Westgate sports agency - 2012
I spent a week with Westgate Sports Agency in the summer of 2012. The agency, which is based in the heart of Cardiff, provides stories for the national papers and various sports websites. It meant that I would be in a different type of surrounding to a typical newsroom, with journalists not writing for one particular newspaper but for a range - from broadsheet to tabloid. This allowed me to adapt my style of writing to the various different audiences, which helped improve with my writing style.
The week began with me having a brief conversation with the Editorial Director of the company, who went over what exactly the company does on a daily basis. I had carried out some research prior to beginning my work experience, so this conversation was kept short and I began with my first task of the week – checking through the weekend papers. This allowed me to keep up-to-date with all the sports new from a range of papers, seeing what the hot topics of the day were. This is a process that is repeated every day, and it allowed me to gain a real understanding of what this week long placement would involve.
After this initial introduction I was thrown into the deep end so to speak, where I was handed a couple of press releases fresh from the public relations department. The first was regarding boxer Nathan Cleverly and the second from the Welsh Rugby Union - both of whom were promoting events. I had limited knowledge of boxing as a sport, but by giving me this story to work on it helped to not only broaden my knowledge on the sport, but it taught me a valuable lesson – to be a sports journalists – or a journalist of any type for a matter of fact – you have to have a wide understanding of a range of topics, not just sport or politics, but also current affairs and business, for example.
Turning a 500 word press release into a small concise story was very challenging, but I certainly learned a lot from it. It’s important to go for the right angle, taking out all the quotes you don’t need, leaving just the important parts. In fact, just a few days before we went through a similar process as part of our radio module, turning a press release into a short news bulletin, so this certainly came in handy for me. As I was going through the various press releases through the week I was always thinking about how I could get this to work through the various other forms of journalism, such as TV and Radio. From this first day I could begin to see how the public relations and journalists combined together in the same office to produce stories. It was also interesting to see how those I was working with decided which stories to go with, a process that is repeated every day.
I got the opportunity to spend the following day out-and-about visiting different locations. I began by attending an early morning media day at the Swalec Stadium, Cardiff. This was my first opportunity to mingle with different journalists and pick up some useful tips. This was also my first experience of an open media day, where journalists from all backgrounds – print, radio and TV – came together to interview players and back-room staff. I knew before we arrived at the stadium that we would have to get potential questions ready to ask the players. I was also told of the importance of selling stories to the national press when working for an agency such as this, so it was key to think about potential angles for stories all the time.
I was fortunate that in my time with Westgate a big sports story broke with Gavin Henson being sacked by Cardiff Blues. This gave me the opportunity to see how the journalists reacted to a breaking news story, which came late in the day, meaning many had to stay behind to make sure the stories would make the papers the following morning. On the back of this story I attended a Cardiff Blues press conference, which was full with journalists wanting to get more on the story. I have attended press conferences before as part of my TV module, but this felt much different with it being covered by every major newspaper, as well as radio and television crews from every corner of the country.
Once the press conference was out of the way, we managed to speak to a couple of players. Westgate have a contract to produce stories for ERC Rugby’s website, so we managed to secure an interview with rugby star Leigh Halfpenny. This experience was priceless, as I not only got to meet a Welsh icon, but also managed to interview him as part of an exclusive. Of course, I have learned all about interview techniques during my journalism course, so this came in handy when it came to speaking to some of the players.
After this interview I was given the task of transcribing what we had recorded with Halfpenny. This proved a long task, but after picking up some tips from the journalists in the office I managed to speed my way through the 15 minute long interview, before using what I had to create an article for the ERC website. What I learned from this transcribing task is that you don’t necessarily have to type out every single word, but instead just a selection of quotes that will make a good story, as well as always thinking about the big quote which will give you your angle. I also learned from this task that shorthand is still a vital skill to have available, especially when a deadline is approaching and you may not have time to transcribe.
The following day began with my colleagues going over what I had written regarding Leigh Halfpenny and they were both impressed with my work (so impressed they had offered me some additional work). They liked the angle I had gone for, but sent the article back over for me to make some minor changes before filing for the ERC website to put up on the site. I understand why they had made this decision as I had made a factual error in the article; this was simply down to my lack of rugby knowledge, but they gave me some brilliant advice on how to improve on this. The experienced journalists told me of the importance of selling the story through the opening couple of paragraphs – this is even more important when working for an agency - so with this in mind I made some tweaks to the story before seeing it up online, which was great feeling.
Later that day I set off to the Liberty Stadium in Swansea. This in many ways was the highlight of my working week, with me getting the chance to meet Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers. One of the major things I learned during this week of work experience is the importance of striking relationships with players and managers (or local politicians, community officers, etc) as well as building up contacts. Brendan Rodgers was brilliant with the media, with a real bond between the manager and journalists, meaning he was more open and willing to give stories that he knew would help sell newspapers.
Something else I learned during this Swansea ‘presser’ is the fact that the print journalists tend to stay away from the broadcast journalists. It must be remembered that for many of these print journalists who are writing for newspapers, these stories will not be making the papers until the following day, whereas the broadcast journalists will be getting it out on air within the hour in some cases. This meant that the print journalists would go to one side with the manager to get their own stories that would be different to those that the broadcast journalists would be airing throughout the day.
During my week of work experience, I also learnt all about the bond in place between fellow journalists. It is often thought that in a highly competitive industry, the journalists will compete to find exclusive stories - in many ways this is true, but these journalists worked together to ask a range of questions to managers and players in order to find the story they would run with. Following on from this, the bond between the journalists was so strong that they would have a gentleman’s agreement that certain stories couldn’t be printed until such-and-such a day, with this embargo meaning they have enough material to run for the week.
