Last week, Laura Oliver from journalism.co.uk, wrote about the pressure put on students to join national newspapers once they graduated. She argued that by ignoring the B2B industry, journalism courses did their students a disservice and certainly didn't prepare them for the real world. As JennieAgg points out in the comments on this article, there are just too many wannabe journalists out there for them all to be working on national papers, "the numbers don't stack up".
So, why aren't course providers pushing B2B? Oliver argues that it's a "prestige" issue, that they'd rather their students end up working on nationals because it reflects better on them. But is working in B2B journalism really "second best"? Those that do would argue that the chance to really specialise in your field and write for an audience that know the subject intimately make it just as tough a career choice as any other form of journalism. And with the Press Gazette reporting that B2B titles are struggling as much as any other publication in the current climate, making a career in it is only going to get harder.
Our panel will be answering questions on the skills needed to work in the B2B sector, what makes a good B2B journalist and how to forge a successful career in the B2B sector.
The panel includes:
Laura Oliver, editor of journalism.co.uk and supporter of B2B journalism.
Mark Say. Mark has been working in journalism for 25 years, in a career that has ranged from a local newspaper to covering the food business to writing about international commodities markets for the Wall Street Journal. He joined Kable in 2001, as senior editor he is editor of GC Magazine, plays a leading role in the Kable news service, and contributes to SmartHealthcare.com and the Kable Direct market intelligence service. He regularly takes part in conferences and discussion groups dealing with the future of public services.
Emilie Reymond, the online editor at healthcarerepublic.com, the umbrella website for Haymarket Media's portfolio of medical publications including GP magazine, Independent Nurse, MIMS and MIMS Specialist Journals. Emilie joined Haymarket Medical in October 2007. Her main role is to edit and develop content for Healthcare Republic's audience of GPs, nurses, practice staff and pharmacists.
Alex Masters, Business Intelligence Editor for Foodnews magazine, a division of Informa. She joined the company in 2003 and spent six years reporting on food industry and financial news, with a particular focus on European markets, before becoming an editor on Foodnews. Her specialist areas include UK and European retail, company analysis and consumer trends.
Suzanne Kavanagh, publishing sector manager for Skillset, the Sector Skills Council for Creative Media. Suzanne has worked for specialist and academic publishers, lectured on the Publishing Studies MA at City University and now works closely with the industry on Skillset's strategy and action plans to support journalism.
Daniel Thomas, the Financial Times property correspondent. Daniel was previously personal finance reporter for the FT and, before that, assistant editor of Property Week. Daniel also previously worked for Marketing Week and Thompson Reuters. Dan completed an MA in Magazine Journalism at City University London.
Steve Harris, representing the NUJ Professional Training Committee. The NUJ looks after the interests of students in higher and further education as well as providing an increasingly diverse range of short courses for journalists of all ages. He has worked as a journalist in print, radio and television and is currently Accreditations Secretary of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council
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