Do you fancy yourself as a VIDEO journalist? Can you confidently do a report from a press event? Does the camera love you?
If the answer is yes, yes, yes, we want you. UK Mobile Report is seeking a TV presenter/video blogger to do video reports and news shorts on a part-time or daily basis. Preference will be given to those who have a blog themselves and know how to upload to YouTube.
Contact us via the contact list at the top of the home page.
Or why not write for UK Mobile Report?
Do you know your 3G from your HSDPA? Do you know why T-Mobile is the biggest operator in the UK and why Virgin is trying to sell up?
If you think you know a thing or two about mobiles or mobility devices I want to hear from you.
Payment is according to ability (more below) but if you think you can write accurately and quickly and you want to get mobile devices to play with why not get in touch?
I look forward to hearing from you. Send a CV and an example of a story (bearing in mind the house rules) to the email below.
Cheers
Ken Young, Editor, UK Mobile Report
UK Mobile Report House Rules
1. Stick to the facts and sub-edit your copy before you send it. If something can be said in four words instead of eight, then cut out the extra. Start a blog on www.blogger.com and upload your stories there so it is easy for us to copy your posts across to UK Mobile Report.
2. Give your opinion at the end. We end many of our pieces with a 'Verdict'. If you want to be opinionated that's the way to do it.
3. Be 'linky'. Scatter good hyperlinks in your copy. To other sites, to other bloggers, to products and services. It helps readers and it helps increase traffic.
4. End your copy with (your name). Note there there is no full stop and your name is italicised.
5. Persue relevant photography. We like at least one picture with every story. Ask for photography, don't steal it.
6. Get quotes. Most people are only an email or phone call away. Track them down and ask them to comment on your story. Even after your story is published is OK. They can use the comment option or we can ammend the story.
7. Get quotes from ordinary people. Friends, family, people in the street. Why not? Only one caveat, this is a UK-focussed publication so quotes should be from people living here or having some connection with the country.
8. Use short sentences and short paragraphs. Aim for 200-400 words per story. Occassionally where it merits we are happy to take shorter and longer pieces.
9. Don't plagiarise. We use anti-plagiarism software so cutting and pasting is detected. If you are relying on one source for a story always credit them. If you lift a quote from a source always credit them. You can only ignore the source if you have rewritten material from a wide range of sources.
10. Do use press releases. When you have sourced a story on the internet hunt down the original press release. This is obviously a rich source of copy and quotes and contacts. But don't take on their positive spin - just because they think it's the best thing since sliced bread doesn't mean it is. Stick to the facts; cut out ALL the fluff.
11. Come up with story ideas. That saves us time, and increases the chance you are working on stories you really want to cover.
OK. If that hasn't put you off, you are probably wondering if we will pay you for your writing. We have a pragmatic approach to payment - we pay according to ability and loyalty. So how does that work? After much faffing around we came up with a three step payment programme:
Stage One (free copy) - We don't know you; you don't know us. In our experience it takes a while for us to get your copy into the kind of shape we want it in, so we spend time working with you to iron out the creases. For you it's free supervision, experience and a byline. For us it's free copy but with extra effort compared to the later stages. All reasonable expenses when agreed in advance will be paid.
At this stage we will suggest stories for you to cover and/or take your story ideas. Typical output: fifteen stories per week.
Stage Two (small fee) - After two months at Stage One you deserve to be paid. Your copy is now sharp, punchy and crisp. You feel you could walk into a job on any regional paper or trade mag. You are ready to kick some PR butt. We in turn are liking the way you turn clean copy round quickly and see you as a valued member of the freelance team. We agree a basic story rate to help pay for all your coffee, biscuits and a the odd trip to London for our bi-monthly team parties.
At this stage you will mainly be pitching story ideas based on your research.
Stage Three (market rate) - We've been in this game long enough to know the cost of good copy. Now after six months we recognise that you could command decent freelance rates from a range of other publications. We are so impressed by your contact list, the quality of the quotes you drop in stories, and the ability you have to come up with good story ideas and even 'off diary' (exclusive) stories that we want to throw money at you - we want to pay the market rate at least. It won't make you rich; we suggest you become a merchant banker if that's what your after; but it will make you believe that, yes, you are a journalist, and yes, you are good enough to get paid for doing it.
At this stage you will pitch all your story ideas based on sophisticated news filtering and a healthy contact book and network of informative contacts.
That's it.
So if you want to write for us just send an example story observing the above rules and we'll take it from there. We don't positively discriminate - because that's illegal in the UK - but we warmly welcome applications from anyone who feels that they would normally be discriminated against for reasons of race, age, gender, nationality, height, size, or physical ability. Writing is thankfully a meritocratic activity - if you have the ability and the determination, we want you on our team.
And if that's not enticing enough bear in mind that we hold and get invited to parties/events every few weeks, and if you are on our team we positively insist that you come too.
Contact details: Email Ken on [email protected] or leave a message on the answerphone above
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