Defining your ‘media’
The USP of the Freelance Media Network is it’s about ALL media professionals. As founder, I am passionate about making not just something that goes ‘way beyond a facebook feed’ but also that brings together a wide range of media professionals, and those who walk the line between different media commitments. This isn’t just a community for journalists, or PRs, it’s for anyone who works in the media and related creative industries.
I’n Jenny Holliday, founder of The Freelance Media Network, and I’ve been a lot of ‘media’ things in my time, from a freelance writer, to an author, a commissioning editor and a TV booker (for This Morning). I have worked on news desks and features desks, and I’ve worked across print and digital publishing. I have also been a podcaster and write a Substack, so that makes me a ‘Substacker’, too, right?
When I began working on magazines, we had very defined ‘desks’ - the writers, the editors, the picture desk, sub editors, and so on. As the industry shifted, things began to merge. Many magazines moved to having ‘hubs’ where sub editors worked across a range of mags, for example. Many journalists became unofficial picture editors as we gathered images from people we interviewed, or used social media to find the pictures we needed for a story. People worked across print and digital - and for freelancers as well as staff, diversifying became key.
Gone are the days of us all being just one thing in the media. Many of us now have multiple ‘hats’ or income streams. It can be hard to define what we do. So I’d love to know how you describe your ‘media’. Are you just one thing, or are you a ‘this AND that’, a hybrid, an ‘also’…
The reason I want to dig into this is because I am clear on the demographic for the FMN. It’s not just journalists. It’s not journalists and no PRs. It’s not journos and some PRs. it’s not freelancers only.
It is for all media professionals. And that’s a huge range of people. I asked my mate Claude for a list of the types of jobs that media professionals might do.
The sub categories were:
Journalism and Editorial - Broadcasting and TV/Radio - Digital and online - photography and visual - publishing - PR and Communications - Production and technical
Within those, there was everything from writers and reporters to foreign correspondents, press officers, graphic designers, illustrators, subs, proofreaders, podcasters, studio managers, radio hosts..
I could go on but you get the idea.
Media Professionals. people who cross over the boundaries in the giant Venn Diagram that is the media industry. Not just the journalism industry, or the writing industry but the MEDIA industry. A place which is big, and vast but that comes with the same challenges wherever you sit in it.
You’re welcome in this community, whatever your ‘media’. The focus is collaboration and community - and that happens when we work alongside people across the whole industry, from writing and TV to photography and PR.
Ready to join us? Come on in!
