by Harpreet Bhagrath | Dec 28, 2011 | Fussy Editor
Hi Ayurdhi,
Kindly only write what you have thoroughly checked to be true. Where did you read she is a supermodel? No source has mentioned this. Kindly explain how you could possibly confuse swimsuit model with a supermodel. Where did you read Elin and supermodel in the same sentence? And where did you read two boys and Tiger Woods in the same sentence? Kindly reply with links to where you took these two facts from.
You have a responsibility towards readers: providing them true information that has been thoroughly checked. Of course, you cannot report facts using the usual reporting procedures, still you can double check them before you put them down. And in this instance, no double checking was even required. What was required was keeping your eyes open. Kindly don’t write irresponsibly like this again.
And if you are not sure of a fact, we have a golden rule in media: “When in doubt, leave it out.”
Let’s hear your side of the story.
Cheers,
Ayurdhi’s Response
About nordegren being a supermodel, the terms swimsuit and super, both have been used–
http://www.huliq.com/8738/89793/tiger-woods-divorce-settlement-all-bets-are
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977936395&grpId=3659174697259616&nav=Groupspace
http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/absolutely-fabulous/elin-nordegren-tiger-woods-wife-secrets-revealed/
The two boys thing was mistake on my part, since everywhere online it was mentioned as “children”.
Ayurdhi
Alright Ayurdhi,
There is a difference in a well known source and an unknown online tabloid like timesoftheinternet.com, though gather.com is relatively a better source. But I take it that not being in the media for long, not being told before in as many words, and being of tender age, you could possibly not appreciate the difference. But this is how you learn.
Also, understand that a few fussy readers just love to nail the media when they can. They get a kick out of it. Let’s not give them a chance.
Kindly thoroughly check a fact from now on, if it is coming from an unknown source like timesoftheinternet.com. Having gone through 3-4 sources, I have made up my mind on Elin’s profession. She’s a swimsuit model for sure. But I understand that the definition of a supermodel is vague. Most of the people take her to be a highly paid international model of repute who appears in haute couture shows.
Kindly learn from your ‘boys’ mistake.
Harpreet Bhagrath
by Harpreet Bhagrath | Dec 28, 2011 | Sample Communications
Aug. 31, 2011
Jyotsna Dhaliwal
Content Writer/Editor
Dear Jyotsna,
It gives me immense pleasure to let you know that you have been promoted, with immediate effect, to the position of Senior Editor at Trident Media Pvt. Ltd.
Your pay package has been revised as well, the details of which will be intimated to you shortly.
We could have filled the position externally but, having evaluated your performance over the last few months and having tried your expertise on sundry tasks suitable for a senior editor, could not choose a better candidate from the incoming resumes. It is the combination of your expertise, team spirit, hard work, and ability to motivate your colleagues that made us confident in promoting you.
Your revised responsibilities do not differ much from the present ones, as they are already in line with a senior editor’s job profile, and you will keep reporting to me until further notice.
Accept my heartiest congratulations again.
Yours sincerely,
For Trident Media
Jitesh Verma
HR Manager
by Harpreet Bhagrath | Dec 28, 2011 | Harpreet Bhagrath's Blog
This is how a typical interview with a prospective senior editor will go. Rather than asking the questions as an interviewer would, I like to discuss relevant areas in depth, like in an informal chat.
If the candidate doesn’t interest me much, the discussion is over within 15 minutes. But if the candidate shows some competence early on, the whole talk takes over 40 minutes. Long discussion is a good discussion for me.
So here are the discussion areas. I know they read like questions, but while the ‘interview’ is on, the questions below feel more like subject areas we take up one by one:
- Tell me a bit about yourself. Your family, education, career so far.
- Does Calcutta suit you? The daily commute.
- His ambition and career focus
- Let’s talk about your ambitions and where are you headed.
- What kinds of positions would you like to have in the future?
- Where do you see yourself two/five/ten years from now?
- His dedication to this profession
- Why did you choose this job? Also, why this profession?
- What appeals to you most about the prospect of coming to work here?
- How can this job further your ambitions?
- Did you apply to other places too?
- What difficulties did you face while writing the test – and editing too?
- Were they overwhelming?
- Was the test easy to understand?
- What difficulties can you face as a researcher and writer?
- How would you overcome them?
- How would you do a feature on “Selling a House”?
- Which abilities does an editor (and a writer) need the most?
- Think of a really good piece of writing (news as well as feature). What makes a news story (or a feature) good?
- What would your friends say are your strongest attributes and your weaknesses?
- How good do you think you are at English? On a scale of 1-10.
- Do you read? What do you read? Fiction or non-fiction?
- What are 3-4 things you’d like to accomplish early on? What kind of help would you need from me and others to achieve those?
- Do you see any obvious improvements we could make in the portals?
- What can I tell you about the job or the portals that you’d like to know?
- Any other questions you want to ask me?
- I’ll let you know within a week.
by Harpreet Bhagrath | Dec 25, 2011 | Harpreet Bhagrath's Blog
Mark every paragraph on a scale of one to ten, add all the paragraph scores, and then divide the total by the number of graphs. Then, to this resultant figure, add or subtract marks depending on the write-up’s overall coherence and assessment.
Judge the write-up vis-à-vis the following criteria.