Due to the delay of the Swansea presser, I was asked me to stay behind to type up a feature on Swansea winger Nathan Dyer. This taught me all about the pressures of the journalism industry – deadlines are everything! As it turned out the feature didn’t get published in any of the major papers, but it taught me a valuable lesson that you can’t let these things get to you. Journalists for agencies such as Westgate know they could write what they believe to be a brilliant article, but it will be for nothing if no newspapers want it.
I arrived early for my final day in order to attend a re-scheduled Llanelli Scarlets presser, which worked in the same way as the two previous press-conferences I had attended during the week. Incredibly, many of these media rooms had a lack of signal, so when I was given the task to write a story on my phone for the ERC website whilst we were waiting for the presser to begin, it became a bit stressful trying to submit it. I didn’t let this show however, and I managed to make the deadline, with the story later being published online.
To conclude, this week of work experience gave me an incredible amount of experience. From attending high profile press conferences, to meeting sports superstars and getting a chance to speak to some journalists of different backgrounds. The week gave me the chance to show off some of the skills I have picked up from my journalism course, as well as learning some new stuff along the way. Through interacting with journalists of different backgrounds, I got a real insight into what it takes to succeed in the industry, and what I need to do in order to fulfil my ambition of being a sports writer. Most importantly, this week gave me the chance to build up some contacts, and feel the pressure of meeting deadlines – though all-in-all it was highly enjoyable and rewarding.
The week began with me having a brief conversation with the Editorial Director of the company, who went over what exactly the company does on a daily basis. I had carried out some research prior to beginning my work experience, so this conversation was kept short and I began with my first task of the week – checking through the weekend papers. This allowed me to keep up-to-date with all the sports new from a range of papers, seeing what the hot topics of the day were. This is a process that is repeated every day, and it allowed me to gain a real understanding of what this week long placement would involve.
After this initial introduction I was thrown into the deep end so to speak, where I was handed a couple of press releases fresh from the public relations department. The first was regarding boxer Nathan Cleverly and the second from the Welsh Rugby Union - both of whom were promoting events. I had limited knowledge of boxing as a sport, but by giving me this story to work on it helped to not only broaden my knowledge on the sport, but it taught me a valuable lesson – to be a sports journalists – or a journalist of any type for a matter of fact – you have to have a wide understanding of a range of topics, not just sport or politics, but also current affairs and business, for example.
Turning a 500 word press release into a small concise story was very challenging, but I certainly learned a lot from it. It’s important to go for the right angle, taking out all the quotes you don’t need, leaving just the important parts. In fact, just a few days before we went through a similar process as part of our radio module, turning a press release into a short news bulletin, so this certainly came in handy for me. As I was going through the various press releases through the week I was always thinking about how I could get this to work through the various other forms of journalism, such as TV and Radio. From this first day I could begin to see how the public relations and journalists combined together in the same office to produce stories. It was also interesting to see how those I was working with decided which stories to go with, a process that is repeated every day.
I got the opportunity to spend the following day out-and-about visiting different locations. I began by attending an early morning media day at the Swalec Stadium, Cardiff. This was my first opportunity to mingle with different journalists and pick up some useful tips. This was also my first experience of an open media day, where journalists from all backgrounds – print, radio and TV – came together to interview players and back-room staff. I knew before we arrived at the stadium that we would have to get potential questions ready to ask the players. I was also told of the importance of selling stories to the national press when working for an agency such as this, so it was key to think about potential angles for stories all the time.
I was fortunate that in my time with Westgate a big sports story broke with Gavin Henson being sacked by Cardiff Blues. This gave me the opportunity to see how the journalists reacted to a breaking news story, which came late in the day, meaning many had to stay behind to make sure the stories would make the papers the following morning. On the back of this story I attended a Cardiff Blues press conference, which was full with journalists wanting to get more on the story. I have attended press conferences before as part of my TV module, but this felt much different with it being covered by every major newspaper, as well as radio and television crews from every corner of the country.
Once the press conference was out of the way, we managed to speak to a couple of players. Westgate have a contract to produce stories for ERC Rugby’s website, so we managed to secure an interview with rugby star Leigh Halfpenny. This experience was priceless, as I not only got to meet a Welsh icon, but also managed to interview him as part of an exclusive. Of course, I have learned all about interview techniques during my journalism course, so this came in handy when it came to speaking to some of the players.
After this interview I was given the task of transcribing what we had recorded with Halfpenny. This proved a long task, but after picking up some tips from the journalists in the office I managed to speed my way through the 15 minute long interview, before using what I had to create an article for the ERC website. What I learned from this transcribing task is that you don’t necessarily have to type out every single word, but instead just a selection of quotes that will make a good story, as well as always thinking about the big quote which will give you your angle. I also learned from this task that shorthand is still a vital skill to have available, especially when a deadline is approaching and you may not have time to transcribe.
The following day began with my colleagues going over what I had written regarding Leigh Halfpenny and they were both impressed with my work (so impressed they had offered me some additional work). They liked the angle I had gone for, but sent the article back over for me to make some minor changes before filing for the ERC website to put up on the site. I understand why they had made this decision as I had made a factual error in the article; this was simply down to my lack of rugby knowledge, but they gave me some brilliant advice on how to improve on this. The experienced journalists told me of the importance of selling the story through the opening couple of paragraphs – this is even more important when working for an agency - so with this in mind I made some tweaks to the story before seeing it up online, which was great feeling.
Later that day I set off to the Liberty Stadium in Swansea. This in many ways was the highlight of my working week, with me getting the chance to meet Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers. One of the major things I learned during this week of work experience is the importance of striking relationships with players and managers (or local politicians, community officers, etc) as well as building up contacts. Brendan Rodgers was brilliant with the media, with a real bond between the manager and journalists, meaning he was more open and willing to give stories that he knew would help sell newspapers.
