-of-year College Sports Day at York, which was essentially a few hours of fun, my article emphasised the enjoyment of the participants and how it created a sense of sporting unity. The article was also suited for those not involved with sport, so they could better understand its attractions.

York Vision sports editor Jack Bradshaw

Linked to the above, you must be careful how much bias you use in your articles, if any. Obviously, for sporting events held within the university, it would be suicide to be biased to one side. However, when my York-dominated audience are reading my report on a York v Sheffield BUCS football match, for instance, they are going to be much more interested in the performance of the York players. That doesn’t mean I’m constantly criticising the Sheffield players and praising York, but it does mean I will write more on the team which my audience wants to read about.

Furthermore, since you will be covering a wide range of sports at university, you will need to remember to adapt your style and terminology accordingly. Earlier this year, one of the other publications at York used the terminology of football and applied it to a vital netball match. Suffice to say the netballers who read that report were far from impressed with such lazy reporting. So for more obscure sports, I have taken some time to familiarise myself with the key aspects of the game, and read reports which had been written by others.

Finally, although you may need to adapt your style slightly between different sports, there are several basic rules of thumb when you sit down and write your report. Your first paragraph should briefly outline the result of your match or event. Here’s one of mine:

Connor Meckin scored a last-gasp winner for Halifax 2nds as Vanbrugh 1sts’ winning streak came to an end in dramatic style.

Then, you should briefly outline the key events of the match so that people reading your article instantly know what happened before going into the details. You might also want to comment on the overall significance of the result. Your entire report should ideally be comprised of numerous short paragraphs (50 words absolute maximum). This is not an essay you’re writing, it’s a stage-by-stage blow of what happened, and short paragraphs serve this purpose very well.

So to summarise, the acronym “OATS”, which stands for Occasion, Audience, Terminology and Structure, sums up what you constantly need to bear in mind and the relevant skills you will need. If you follow these guidelines, you will become not just an enthusiastic reporter, but also a successful one.

Happy sports reporting!

Look out for the next blog in our sports writing series, on what separates a good sports reporter from a great one, early next week.

The newsroom may not be what you were expecting...

Resident Ones to Watch blogger Caroline Mortimer rounds off her series of tips and tricks for getting the work experience you need to start a journalism career with her third and final piece on what to do when you actually get that work experience placement, how to impress and what happens when it all goes wrong…

After a recent stint of work experience of the Observer, where I got a investigative scoop and a front page byline through a combination of my own cunning, luck and a slow news week, it was suggested to me that this week’s blog post should be on ‘how to do well on work experience’. However when I thought about it, I didn’t know what I would say.

Whilst I’ve had a few successes, I’ve messed up on work experience quite often as well; for instance on the same Observer placement I also turned my ankle on a street corner at lunch, fell into the road and was almost hit by the 390 bus. I spent the rest of the day limping around the office with a giant hole in my tights and sporting a fetching bright blue plaster donated by a kindly security guard who took pity on me.

It should be a given, but bleeding is never a good way to impress any potential employers.

If that was bad enough, on the very first day of my very first work experience ever, I slipped on the ice outside the train station (it was January) and spent the rest of the day with a mild concussion. The rest of the week I was recovered but I don’t feel I did much to distinguish myself against all the other wannabes that came into the office every week.

However, instead of being disheartened by my mishaps and pratfalls I have always tried to not lose faith. I always try to pick myself up and dust myself off (literally a lot of the time) and it is through that, that I have done more work experience and gradually started to prove myself.

The problem with a lot of guides to getting into journalism as they neglect to mention the fact that you are going to make mistakes, sometimes you’ll get a boss who doesn’t like you and sometimes everything that can go wrong will go wrong.

There is no formula for ‘doing well’ on work experience but as I have always said, it’s the right attitude that’ll ensure you’ll survive.

OTW's blogger Caroline Mortimer

The following is a few generalised tips for things I’ve found useful while working at various locals, regionals and a national.

