Dear reader, Link via Krishna Prasad, who blogs about it on Sans Serif.
These journalists were covering the Russia-Georgia war when bullets started to rain on their car. One of them recorded the incident on his camera.
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Chip Litherland, a photo-journalist from Florida, comes up with fascinating insights into why he loves his job. We select five from the 100 reasons he has listed:
1. We could be sitting in a cubicle right now processing paperwork....for the rest of our lives.Do read the full article, for most of it is relevant to reporters out in the field as well.
10. The ladies think it's sexy.
40. Everytime you tell someone what you do, they NEVER say "Oh, man, that must suck."
61. Putting down the camera and listening, because people will tell you the damndest things just for being a stranger that cares.
98. Giving a voice to someone who needs it.
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Journalism jobs in the US are being outsourced to India. HT reports:
When the Miami Herald hired Brayden Simms as a fulltime copy editor back in March, the former freelancer assumed his new position meant new job security. He had it wrong: In mid-June, the Florida native learned that his job had been outsourced to Mindworks Global Media, a Noida-based firm that is among the companies fueling a steady migration of American journalism jobs to India.Another such editing shop in Gurgaon, Express KCS, puts it down to the low cost of jobs.
... a copy editor at a medium-sized American newspaper makes between $30,000 to $60,000 per year, compared to between $4,800 and $14,480 at Express KCS.Simms, the copy editor who lost his job, is understandably distressed at this sudden and unexpected loss.
"It's a bit scary, to be out of a job, in an industry particularly lacking of jobs. And it's all so sudden," he wrote on his blog.Jobs Media throws the floor open to readers. What do they feel about this new trend in journalism? While it is a boon for media professionals in India, would these newspapers based abroad suffer a fall in editorial standards due to geographical and cultural differences?
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In addition to our last post, here’s an additional and very important point.
(8) Using SMS and chat slang in your cover letter may also work against you. Applying to a job is considered a formal affair and it is best to use normal, simple, correct and well-punctuated English – which means, pls do nt use wrds such as dese, 4 dey cn b a pain 2 da readr, n ur applctn wd b rejctd.
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Many readers send job applications to Jobs Media. The blog editor is sorry to inform them that we do not harbour any more information about openings than what we post. If we know it, we post it.
Each unsolicited CV we receive is a wasted effort on the sender’s part. If you wish to apply to a job, send it to the contact email mentioned in each job post.
Hence we request readers to not send us applications. We only post job information. We do not actually provide jobs. We do not forward CVs on your behalf.
Jobs Media would also like to share a few tips, based on our observations of the applications received.
(1) Please do not apply to jobs without a cover letter. It reduces your chances of landing that job.
(2) If you’re applying to an employer who does not know you, a well-written cover letter lets the employer know you and your career achievements. If you skip this step, you miss the chance of introducing yourself.
(3) Run a spell-check and grammar check on your application and CV. Mistakes on these documents will reflect poorly upon you, especially when you’re applying for a job in the media where spelling and grammar are sacrosanct.
(4) If you’re unsure about a spelling or a grammar usage, consult your seniors, professors, parents or someone who has a stronger understanding of language.
(5) Try to follow up your email application with a phone call to the employer, or if possible, a visit to his office. A face-to-face interaction would help your application stand out among the hundreds or thousands of other applications that might have been sent for that job opening.
(6) It’s good to be enthusiastic but it’s also important to not push your luck. Some months back, a company had posted on Jobs Media about an opening for a sub editor in their web team. The sensible applicants applied for the job only if it matched their career interests. However, some over-enthusiastic applicants shot off their CVs asking for openings for news readers, camerapersons, producers and what not. On one hand, these applicants were searching for jobs which did not exist. On the other hand, the company spent their valuable time deleting mails from such applicants. It was a waste of time for both parties.
(7) If you do not receive a reply from your prospective employer, you may write to them asking about the status of your application. If you still do not receive a reply, it is advisable to not try too hard. If this employer wants to hire you, he will get back to you.
(8) Using SMS and chat slang in your cover letter may also work against you. Applying to a job is considered a formal affair and it is best to use normal, simple, correct and well-punctuated English – which means, pls do nt use wrds such as dese, 4 dey cn b a pain 2 da readr, n ur applctn wd b rejctd.
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Mark S. Luckie, on his blog 10,000 Words, writes about the use of technology in journalism.
In a recent article, he marks out the priorities of journalism interns.