Something else I learned during this Swansea ‘presser’ is the fact that the print journalists tend to stay away from the broadcast journalists. It must be remembered that for many of these print journalists who are writing for newspapers, these stories will not be making the papers until the following day, whereas the broadcast journalists will be getting it out on air within the hour in some cases. This meant that the print journalists would go to one side with the manager to get their own stories that would be different to those that the broadcast journalists would be airing throughout the day.
During my week of work experience, I also learnt all about the bond in place between fellow journalists. It is often thought that in a highly competitive industry, the journalists will compete to find exclusive stories - in many ways this is true, but these journalists worked together to ask a range of questions to managers and players in order to find the story they would run with. Following on from this, the bond between the journalists was so strong that they would have a gentleman’s agreement that certain stories couldn’t be printed until such-and-such a day, with this embargo meaning they have enough material to run for the week.
Due to the delay of the Swansea presser, I was asked me to stay behind to type up a feature on Swansea winger Nathan Dyer. This taught me all about the pressures of the journalism industry – deadlines are everything! As it turned out the feature didn’t get published in any of the major papers, but it taught me a valuable lesson that you can’t let these things get to you. Journalists for agencies such as Westgate know they could write what they believe to be a brilliant article, but it will be for nothing if no newspapers want it.
I arrived early for my final day in order to attend a re-scheduled Llanelli Scarlets presser, which worked in the same way as the two previous press-conferences I had attended during the week. Incredibly, many of these media rooms had a lack of signal, so when I was given the task to write a story on my phone for the ERC website whilst we were waiting for the presser to begin, it became a bit stressful trying to submit it. I didn’t let this show however, and I managed to make the deadline, with the story later being published online.
To conclude, this week of work experience gave me an incredible amount of experience. From attending high profile press conferences, to meeting sports superstars and getting a chance to speak to some journalists of different backgrounds. The week gave me the chance to show off some of the skills I have picked up from my journalism course, as well as learning some new stuff along the way. Through interacting with journalists of different backgrounds, I got a real insight into what it takes to succeed in the industry, and what I need to do in order to fulfil my ambition of being a sports writer. Most importantly, this week gave me the chance to build up some contacts, and feel the pressure of meeting deadlines – though all-in-all it was highly enjoyable and rewarding.
westgate sports agency - 2013
Following my week of work experience with Westgate in 2012, the agency asked me if I was willing to fill in for a couple of weekends where I was tasked with contacting local rugby clubs, collating match scores/ scorers and filling these into the company database where they could be accessed by partner companies.
This fortnight of paid work helped build my communication skills, before returning to Westgate a year later in the Spring of 2013 to conduct some more time with the company. Instead of writing a standard report on my second stint with the Cardiff-based agency, I instead turned this into an essay-type document, linking my experiences into some of the key themes of journalism.
During the three years of my journalism course, I have picked up some key skills which have allowed me to get a feel of what it is like to work in an industry that has been in the spotlight throughout my time of study. Whether it is the phone hacking scandal which culminated in a once well respected newspaper – The News of the World – ceasing publication, or the drawn-out inquiry into press regulation, of which the after effects have still yet to be fully felt – journalism is currently undergoing somewhat of a tough time.
In this report I will look at the key themes in the world of journalism, linking in some of my own experiences along the way, including a 10 day work placement conducted at Westgate Sports Agency, as well as my work as Sports Editor with The Phoenix newspaper across the past seven months.
I will begin by looking at the importance of journalism, which, as stated by Wahl-Jorgensen “has been the target of ongoing discourse both in support and critique of its performance, though no existing conversation about it has suggested its irrelevance” (2009: 31). The author, who actually studied journalism himself just down the road at Cardiff University, makes an interesting point with regards to no conversation being about the “irrelevance” of journalism. Though the industry may be going through a tough time in terms of public trust, journalism is still there to perform the roles it always has done: build communities, act as a wathchdog and inform the public.
During my time with Westgate Sports Agency – a company based in the heart of Cardiff providing the national press and various websites with sports stories – I was tasked with compiling a range of articles on Welsh rugby. Though I’m not writing an article on a huge news story, I am still, as a journalist, informing the public – in this case Welsh rugby supporters.
Likewise my work with The Phoenix newspaper has put me in a position where I have been tasked with setting up a range of interviews in order to help build up this community (Glamorgan students), and to inform sports players of all the latest goings-on through the use of various sources to help compile stories. Kovach and Rosenstiel focus on this point, going into some more depth with regards to the importance of trust, saying: “Journalists who select sources to express what is really their own point of view, and then use the neutral voice to make it seem objective, are engaged in a form of deception.” Though much of my work for The Phoenix – as well as with Westgate Sports Agency, for that matter – was never going to lead to me facing a Leveson-esque trial, certain articles, such as one where I focused on the merger between Glamorgan and Newport from a sports perspective, would need to ensure I was selecting a source to “express what is really their point of view”, before using my “neutral voice” to make the article objective, whilst at the same time selling the story, so to speak.
One sports journalist discussed with me the finer details of journalism with regards to acting as a watchdog. It’s the task of the journalist to ensure the public are constantly informed, which comes down to asking the right questions, speaking to the right people and then putting this across to the reader. Sports journalism – an area of the industry I would like to one day work in – has produced some fabulous undercover stories in recent years, the highest profile of which being the Pakistan cricket match fixing which was uncovered by the now defunct News of the World. He went on to say that, though sports journalists don’t tend to go undercover to find stories, it is still just as important to ask the right questions. This proved good advice when it came to interviewing various rugby stars for one of my own articles during work experience, where I ensured by asking the right questions, I was able to put together an article which would help to inform the public – showing how the journalist operates.
Freelancing, citizen journalism & the internet
Of course, journalism is very much a business, though with well publicised sales figures falling, as well as an apparent increase in ‘citizen journalists’, is the industry as we know it dying? In short: No. Journalism has been changing for the best part of a century, with numerous ethical issues along the way. From the American yellow press in the 1890s which played on the emotions of American citizens to help sell newspapers, through to the recent Leveson Inquiry which found that the existing Press Complaints Commission is not sufficient, with a new independent body being recommended – it is an industry that has gone through numerous changes, with many issues along the way.