1) Don’t be afraid to speak up - Whilst at the Observer I was sitting in a meeting when they were discussing who they could do their weekly profile on and they were all stumped for ideas. I had the idea to profile Mario Balotelli (this was on the eve of the Euro 2012 final) but was too shy speak up. Two, three days passed and lo and behold when I came to sub edit the pages on Saturday afternoon, they had decided to go with Balotelli anyway proving my idea wasn’t stupid and I should have said something. Never be afraid to speak up if you have an idea; chances are even if they aren’t interested they will still be impressed by you trying.

2) Don’t be afraid to badger – but at the same time don’t go too far and annoy them. It’s a delicate balance of course. I think I was starting to push my luck when I was pursing the name of a man linked to the aggressive tax avoidance scheme that Jimmy Carr was involved in. I thought I had found his details on Companies House and went searching around the internet for more information, even though I was told not to bother. When I found hard evidence, I’m sure they were only looking at it out of politeness until they realised I’d found a story. It ended up on the front page.

3) Always come with an idea – As someone who always struggles with investigative reporting, finding a new idea to take the newsroom on the first day can be a challenge. However, the Birmingham Mail expected it from meduring my placement so always be prepared. When I was at the Observer I came with a story idea they ended up not pursing due to space but they were still impressed that I suggested it. The best places to start is Twitter, searching hashtags etc because you’ll never know what you may stumble across that is likely to be missed by the less tech savvy mainstream media.

4) Don’t be afraid to show off - While it’s true you are there to learn, as someone who is bound to understand new media and all the mod cons of journalism today you are at an advantage when it comes to navigating the strange tides of the modern media industry. I have always been surprised at how few professional journalists, who are only ten, fifteen years older than me, don’t know how to code or touch type – having been practically raised in front of computer these sorts of things come pretty naturally to our generation. Coding a few links in their copy goes a long way to making the professional journalists around you, very, very grateful.

5) Do your best and don’t worry if it doesn’t work out – I didn’t impress on my very first week of work experience with the York Press in January last year. It was partly because after 18 months of student living I wasn’t used to getting up early, partly because it was January and I’m always miserable in the winter and partly because it was the first time I’d ever done anything like it and I had no clue what I was doing. All in all it wasn’t a particularly successful week. It was not that I did badly, it was more that I didn’t do well. I did everything that was asked of me competently enough, but I didn’t do anything to shine. Should this happen to you, fear not, just try to do better next time. Chances are you’ll end up doing more than one placement and each time you will find yourself getting better and better as you get more comfortable in your surroundings. I know I did.

Following her blog on how to get work experience by building an online profile and improving your CV, resident OTW blogger Caroline Mortimer gives her advice on getting over

So you’ve built up you’re online presence and you appear on the first search page when your mother Googles you. What next? How do you capitalise on what you’ve already achieved?

Here is where it gets a little trickier, now that you are starting to look like an almost real life journalist with a few different publication bylines under your belt, how do you distinguish yourself from all the others doing the same? Remember, you may be cream of the crop at your student newspaper but there are hundreds around the country in the same position.

At this point it becomes far more about taking risks and seizing the opportunities that do exist – even if you don’t realise they do.

Be flexible – If you can’t get work experience at your local paper go find a sofa in a different town or city to sleep on. This is a lot easier with money in the bank, but chances are you’ll know people at various universities who love you very much and may be willing to let you crash on their sofa for a week while you work at their local paper. Contributing a little bit to the household bills is far cheaper than forking out for commuting or accommodation costs.

That is what my lovely best friend from home who is now at university in Edinburgh did for me. I spent a week working on the Edinburgh Evening News, getting a front page byline by day and going out to bars, clubs and the cinema at night. It was kind of like a working holiday and it was brilliant.

