Tools
Kit and workflow
30 articles tagged tools, drawn from across the archive.
Career Advice for Journalists
Career advice Can I advise you on what direction to take in your journalism career? Well, I can't advise anyone how to make up...
Contacts - building them
Building contacts is one of the most important things a journalist does. Say you're in insurance broking, so you already have a...
Email - contacting editors
Re contacting editors by email. Be careful. Editors receive so much junk email and spam, and so many viruses, they often delete...
Email - photos
Submitting photographs by email. This is the modern, fast, efficient and cheap method, and is preferred by most publications. It...
Email Etiquette for Journalists
Email etiquette By SIMON TOWNSEND It's impossible to be a fast and effective journalist unless you make full use of the internet...
Email-your address
Your current email address should be improved. Here's why your full name should be your email address and here's why your NAME...
Equipment Every Journalist Must Have
My equipment Equipment Mobile phone Message service on mobile Phone camera A quality digital camera Dictionary Thesaurus You must...
Getting a Media Pass
Regarding your media pass. A media pass is like a badge of honor. You earned it. It's a possession you should be proud to have...
How to Crop Photos
You ask about 'cropping'. Cropping is the cutting-off of one or more sides of a photograph, either when printing it, or preparing...
How to forward emails professionally
Good tips on forwarding emails This is great email with good advice to follow and send to our friends Important!! How To Forward...
How to Send Photos to Editors
The BEST way to send photos is to use a $2000 topline digital camera, and email your photos with your emailed article. This is...
I and i
You must never write 'i' when you mean 'I'. It makes you look LAZY. Too lazy to press the shift key while pressing the 'i' key...
Journal writing
Regarding writing a journal. I NEVER encourage my students to spend time on journal writing. This writing time would be better...
Layout
Layout Your article MUST look like this 2.5cm (1 inch) margins on all 4 sides ALWAYS nominate a publication Exact wordcount FOR...
Phone Shyness: Getting Over It
Phone shyness can be controlled By SIMON TOWNSEND You can't beat shyness, but you can control it. I can show you ways to help...
Public Relations - what is it
You ask where do you start. Well, you always start by ASKING. Use the Yellow Pages and find an organisation, university or...
Quotes, difficult getting
First of all, you need phone numbers. So you must be quick and skilled at going to www.whitepages.com.au and finding numbers...
Recording Interviews Successfully
Interviews: recording successfully For all interviews, you should use a recorder. I do not use the term 'tape recorder' as today...
Simon Says
Simon's voice, when he was teaching, was short sentences. Short paragraphs. Sharp rules. The kind of advice he would fire down...
Sweet talk
Sweet talking : Let me tell you the hard truth - you MUST train yourself 'SWEET TALK' people. You must train yourself NOT to take...
The Do's and Don'ts of Journalism
Do Not Return This Separately: Send Only With Your Next Assignment DOs and DON'Ts This does not count towards your qualification...
The Filofax: A Journalist's Contact Book
Filofax Contact Book Below is a Filofax (pictures from its website). Filofaxes were developed by a British army officer who...
The Journalist's Digital Toolkit
Simon carried a notebook, a pen, a phone, a tape recorder, and a Filofax. That was the kit for forty years of working journalism...
Then and Now: How Journalism Has Changed
Simon Townsend was a reporter in 1962. The typewriter on his desk was a Remington. Copy moved by pneumatic tube. The subeditors...
Travel reporter Part 2
Part 2 How to make your application story to win your travel reporter job* *Provided you follow EXACTLY all these instructions...
Travel Websites
This article re-printed with permission. I recommend that as a travel writer you visit most of these websites. LET ME KNOW BY...
Where to Pitch: Australian Publications That Commission Freelance Work
Simon's advice to freelancers started with one question: do you know who you are sending this to? Most pitches that failed, in...
Writer's Marketplace book
One reason I can't help students select a publication to write for is because there's 10,000 titles on sale in Australia. I can't...
Written vs Spoken Quotes
Written quotes vs spoken Regarding conducting an interview (or getting answers to questions) via email or letters. Yes, sure it's...
You Must Be a Touch Typist
Learn to touch type online FREE Don't remain a 'hunt-and-peck, two-finger' typist the whole of your career in journalism Being a...