Shred my cred

I had a story published in a national paper today. As usual, I was chuffed to see my byline and popped out to the shop to buy a copy (I usually read the press online). On my return, I sifted through my emails and saw I had a Google Alert to say I'd been listed on NewsCred. I'd never heard of NewsCred before so naturally I toddled over there to have a look. It's a Web 2.0 site, still in beta, that picks up stories from all the main international newspapers and lets site members rate them. So far, so good.

Except that the ranking system is based on people voting one of two ways: Credit means you rate the story as credible and of good quality; Discredit means you consider it to be biased and factually inaccurate.

I saw that 8 people had already voted on my story, two of whom had chosen to discredit it. That would have been fair enough had I been writing a straight news story but in this case my feature was about a product, so of course there was going to be some bias in it - it's virtually impossible to appraise something and not come down on one side of it or the other. You look at the product from as many angles and viewpoints as possible, test it as much as you can and draw a conclusion. You like it, or you don't. Or you maybe say it has some good points but flag up the minuses while doing so.

Reviewing has been around since newspapers were invented. It doesn't matter what's being reviewed - opera, exhibitions, pop groups, restaurants or products of some sort. At some point the reviewer is going to bless it with a yay or a nay. It therefore seems ridiculous that NewsCred allows its users to "discredit" a story it's scooped up that is not hard news but a review of something because whichever way you slice, there will be bias in there.

In my favour, the product I wrote about was not thrust on me by some fawning PR desperate for some coverage. I stumbled across a mention of the product, was intrigued enough to look up the maker's website, liked what I saw, picked up the phone and asked nicely if I could have a sample and then started pitching once I'd tried it out and felt it deserved some coverage. I actually could find almost nothing bad to say about this particular product despite putting it through its paces.

So - track me down on on NewsCred and shoot me for writing a feature based on a product review.

What do you all think? Should NewsCred be able to discredit review features? Might it besmirch a journalist's otherwise good name and credibility for writing reviews?

Sacked!

No, not me. It would be quite hard to sack myself. But the last 2 weeks have been full of unrelenting gloom about redundancies in the press. You can read some of it here, here, here and here... And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I feel for my staff colleagues who are facing redundancy. I worry for those who are still there but have no idea how long for. I see newly redundant colleagues thrust into freelancing not from choice and having to figure it out on the hoof.

A friend was made redundant today then asked to reapply for her job, which now has a new title and - amazingly - a slight pay increase. So it's not all bad but these are very worrying times.

I've been quiet on here as I've had a massive workload and been keeping my head down getting on with keeping the proverbial from my doorstep. I'm grateful I have a broad spread of clients but I do wonder how long many of us freelances can keep going.

Media diet week 1

I've been perusing a few newish blogs (newish to me, that is) and one had a weekly round-up of that blogger's media (sorry, I forgot who it was!). Last year, I did a general media round-up, but this is going to be a regular entry this year and I'm going to log everything.

So, here we go. Since New Year's Day, this has been my media diet.

Press: Online, I took my news, as usual, from The Guardian, The Sun and BBC News Online. I only look at other newspapers online if someone draws my attention to a particular article or if there is such a massive breaking story that reading full coverage is essential. There's no time to read more widely and I only buy print if I've had something published. Apart from that I got my bimonthly copy of Editing Matters, my regular monthly batch of glossy mags (BBC Good Food, In Style, Eve and New Woman), the Radio Times and the Chester Chronicle. There was no Press Gazette this week due to the Xmas break.

Blogs: I had a bunch of blogs aggregated on a feed reader that turned out to be a turkey last week (pun intended). What with the extended break, when things went wrong with the technology, I was cut off from my usual blogs (as I hadn't bookmarked them elsewhere). Then I discovered Bloglines. I don't know why I never came across this before, but it's fantastic. I've moved all my blogs there, plus added some new ones - you can see them all if you wish. Future media diet posts will only include new ones.

TV/ Radio: as usual, EastEnders and The Archers loomed large. I don't watch a lot of TV. I had a Xmas binge but now it's back to TV Desert, meaning I watched nothing else last week. Roll on Torchwood... I am going through a phase of listening to Pandora again. I can go for months without it then I have to have it on while I'm working.

Books: I'm currently reading Attention All Shipping, which is very entertaining as well as fascinating. Apart from that, I'm ploughing through a pile of fetish porn, for work purposes. No time to read anything else.

