Freedom of Information for Journalists

My first book: ‘Freedom of Information: A practical guide for UK journalists’ has been completed and is due to be published during 2015.   It can be purchased here. The book is to be a guide for journalists, and students, on how to use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain stories, conduct investigations and uncovered …

Help Me Investigate

I contributed and edited the Education section of the Help Me Investigate community investigation website which is ran by online journalist, author and lecturer Paul Bradshaw. During this time I produced infographics and used data from official publications for graphs and interactive maps. These articles covered a range of education issues from the numbers of …

Details on my new FOI book for journalists

It has been a couple of weeks since I announced that I am going to be writing a book on Freedom of Information laws in the UK and how they can be used by journalists – so now feels like the right time to give some more details. The book is to be a practical …

How do you solve a problem like Julian Assange?

(Disclaimer: This post was originally published on my old website matt-burgess.co.uk and originates from around 2012.)  With Julian Assange being safely kept inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London and the ongoing furore about his extradition from the United Kingdom it’s difficult to see a solution that isn’t going to be damaging for the British government. …

Copywriting

I have produced copy for a variety of different brands, products and services through my experience in freelance copywriting. Companies I have written for include Littlewoods, Virgin and L.A Fitness. On each of these occasions I have produced materials written to tight briefs and included keyword optimisation. Below are examples of some of the clients …

Freelance

I have written for a range of different publications and media groups on a freelance basis. Below is a selection of the work I have produced on a freelance basis. The Sun Come on, who nicked the MP’s teddy bear? Boozy MPs went on £250k bender Positive News Bedroom swap scheme cuts cost for university students …

Sheffield Star

During a period of work experience at the Sheffield Star, a regional daily newspaper based in Yorkshire, I wrote several page leads for the paper. These included off-diary stories as well as well as pitching my own ideas to the desk. Your Star always on the right track  Park left like a ‘mud pit’ after …

Forge Press

  During my time at the University of Sheffield I was heavily involved in the student newspaper – Forge Press.  In my final year of study I was the Editor of the entire publication and during my second year at the establishment I was the News Editor. The newspaper is a fortnightly 48-60 page independent …