Category: Media

Improve your freelancing with my May NUJ courses

I run two courses for the National Union of Journalists designed to help participants improve their freelance working lives:

First steps in freelancing, for those starting out as freelance journalists, runs next on Friday 7 May. It covers the first things you need to know about your first commission (and get paid for it), planning, tax, copyright, pitching and negotiating. The cost for NUJ members is £40, student members £30 and non-members £110.

Update: the next edition is on Friday 15 October. Continue reading “Improve your freelancing with my May NUJ courses”

Editing what’s on and off the graph

The government’s Halloween press conference was an obvious example to use in my article for Computer Weekly on the good, bad and ugly of data visualisation during the pandemic. Before one slide headed ‘England new SPI-M combined projection bed usage’, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance actually said “this is a complicated slide”. No argument there (see below). Professor Chris Whitty charged through 10 slides in under seven minutes.

Continue reading “Editing what’s on and off the graph”

NUJ freelancing courses in February

I will be running three freelancing courses for the National Union of Journalists in February, all of them online.

First steps in freelancing, which covers what you need to know to get started as a freelance journalist, will run on Friday 12 February. The cost for NUJ members is £40, student members £30 and non-members £110. You can find out more and book here.

Winning and negotiating freelance work, which goes deeper into these areas with more role-playing exercises, next takes place on Friday 26 February. It costs £50 for NUJ members, £40 for student members and £130 for non-members, with further information and booking here. Continue reading “NUJ freelancing courses in February”

If you’re a journalist going freelance, First steps in freelancing is for you

Coronavirus is hitting journalism hard, with hundreds of staff jobs going or gone according to the Press Gazette. Freelancing could be the answer for some, either while looking for another job or permanently. For many freelance journalists, choosing your own hours and working from home is business as usual. But it is a tough thing to start doing, particularly in hard economic times.

My one-day course First steps in freelancing is designed to pass on the things a freelancer needs to know to get started: how to get work, agree a price and get paid; the options in terms of an office and technology; the first things to do about tax, pensions and marketing; and the opportunities for freelancers beyond selling individual pieces of work.

The course next runs on Friday 16 October from 10.30am to 4.30pm online. Given the economic situation the NUJ is charging standard members a bargain price of £40 and student members £30. You can book here.

Continue reading “If you’re a journalist going freelance, First steps in freelancing is for you”

First steps in freelancing and Winning and negotiating training in July

Having moved them successfully to Zoom in April, I will be running both of my NUJ freelance journalism training day-courses online in July.

First steps in freelancing is on Friday 17 July, costing £40 for NUJ members, £30 for student members and £110 for non-members. Winning and negotiating freelance work will take place on Fri 31 July, costing £50 for NUJ members, £40 for student members and £130 for non-members.

These are in addition to already-planned dates for First steps on 16 October and Winning and negotiating on 6 November, both of which are for now still planned to take place at the NUJ’s offices in London.

For more information and booking, click on the links above. If you would like more information on the courses, please get in touch.

Update: the NUJ’s London Freelance Branch has voted to subsidise these courses for its members so they cost just £25 each. You can claim this subsidy when you book by email. Details here.