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Have experiences of London you’d like to share with the community? A music show? An art exhibition? A poetry circle? Book clubs? Talks? Protests? We’d love to feature it!

Our articles cover London-related news, arts and culture, and activism. We also publish opinion pieces or commentaries. All are welcome to volunteer with us by contributing articles on these topics; no prior experience in journalism work is required. Articles about London events should include material from event-related interviews conducted by the writer, or from other original recordings that contain statements about the event. Commentaries and opinions should include a brief description of the topic and arguments that are supported by news references where possible.

Unsure what to write about? Contact an editor for a list of available pitches!

Perspectives from Londoners

As community-centred press, we are excited to build a column featuring the everyday thoughts, feelings, and trials and tribulations of Londoners. Think of it as a column that gives individualized glimpses into the hearts, philosophies, and dreams of Londoners. Did you write an essay in a fit of passion? Have a realization about the state of the world? Have an existential crisis? Felt something so strongly you couldn’t rest till you got it out of your system? We’d love to feature it. If you don’t feel like writing, send us an email at antlerrivermedia@gmail.com and we can talk about alternative formats. We’ll work with you to produce an article that might resonate with others in our increasingly isolated world.

Choosing an angle for your article

A single event can be covered in a myriad of ways. It’s up to you – drawing from your lived experiences and interests – to figure out the best angle that you can give to the article you’re planning to write. As such, a good starting point is to interrogate your own curiosities and connections to the event you’re covering. For example:

Why do I think this event is important to cover? What interests me most about this event? Why?
How would I explain the importance of covering this event to a friend, to a stranger on the street, or to someone who insists the event is not important to cover? How would I want people to react to knowledge of this event?
Who are the people this event is directly about? What is my relationship to these people? What do I know about them, and what should I learn? What is my perception of these people, and how should I portray them in my article?

Your answers to these questions plant the seeds of the angle you can take with your article. Specifically, an angle can be thought of as the main message, perspective, and consequence of your article.

Question set 1 will guide you to the main message of your article. Question set 2 will give you a sense of the perspective your article will take – its tone and centreing of a certain audience. Question set 3 will give you a sense of how your article might interact with people’s realities on the ground and make your use of language more nuanced.

Do some research into the event until you have a good grasp of the “who, what, where, when, why, and how” of the event and the overall public image of the event you’re writing about. How does your interpretation of the main message, perspective (who the article centres as audience), and consequence (how it portrays the people directly affected) differ or align from this? Pay attention to your reactions to reading mainstream news about the event you’re hoping to cover, and update your main message, perspective, and sense of consequence accordingly. The interview questions you prepare or recordings that you take of the event should address your main message, perspective, and inform the article’s consequence.

Below are some common angles for covering different types of events. Always feel welcome to write to an editor for guidance! (E.g. feedback on interview questions, plan for an article, etc).

A rally

Main message: why the rally is happening, and context about the rally (who it’s about, what it’s about, where and when it happened, how it happened)

Perspective: the people who are rallying, giving speeches, or who organized the rally

Consequence: compelling the public to care about the plight of those rallying, to join future rallies, or to become better informed on the rally’s purpose by writing sensitively about the rally’s purpose

Material to record: speeches at the rally, interviews

Interviews: talk to the organizers about why they planned the rally, talk to those who protested about what brought them to the rally, talk to those who gave speeches on their thoughts on how effective the rally was.

Sample interview questions:

What brought you to this rally? How did you first find out about the cause you’re rallying for?
Do you think this rally was effective? What are the outcomes you hope will come from rallying?
What keeps your stamina high for activism work? How would you go about compelling more people to join rallies?

A speaking event (talk, panel discussion, etc.)

Main message: what the speaking event is about, and context about the speaking event (who is speaking, where and when it happened, how it happened)

Perspective: the person/ people speaking, the audience who is uninformed about the content of the event before attending it, the topic that the speaking event is about

Consequence: compelling the public to care for and remember what was said

Material to record: the speakers, interviews

Interviews: talk to the organizers about why they planned the speaking event, talk to those who attended about what brought them to the event, talk to those who spoke about their thoughts on the event

Sample interview questions:

What brought you to this event? How did you first find out about the topic that the event is about?
What are your three main takeaways from the event? What is something that you wish was touched on more in the event, or that was most memorable to you?
Why did you plan this speaking event? Do you think it was effective?

