Mad Monbiot

September 29, 2011
George Monbiot

Geroge Monbiot, hosted on The Guardian

Guardian ecology columnist George Monbiot has listed his earnings and savings and said all journalists should do the same. I am not sure if he is just showing off about how much he earns – more than £60,000 from the Guardian – but he cannot be serious.

Journalists should feel no more compunction to reveal their earnings and savings than anyone else. And it would be a mountain of work for the many of us who are freelance and such scrambled data would prove meaningless. I’ll have a go at explaining why. Read More »

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By whealie | Posted in blogging, Chris, ethics, Journalism, Kate, Other freelances, Payment | Tagged , , , | Comments (23)

My 1987 CV

April 1, 2010

front cover of magazineFor some reason, reading Mike Cross’s piece for Daily Finance, reminiscing about the Independent after news that it had been sold for £1, made me dig out my first ever CV.

It is from 1987 and includes my letter to the Independent that triggered my resolve to be a journalist. Read More »

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By whealie | Posted in Chris, Journalism, Other freelances, personal, Work | Tagged , , | Comments off

Late pay gripes

February 12, 2010

This week, instead of being a journalist and trainer, I spent at least a day dealing with late paying clients. It was mainly AOL, which, until today, had not paid a single freelance contributor, despite us working since December.

My company has now been paid more than £10,000 by some clients and we have remittance advices in from others so will be paid by Tuesday. But as of today we have more than £21,000 of invoices outstanding, of which nearly £2,400 is already overdue. That is me lending companies money. Read More »

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By whealie | Posted in accounts, challenges, Other freelances, Payment, Work | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Tweeting twits

January 18, 2010

Tweets from #governmentnews are so wrong the person tweeting should be taken out and shot. Journalists should avoid this site because of its inaccurate and misleading information.

Yesterday, 17 January, it tweeted that new donation and funding figures for political parties had been published. This was just baloney. Read More »

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By whealie | Posted in challenges, Chris, Journalism, Other freelances, problems, Twitter, web, Work | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Blog or bog off

December 31, 2009

In the past few days I have worked from my Macbook using mobile internet connections from:

  • The top and bottom decks of double decker buses
  • standing up on a London commuter train
  • Seated on a Virgin train
  • On the overground section on a London tube
  • In a Starbucks and a Pret
  • Standing on Oxenholme and Lewisham stations

I have used a mix of my Vodafone dongle and my BT Openworld account. And that is in addition to several other people’s home wireless broadband networks. Read More »

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By whealie | Posted in blogging, challenges, Chris, Journalism, Other freelances, Payment, problems, Software, Technical problems, web, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Sweet William

November 6, 2009

Wannabe journalist William James deserves a job for his use of Twitter to track down Guardian careers advice panel members during the live advice session this afternoon. Read More »

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By whealie | Posted in blogging, Chris, Journalism, NUJ, Other freelances, personal, problems, web, Work | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

All of a twitter

October 29, 2009

Here’s two lists of journalists on Twitter:

Some of these may technically be the journalist’s twitter details but several rarely if ever post.

And I am not on either list – do I want to be?

You’ve got to admire my source

Thanks to a Journalism.co.uk tweet for this.

Journalism.co.uk story (link opens new window)

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By whealie | Posted in blogging, Chris, Journalism, Other freelances, Twitter, web | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Coping strategy

October 23, 2009

I had a bath this morning. I doubt I am any cleaner than the extensive soap and flannel body wash I had standing on one leg each day since I left hospital after my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee operation on Monday. But I fee completely different.

And how you feel is vital. When you have an injury, illness or something else that knocks you back – especially as a freelance potentially alone for long periods – you need a strategy to cope. Read More »

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By whealie | Posted in arthritis, challenges, charity, Chris, Hardware, illness, Other freelances, personal, problems, Technical problems, web, Work | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comment (1)

BNP backs Watts

October 22, 2009

Mark Watts, candidate for editor of The Journalist, chose to organise a red hunt in the National Union of Journalists and allied himself with a former Ulster Unionist MP, Lord Laird of Artigarvan, to ask a question in the Lords.

Today he has secured the support of the British National Party (BNP) in London. Read More »

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By whealie | Posted in NUJ, Other freelances, problems, web | Tagged , , | Comment (1)

A new NUJ

October 21, 2009

National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members could change the union for the better. But they won’t because the biggest complainers are either too lazy or prefer to complain than to fix what’s broken. Read More »

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By whealie | Posted in challenges, Chris, Journalism, NUJ, Other freelances, problems, web, Work | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)