Sticking with this theme of the business side of journalism, across my time studying, particularly in my final year where I have gone out of my way to discuss various journalistic topics with established journalists, I have been told of the importance of freelance journalism and blogging – the latter of which is a key aspect of the modern day industry. One freelance journalist working for magazines such as FourFourTwo, Champions, 11Freunde and Tagesspiegel – four leading football publications in Britain and Germany – gave me some key advice with regards to breaking into what is a highly competitive industry.
As he told me, freelancing offers the opportunity for a journalist looking to make their first steps in the industry to gain some wider knowledge and begin building a strong media CV. Like with other journalists I have talked to, they agree that freelancing can be used as a platform to showcase talents to an employer who may then feel inclined to take you on permanently, with some good advice on offer from freelance journalists in the industry to help along the way. This works alongside blogging which again can help build up a wider knowledge of a certain area of journalism, though in the modern day it appears that more and more general members of the public – non-journalists, so to speak - are now blogging away - in some cases making more money than qualified journalists.
The effect that blogging has on the media industry as a whole is a much discussed topic, with one academic stating: "The blogging community itself does not increase or decrease the intrinsic vulnerabilities of journalism. However, because bloggers exist as a rival, vulnerabilities become salient to the occupation, and journalists are more likely to reconstruct and redefine the practice and processes of journalism in order to protect the occupation" (Lowry, 2006: 493).
This is an interesting point which suggests that journalists are adapting to the “processes of journalism”, with one such example being the inclusion of many blogs indented alongside news stories. The BBC are a classic example of this where in almost every news story they will now include an “analysis” box alongside the article - showing the effect blogging has had on the industry on a smaller scale, with news corporations now adapting to this.
This in turn links into a key question in terms of the increase in the number of citizen journalists, and paying to read a journalists story over a blogger, for example. This comes down to personal opinion, but I would certainly like to think that by paying to read a news story compiled by a professional journalist, it can be reliable and trustworthy – something which can’t always be the case when reading an anonymous blog on the internet. Though this “reliability” is now being questioned due to certain scandals, which I will look at in more detail further into this report.
There is no denying that the journalism industry is adapting to changes, such as the shift towards the internet and the more recent introduction of firewalls. During work experience I was engaged in a conversation with a BBC sports journalist, who told me all about the key to the internet in modern journalism – or more specifically, the importance of being able to get a news story ‘live’ on the internet as soon as possible. This was highlighted when covering one of numerous press conferences with Westgate when journalists would rush out to produce stories to go online, which were then altered slightly for the following day’s newspapers. Though none of my stories made it into the national newspapers, I still had a go at putting myself in the deep end by producing news stories alongside fellow journalists within a short time frame. It proved a worthwhile task and showed just how important it is to be able to work under pressure situations – something which is vital in this industry.
It was interesting to hear after speaking to the BBC journalist that the corporation’s online viewing figures peak at around 08:00, 12:30 and 17:30 during weekday’s – breakfast time, lunchtime and teatime. This to me suggests that many will consume news on the go, rather than going out of their way to read news stories. As a regular commuter on the train, it is fascinating to see how the number of newspaper readers compares with those reading news on their phones – a sign of the times perhaps that the vast majority prefer to instead catch up on the latest news on their phones, rather than pick up a newspaper.
It’s also a sign of the times that more and more journalists appear to be losing their jobs through cuts, highlighted by Media Wales who made a number of redundancies throughout the three big local publications – South Wales Echo, Western Mail and Wales on Sunday. One of those journalists who lost his job with the company, Tim Lewis, was recruited by Westgate Sports Agency soon after – an example of how building up relationships in the industry can help when times look bleak.
Though to help combat these falling sales figures, which in turn lead to the cuts, news corporations such as The Times introduced a paywall, which could be a more common sight in years to come if the scare stories are anything to go by. Despite this attempt to draw in more money, it appears that this system is not working to an extent, as seen in this article courtesy of The Guardian, which ironically enough comes in the form of a blog post from journalist Peter Preston.
Despite this bleak image being painted that the internet is killing journalism, the industry as a whole can use the internet to help promote stories through the use of social networking. In previous essays I have looked at the pros and cons of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as the challenges facing the modern day journalist. Social media has revolutionised certain aspects of journalism, including sourcing contacts – it is now easier than ever to find stories and contacts through sites such as Twitter.
These aspects of citizen journalism and social media can link together in order to highlight how the industry today can use a group of people to help write articles – whether it is freelance journalists or members of the public, we are seeing more and more these days examples of all these aspects coming together in order to compile stories. This article helps to show how on the day of the London bombings in 2007, the BBC news website used a collection of images sent to them by citizens who were at the scene. The public can use the website to submit videos, photos, written accounts, etc, which the BBC would then collate to write various articles taking different angles on the story. This wasn’t necessarily the first time a news organisation had done this, and it certainly wasn’t the last time as the recent Boston Bombings have shown. The industry is now, more than ever, using citizen journalism to its full advantage; though it could be argued that because of sites such as Twitter, it’s now the public informing the news of key events, rather than vice-versa.
The increase in citizen journalism is one of many tactics that have been used to help keep the industry flowing. "Over the years, various tactics have been used in an attempt to reverse the trend,” said Flemming et al in An Introduction to Journalism. “These range from changing the editorial stance, as the Mirror did for a short time post September 11th [2001], to price-cutting wars, and even giving them away for free to try to tempt a new readership to buy them in the future" (2005: 9). This point raised suggests that newspapers are trying to change various aspects, whether that is to do with internal measures – replacing editors, bringing in new journalists, etc – or through more external measures such as giving away free newspapers or adapting the style in the same way as i newspaper, which used a unique style of layout to appeal to its target audience.
