By The days when a journalist could get by with paper, a pen and a filofax are gone. Editing pictures and videos, recording phone calls, doing research – and remembering all of it – are now simply the realities of being a good journalist. But despite the many lows of digital
By XCity+ Podcast | Behind the Byline: Will Hodgkinson
Each week, the Behind the Byline podcast speaks to successful journalists and asks how their best stories came together. Today’s guest is Will Hodgkinson – chief pop & rock critic for The Times, and one of the last journalists to interview Prince before his death.
By Mafia magazines: The tale of Mobster Times
Japan’s peculiar Yakuza mafia magazine industry is explored in this year’s XCity. For XCity Plus, Marigold Warner and Tim Gunn present the story of its short-lived equivalent in the US: Mobster Times. “For us, it’s an angle. It’s not a passion: it’s a way to make money,” says Frank DiMatteo, a
By Stem cells, brain science and distant galaxies: An interview with research media officer Ryan O’Hare
Ex-city student Ryan O’Hare (Science, 2013) is a research media officer at Imperial College London. He sat down with Jasper Hart to talk science journalism, communications and muddling up time zones. Did you always want to be journalist? If you weren’t a journalist what would you be? I initially wanted to be
By The Intern Diaries: Journalists spill the beans on embarrassing internships
XCity Plus has put together seven stories to make you glad you aren’t an intern. Stevie Martin, holiday cover at Shortlist and Stylist and freelancer “I BCC’d everyone at Bauer Media; Grazia, Empire, Heat, Closer, asking where the toilet was. It also went to all the radio brands too, like KISS
By “Honoured” Sophie Barnes wins XCity Award for Grenfell Tower reporting
Sophie Barnes (Investigative, 2012) has won the 2018 XCity Award for her reporting on the Grenfell Tower disaster and investigations into fire safety, welfare reform and the effects of the benefit cap on vulnerable families. The deputy news editor of Inside Housing was chosen as winner from a list of
By Eight of Trump’s most ridiculous fake news moments in 2018
In his first year in office, Trump tweeted the term “fake news” 152 times. It was named Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2017, and has dominated international conversation. In line with the unprecedented increase in the popularity of fake news, a huge MIT study of over 126,000 tweets, published
From donkeys to fences: Six specialist magazines you won’t believe exist
Despite many magazines struggling to turn a profit in today’s internet-obsessed world, there remain a hugely diverse number of specialist magazine titles. Who’d have guessed that these publications would still be alive and kicking? Donkey Digest We all love a good pun, don’t we? And I think we can
By Megan Lucero shortlisted for XCity Award
Megan Lucero (International, 2011), director of The Bureau Local at not-for-profit organisation The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, is one of five people to be shortlisted for the XCity Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to journalism. Following her involvement in the successful investigation into doping at the Olympics, Lucero
By Ex-City student lands BBC Three sketch series
Stand-up comedian and ex-Magazine journalism student, Stevie Martin, is starring in a series of BBC Three sketches as one third of comedy sketch group Massive Dad. Along with co-stars Tessa Coates and Liz Kingsman, Martin has collaborated with BBC Three to create a series of eight video sketches, the first of
By First Dates: Will our City journalism alumni hit it off?
XCity Plus sent City alumni, Natasha Turner (Magazine, 2016) and Stuart Stone (Magazine, 2017), out on a blind date to pizza restaurant, Franco Manca, in Covent Garden. Natasha is the features editor at Citywire, while Stuart is a news reporter at The Morning Advertiser. His ideal date is laid-back and
By Sophie Barnes shortlisted for XCity Award
Sophie Barnes (Investigative, 2012), deputy news editor for Inside Housing, has been shortlisted for the XCity Award for her award-winning reportage on the oversights in fire safety, both before and after the Grenfell fire in June of last year. Her coverage of fire safety issues began following the Lakanal House
