Doug  Bolton dougiebolton@gmail.com  –  07944  650949  –  @DougieBolton  –  dougbolton.co.uk  

Flat  25,  Brabner  House,  Wellington  Row,  London,  E2  7BE Education  

• City  University  –  Interactive  Journalism  MA  –  September  2014  -­‐  present  • University  of  Liverpool  –  English  BA  –  2.1  –  September  2011  -­‐  July  2014  

 Experience    The  Northern  Echo  –  News  reporting  –  Work  Experience  –  January  2015  (previously  August  2013)  

• The  difference  between  the  two  weeks  I  have  spent  at  The  Northern  Echo  show  how  far  I  have   come  as   a   journalist.   The   stories   I  wrote  during  my   first  week   in   2013  were   all   on-­‐diary,   community   based   stories,   assigned   to   me   by   the   newsdesk.   However,   during   my  more   recent   stint,   I   developed   a   number   of   off-­‐diary   stories   by   myself,   including   an  investigation,   a   court   report,   and   an   FOI-­‐based   story,   while   also   advising   the   team   on  developing  a  strong  social  media  and  digital  strategy.  

 The  Times  and  Sunday  Times  –  Community  manager  –  Casual  shifts  –  December  2014  

• My  duties  included  moderating  comments  and  guiding  debate  in  the  comments  sections  in  accordance   with   the   moderation   policy,   maintaining   The   Times'   social   media   accounts  which  reach  over  300,000  people  daily,  and  compiling  website  analytics  reports  to  help  the  paper's   journalists   in   their  work.   I  also  worked  closely  with  night  editor  Anthony  Bonnici,  following   breaking   stories   online   and   feeding   important   information   to   him   and   other  reporters.  

 The  Tab  Liverpool  –  Editor  –  September  2012  –  July  2014    

• Working  with   a   small   team  of   section   editors,   I   helped   set   up   a   Liverpool   branch   of   the  national   student   tabloid   from   scratch.   By   the   time   I   graduated,  we  were   the   city's  most  popular  student  media  outlet  and  our  stories  were  reaching  3,000  people  daily,  a  level  that  we   reached   mostly   through   our   extensive   use   of   social   media   and   online   reader  engagement.     I   reported   news  and   conducted   interviews  with   artists,   entrepreneurs   and  campaigners   like   Peter   Tatchell,  wrote   viral   features,   subedited   all   incoming   articles,   and  managed  and  helped  the  team  of  around  30  section  editors  and  writers.  

 The  Huffington  Post  –  Student  section  –  Work  Experience  –  February  2014  

• I   produced   a   range   of   content   during  my  week   here,   including   original   news,   interviews  with   student   artists   and   business   owners,   and   viral   listicles.  My   first   of   these,   about   the  Liverpool  student  experience,  got  around  20,000  Facebook  'likes'  in  three  days.    

 The  Times  and  Sunday  Times  –  Data  section  –  Work  Experience  –  October  2013  

• Most  of  my  work  here  was  building  a  large  database  of  Times  articles  on  the  Syrian  conflict  for  a  longform  interactive  feature  that  was  published  in  early  2014.  I  also  worked  with  the  paper's   experienced   data   journalists   to   brainstorm   ideas   for   how   the   finished   product  would  look,  paying  attention  to  data  visualisation  and  mapping.  

 The  Sun  –  Online  news  –  Work  experience  –  June  2013  

• This  was  my  first  newspaper  work  experience,  but  I  adapted  to  the  learning  curve  well,  and  was   praised   for   my   ability   to   produce   well-­‐written   news   stories   and   features   at   a   rapid  

pace.   I   learned  a   lot  about  the  principles  of  newswriting  and  the  core  skills  of   journalism  from  The  Sun's  close-­‐knit  online  team  and  their  graduate  trainees,  and  couldn't  have  asked  for  a  better  introduction  to  the  industry.  

 Journalism-­‐related  skills  

• Newswriting,   gained   through   extensive   practice   at   regional   and   national   papers,   and  through  workshops  at  City.  

• Good  practical   knowledge  of  HTML  and  CSS,   and  extensive  experience  with   social  media  publishing  platforms  like  Hootsuite,  Tweetdeck  and  Sprinklr,  as  well  as  CMS  platforms  like  Escenic.  

• Extensive  training  in  data  tools  like  Plotly,  Datawrapper,  CartoDB  and  others.  • Experience  with  FoI,  and  a  solid  understanding  of  media  law  and  press  regulation.  

 Interests  and  Hobbies  

• I'm  a  keen  cyclist,  and  although  I  spend  most  of  my  time   in  the  saddle  commuting,   I  also  enjoy  longer  weekend  rides.   I'm  currently  planning  a  cycle  tour  through  the  North  East   in  the  summer  with  friends.    

• I  began  2015's  New  Year  resolution  to  start  painting  a  couple  of  months  early,  so  I'm  trying  to  improve  my  artistic  skills  through  practising  whenever  I  have  some  down  time.    

• When   I   lived   in  Liverpool,   I  worked  as  a  volunteer  theatre  producer  at   the  Everyman  and  Playhouse  Theatres.  I  enjoy  making  plays  happen  and  watching  low-­‐budget  fringe  theatre,  although  I  need  to  start  making  the  most  of  what  London  has  to  offer  in  this  area.    

• More   generally,   I   like   indie   video   games   and   working   my   way   through   London's  independent  coffee  shops.    

 References  

• Ben  Whitelaw  –  Head  of  Community  and  Digital  Development,  The  Times  ◦ 07749  716468,  ben.whitelaw@thetimes.co.uk  

• Adam  Tinworth  –  Tutor,  City  University   ◦ 07414  109009,  adam.tinworth.1@city.ac.uk