To link this in with my own experience with The Phoenix, we have integrated social media into the newspaper through the inclusion of ‘Twitter-handles’ in by-lines of articles, as well as using social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook to help publicise the newspaper and sell stories so to speak, giving readers a little taste of what they can find in the latest issue. This is not a revolutionary tactic, but it’s an example of the changing face of the industry; journalism is not dying out, it is merely adapting to the modern times.
Pressures facing the industry
Though I have so far deliberately tried to remain optimistic and pick out the advantages of various revolutionary changes in the industry, there is one aspect that is having a big effect on journalism - ethics, or more specifically, the trust the public has in the journalist diminishing due to recent events. As previously mentioned, there have always been ethical issues with regards to journalism, such as the yellow press in the late 1800s through to the more recent blame pointed towards members of the media for the death of Princess Diana.
There is one book – The Universal Journalist – that has helped me throughout my years studying journalism, and author David Randall delves deeper into journalism ethics, saying: “To the outside, journalism and ethics are about as incongruous a mixture as you can get; even to put the two words in the same sentence is to risk reducing the listener to helpless laughter” (2007: 247). I agree with this point to an extent, though as time has moved on since this book was first published, certain ethical issues have become more prominent, making the public more aware of journalism ethics. Randall goes on to say that “Editors, pressured by intense competition for readers, demand that staff cut ethical corners; and competition among staff encourages some to respond.” During my time with Westgate, I had to keep in mind the key ethical issues surrounding journalism to ensure there would be no problems with my articles. As previously touched on, my articles were not necessarily groundbreaking journalism which would see me uncover major issues which would shake the sporting industry, though I still had to ensure that everything I had learned across my journalism course was put to good use.
As the fairly recent Lord McAlpine Twitter scandal highlighted, though social media can be used to aid journalists - as well as the public - it can also have the opposite effect. As discussed in an online blog on the Guardian’s website, journalist Paul Tweed goes into more depth with regards to the McAlpine story, saying: “While the BBC have absolutely no excuse for what was, at best, a total lapse in journalistic ethics and principles, Lord McAlpine's identity may not have been exposed in the public domain in the past due to the discipline imposed on the mainstream press media by our libel laws” (Tweed, 2012). These libel laws have been emphasised by the recent scandal, though is something that myself, along with all fellow journalism students, will be fully aware of. There is likely to come a time in our careers where we will need to be aware of these laws up close – along with other aspects of media law – in order to compile certain stories.
These recent events, along with the ongoing debate regarding the Leveson Inquiry findings, have led to a decline in public trust. During work experience I was tasked with looking through local and national newspapers, as well as a range of online articles to find potential follow-up stories to work on. During this task I was amazed to see so many apologies in newspapers made to sports stars. In context, journalists write thousands of stories a day across the country under pressure and with time deadlines, so mistakes, you could say, are inevitable. But this goes to show that it’s important that as a journalist you clarify facts before publishing, no matter what the story. It’s vital to have a good understanding of the ethics and regulations of journalism in order to produce reliable news stories. It is an industry heavily scrutinised, though it’s vital to remain an ethical journalist throughout.
Conclusion: The future of journalism
Ethical and trust issues such as the Lord McAlpine and Jimmy Savile Newsnight scandals, are putting the media industry as a whole under the public spotlight more now more than ever. There is a key question to be asked: Where is the future of journalism heading? It would be silly to try to predict where the industry will be in the long-term, as many previous predictions have proved well off the mark. Many suggest that the internet – or more specifically online journalism – will eventually kill off newspapers, though a recent journalism review concluded that:
“It is unlikely that any but the smallest of these [Web-based] news organisations can be supported primarily by existing online revenue. The absence of a strong online revenue stream whether in the form of donation, subscription or advertising means that the future growth of independent Web-based journalism will be retarded, unless steps are taken to change this” (Curran, 2009: 471).
In brief, this study suggests that the web will not be the be-all and end-all in terms of print-based journalism, which will continue to be around in the near future at least. The impact the internet can have on newspapers is a well discussed subject area, though there are other issues to look at in terms of the future of journalism at a more local level. At a recent seminar regarding ‘The Future of the Press in Wales’, investigative reporter, Martin Shipton, raised the point that “90% of people in Wales are reading papers that haven’t got any Welsh news in them.” This was touched on to an extent by media entrepreneur Darren Broome in his guest speaker slot, where he agreed with this point, as well as in this recent article which looks at how citizen journalism has big role in Wales. Here, the professor of digital economy at Cardiff University, Ian Hargreaves, says that citizen journalists have a big role to play in the future of Welsh media, saying: “The attractive idea behind the new online community journalism is that it can be anywhere.” This article helps to link in the themes of the future of the press in Wales, as well as the role of citizen journalists - in my opinion, I agree with Hargreaves in a sense that citizen journalism should be looked at positively, rather than with a negative outlook.
This report from a year ago courtesy of the National Assembly of Wales also looks into the future of the press in Wales. The report raises some interesting issues, such as the fact that journalists now have to produce material for more platforms. “Convergence has only worsened the situation as journalists attempt to produce material for more outlets and platforms with less and less resources,” began the report. “New media provision - digital and online - is too often being produced on a shoestring, and is in reality dependant on the core radio/television/print services consistently under attack.”
As this report suggests, new(ish) platforms have led to journalists attempting to “produce material for more outlets with less and less resources.” Journalism is now consumed through mobile phones and tablets, alongside the traditional platform of television, radio, and of course, newspapers. Advertisement remains a key player in the survival of newspapers which helps to balance out falling sales, though it could be argued that these adverts have not moved across to the online platform. As another report suggests, “one obvious but not often noted aspect of news is that while its production is still referred to in industrial terms, the field is no longer an industry” (Benton, 2012: 44). So with this in mind, how important is it that journalists adapt to the audiences, rather than the other way around? I found it interesting to see that Richard Gurner of the Caerphilly Observer – a website which acts in the same way as a newspaper, except it is online based – had plans to move into the print industry. Perhaps Richard can capitalise on the market, though it certainly goes against the times to launch a newspaper in this day-and-age. This is something we found out with The Phoenix as the newspaper, despite all the positive feedback and being available for free, still wasn’t as highly read as expected.