In practical life, what he says stands true for interns in other streams as well.
Read the full article.
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Google, the search engine, is popular for its web tools. But it's also very popular among job seekers because of the fun, informal work culture that it fosters. Have a look at their office in Zurich, and even Hyderabad and Gurgaon.
But before you start working with them, Google puts you through several rounds of testing and interviewing. Engineers have to pass a test known as the Google Labs Aptitute Test, or GLAT.
Sample some questions, excerpted from the book The Google Story.
(1) Solve this cryptic equation, realizing of course that the values of M and E could be interchanged. No leading zeroes are allowed.Then, there are the interview questions that leave many fumbling for answers.
WWWDOT - GOOGLE = DOTCOM
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(4) You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. There is a dusty laptop here with a weak wireless connection. There are dull lifeless gnomes strolling about. What dost thou do?
- Wander aimlessly, bumping into obstacles until you are eaten by a gnue.
- Use the laptop as a digging device to tunnel to the next level.
- Play MPoRPG until the battery dies along with your hopes.
- Use the computer to map the nodes of the maze and discover an exit path.
- Email your resume to Google, tell the lead gnome you quit and find yourself in a whole different world.
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(11) It's 2 PM on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the Bay Area. You're minutes away from the Pacific Ocean, redwood forest hiking trails and world class cultural attractions. What would you do?
More here.
- How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?
- You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?
- You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?
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Russert with his trademark dry-erase board during the 2000 presidential election. Wikipedia Photo
Tim Russert, who passed away on June 13, is known as the finest interviewer of his time. Some say he is the best ever.
He was the senior vice president and Washington bureau chief of NBC News, and is mostly remembered for being the longest serving moderator of Meet The Press, which has been on air since 1947 and is the oldest show in TV history.
Russert was declared the best and most influential journalist in Washington, and Meet The Press the most interesting and important hour on television. Time magazine had named Russert among the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2008.
Via Poynter, here are some excerpts from an article titled "How To Interview Like Tim Russert".
Great journalists ask short questions. They are open-ended questions that cannot be answered with a yes or no. They provoke thoughts, opinions, feelings, explanations and emotions from the interviewee.And here's are excerpts from Russert's recent interview of Barak Obama.
Too many pundits ask long, complex, multi-pronged questions to show how smart and connected they are. Not Russert. His questions were short and direct.
It was a vitally important interview for Obama, who was staring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright mess in the face. The first question Russert asked was short, to-the-point and open-ended:The full articleMR. RUSSERT: On Friday you said, "It's been a rough couple of weeks." An understatement. What has the controversy over Reverend Jeremiah Wright done to your campaign?The follow-up question was direct -- a yes or no closed-ended question followed by a second open-ended question. The purpose was to establish a fact and then use that fact to get a more in-depth answer.MR. RUSSERT:You're still a member of the church?
SEN. OBAMA: I am.
MR. RUSSERT: Why do you think he re-emerged?
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Business berliner Mint had recently come up with a study to rate the best communication schools in India. The top ten are thus:
View full table | Download PDF (Via Mint, 1.2 MB)
The study puts Ahmedabad’s MICA on top of the pile and Chennai’s ACJ follows on a close second.
MICA, primarily a communications management school, is conspicuous by its presence since it heads a table full of journalism schools. Mint’s report says:
The MICA director, international relations, too feels that MICA is more of a communication management institute, linking them to Indian Institute of Management (IIMs). “We basically teach management with communications management at the heart. The only difference is that our subjects are different than other management schools and media is only one part of our curriculum,” he adds.So why was MICA included in the study at all?
I am very happy to announce that we have decided to upgrade the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) as an International Media University. The Planning Commission has already approved the proposal and my Ministry is working to make this Institute into a world class media education, training and research University, by an Act of Parliament. This will fulfill [sic] the growing demand of the media industry to provide more trained and qualified professionals. [Via PIB]Readers of this blog who have studied at the colleges mentioned in the study, may disagree with Mint's rankings. Please feel free to discuss the topic. Comments are open to this post.
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To quote from a previous career-development article on Jobs Media:
If getting into journalism means changing the world, trust me, you would be disappointed. If you check out the newspapers or television channels carefully, you would notice, we are not doing BBC style journalism. A lot of it is plain entertainment.
