Do you know HARO? If you don’t, it might be time to get acquainted. HARO stands for “If I Can Help A Reporter Out.” It was started by a PR guy and networking maven named Peter Shankman as a place reporters can turn to when they’re stuck for sources. Shankman started it as an alternative […]
Thank you Clay Felker for creating New West
Clay Felker is the reason I got into magazine journalism. Felker, who died last week at 82, was better known as the editor of New York and Esquire and champion of New Journalism, as this New York Times’ remembrance so aptly summarizes. But to me he’ll always be the guy who started New West. In […]
Bad times good for new media's business news writers
It might be bad times for business, and bad times for newspaper business sections, but it appears to be a great time to be a business journalist. Last week on the same day that Wall Street tanked, Slate introduced its new business section, called The Big Money, edited by ex-deputy managing editor of CNN Money […]
The secret to my LinkedIn success
Today, I’m blogging over at The Renegade Writer, a Website for freelancers run by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell. The topic: The Secret to My LinkedIn Success. If you’ve been to WordCount before, you know I’m a huge LinkedIn fan, using it every day to troll for sources, manage contacts and participate in discussion groups. […]
Dear editor, I'm leaving you
Dear Editor: I’m leaving you. It’s been coming on for some time now, but I didn’t want to say anything that would jeopardize what we had until I was absolutely sure. Now I am. I can’t work for you anymore. I’ve held up my end of the relationship. I’ve done what I said I’d do. […]
Poynter offers Sept. 25 Webinar on reporting with video
Most freelancers I know have a print background and little to no training using video to tell stories, myself included. But as the media business goes online, video is showing up on more news and magazine Websites. It seems like a good idea to at least learn the basics of using video to report stories, […]