OTW's blogger Caroline Mortimer

Be realistic – You are not going to get work experience with the Guardian if you’ve written two articles for your student newspaper and a blog post. When you’re first starting out, it is best to start small.  Apply to the local papers and small regional magazines before you go for the big guns. By all means apply for the national papers and the high profile magazines on spec but don’t get your hopes up. People at the nationals normally expect you to have done experience elsewhere first.

Be a salesman – ‘Oh, so you’re the Editor! Of your student newspaper! Oh, MARVELLOUS, we’ve certainly not had any other applicants saying that!’ ‘Oh you blog do you? Well there are hardly any applicants doing THAT at the moment!’

Face it. You’re not that special. Sure you can scribble a few bon mots on demand, you edit your student newspaper and you’ve even got a few freelance pieces in the professional media but what makes you any different from anyone else with those things on their CV? Demonstrate why your experience makes you a better candidate than all the rest by making the most of the few lines underneath your job titles where you list your achievements. Say what it is that makes you a great editor or a great writer and why editors commissioned you to write for them. Instead of saying you’re the Editor of X, say ‘since I have been Editor of X I have increased traffic to our website or increased reader participation by X,Y and Z’.

Remember that not all trains run to London – And the streets are also not paved with gold.

It may be necessary to break into the capital when you reach the ‘OK, let’s stop joking around now, give me a proper job’ stage of your career. However at this stage, when local and regional papers are the name of the game, why bother with London when there are so many opportunities elsewhere (that are often cheaper to finance)? London is not as glamorous as people think. Its a great city to be in but ultimately it’s expensive, smelly and full of tourists. I remember one reporter in Edinburgh saying it was sometimes easier to get work experience or internships outside London because although there was slightly less going on, there is much less demand for work.

I have done nine weeks of work experience thus far and only the last two were in London. I’ve taken advantage of living within commuting distance of Leeds and York as well as my university accommodation in Birmingham and my best friend in Edinburgh.

Make your own luck - Whilst the current economic situation (and to a certain extent the government attached) is doing nearly everything in its power to knock back any attempts at social mobility it is possible (just about) to break through. You’ve just really got to kick down the door as hard as you can. So stop whining about how unfair it is. It is unfair; it sucks and believes me it doesn’t get better when you finish university and start looking for a job. If you must complain, do it proactively by campaigning or blogging about it. If you give in and complain that it ‘should have been you’ then you’ve let the bastards win, haven’t you?

I remember a snarky comment on my very first article for the Independent from a girl my age (21) saying she could have been a journalist if only she had the ‘advantages’ and ‘contacts’ that I must have had to get where I was. The thing is, I got commissioned by the Independent by sending them a cold email pitch. I have few contacts, little money and I’m the first in my family to go to university. Whilst as a middle class, white girl with nice parents and a nice house I’m hardly ‘disadvantaged’, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth either.  Only those tried in the first place have the right to whinge when they fail.

Look out for Caroline’s next post on how to survive being ‘the workie’ on Ones to Watch on Tuesday.

Arguing the case for the tabloids in the second half of Ones to Watch’s debate on broadsheet vs tabloid, current editor-in-chief, Luke O’Brien and former opinion editor Thomas Steadman from the University of Southampton’s tabloid, the Soton Tab, say that students want fast and furious tabloid journalism, rather than the more long-winded output of traditional student papers…

The naivety of the broadsheet argument on Ones to Watch a few weeks ago, displayed the claim that “when it comes to variety, diversity and activism, the traditional broadsheet stands, as it always has, head and shoulders above its red top alternative”, is typical of many people who get involved in historically-established student media.

Many believe that by being involved in an established student paper, they automatically earn the right to put themselves above those who may have taken the tabloid or even reviewing route into media. Very rarely does one hear journalists at the Daily Telegraph or the Guardian saying that those involved in the Sun or Daily Mail aren’t good journalists; it is simply a question of writing style and target audience.

Whilst the broadsheet paper may have dominated five to ten years ago, it certainly doesn’t now. Technology has exploded into the student lifestyle. Facebook (it started in universities, don’t forget) is still an intrinsic part of the student mentality and Twitter is increasingly used throughout the student body. Coupled with a wealth of different smart phones, the way we devour news and events in a local and national manner has changed drastically.