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A journalist with Economic Times expresses writes on what journalism students must expect as they take that step forward from college to professional life:
A few years back, journalists were people who had studied English Literature or had to failed to become engineers or doctors. Today several colleges have graduate and post graduate courses in journalism, and students are investing in them. But a lot of us enter journalism with all the wrong notions. Here is a checklist on what to keep in mind while choosing to be a journalist:Comments are open to this article.
(1) If getting into journalism means changing the world, trust me, you would be disappointed. If you check out the newspapers or television channels carefully, you would notice, we are not doing BBC style journalism. A lot of it is plain entertainment. We can get into a debate of whether it needs to be there or not. But you wouldn't be getting into a position of deciding that very soon. So understand clearly that as long as you are working for a newspaper or a television channel you would be under immense pressure to produce stories on an everyday basis. So changing the world can take a backstage for a long time.
(2) If being a news anchor or a television journalist is your idea of journalism, change it. Journalism is not about glamour and high visibility alone. It is about deadlines, about breaking stories, picking out trends and, most importantly, doing that every day. It could be unlike the West where journalists get to work on their stories for months.
(3) Journalism would also be your way of earning a livelihood and one needs to have a passion for it. It is not a difficult thing to get admission in any of the journalism courses. Maybe even finding a job is getting easier by the day. But sticking to this profession for the next 10 years, and I am just saying 10, would be difficult if don’t have passion.
(4) Strong networking skills are one of the most important things you need to be a journalist. It is not your knowledge of English or any other language alone that can make you successful.
(5) The salaries can be very bad in the beginning. They are getting better now but don't even think of comparing it with any of your friends with a management degree.
(6) Here’s a purely personal opinion, and an appeal to all those who treat journalism as a stop gap arrangement for their CAT or GMAT or GRE or IAS preparations: give this profession some respect.
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How much of your resume is factually correct, and how much of it is fabrication?
Often, one may be tempted to overstate one's achievements, like claiming an unfinished degree — even though one was only a few marks short and had worked very hard for it.
Harvard Business provides some self-tests for your job application:
Other shoe test:• How would you feel if the shoe were on the other foot and you were the hiring manager looking at this resume? What assumptions would you draw and would they be accurate?Read the full article.
• Front-page test: Would you think the same way if your accomplishment in question were reported on the front page of the Wall Street Journal? Or your prior employer's internal newsletter?
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1. Name: Elizabeth Soumya
2. What you wanted to be as a child: Archeologist
3. Current Job: Copywriter
4. Average working hours: 11/day
5. What are some of the typical stressors in your industry? Unreasonable deadlines, late nights, difficult clients who are unsure about what they want, hundreds of reworks on the same copy till it's completely disfigured.
6. What do you do when you are stressed? Listen to music, take a walk
7. On a scale of 0 to 10 (0 being the worst and 10 being the best), how would you rate your work-life balance? 0
8. Which colour de-stresses you the most? Pastel Lemon
9. What can be done to improve work-life balance? Realistic deadlines, better time management to ensure we don't work on weekends, brief motivational quotes by the boss, better pantry, space to de-stress in office, giving us days off for the weekends we work, having an HR department in the same city!
10. Something nice the job? Informal environment and opportunity to do creative work
11. Favourite work quote: "The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one" - Oscar Wilde.
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This interview was brought to you by The Workplace. You can also read our Life Of A... series.
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I am Vani Vedula
I am a Copy Writer with Percept/H, New Delhi
Advertising? How did I land here?
Well, when I was in college, I wanted to get into corporate communication but friends always believed that I was good at creative writing. Eventually after a couple of classes from a well known industry people called Nandu Narsimhan and Shubho Sarkar, I took up copywriting.
What’s a typical day at work like?
Well, it can either be very hectic with lots of briefs flowing in and impractical deadlines from the servicing or a chilled day with moderate work.
Highs and lows (personal, organizational, etc)
I often get depressed over rejection of good work. Because creativity is relative and sometimes your boss or servicing executives might not get your point which basically dumps good works. Besides, late nights and working over the weekend is a big pain. Leaves you with little time for your personal stuff.
Why I think you should be in advertising
If you are crazy, whacky and expressive on paper and have an opinion, you should be in advertising. The only glamorous field, besides films and modeling.
Vani is a copy writer who writes her copies in a copy book first!
Why I think you should not be in advertising
It doesn't pay well in the initial years. This isn't a specialised job. Anyone with good writing skills and a creative mind can become a copywriter. So, since the competition is a lot, hence the lesser pay. Unless you prove your worth.