- Correct grammar and English usage
- Focused writing
- Sentence structure
- Transition of ideas
- Within paragraphs as well as within the whole write-up
- Words and vocabulary
- Spellings
- Use of appropriate phrases
- Punctuation
- Whether reliable facts are provided and/or cross-checked (if test is taken on computer)
- Proper research and cross-checking of facts is of paramount importance
- Proper lead (if news writing is the test)
- 30 words roughly
- Provides the news facts in a nutshell
- Proper heading
- Concisely written
- Provides the gist of the news in the first 3-4 words (if newswriting is the test)
- Well-structured write-up written in a coherent language
As an examiner, ask yourself these.
Has the writer been able to organize the arguments and ideas in a logical sequence?
- New information after old information and not the other way round
Does the reading become awkward for the reader?
- Transition of ideas within sentences and paragraphs has to be smooth
Is the content informative and interesting (or as interesting as it can be) throughout?
- Has he found the weak parts and worked on them?
Has the writer matched the writing style, tone, and purpose of the write-up?
Has the writer maintained the consistency of language and tone throughout the document?
Has the writer checked clichés, pretentious language, homonym problems, spelling and punctuation mistakes, vague words and terms, illogical statements and arguments, incorrect possessives, trite expressions, and other problems in the write-up?
Has the writer checked redundancy, wordy phrases, and needless repetitions? Does the write-up contain wordiness?
- Say more with less words, in a way that every word tells
Has the writer checked his/her word usage?
- Has he eliminated clichés and used fresh words and phrases instead?
Has the writer replaced the weak or unfitting words with the ones that fit better?
by Harpreet Bhagrath | Dec 24, 2011 | Tutorials for Our Writers
1. How many articles do I need to write every day?
We require at least seven articles in a week from writers, but if on a certain day you cannot write, we are open to dry days once in a while. You can write as much as you wish to though; there’s no maximum limit for articles per week. Normally, we accept 2-3 articles every day from our regular writers.
2. Can I write for any CM portal, i.e., thejourneyer.net, brisvaani.com?
In the beginning, you start with the portal assigned to you, but later on–in case we find you fit for that–you can explore other portals too.
3. What would be the mode of payment and how much can I earn in a month?
You will get paid in your bank account through banking transfer. But if you like to come to the office and collect your cheque every month, that choice is also available. We pay on the 7th of every month for the work done till the 31st of that month. Pay is based on the number of published articles per month.
For payment purposes, you need to send us the invoice (attached along with the tutorials) on the 1st of every month. The minimum payout is INR1000 or USD25. Also, you must send your invoice in proper format, otherwise 10% TDS will be deducted.
4. Will you pay me on the selection of an article or on submission?
We will pay you when the article gets published. But the rejections are only in the beginning, as our writers learn the ropes very quickly. Less mistakes means less rejections.
5. Do you want something in written before I start writing for you?
No, you can start straight away without further ado.
6. From when can I start writing?
You can start writing from tomorrow; soon as your username (ID) on the portal gets authorized.
7. Can the procedure be demonstrated by any of the in-house team members?
Yes, that is a routine process with us. Just come to the office for an hour or so in the beginning (if you live near Mohali, that is) so that one of our staff members can show you the way.
8. Am I required in the office or not.
We usually call freelancers from time to time and clear editing and improvement issues with them. You may be required to come to the office (if you live near Mohali, India, that is) once a week in the beginning.
9. What happens after I write an article, and submit after thoroughly editing it?
After you submit the feature in the content queue, our editors check the copy for plagiarism and quality control issues and publish it when they find the copy up to our standard. You get paid for the published articles only.
10. What are the deadlines for home-based freelance writers?
For news writing, the deadline is 3 hours. For features, it is 2-3 days.
11. Are home-based writers offered a byline, or this is a ghostwriting job?
You get bylines for all your write-ups. .
12. Will Cosmos Media allow me to mention its website in my online profile?
You can sure mention our website’s name in your profile (you get a byline as well). We don’t link out to writers’ personal websites/blogs though.
13. If Cosmos Media is satisfied with services rendered, does it provide testimonials to writers who request them?
We sure do. But the writer has to have been working with us for at least six months for us to sign testimonials or experience certificates.
14. What happens if the writer wants to end the association?
You work till you like to work with us. A week’s notice should suffice.
15. One of your tutorial documents mentions that a feature article ranges from 400 to 1000 words. In that case, how do you determine the pay rate? In other words, what’s the pay rate for a 600- or a 1000-words article?
Our pay rate stays the same till 600 words. We are already beating the industry rate for content writing by a fair margin, so we expect the writers to do justice to the topic, which sometimes requires them to provide more than 400 words in an article. If you think the article will require more than 600 words, you need to discuss the pay rate with your editor before you begin writing on it.
16. If I want to write more, say five articles every day, can I do so?
Yes. But the difficult part is that soon as we assign bulk assignments to a writer, the quality goes down. The writer cannot do justice to a topic unless he/she spends at last 1.5 hour doing the articles like we do. So, long as you still spend the same amount of time on every article you write, you can write five a day for us. We require the writer to do at least 4000 words worth of research on the net to write every article. Plus, the finished articles have to be thoroughly edited before submission.
17. How is the article count maintained? Is there any automated software for the same, or it’s done manually?
For the article count, our system tracks the writer’s work throughout the month. But you also need to note down the URLs (published links) of your published copies. You will need to provide these URLs in your monthly invoice for payment purpose. After crosschecking your links (the URLs provided by you in the invoice) with our article-tracking mechanism, we make the payment.