Must dash. I have just been offered a gobsmacking wonder of a writing assignment - more soon...

Where there's Mucc...

...there's another hypocritical rant about the press. Mucca, aka Lady Heather Mills-McCartney, took the media to task this morning on GMTV, claiming she had been driven to the brink of suicide by more than 4,000 negative stories about her in the newspapers. That'll be the same Heather Mills who has apparently used the press regularly to leak info about her divorce and make as yet unsubstantiated allegations against her former husband, Paul McCartney (who has maintained a dignified radio silence while proceedings continue).

I liked the weepy touch about her claim to be "protecting" Macca. It's almost convincing, until you remember she told the same media that McCartney allegedly hit her.

Celebrities and media enjoy a double-edged relationship, the former courting the latter whenever it suits them to have free publicity, then moaning when they are shown in a bad light.

Kate and Gerry McCann found themselves in the glare of the world's press spotlight when their daughter Madeleine disappeared 6 months ago. They courted the media relentlessly in what appeared to be a fair attempt to keep Madeleine's disappearance in the public eye. Yet, when the Portuguese police named them as official suspects and the press coverage became negative, they suddenly asked for privacy!

The fact is, you can't have it both ways - if you are in the public eye for whatever reason and you use the media for your own ends, you are hardly in a position to complain when the boot is on the other foot...

My media

Inspired by Linda Jones's media diet over on Freelance Writing Tips, here's mine.

Press: I'm too lazy to buy papers these days, except for the weekly local rag. I read the Guardian and Observer online, plus the BBC news online. I surf the online tabloids only if I have time and am bored and in search of some celebrity gossip. I also buy several magazines every month - usually BBC Good Food, Eve, InStyle and New Woman (the latter strictly for the fashion pages). I rarely read the trade press, except for my free copy of Editing Matters, published by the SfEP. I also like How Do, for its coverage of north-west media, which is after all on my patch.

Blogs: I read quite a few. I always enjoy reading what Craig McGinty has to say about the media. Likewise, I read Linda Jones on her various blogs. She is a highly experienced journalist and has great insight into the media, plus a sharp wit. Sally at Getting Ink is also very insightful and funny. I also follow Belle de Jour and The Girl, because they are the two best sex blogs around and utterly addictive. I surf around to read others occasionally.

Web: I use the web every day when working. Wikipedia is useful for fact-checking and research, as is Google. I have bookmarks for many other sites I use regularly, either for work or personal stuff. I shop online for books and other stuff and I belong to a large number of forums that reflect my personal interests.

Networking: the internet is so useful for business networking. I belong to several business forums - good for discussing business issues and occasionally finding work. I have a presence on MySpace, but can't be bothered with Facebook, Bebo and the rest. I also use LinkedIn but have yet to exploit it to the max. And, of course, there's the quintessential JournoBiz.

Phone: I hate the phone.

Skype: another essential. I rarely use the phone, but the chat facility is very useful for my overseas clients, especially for exchanging files. I also chat to friends via Yahoo.

Email: an essential tool given that 99.9% of my work arrives and leaves by email. As soon as I get up, the first thing I do after making my pot of tea is to check my inbox. Then I carry on checking it regularly throughout the day until it's time to sleep. Addict? Moi?

Gadgets: none. I can't be doing with Blackberrys and the like. My mobile phone is the one concession I make and even then it's switched off most of the time and only used when absolutely essential.

Books: life would be tedious in the extreme without books. Naturally, I have a ridiculously huge collection of dictionaries and reference books - tools of the trade. For relaxation, I love crime fiction, particularly gory serial killer thrillers. The gorier the better. I also enjoy biographies, particularly of bands I grew up with the late 70s/early 80s. I have a large collection of books on The Clash, for example. I also read a lot of history and politics. I must read in bed at night, even if it's only for 5 minutes before switching the light off.

TV/radio: I watch very little TV. I rarely watch the news as I read it online, but I occasionally tune into BBC News 24 if there's a major breaking story. Otherwise, I always watch EastEnders, Doctor Who and Torchwood when they are showing, and I enjoy a good drama series too. I used to listen to Radio 4 all the time 20 years ago, but these days only tune in for The Archers. I find daytime radio distracting when I'm working and I hate missing out on so many good programmes but it's just not practical anymore. My bedroom radio is tuned to Radio 2 - I love Wogan and Jonathan Ross.