• My bible(s)

    I recently came into possession of two books/directories – one I bought and one that was given to me – which have quickly become equivalent to my Old and New Testament of Journalism.

    First up, I forked out something like €26 for the latest Nealon’s Guide, which goes into great detail on the last Irish general election and all the TDs and Senators that are in place as a result of it. Within a day of buying it it had proved its worth by being an integral part of the research I conducted for this article.

    The fact that it has contact details of each sitting TD – from office numbers to mobile numbers to email addresses – ensures it will be equally vital for Dáil30.ie (which will hopefully spring to life once I secure my recording equipment and can start setting solid dates for the various interviews).

    The second addition to my working day is the Irish Media Contacts Directory, which was sent to me recently by Ronan, who works for the company. I wasn’t so sure on how useful this would be to me but again it’s proving itself quite quickly.

    For a freelancer like myself it’s extremely useful to have easy access to the various contact details of various editors of various publications – especially when most publication websites are lacking at best. If I’ve got an article idea I want to pitch, it’s now a matter of flicking to the relevant page, finding out who to send it to and what address to send it through.

    This is also going to prove very useful for Dáil30.ie – particularly the media campaign I’m hoping to undertake as part of pushing the project locally around the country.

    So The Nealon’s Guide and The Irish Media Contacts Directory take pride of place alongside my diary (which is a lifesaver all by itself), notepad and contacts book.