Job roles within the magazine industry
Magazine Journalist
Along side the photographers the journalists make the magazine what it is with the features. Their job firstly is to research a subject in depth so that they understand what it is that they are reporting on and so that they do not give out false information to the general public as they can get sued for slander. Another rather important job of being a magazine journalist is finding new topics every day to talk about that will interest the reader. Real life magazine are very popular because they tell stories of real people and their life problems. There are thousands of different magazines in the UK and hundreds of different styles and topics ranging from sport, politics, and real life to gardening and home. There is a magazine for everyone.
Depending on the different types of magazine depends on the jobs of the journalists working. Some magazines are weekly, some are monthly and some are even yearly. It also depends on what story you are going to be working on. However the typical activities for all journalists are:
Research – in-depth investigation on a subject or topic which they are going to be covering. If the magazine is monthly, it would mean you need to keep up with the whole month’s stories of the topic and keep an up to date diary to remind yourself of the story. If the magazine is a weekly magazine the journalist would be able to focus on one story that they find the most uplifting and what would be more popular to read.
Talking to the public to get an insight on the publics view. Talking and interviewing subjects for their magazine column. Gathering information also.
Creating ideas for their story firstly, they need to do this before they do research.
They need to meet their colleagues to discus stories and to ensure that the whole firm are aware of the stories; this will help designers come up with design plans and photographers with their photography for the stories.
Journalists may have to undergo some boring meetings and conferences and fairs so that they can meet the people that they need for their stories.
I went onto the guardian website and I found this job opening as a magazine journalist for a business and legal magazine called CHAMBERS AND PARTENERS it’s a full time job situated in London. For this job the description says that you need to be in full understanding of the world of business.
http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/job/924618/journalist/
Magazine Features Editor
The role of magazine features editor in the media and magazine industry for magazine production is important. This role within the production has a lot of responsibilities. Their main job is to ensure that the whole magazine is filled with interesting, fun, new, exciting and informative information throughout to ensure that the fan base stays happy and buys the magazine weekly/monthly due to the new information.
The magazine features editor does not necessarily write the features in the magazine, however they need to have a good bond with their reporters so that the features are as good as they can be, and the features editor checks over every feature to make sure there are no spelling mistakes and false information, proofreading. As well as looking through employed reporter work, the magazine features editor has to look through all of the free lance photographer and journalist work for publishing.
Also within their job role they have to, manage the Photographers and reporters to meet their deadlines with features that they’re working on. The features editor, Photographers and Reporters have to be close, they have to work as a team and attend meetings together to discuss the magazine and what goes into it, set deadlines and need to be strict when wanting to receive the work, no late work past the deadline. Each feature has to have a deadline, a word count; another job of this role has to ensure that the wants for the piece have been for filled.
I went into the guardian website to research job vacancies within this particular job role within the magazine industry and I was able to find one vacancy for a magazine called Fast Bikes, the magazine is about motorbikes, it’s generally a mans magazine.
http://jobs.guardian.c.uk/job/912961/deputy-editor-fast-bikes/
I looked on the internet and I found the actual website for the magazine also.
http://www.fastbikesmag.com/
The web design is very dull and plain and a very easy to navigate website, this as proves that this magazine is mostly aimed at men as there are no bright coulars and pictures.
- Magazine Photographer
The second role that I am going to look at within the media magazine industry is a Press photographer. In a magazine it is very important to have a good photographer for every feature. Magazines are all built up of pictures. Being a press photographer you need to have lots of creativity skills and technical. The roles main job is to capture emotion in any event whether it is, happiness EG: wedding, Sadness EG: Earthquake and all other emotions that people will go through throughout their lives which are captured on camera to tell a story. A good photographer will fill this field and make the viewer feel as though they would like to be there or feel the emotion for the people when needed. It ensures that what is being written by the journalist is actually real.
Within the press, photographers generally have their own fields which they specialize in and will capture pictures for this field only. Be it sport, war, nature, fashion. Within the press they have a lot of free lance photographers which send in their own photographs on an event who do not necessarily work for the press, you can also have free lance journalists.
Typical activities for a press photographer include explaining their photography terminology to those within the magazine who have non-photographers, doing this will ensure that the journalists explain the picture in more detail in their written feature. Photographers have to work very closely with the journalists and picture editors to ensure that the picture and article are written and edited to the standard which will suit all. As well as taking the pictures and finding suitable places to shoot, photographers have administration work to organize such as: - Locations
- Transport to and from locations
- Press passes and access
Photographers also have to research an event that they are attending to ensure that they get the right shots to show what the event is about and the feel of the event. As well as doing location photography, the photographers need to know how to set up a studio for studio shoots.
Again I looked onto the internet on the guardian website to see if there are any jobs within this field of a magazine production and this is what I found 3 options I chose this on to look at.
http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/job/914212/hi-end-re-toucher-for-leading-photographer/
The description for this job was less informative that the first one that I looked for. There was no website for this so I could need research as to what the job would go into.