Recording events

If you’re attending an event (i.e., rally, music show, public talk, etc.), take audio or video footage of any material that you might like to quote in the article (e.g., speech at a rally, lyrics of a song).

Take a photo that might be a good accompaniment to an article on the event (e.g., a photo of protestors marching for an article on a rally).

For public events (e.g., a speech at a rally), explicit permission to audio record or video record speeches or performances is not typically necessary, but this is context-dependent. Use your moral judgment when recording content at public events. Reach out to members of the editorial board if you’d like a second opinion on whether audio or video recordings can be taken for the purpose of article-writing.

Interviewing

Sometimes, interviewing people with specific ties to an event is valuable for writing a thorough article (e.g., someone who gave a speech at a protest, people who attended a music show, the organizers of a public talk, etc). The decision of who to interview ultimately depends on the angle you’d like to take for the article.

An interview can be conducted in-person, over Zoom/ virtually, over phone, over email, or any other means of directly communicating with someone for the purpose of writing an article. Before asking to interview someone, introduce yourself as a writer with the Antler River Media Co-op and share what you’re writing about, why you would like to interview them, and how long the interview might take. Here’s an example:

“Hi, my name is [name] and I’m a writer with the Antler River Media Co-op. I’m hoping to write an article on [topic], and wanted to speak with you for your perspectives on [the person’s connection to the topic]. Would you be open to talking with me for [length of time]?”

If conducting an interview over phone or in-person, plan to audio record or video record the interview. Ask the person you’re interviewing for permission to record them. Answer any questions they might have about the interview before starting.

Plan to prepare interview questions before approaching someone for an interview. Always begin by asking them how they would like to be referred to in the article, or if they can briefly introduce themselves however they would like to for the purpose of the article. Ask follow-up questions for clarification or to embark on a new angle inspired by the moment.

Writing an article

Antler River Media Co-op is open to different styles of writing and narrative.

The article-writing advice provided here is intended for people who are new to article-writing, who are unsure how to begin, or who might appreciate some general writing guidelines.

Once you have all your interviews and footage of an event, begin the article with the most gripping piece of information that you’ve acquired and place it in time. This is your introduction.

Sample introduction:

On Saturday, April 26th, Antler River Media Co-op editor Incé Husain woke up to over 300 emails in her inbox.

The next section should contain some background information about the event that contextualizes the introduction.

Sample context:

Husain had emailed her entire contact list about Antler River Media Co-op’s establishment the night before, hoping that people might write to her about happenings in London – or better yet, share fully-written articles about events in the city they’d engaged with.

The next section can introduce a key quote from people who have been interviewed about the event, or quotes from recorded speeches/ talks. The quote should make the focus of the story clear.

Sample quote:

“I knew that there was a dire need for independent press in London, but I had no idea the situation was this extreme,” says Husain. “About 150 of the emails I got were from community members who’d submitted full articles for publication in Antler River.”

The next sections can continue to build on the focus of the story, with more quotes from interviewees or events that fill in the “who, what, where, why, when, and how” of the story. Begin with the most focused quote and gradually end with the broadest.

Sample end quote:

“I’m excited to see how the outlet grows from here,” says Husain. “I see endless possibilities for the community to rewrite what London is and ought to be by engaging with press.”

Submit an article

Antler River Media Co-op is flexible with article lengths. As a general guideline, aim for a maximum of 1500 words.

⁠Submit your finished article to antlerrivermedia@gmail.com as a Word doc or shared Google docs link. In your email, please provide a brief description of what the article is about. If you have a photo to accompany the article, please include that too.

At least two editors will review the article, leave comments and make edits for brevity, clarity, and flow. The final article will be returned to you via email for approval prior to publication.

By working with us, you retain full ownership to your articles – including their republishing and redistribution. If you wish to offer an article published in Antler River Media to another outlet, please reference Antler River Media as the original source of the article.