Soton Tab's Luke O'Brien

People are no longer happy to wait 24 hours to read about what is happening just down the road; they want to know as much as they can as soon as possible. Student tabloids, often only an online presence, are frequently quicker off the mark with local news due to their streamlined editorial team and ability to project directly into the timeline of their target audience, especially through Facebook apps such as our new Soton Tab Reader which allows articles to ‘trend’.

Broadsheet newspapers will often only manage to print an article several days after the event, by which point students have already moved on and quite probably now couldn’t care less about that breaking news story that had already been reported on by the tabloids days before, resulting in many broadsheet copies being left unread.

It is also useful to bear in mind that students no longer want to read huge essays on news, or, in fact, most topics. Students want articles they can read and understand quickly and easily, ideally with a bite of humour to retain their interest. Tab writers, for instance, are encouraged to stick to a word limit of around 500 words for news and reviews, following the mentality that if something can’t be reported in 500 words, it will not be snappy and succinct enough to hold attention, inducing boredom and not enlightenment.

Students are force-fed academic journals and textbooks throughout their courses, consisting of thousands of words at a time. Why should they have to trawl through mounds of text to just find out the local campus news? Student tabloids take the pressure off students by replacing a long-winded and over-analysed academic paper-esque article with something that can be digested in under thirty seconds, with a humorous and a light-hearted tone.

Another argument used in Exepose editor Tom Payne’s post was that only broadsheets can give the time and effort towards a dedicated campaign for change. This is completely untrue. If anything, tabloid papers can campaign better. By avoiding the reliance upon a student union for money and facilities to print, independent tabloids can often hold their unions to account in a much more effective manner.

Soton Tab's Thomas Steadman

Independent tabloids are also more open to scrutiny. By relying upon their readership to succeed and entice advertising, they have to work harder to keep people happy through content and innovation. They are unable to rely on the fact that each month the bill would be picked up with no questions asked. Therefore, those involved within the tabloids often have a greater understanding of the student body then those in their ‘ivory towers’ looking down from the broadsheet media.

At the University of Southampton, the Tab’s extensive union election coverage through live blogs and candidate analysis articles, all the while adding a touch of humour to the formalities, helped increase involvement in student politics significantly more than the SU and its media outlets combined. A good student union will recognise that the independent media should be embraced.

However, whilst those who edit the broadsheet and ‘established’ student papers sneer at the tabloid papers springing up, they are blind to the bigger issue. Student media is changing, becoming hyper local, hyper fast and hyper relevant. If the SU sponsored print media does not adapt and change, it is possible that it will miss out completely and lose its readership for good. Competition in the media space is good; it makes everyone strive to be better. It’s worked for Southampton and will work for all universities around the country.

Think of tabloids as your frenemies rather than enemies.

Fresh off the back of a two week stint at the Observer where she scooped a front page byline, resident OTW blogger Caroline Mortimer is revealing her tips for getting those highly sought work experience placements over the next few days. Kicking off the series: it’s all about having the right attitude…

Its the age old dilemma that plagues the student journalist as they make their first tentative steps out into the world:  how do you get work experience in professional journalism?

Sure you write for your student newspaper, heck, you may edit it, but so do eighty, ninety per cent of the applicants for even local papers a lot of the time. That’s not even starting on the question of NCTJ training. More than often it can be impossible to get a week of work experience without having already done work experience.

So how do you escape this Catch 22?

Rather than rehashing the same advice about how to write your CV, how to make the most out of student media and where and when to apply first I would argue its all about having the right sort of attitude.

Of course you could employ whatever contacts you may have but for the majority of wannabes this is out of the question. Therefore a combination of tenacity, resourcefulness and a hell of a lot of luck is generally what you need.

