Tag Archives: New Online Journalists

The New Online Journalists #3: Josh Halliday

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As part of an ongoing series on recent graduates who have gone into online journalism, The Guardian’s media reporter Josh Halliday talks about what got him the job, what it involves, and where it might go next.

I did an NCTJ-accredited BA (Hons) Journalism degree at University of Sunderland, but it is what I did around my degree that landed me a dream job at the Guardian.

That’s not to say my degree was unnecessary – it gave me an invaluable broad-brush knowledge of the theory and practice of journalism, yet it’s just not enough nowadays. Learning outside the curriculum – playing in the digital world, doing journalism – is what ultimately scored me a highly sought after job. I think myself really lucky, but I also know I worked my arse off and you make your own luck. Continue reading →

The New Online Journalists #2: Todd Nash

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As part of an ongoing series on recent graduates who have gone into online journalism, Midlands News Association online journalist Todd Nash talks about what got him the job, what it involves, and where it might go next. (Disclosure: I taught Todd)

I started as a Community Moderator for guardian.co.uk shortly after graduating with First Class Honours from a Media and Communications (Journalism) degree at Birmingham City University. My new media experience, which was largely inspired by an Online Journalism module, appealed to my employers as did the fact that I had an interest in comments on newspaper websites and had written my dissertation on the subject.

Since then, I’ve moved on to an Online Journalism role with MNA Digital and the role involves taking responsibility for the social media output of the Express & Star and Shropshire Star, as well as looking after the editorial content for the jobs, property and motors sections of both newspaper websites.

I’d say that the biggest part that my education had to play in getting this job and the work that I’ve done here so far, was the inspiration that I had from my education to attempt things on my own. I used my blog to try out new ways of reporting, used social media and had put place my knowledge of the medium at guardian.co.uk and had knowledge of building sites, purely from my blogs.

I see my role developing hugely in the future. Social media does not stand still; just a couple of years ago MySpace was the place to be and Twitter was practically unheard of. Part of my role is ensuring that my websites don’t get left behind where this is concerned.

The New Online Journalists #1: Hannah Waldram

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As part of an ongoing series on recent graduates who have gone into online journalism, Guardian Beatblogger Hannah Waldram talks about her education and experience leading up to her job, and what it involves.

I graduated from the Centre for Journalism at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies with a diploma in newspaper journalism in June 2009. During the course, I followed developments in online journalism – spurred on by my tutor Glyn Mottershead – attended journalism and hyperlocal conferences across the UK, started a personal website to showcase my work (hrwaldram.co.uk), played around with new online tools and invested in some new tech (Flip cameras, netbooks), blogged a lot, as well as various bits of work experience including the technology desk at The Daily Telegraph and Media Guardian.

I also bought the domain name bournvillevillage.com and began brewing ideas for a hyperlocal website for my hometown area in Birmingham.

After completing the course and while sending off applications for trainee reporter jobs, I continued to set up Bournville Village. There’s a vibrant network of bloggers in Birmingham who gave me advice, support and ideas, and the blog launched just in time for some unusual gun shootings in the area.

Bournville is bursting with local news and history and is poorly covered by the regional press – so the blog was well-received by the community. It was also a great way for me to practise my skills as a journalist. Soon I was offered three jobs – two in traditional media and one in new media. I went for new media.

I started working as a social reporter for Podnosh and online editor of westmidlandsdance.com for Meshed Media – in these roles I learnt a lot about civic engagement, online communities and multimedia journalism.

I am now the Guardian Beatblogger in Cardiff. You can read more about the local project here and Local editor Sarah Hartley explains the role of a beatblogger here, I also recently published some tools I use on the job here.

I’ve since passed on bournvillevillage.com to Dave Harte who is a runner in Bournville and helped out from the outset. Under his editorship the site continues to thrive and unravel the hidden stories of the area.