To sum up, the journalism industry has gone through many changes throughout its existence, but perhaps now more than ever it is under the spotlight due to the Leveson Inquiry and various other scandals that I have looked at in this report. Though certain areas such as social networking sites and the internet can be looked at as the demise of journalism, with the increase in citizen journalists and less need to go out and buy a newspaper, the web can also play a big part in helping the industry.
Across my three years studying journalism, as well as my 10 day work placement in my final year, alongside guest speakers, work for The Phoenix and conversations with established journalists, I have witnessed firsthand the changes the industry is going through. It is unclear to say where journalism will be in 10 years time, though if the past is anything to go by, the industry will simply adapt to the changes, with journalists continuing to conduct the same role they have done now for over a century.
This fortnight of paid work helped build my communication skills, before returning to Westgate a year later in the Spring of 2013 to conduct some more time with the company. Instead of writing a standard report on my second stint with the Cardiff-based agency, I instead turned this into an essay-type document, linking my experiences into some of the key themes of journalism.
During the three years of my journalism course, I have picked up some key skills which have allowed me to get a feel of what it is like to work in an industry that has been in the spotlight throughout my time of study. Whether it is the phone hacking scandal which culminated in a once well respected newspaper – The News of the World – ceasing publication, or the drawn-out inquiry into press regulation, of which the after effects have still yet to be fully felt – journalism is currently undergoing somewhat of a tough time.
In this report I will look at the key themes in the world of journalism, linking in some of my own experiences along the way, including a 10 day work placement conducted at Westgate Sports Agency, as well as my work as Sports Editor with The Phoenix newspaper across the past seven months.
I will begin by looking at the importance of journalism, which, as stated by Wahl-Jorgensen “has been the target of ongoing discourse both in support and critique of its performance, though no existing conversation about it has suggested its irrelevance” (2009: 31). The author, who actually studied journalism himself just down the road at Cardiff University, makes an interesting point with regards to no conversation being about the “irrelevance” of journalism. Though the industry may be going through a tough time in terms of public trust, journalism is still there to perform the roles it always has done: build communities, act as a wathchdog and inform the public.
During my time with Westgate Sports Agency – a company based in the heart of Cardiff providing the national press and various websites with sports stories – I was tasked with compiling a range of articles on Welsh rugby. Though I’m not writing an article on a huge news story, I am still, as a journalist, informing the public – in this case Welsh rugby supporters.
Likewise my work with The Phoenix newspaper has put me in a position where I have been tasked with setting up a range of interviews in order to help build up this community (Glamorgan students), and to inform sports players of all the latest goings-on through the use of various sources to help compile stories. Kovach and Rosenstiel focus on this point, going into some more depth with regards to the importance of trust, saying: “Journalists who select sources to express what is really their own point of view, and then use the neutral voice to make it seem objective, are engaged in a form of deception.” Though much of my work for The Phoenix – as well as with Westgate Sports Agency, for that matter – was never going to lead to me facing a Leveson-esque trial, certain articles, such as one where I focused on the merger between Glamorgan and Newport from a sports perspective, would need to ensure I was selecting a source to “express what is really their point of view”, before using my “neutral voice” to make the article objective, whilst at the same time selling the story, so to speak.
One sports journalist discussed with me the finer details of journalism with regards to acting as a watchdog. It’s the task of the journalist to ensure the public are constantly informed, which comes down to asking the right questions, speaking to the right people and then putting this across to the reader. Sports journalism – an area of the industry I would like to one day work in – has produced some fabulous undercover stories in recent years, the highest profile of which being the Pakistan cricket match fixing which was uncovered by the now defunct News of the World. He went on to say that, though sports journalists don’t tend to go undercover to find stories, it is still just as important to ask the right questions. This proved good advice when it came to interviewing various rugby stars for one of my own articles during work experience, where I ensured by asking the right questions, I was able to put together an article which would help to inform the public – showing how the journalist operates.
Freelancing, citizen journalism & the internet
Of course, journalism is very much a business, though with well publicised sales figures falling, as well as an apparent increase in ‘citizen journalists’, is the industry as we know it dying? In short: No. Journalism has been changing for the best part of a century, with numerous ethical issues along the way. From the American yellow press in the 1890s which played on the emotions of American citizens to help sell newspapers, through to the recent Leveson Inquiry which found that the existing Press Complaints Commission is not sufficient, with a new independent body being recommended – it is an industry that has gone through numerous changes, with many issues along the way.
Sticking with this theme of the business side of journalism, across my time studying, particularly in my final year where I have gone out of my way to discuss various journalistic topics with established journalists, I have been told of the importance of freelance journalism and blogging – the latter of which is a key aspect of the modern day industry. One freelance journalist working for magazines such as FourFourTwo, Champions, 11Freunde and Tagesspiegel – four leading football publications in Britain and Germany – gave me some key advice with regards to breaking into what is a highly competitive industry.
As he told me, freelancing offers the opportunity for a journalist looking to make their first steps in the industry to gain some wider knowledge and begin building a strong media CV. Like with other journalists I have talked to, they agree that freelancing can be used as a platform to showcase talents to an employer who may then feel inclined to take you on permanently, with some good advice on offer from freelance journalists in the industry to help along the way. This works alongside blogging which again can help build up a wider knowledge of a certain area of journalism, though in the modern day it appears that more and more general members of the public – non-journalists, so to speak - are now blogging away - in some cases making more money than qualified journalists.
