Or The Curse of the Woman Who Didn’t Know When To Shut Up.
Difference between bloggers and journalists
A few weeks ago, the ever-excellent Matthew Teller hosted a debate on his blog about the difference between bloggers and journalists.
It’s something of a hoary old debate, but some excellent points were raised. Key amongst these are that journalists [...]
Continue reading about Bloggers vs Journalists: Why bloggers are second class citizens
What makes a good travel story?
I often get asked what makes a good travel story, and it’s something that hard to quantify. Evoking a sense of place, letting the reader in on things they don’t know, passing on useful information and skilfully managing to weave pertinent themes together are up there. But if there’s one [...]
Continue reading about Why we need more celebrity travel journalism
“Award-winning travel journalist”
When I am asked to write a brief biography of myself for contributors’ pages in magazines, I will often bill myself as an “award-winning” travel journalist”.
And this is true, because way back in 2001, I was named Student Travel Writer of the Year in the Guardian Student Media Awards. Yes, it’s an utter [...]
Continue reading about “Award-winning”: a phrase not to be taken seriously
Blogosphere debate
Jeremy Head has written a characteristically interesting post on whether travel content that has been paid for by a company can ever be objective.
As part of the debate, he references Matthew Teller’s proposal about PR agencies and tourist boards paying travel writers for articles rather than the publications they are published in.
How travel writers [...]
Continue reading about Who will pay for travel writing? A potential compromise
Dear PR person. You were curious as to whether I had received your press release. I probably did. I probably didn’t read it either. Here’s why:
1. It’s not addressed to me
If you’ve sent it to everyone on your mailing list in the hope that it fits something that someone, somewhere is writing about, then it [...]
Continue reading about 12 reasons why I deleted your press release without reading it
Twitter confessions
An interesting bout of shame-faced confession broke out on Twitter a week or so ago. A few travel writers – most of whom spend their time tracking down stylish design hotels or character-heavy, family-run accommodation – admitted where they actually like staying.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t the ‘boutique’ pseudo art installations or quirky, personality-packed hovels. It [...]
Less coverage of green travel in travel media
You don’t hear quite so much about green travel these days, do you? For a good few years, it was the flavour of the month in the travel media. Far too much attention was devoted to travelling without flying, environmentally-friendly hotels, carbon off-setting and other ‘innovations’ that would [...]
Continue reading about Green travel: Did many travellers care in the first place?
Travel media and budget hotels
I have come to the conclusion that people working in the travel media are in some kind of fantasy land. Recently, I have seen so many stories about the best budget hotels in various locations and have had the same reaction every time. Simply put, the travel media definition of ‘budget’ [...]
Continue reading about What is a budget hotel? The travel media doesn’t seem to understand
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