Job Description

"So what do you do?"

"I'm a writer."

"Oh cool. What sort of stuff to you write?"

"Mostly stuff for the web. I mainly do reviews of mobiles, news about new phones that sort of thing."

(as well as keep a blog which I half-arsedly update every so often)




"So you're more of a journalist then?"

"I suppose so. I don't quite have the nerve to call myself a journalist just yet though."


I never know what to say when someone asks me what I do for a living. I can't really say I work in IT just because I work with a computer (who doesn't these days?) but 'journalist' doesn't really fit the bill either.

'Copywriter' is too mundane and generic and doesn't really cover what I do on a day to day basis very well.

I don't think I can quite comfortably call myself a fully fledged journo just yet. Every time someone I'm meeting for the first time asks if I'm a journalist, I'm reminded of that Mitchell & Webb sketch where the policeman and the PCSO are walking down the street. The latter of the pair makes the mistake of humming the theme tune to The Bill.

"How dare you," scoffs David Mitchell's character. "The old opening credits of The Bill featured the feet of two police officers."

Next time I'm asked I can just tell people I'm the PCSO equivalent of online journalism.

Whilst it might be easier to just tell people I'm a journalist, it wouldn't be the truth. And every good journalist should aspire to tell the truth. Shouldn't they?