The effect that blogging has on the media industry as a whole is a much discussed topic, with one academic stating: "The blogging community itself does not increase or decrease the intrinsic vulnerabilities of journalism. However, because bloggers exist as a rival, vulnerabilities become salient to the occupation, and journalists are more likely to reconstruct and redefine the practice and processes of journalism in order to protect the occupation" (Lowry, 2006: 493).
This is an interesting point which suggests that journalists are adapting to the “processes of journalism”, with one such example being the inclusion of many blogs indented alongside news stories. The BBC are a classic example of this where in almost every news story they will now include an “analysis” box alongside the article - showing the effect blogging has had on the industry on a smaller scale, with news corporations now adapting to this.
This in turn links into a key question in terms of the increase in the number of citizen journalists, and paying to read a journalists story over a blogger, for example. This comes down to personal opinion, but I would certainly like to think that by paying to read a news story compiled by a professional journalist, it can be reliable and trustworthy – something which can’t always be the case when reading an anonymous blog on the internet. Though this “reliability” is now being questioned due to certain scandals, which I will look at in more detail further into this report.
There is no denying that the journalism industry is adapting to changes, such as the shift towards the internet and the more recent introduction of firewalls. During work experience I was engaged in a conversation with a BBC sports journalist, who told me all about the key to the internet in modern journalism – or more specifically, the importance of being able to get a news story ‘live’ on the internet as soon as possible. This was highlighted when covering one of numerous press conferences with Westgate when journalists would rush out to produce stories to go online, which were then altered slightly for the following day’s newspapers. Though none of my stories made it into the national newspapers, I still had a go at putting myself in the deep end by producing news stories alongside fellow journalists within a short time frame. It proved a worthwhile task and showed just how important it is to be able to work under pressure situations – something which is vital in this industry.
It was interesting to hear after speaking to the BBC journalist that the corporation’s online viewing figures peak at around 08:00, 12:30 and 17:30 during weekday’s – breakfast time, lunchtime and teatime. This to me suggests that many will consume news on the go, rather than going out of their way to read news stories. As a regular commuter on the train, it is fascinating to see how the number of newspaper readers compares with those reading news on their phones – a sign of the times perhaps that the vast majority prefer to instead catch up on the latest news on their phones, rather than pick up a newspaper.
It’s also a sign of the times that more and more journalists appear to be losing their jobs through cuts, highlighted by Media Wales who made a number of redundancies throughout the three big local publications – South Wales Echo, Western Mail and Wales on Sunday. One of those journalists who lost his job with the company, Tim Lewis, was recruited by Westgate Sports Agency soon after – an example of how building up relationships in the industry can help when times look bleak.
Though to help combat these falling sales figures, which in turn lead to the cuts, news corporations such as The Times introduced a paywall, which could be a more common sight in years to come if the scare stories are anything to go by. Despite this attempt to draw in more money, it appears that this system is not working to an extent, as seen in this article courtesy of The Guardian, which ironically enough comes in the form of a blog post from journalist Peter Preston.
Despite this bleak image being painted that the internet is killing journalism, the industry as a whole can use the internet to help promote stories through the use of social networking. In previous essays I have looked at the pros and cons of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as the challenges facing the modern day journalist. Social media has revolutionised certain aspects of journalism, including sourcing contacts – it is now easier than ever to find stories and contacts through sites such as Twitter.
These aspects of citizen journalism and social media can link together in order to highlight how the industry today can use a group of people to help write articles – whether it is freelance journalists or members of the public, we are seeing more and more these days examples of all these aspects coming together in order to compile stories. This article helps to show how on the day of the London bombings in 2007, the BBC news website used a collection of images sent to them by citizens who were at the scene. The public can use the website to submit videos, photos, written accounts, etc, which the BBC would then collate to write various articles taking different angles on the story. This wasn’t necessarily the first time a news organisation had done this, and it certainly wasn’t the last time as the recent Boston Bombings have shown. The industry is now, more than ever, using citizen journalism to its full advantage; though it could be argued that because of sites such as Twitter, it’s now the public informing the news of key events, rather than vice-versa.
The increase in citizen journalism is one of many tactics that have been used to help keep the industry flowing. "Over the years, various tactics have been used in an attempt to reverse the trend,” said Flemming et al in An Introduction to Journalism. “These range from changing the editorial stance, as the Mirror did for a short time post September 11th [2001], to price-cutting wars, and even giving them away for free to try to tempt a new readership to buy them in the future" (2005: 9). This point raised suggests that newspapers are trying to change various aspects, whether that is to do with internal measures – replacing editors, bringing in new journalists, etc – or through more external measures such as giving away free newspapers or adapting the style in the same way as i newspaper, which used a unique style of layout to appeal to its target audience.
To link this in with my own experience with The Phoenix, we have integrated social media into the newspaper through the inclusion of ‘Twitter-handles’ in by-lines of articles, as well as using social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook to help publicise the newspaper and sell stories so to speak, giving readers a little taste of what they can find in the latest issue. This is not a revolutionary tactic, but it’s an example of the changing face of the industry; journalism is not dying out, it is merely adapting to the modern times.
Pressures facing the industry
Though I have so far deliberately tried to remain optimistic and pick out the advantages of various revolutionary changes in the industry, there is one aspect that is having a big effect on journalism - ethics, or more specifically, the trust the public has in the journalist diminishing due to recent events. As previously mentioned, there have always been ethical issues with regards to journalism, such as the yellow press in the late 1800s through to the more recent blame pointed towards members of the media for the death of Princess Diana.
