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.

Blogger takes on Writers Bureau over advertising claims - and wins

THANKS to Gary Marshall for flagging this up.

Blogger Rob Spence has played a blinder with the Advertising Standards Authority after complaining that claims by The Writers Bureau were misleading.

Rob's post about this is pure gold.  The full adjudication is here.

File under: A victory for common sense.

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?

Building a specialism in your freelance writing career

IF you check out my portfolio here, you'll see that there are several headings for the different subjects I like to write about.

For the time being, "business and careers" is missing and I find myself having to make room to put that section back.

I've added a new one instead - "technology". That's because here I am interviewing a politician's campaign team about their use of 'micro-blogging' for today's Guardian.

What would you do to get a job?

A PR company reports today that one applicant sent their knickers while another sent dodgy pictures.

And no, they didn't get the job. And what's more, I don't think it was this lovely lady on the right, in case you are wondering.