Reading Mr. Justice Eady's full judgment in the case of 'The author of a blog and Times Newspapers Ltd.' (a.k.a. The Night Jack case), has inspired in me an optimistic thought, viz. the ruling draws a potentially valuable distinction between professional reporters and bloggers. I suspect this was not Mr Justice Eady's top priority. In fact he writes that "Although the Claimant [Night Jack] here is not a journalist, the function he performs via his blog is closely analogous." However, by ruling that "blogging is essentially a public rather than a private activity" and that there is a "public interest in revealing that a particular police officer has been making these communications," his argument does tend to reinforce the status of the professional reporter. Why?

Can't get in to a Centre for Journalism course? Too lazy to learn the hard way how to be a reporter? Fear not. Youtube is on hand to save the day, thanks to its all new Youtube Reporters' Center.

Bachelors Degree Online has compiled a list of the 100 best blogs for journalism students to read.

They write: "Today’s journalism students are entering an industry that’s facing a crossroads. These days, newspapers and media in general are adapting and growing at a rapid pace, and it’s essential that students keep up, or they’ll be left in the dust. By reading these blogs, you can keep an ear to the ground on the latest developments that matter the most to journalism students."

My first news editor didn't like to see his reporters consulting the newsroom dictionary. "If you're having to look a word up," he'd growl, "then it's too complicated for the readers. Use a simpler one."

I always felt uneasy about the reductive nature of his argument. If everybody followed his logic, wouldn't the English language contract and ultimately disappear? And didn't we owe it to our readers to make sure we were being precise in our usage? Not that I ever managed to pluck up the courage to take him on; he was far too scary. But I wonder what he'd have made of the New York Times's online system that allows readers to click on any word they're not sure of to obtain a dictionary definition.

MSE.com is offering a summer work placement for a bright, friendly undergraduate to assist the editorial team in research for the weekly email and deals.  It will involve checking for legitimacy, fact checking, some writing plus making lots of calls to press offices.  MSE.com would like someone to join the team for a minimum of six weeks, as soon as possible, although could wait for the right candidate. 

At the Association for Journalism Education conference last week, Tim Luckhurst spoke about something we have discussed many times at the Centre for Journalism: the number of journalism degrees on offer in this country that offer their students little or no chance of getting a job within the industry. There is, he told the conference, an "element of fraud" in a system that allows such courses to proliferate.

Unsurprisingly, his views - reported here by journalism.co.uk, not necessarily with perfect precision - have sparked vigorous debate around the blogosphere.

There is a glimmer of hope this morning for budding investigative hacks depressed by declining editorial budgets and the rising tide of churnalism. Following the launch in the USA of dedicated investigations funds at ProPublica and the Huffington Post, four journalists, Stephen Grey, Phillip Knightley (author of The First Casualty), Misha Glenny (former BBC Balkans Corr) and David Leigh have set up a UK based version. Called simply the Investigations Fund it has received a first contribution from the Telegraph group. 

Having had to sit on the sidelines for what must have seemed like an eternity, watching daily Telegraph exclusives on MPs' expenses, The Guardian is hoping making its mark on the story with an interesting crowdsourcing experiment.

Among the arguments favoured by critics of the Daily Telegraph's revelations about MPs' expenses has been that journalists should have waited for the full details to be published by the House of Commons. It is a good thing we didn't. This morning, with the Common's publication of  expenses claims for the last four years we are able to see just how much has been omitted (or redacted to use the phrase-in-vogue). 

The anonymous columnist has a long and distinguished tradition in newspaper and magazine history. Recent practitioners like the londonpaper's City Boy and the ghastly Julie Myerson (who thrice denied being the author of the Guardian's Living With Teenagers column before fessing up) were treading in the foosteps of far more illustrious journalists such as William Connor, who wrote the Daily Mirror's legendary Cassandra column for many years and ended up with a knighthood.