There is one book – The Universal Journalist – that has helped me throughout my years studying journalism, and author David Randall delves deeper into journalism ethics, saying: “To the outside, journalism and ethics are about as incongruous a mixture as you can get; even to put the two words in the same sentence is to risk reducing the listener to helpless laughter” (2007: 247). I agree with this point to an extent, though as time has moved on since this book was first published, certain ethical issues have become more prominent, making the public more aware of journalism ethics. Randall goes on to say that “Editors, pressured by intense competition for readers, demand that staff cut ethical corners; and competition among staff encourages some to respond.” During my time with Westgate, I had to keep in mind the key ethical issues surrounding journalism to ensure there would be no problems with my articles. As previously touched on, my articles were not necessarily groundbreaking journalism which would see me uncover major issues which would shake the sporting industry, though I still had to ensure that everything I had learned across my journalism course was put to good use.
As the fairly recent Lord McAlpine Twitter scandal highlighted, though social media can be used to aid journalists - as well as the public - it can also have the opposite effect. As discussed in an online blog on the Guardian’s website, journalist Paul Tweed goes into more depth with regards to the McAlpine story, saying: “While the BBC have absolutely no excuse for what was, at best, a total lapse in journalistic ethics and principles, Lord McAlpine's identity may not have been exposed in the public domain in the past due to the discipline imposed on the mainstream press media by our libel laws” (Tweed, 2012). These libel laws have been emphasised by the recent scandal, though is something that myself, along with all fellow journalism students, will be fully aware of. There is likely to come a time in our careers where we will need to be aware of these laws up close – along with other aspects of media law – in order to compile certain stories.
These recent events, along with the ongoing debate regarding the Leveson Inquiry findings, have led to a decline in public trust. During work experience I was tasked with looking through local and national newspapers, as well as a range of online articles to find potential follow-up stories to work on. During this task I was amazed to see so many apologies in newspapers made to sports stars. In context, journalists write thousands of stories a day across the country under pressure and with time deadlines, so mistakes, you could say, are inevitable. But this goes to show that it’s important that as a journalist you clarify facts before publishing, no matter what the story. It’s vital to have a good understanding of the ethics and regulations of journalism in order to produce reliable news stories. It is an industry heavily scrutinised, though it’s vital to remain an ethical journalist throughout.
Conclusion: The future of journalism
Ethical and trust issues such as the Lord McAlpine and Jimmy Savile Newsnight scandals, are putting the media industry as a whole under the public spotlight more now more than ever. There is a key question to be asked: Where is the future of journalism heading? It would be silly to try to predict where the industry will be in the long-term, as many previous predictions have proved well off the mark. Many suggest that the internet – or more specifically online journalism – will eventually kill off newspapers, though a recent journalism review concluded that:
“It is unlikely that any but the smallest of these [Web-based] news organisations can be supported primarily by existing online revenue. The absence of a strong online revenue stream whether in the form of donation, subscription or advertising means that the future growth of independent Web-based journalism will be retarded, unless steps are taken to change this” (Curran, 2009: 471).
In brief, this study suggests that the web will not be the be-all and end-all in terms of print-based journalism, which will continue to be around in the near future at least. The impact the internet can have on newspapers is a well discussed subject area, though there are other issues to look at in terms of the future of journalism at a more local level. At a recent seminar regarding ‘The Future of the Press in Wales’, investigative reporter, Martin Shipton, raised the point that “90% of people in Wales are reading papers that haven’t got any Welsh news in them.” This was touched on to an extent by media entrepreneur Darren Broome in his guest speaker slot, where he agreed with this point, as well as in this recent article which looks at how citizen journalism has big role in Wales. Here, the professor of digital economy at Cardiff University, Ian Hargreaves, says that citizen journalists have a big role to play in the future of Welsh media, saying: “The attractive idea behind the new online community journalism is that it can be anywhere.” This article helps to link in the themes of the future of the press in Wales, as well as the role of citizen journalists - in my opinion, I agree with Hargreaves in a sense that citizen journalism should be looked at positively, rather than with a negative outlook.
This report from a year ago courtesy of the National Assembly of Wales also looks into the future of the press in Wales. The report raises some interesting issues, such as the fact that journalists now have to produce material for more platforms. “Convergence has only worsened the situation as journalists attempt to produce material for more outlets and platforms with less and less resources,” began the report. “New media provision - digital and online - is too often being produced on a shoestring, and is in reality dependant on the core radio/television/print services consistently under attack.”
As this report suggests, new(ish) platforms have led to journalists attempting to “produce material for more outlets with less and less resources.” Journalism is now consumed through mobile phones and tablets, alongside the traditional platform of television, radio, and of course, newspapers. Advertisement remains a key player in the survival of newspapers which helps to balance out falling sales, though it could be argued that these adverts have not moved across to the online platform. As another report suggests, “one obvious but not often noted aspect of news is that while its production is still referred to in industrial terms, the field is no longer an industry” (Benton, 2012: 44). So with this in mind, how important is it that journalists adapt to the audiences, rather than the other way around? I found it interesting to see that Richard Gurner of the Caerphilly Observer – a website which acts in the same way as a newspaper, except it is online based – had plans to move into the print industry. Perhaps Richard can capitalise on the market, though it certainly goes against the times to launch a newspaper in this day-and-age. This is something we found out with The Phoenix as the newspaper, despite all the positive feedback and being available for free, still wasn’t as highly read as expected.
To sum up, the journalism industry has gone through many changes throughout its existence, but perhaps now more than ever it is under the spotlight due to the Leveson Inquiry and various other scandals that I have looked at in this report. Though certain areas such as social networking sites and the internet can be looked at as the demise of journalism, with the increase in citizen journalists and less need to go out and buy a newspaper, the web can also play a big part in helping the industry.
Across my three years studying journalism, as well as my 10 day work placement in my final year, alongside guest speakers, work for The Phoenix and conversations with established journalists, I have witnessed firsthand the changes the industry is going through. It is unclear to say where journalism will be in 10 years time, though if the past is anything to go by, the industry will simply adapt to the changes, with journalists continuing to conduct the same role they have done now for over a century.