Advice for Behind the Spin contributors

I welcome approaches to write for Behind the Spin, but frequently find myself having similar email exchanges with would-be contributors. So this post should make the process clearer for all (and save me some time).

We are a magazine for public relations students and graduates. If you have news of interest to our readers, then please contact news@behindthespin.com. If you would like to write a feature, then contact editor@behindthespin.com.

What is news?

We're very keen to hear news about PR students or PR degree courses. 

News typically describes an event, frequently in the recent past. News tends to be written in the past tense, is usually objective (it or they, not I or we), and news articles should be as short as possible. The best way to write news is to answer this question: what happened? 

What is a feature?

A feature article should be about a theme or idea. It can be longer than a news article (our features are typically 1000 words) and can be personal. But your feature does not have to express your opinion: you can contact others and include a range of opinions in the form of quotations. Or you can write a profile on one person.

What can I write about?

We give some indication of the type of features we're looking for on the About page. But you're also welcome to contact us with your own ideas. You could:

• Write a profile of a senior practitioner
• Spend a day with a junior PR practitioner and write about their working day
• Focus on careers: how to get a graduate job in a top consultancy; how to earn big money
• Focus on issues: why are there so few men in PR?
• Focus on sectors: how to find work in fashion PR?; what's it like working in NHS comms?
• Focus on change: how is social media changing PR?
• Focus on courses: is a PR degree worth it?
• Answer a question: is media relations declining in importance?
• Turn your dissertation or essay into an article
• Write a review of a recent book about (or of relevance to) public relations