Entries from August 2010

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Why is “I” now the most important letter in journalism?

Regular readers of Freelance Unbound will know some of the problems a journalism lecturer faces when it comes to assessing student work. But aside from the relentless inaccuracies in spelling, grammar, punctuation and argument, one of the most notable qualities of student writing is its self-indulgence. “I” dominates the writing of students. It’s not long […]

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Ladybird Junior Science: ideal grounding for the Open University

Further exploration of my exciting new Open University Exploring Science course material reveals its true pedigree. Its progenitor is the wonderful Ladybird Junior Science series, which used to edify and entertain the youth of yesteryear, before they discovered Miaow Miaow and Asbos. The pack contains an intriguing box of small rocks and a magnifying glass, which […]

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

The appliance of science

Regular readers will be aware that Freelance Unbound has a habit of taking the modern media to task for being, basically, scientifically and statistically illiterate. Clearly though, the blog risks ending up a hostage to fortune, as I inevitably make the same mathematical and scientific errors that I castigate others for. For this reason, I […]

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Must be a slow news day today…

Entertainment headline on Yahoo News: Mitch Winehouse has gallstones (Though, to be honest, I’m more intrigued by the news that “Paris Hilton is being sued for allegedly wearing someone else’s hair.” What is the world coming to?)

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

#badjournalism: I'm sorry – what was the story again?

Via Soilman comes an example of a news item from the Telegraph that fails to tell the reader almost everything they need to know in order to make sense of the story. It’s impossible to pull out any extracts from the story that make any real sense. Go and have a look and see if […]

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Moving house: the upside

Freelance Unbound has spent the past few weeks moving house – a hellish experience that I will never, ever go through again. You’ll have to take me out of here in a box (I have loads, so that’s OK). The compensation is the new view from my online editor’s office – welcome to the sunny […]

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

The Freelance Unbound domain name pirates move in

Freelance Unbound has finally arrived on the global media scene, it seems. Today I received an email from Andy Wang of Newz-China.org – “a leading internet solutions organization in Asia” – who warns me that another company is trying to register itself as Freelance Unbound . Dear CEO – We have something urgent to confirm with you. Yesterday […]