Writing a review requires a new skillset, and one that’s not always taught in journalism college. That's one of the reasons we've commissioned a reviewing module:

 

How do you write a film review without giving away the ending?

How much of me should I put in a review?

How do I pitch reviews to editors?

 

These questions should be answered in his module. Iranian trainees will be the first to benefit. Its author is Chris Elwell Sutton, who has worked as a reviewer for a range of newspapers, books, magazines and websites, including the Times, FHM, and Esquire.

 

Chris has also got plenty of commissioning experience he used to be editor of Muzik magazine so is used to dealing with would-be-interviewers over the phone.

 

And one of the good things about being a reviewer is that you can end up getting paid some fun things - for example Chris was recently sunning himself in Ibiza, where he's been writing a travel guidebook to the island. And they paid for it, too.

 

There's plenty of input from trainees which will inform the module - there'll be an online Q and A session, where they'll get to ask him all about the art of expressing your opinions in such a way as to entertain and inform the audience. Trainees will read his article first and comment on it too. So the reviewer will be reviewed.

 

It's a good example of how the interactive newsroom works - hopefully the questions from trainees and answers received will inform the work of the trainees.