About Behind the Spin
Behind the Spin is a magazine for public relations students and young PR practitioners. We publish articles online throughout the year. We welcome English language articles and news stories about public relations or of interest to PR students and young practitioners. Though based in UK universities and supported by the CIPR, we aim with your help to take a global perspective. Behind the Spin content is freely available on the web under a Creative Commons licence. We do not charge for access or pay for contributions (in the open spirit of blogs and Web 2.0 collaboration). Members of the editorial team also volunteer their time. In blog style, each article has its unique web address (permalink) meaning articles will appear in Google searches for keywords like the author’s name and we welcome comments on articles.
Forward features
Contributions are welcome at any time on any topic relevant to our readership. We’re currently working on our features list for academic year 2012 (this is a draft):
| Publication date | Theme One | Theme Two | Regulars |
| October 2012 | Why study PR? | Placement reports | PR books |
| January 2013 | Digital developments | PR dissertations | PR careers |
| March 2013 | Entertainment PR | Employability | PR courses |
| May 2013 | Graduate prospects | Professionalism | News |
Contacts
Editorial team members Jack Fitzsimons, Jazz Chappell and Ka Wing Wong at CIPR headquarters, November 2012
Editor:
Richard Bailey FCIPR
Email: editor@behindthespin.com
Twitter: @behindthespin
News editor:
Jack Fitzsimons
Email: jackfitzsimonspr@gmail.com
Twitter: @jackfitzsimons
PR and social media editor:
Jazz Chappell
Email: jazzchappell@gmail.com
Twitter: @jazzchappell
Arts & entertainment editor:
Stephanie Birch
Email: stephanie_birch@live.co.uk
Twitter: @StephBirchPR
PR education editor:
Liz Welch
Email: emwelch
Twitter: @_ElizabethWelch
Books editor:
Bart Misiak
Email: b.misiak
PR coordinator:
Ka Wing Wong
Email: kawingie
Twitter: @ka_wing916
Technical consultant:
Simon Wakeman MCIPR and Chartered Marketer
Website and blog: http://www.simonwakeman.com/
Editorial guidelines
Though run out of universities with CIPR-approved public relations degree courses, this is not an academic journal. It is a magazine for students and young practitioners that accepts occasional academic contributions as part of its mix. Articles should be written in the English language (set your spell checker to UK English) and should be intelligible to international readers who may not speak English as their first language. (Many of our better contributors aren’t writing in their first language.)
Sources should be cited by hyperlinks, either embedded in the text or gathered at the end. A typical article is around 1000 words in length, and based on a specific theme (see the forward features list above for some suggestions.) Your article does not have to be about your opinion on this topic (though we do welcome opinion pieces too) – it could reflect the thoughts of others, or be based on an interview with a specialist practitioner, or based on your research (or that of others if you cite the source).
Here’s an online magazine we like: Spiked is journalistic in style, intellectual in its approach, academic in its citing of sources, and written in plain English. Wow! If you’d rather write in the style of Hello magazine, you’re welcome to try that too. Richard Bailey editor@behindthespin.com