What nobody will tell you about copy writing
How to write creatively. It's like lycra. Either you have it or you don't.
What do you need to do to get into this industry?
Start working in an agency as soon as possible. Approach a consultant or just mail the creative guys for internship if you are a fresher.
What are your career prospects?
You can really do well if you are talented. If you are not then, be nice to your boss. Follow him to the smoking zone if required. Build that rapport and bond well during booze outings. Be known in the circuit. It pays off.
Would you like to ask Vani questions about her job, or about working with an advertising agency? Mail them to jobsmediablog@gmail.com. The best questions will be handpicked, answered, and published on a later date.
Comments are open for this post. Feel free to talk about anything under the sun.
Previously: Life Of A Music Manager
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Shivani Srivastava, a Music Manager at Big FM, has responded to questions from readers who had written in.
First up, we have Renuka V Suryavanshi from Pune who asks: I would like to apply to the Mumbai or Delhi office of your radio station. How do I go about it? I have completed my Diploma in Journalism and Communication from the University of Pune in 2006-07.
Shivani's reply: To apply you have to mail your CV to our HR department or visit the career page on our website and post your CV there
Next, Chris Ponappa writes in from Bangalore: What dictates the the choice of music on air? Who or what decides what music will be played at what time? And where do you get your music files from?
Shivani replies: Every radio station has its own music policy and according to that a radio station plays the songs. Therefore, there is music scheduler who decides what will play at what time. We buy the CDs from music stores.
Aayesha writes in from Delhi: What are the salaries like for someone who's about to begin his career at an FM station?
Reply: For beginners it is somewhere between Rs. 18,000-20,000.
Brajesh Patel from Ahmedabad wants to know: How normally is the hierarchy of an organisation like yours structured?
Reply: On the top we have Station Head, under whom come the different departments like Programming, Sales, Marketing, Traffic, Public Relation, etc. RJs , Producers, Sound Engineers, Music Scheduler come under Programming.
With this Question+Answer session, we conclude the first part of our 'Life Of A...' series, in which we try to bring you snapshots from the lives of media professionals.
Did you like this article? Is there something else you'd like to read? Talk to us. Tell us what you're looking for. Write in to jobsmediablog@gmail.com
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Our new "Life Of A"... series attempts to bring to you snapshots from the lives of media professionals. This is the first of the series, in which we feature a youngster with an FM radio station.
I am Shivani Srivastava
I work with Big FM, New Delhi, as Music Manager.
Radio? Now how did I land here?
By accident. After completing my diploma in advertising and public relations, I had never dreamed that one day I will be in the radio industry without having any prior knowledge about it. It was like a dream for me to work in the medium which is growing so fast.
So what’s a typical day at work like?
Very challenging and hectic. You have to be passionate about your work. Everyday you do the same thing which becomes boring and monotonous after sometime and then it will be a challenge for you to do some things differently from your competition.
My highs and lows
Once you are into this industry, you don’t get much time for your personal life as your professional life takes most of your time. Radio is a passive medium where you are live and have to mark your position in the niche market.
Why I think you should be in radio
Radio connects you to a huge number of people very easily. At the same time you have to be very creative and spontaneous. Radio is an easy platform to fame. You not only touch the hearts of the masses but also you entertain them and give information about their city, culture, music, anything which is in the interest of the listener. So if you think you have that creativity and spontaneity, then you’re are the right person for this job. 
Shivani at her workstation. Yes, you get two terminals, not one!
Why I think you should not be in radio
Radio is not a place for those who can’t work 24x7. There will be situations like festivals etc., when you have to be at your workstation performing your duties religiously, while your friends will be enjoying that particular moment.
What nobody will tell you about radio
Nobody can tell you what exactly radio is unless you yourself are part of it.
What do you need to do to get into this industry?
There are many institutes like Indian Institute of Mass communication, Simran’s Academy of Radio Management, Roshan Abbas’s EMDI Encompass Institute of Radio Management, etc where you can get thorough knowledge from the gurus of the radio industry. You can also join the radio stations as intern or trainees and can start your classes by working in the live radio station instead of the dummy classes.
What are your career prospects?
It’s a place where you get the money based on your caliber. After 5 years you can be the head of your department.
Would you like to ask Shivani questions about her job, or about working with a radio station? Mail them to jobsmediablog@gmail.com. The best questions will be handpicked, answered, and published on a later date.
Comments are open for this post. Feel free to talk about anything under the sun.
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