OTW's blogger Caroline Mortimer

I decided that I maybe wanted to pursue journalism for real about half way through my first term of university and from that point to the end of first year tried to get work experience on a local paper and failed every time. My local paper back near my parent’s house presented a particular challenge as they only took on Oxbridge graduates and NCTJ students for a newspaper with a circulation no larger than 50,000. Two years and nine weeks of work experience, including at the Observer, later; I still can’t get work experience there.

So what would the young would-be journalist do if they are presented with obstinate local papers, lack of money or contacts and are considered geographically undesirable (aka live outside London)?

I do not pretend to be any sort of expert when it comes to making it as a journalist. I may have done a bit of unpaid work experience and had a bit of exposure with freelance pieces in the Guardian and the Independent but I still do not have a full time job and after two years I have only just secured my first paying freelance contract.

However, as I come from a low income, no contacts environment in North Yorkshire and only graduated from my History degree yesterday, I know a thing or two about the correct combination of arrogance and humility that it takes to get your first toe in the door of this competitive industry. The following is a list over the next couple of days is ideas I’d hit upon that have been invaluable over the past few years that should go beyond the usual, and limited, advice on ‘how to write a pretty CV’, ‘how to use Twitter’ etc, etc.

1.Create  Your Own Individual Journalistic Presence – It may seem counter intuitive to say on a blog about student media but being editor or section editor of your student newspaper or magazine will is not enough on its own to get you noticed in the journalism industry. Nor is it a prerequisite – after all I only became an editor in any capacity for the first time in January, after I’d already arranged all my work experience placements.

It can be dangerous to get lost in the group identity of your student newspaper, instead of defining yourself as the ‘Editor of X, student and sometimes freelancer’ maybe its better to think ‘I am a student and freelance journalist with my main project currently being the Editor of X’. It also helps to break out on your own to do as much freelance blogging, pitching articles and social mediaing (it’+s a word) as you can.

It may not seem like it but independent online media is always looking for new bloggers and new ideas (the Ones to Watch Blog included!). Although they won’t remember the specifics of the article, if a would be employer has read your name before with a byline in print or online publication, in the dim and distance recesses of their mind they will remember your name and therefore your application will stand out more than those who rely on their student media experience. ‘Editor of X’ is a great achievement but ultimately it only takes up one or two lines on your CV.

2. Get Online – As I wrote a couple of weeks back, print media will not die, at least not in the student media world. However, when it comes to transferring what you’ve done from the student to the professional world, getting online is paramount. For instance, if you should be offered to choice between being Editor in Chief or Online Editor for your student newspaper, always pick the latter. In the increasing digitised world, being able to code and build websites is invaluable as employers start to expect it in addition to regular editorial skills. I found starting out as an Online Editor and moving into print much easier than it probably would have been the other way around. If nothing else picking up basic HTML coding will stand you in good stead (despite appearances, it’s actually really easy to understand).

Whether or not you edit anything, having an online presence is far more important than your print portfolio at this stage. It’s great having a folder of clippings tucked away but you can only show them off at interviews so if you can demonstrate a web presence it may just be the ticket to getting there. When I first starting applying for work experience, I found including two or three links to my work within my email application worked wonders.

3. Work Hard – This may seem obvious but you’d be surprised how much effort can go into success. I’ve put in an enormous amount of effort into my career for the past few years (sometimes to the detriment of my degree!) and although a lot of it has been luck, a lot has been hard work. I’ve so far written over 218 online articles (and counting), worked part time and saved 80% of it to pay for work experience (though I am lucky that I was entitled to bursaries and scholarships from my university to cover the cost of living beyond my student loan). I wouldn’t say I was that special when it comes to actual talent, I’ve just put in the hours (around 10-20 hours a week, depending on degree commitments) and now I’ve got something to show for it. I understand not everyone has time, but the commitment this sort of thing demonstrates is what has always impressed my employers and editors in the past.

Look out for Caroline’s next post on how to get work experience in the media later this week.