In the tabs
27/04/06 09:58 Coffee machine moments
Occasionally you come across someone in a media
training session who unwittingly gives away the fact
that they are frankly a bit of a snob. They don't
mean to be - they just hear that I write mostly for
the Guardian and a bit for the Observer and very
occasionally for the Indie and Times, and they go
into 'aha, no gutter press for you, then' mode.
Actually that tends not to be how journalists see it from the inside. As far as we're concerned a market is a market, and the fact that they have different requirements is something we celebrate rather than denigrate. The red-tops certainly have more focus on entertainment and light news than the FT, but that doesn't mean one is greater than the other somehow.
The writing demands are very different, though - which is why I'm delighted to be a tabloid journalist at least for today in the Daily Mirror. It was a fun piece to write and a challenge to address a new market in a style that was pretty much alien to me, and I'll certainly welcome any opportunity to do it again.
Actually that tends not to be how journalists see it from the inside. As far as we're concerned a market is a market, and the fact that they have different requirements is something we celebrate rather than denigrate. The red-tops certainly have more focus on entertainment and light news than the FT, but that doesn't mean one is greater than the other somehow.
The writing demands are very different, though - which is why I'm delighted to be a tabloid journalist at least for today in the Daily Mirror. It was a fun piece to write and a challenge to address a new market in a style that was pretty much alien to me, and I'll certainly welcome any opportunity to do it again.
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