Adaptable and Appropriate-that's what journalists need to be

That's according to Nicholas Brett,deputy managing director of BBC magazines who gave a talk here at Uclan yesterday afternoon.

After painting a gloomy picture for journalists ending with the claim that the audience had been given the tools to destroy journalism through laptops,mobile phones and digital cameras,he emphasised that journalism was still a profession and as such required unique skills.

"We can't all be plumbers" he said,pointing to cyberspace being literally cluttered with abandoned blogs and websites.
"An absence of editors" he continued in the new media environment means that "we are unable to separate the wheat from the chaff"

Some things will never change for journalists and these are unique to the profession.the most important being the ability to understand the reader.But journalists have other attributes which distinguish them from the blogger

1.Having great ideas

2.storytelling

3.Good writing skills

4.being obsessive about accuracy

5.a sense of timing

In order to survive in this new environment journalists must be able to be

a) Adaptable-being able to design and prevent information that will stand out in the eyes of the intended audience

b)be able to choose the medium that is appropriate to their audience.The great ideas will only work if they are delivered using the appropriate technology and this will change depending on the audience

Of course Brett comes with some credentials.However you see the commercialisation of the corporation,the magazine arm is the third largest publisher in the UK.has over 50 titles and is a brand to be trusted