Freelancewritingtips.com

Ten tips to help you blog for charity

A version of this post was written for the BMB blog.

As the tragedy of earthquake and tsunami unfolds in Japan, parent bloggers are harnessing the power of social media to help those devastated.

Rebecca at Two Become Four rounded up ways that the community have rallied round: How can we help Japan?

Think you know mummybloggers? Think again

I'VE been reading a bit about how PRs are engaging with bloggers lately and some of the discussion has either been sparked by or led to mentions of a recent trip I shared with six other so-called UK 'mummybloggers' to Walt Disney World.

See this forward thinking post from travel journalist Jeremy Head and this interesting piece by Manchester's Sarah Hartley to see what I mean.

Susanna, from A Modern Mother, recently shared guidance for PRs wanting to contact this group of bloggers and I have been meaning to add my thoughts on her excellent post for a while. The one point I disagreed on was that I write for other people, not for me.

JEEcamp - an 'unconference' for the future of journalism

BIRMINGHAM City University online journalism lecturer Paul Bradshaw has organised a second JEE Camp after the success of a first event last year - and tickets are selling fast.

Paul describes the event, at The Gatehouse, The Bond, Fazeley Street, Digbeth, from 10am on May 8, as being for anyone interested in news, from entrepreneurs to bloggers, developers and those involved in social media.

Going freelance after being made redundant by a regional paper? Some hard-learned lessons to help you on your way

WHAT can self-employed journalists learn from The Apprentice? While fired candidate Anita didn't look after those dreaded fixed costs, many of the rest are so busy fulfilling some crazed 'killer entrepreneur' stereotype, they'll never get anywhere with the people who really count - their customers.

RECENTLY, Dan Mason wrote this post on things to do before being made redundant if you're currently working for a regional news organisation.

I went freelance 10 years ago after working on regional papers. These days my work has grown into running an agency with colleagues. That's why I wanted to share some advice for those starting out on a similar path.

I've learned some hard lessons. Although I left regional papers under different circumstances to redundancy (I needed to go away and be a mum) these pointers are based on the sorts of experiences anyone moving on from local papers to work for themselves are bound to encounter. In these toughest of times, I'd say they are more important than ever.

How do you report on mental distress?

ACCORDING to the charity Open Up, part of Mental Health Media, media reports and headlines use strong and hurtful language to portray people with experience of mental distress as 'dangerous', 'unpredictable', and 'violent'.

These messages are said to have a significant impact on people's assumptions and their opinions on issues like community care and the incidence of violent crimes that are committed by people with experience of mental distress.

I've just become an advisor with Open Up in the West Midlands and look forward to working with them on projects to raise awareness and help sufferers tell their stories to combat discrimination and prejudice.

Is your story true? Check, check and check again

NEWS that a woman lauded as an inspirational survivor of the World Trade Center attacks has been exposed as a fake sends a shiver down the spine.*
It was journalists' dogged detective work that revealed her lies, but how did she get to be so admired in the first place? I'd say it's because there's a general feeling of why the hell would she make this stuff up, isn't there? We do actually want to see the good in people. Do you agree?

“Help, an editor has stolen my idea!”

NOOOOOOO. Stop right there.
What a coincidence, your idea about a calendar for crafts activities has been nicked by a major publishing house? What nonsense!
You can guarantee that the day Victoria Beckham gives a nod to her latest thoughts on health or family, there’ll be plenty of writers – staff and freelance – who’ll be attempting to sell in a piece on “ordinary” women with the same concerns. Except of course, they’ll call them a “case study.”

Independent journalist blazes a trail from Afghanistan

DO you know how to upload, video text and audio? Vaughan Smith is showing how it can be done, by filing compelling reports from Afghanistan, using a combination of the latest social media tools.

Vaughan is part of the Frontline Club, and says freelance colleague and media consultant, Graham Holliday, his experience of blogging, tweeting and posting videos on YouTube is a fine example to aspiring journalists.

How objective can you be?

I VERY much admire the fella in this video, because of his track record in some very important investigative journalism. I also admire him for admitting he "lost it" and saying he shouldn't have done.

There are some topics that I'm not objective on, but can write about objectively - click here for one example.

In this example, I know I would have lost it too. But then I haven't got the guts to do this sort of thing in the first place.

[Linda]

Advice for charities on what can make a good feature

JOURNALISTS who get in touch with charities looking for people to interview, can find themselves in hot water when they show little respect or common courtesy to their potential "case studies."

My approach (and I make no apologies for sounding like I am stating the obvious or being over 'sentimental' as I 'm sure some more hard-bitten souls than me would suggest) is to remember at all times that we are people first and journalists second.

What do I mean by that? Well forget about thinking about someone with a harrowing life story solely as a potential "case study" for a start-off. Why would they want to share the details of their remarkable experience with you if you can't even be polite? And it's not very polite to tell them they'll only "do" if they are good looking, now is it?