It's a new dawn, it's a new day

I have recently been appointed editor of the student news website, and I'm relishing the prospect of what this role has to offer.

The team had our first editorial (crisis!) meeting yesterday, and people were pointed in the right directions after some initial confusion. There were some jokes and laughs the were had at the time, because I don't think that it is right to just adopt a dictator style role and tell people to do this and that - I want to earn my fellow students respect and take something from this experience.

Today I have gone on a major posting spree on the website, as I am covering sport, and today is a big day in the sense that the European Indoor Athletics Championships are beginning, and Birmingham is being spoken about a lot all over the UK.

I also managed to get a little music story in there about BBC 1xtra coming to Birmingham's Custard Factory - I hope Charlotte doesn't mind me poaching that one!

Once I got into the hang of it, its pretty easy to knock up a story in no time. I managed to get around five or six done in the space of just over an hour or so. I found the easiest way to do mine was to:

• Know the story you are going to report inside out.
  
• Find your image FIRST - (looking for images takes a fair bit of time if you dont know how)
  
• Resize the image according to the website (220x160 pixels) - Photoshop 7.0 or CS3 is easiest.
  
• Write the story (preferably in word or notepad), ignoring any HTML for now. (Thinking about what code goes where can interrupt the flow of thought)
  
• Proof-read the story, checking for any glaring typos or spelling mistakes. (Use a spell-checking software if needs be, but they are not 100% accurate.)
  
• Go back and insert all the codes necessary, i.e paragraphing, sub-heading, italics, etc.
  
• Publish story to the website, and read it again in the internet browser, check it over a final time to make sure the grammar and everything else is correct.
  

Doing this will not only allow you to post quality stories quickly, it also makes the website look more professional and we could even try for some of those awards!

Once again, and finally, thank you to the people who selected me to be the Editor. I appreciate it.

Why online journalism skills are essential in the news industry

Online journalism skills are essential in the news industry because the ever changing industry requires a journalist to be more flexible, and more dynamic. More and more journalists are now taking their own pictures to accompany their written stories. Having the ability to write for online publications is another skill that can be added to a portfolio of talents.

Often, stories that are written for printed publications (i.e. newspapers) are very different to their online counterparts. Therefore, skills such as editing and sub-editing for online stories is useful. The news industry is ever changing, and more and more people are now accessing their news via different mediums than the traditional newspaper. This not only increases competition in the industry, but also quality.

The demand for jobs in the industry is increasing while the number of vacancies seem to be falling. Being a journalist, having a wide range of skills (i.e being able to write for online AND printed publications) makes you stand out from a very large crowd