Need help with all things Journalism?
There have been quite a few people asking for advice and help on journalism recently, whether it be university courses, post-grad courses, work experience, or how to go about getting a job. Rather than have people's questions dropping off the page before anyone turned up to answer them, I'll put a mini-pile of info and advice here for all to see, and feel free to ask me if there's anything I haven't covered.
Firstly, why I'm able to offer advice (just so you know I'm not bum on the street with no experience!):
I did my GCSEs and A-Levels like everyone else, but then went straight onto the NCTJ Certificate (more about that below) without going to uni. After one year I was a qualified journalist and could have started work on local papers straight away. But didn't want to leave the student life behind at 18, so I went and did a BA Hons in Journalism Studies. I finished that at the start of this summer and through the work experience part of the course I managed land a job straight away. 8 months on I'm the National Deputy Editor of a Haymarket magazine.
But I didn't do it the simplest way, I found some things to be avoided on the way there, as well as the best way of doing things. I wish I'd had someone who could have offered me advice at the time because I could have saved a fair bit of bother. Which is why I'm happy to help anyone else taking that route in any way I can.
Qualifications
The most important point to make is that qualifications are not the be all and end all in this industry. It's not like medicine where you're not allowed to do it unless you have a certain qualification. There are more crucial things to getting ahead in the industry, like ability, dedication/desire, who you know, and luck.
It really depends on what area of journalism/writing you want to get into. Newspaper journalism does require more of an academic background than magazine journalism. The demands of the job are different and getting into magazine journalism is made easier by the fact that a lot of people come to it later in life.
NCTJ
If you want to be a reporter, the qualification that is most likely to get you a job is the NCTJ Certificate. There are more variations of the course available than when I did it back in 2000 but it is basically a one-year course, aimed at post-graduates, that gives you the skills to act as a working reporter. There are modules in Journalism, Media Law, Public Affairs and Shorthand, and it really does cover everything. Newspapers and agencies actually come to the colleges looking for people with this qualification, so it is not only accepted, but sought after in the industry.
If you want to know more about the ins and outs of this course, feel free to ask me. Or you can find information on the www.nctj.com website, including a list of courses and where they're taught. You will also find a list of which universities have NCTJ accredited BA Hons Journalism Studies programs.
The NCTJ is aimed at postgraduates but you do not need to have a degree to do it. I was not the only one doing it straight from sixth form. So if you want to qualify as quickly as possible and don't mind not going to university, you don't need to.
University
If you want to be a journalist and do go to university, don't think that you automatically need to do a degree in journalism. To be honest there is not *that* much to learn in order to be a journalist and certainly not enough to fill a three year course. I found that we spent a lot of time being forced to do cultural studies, and language studies and sociological studies, to give us a vital underlying knowledge of blah blah blah, what a load of crap. If you want to learn about that do a degree in cultural studies, but it has nothing to do with journalism and is not even vaguely relevant to my job now, despite what they tell you at uni.
Now this is obviously not going to be the case at every uni. I only did one degree at one university, so look very carefully at the structure of the course over the three years. The more things like Editing and SubEditing, Law, Ethics, International Journalism, you see, the better. The more cultural blah, semiotics blah, society blah you see, the less time you will spend working on journalistic things. All that stuff is great for a general media studies degree, but that's not what we're doing.
BUT - if you do a general degree like History, English, or whatever you find enjoyable (pick a degree you will enjoy, three years is a long time), you will probably need a journalism qualification to get too far. You don't always need it and it's perfectly possible to get jobs without any specific journalism training, but I would advise against not doing anything. You may not need the actual qualification but you do need the ability, and it's not as simple as writing. You do need to spend time learning how to do it, it's just that from my experience a year is long enough. So if you don't mind taking an extra year to a NCTJ course or a Masters, I'd recommend a degree in whatever subject you love, rather than in Journalism - unless, of course, you really want to, but it's not vital.
Also make sure that whatever course you do and whichever university you go to, you find someone/something/anything to write for. It is almost 100% likely that any potential employer will want to see work that you have had published. They need to see the quality of your work, it's as simple as that. Whether it's a university magazine or paper, or community newspaper, a website, or even for a local/national magazine, it doesn't matter. But you need to be writing. As well as giving you more material for a portfolio (btw, have a portfolio - keep clippings of anything good you get published) it is practice. Practice makes perfect, the more you write the better you get, and the more likely you are to be employed.
Work Experience
Do it, do it, do it, do it, and once more, do it. The vast majority of jobs in the industry are filled by word of mouth, and are often not advertised at all. It sucks when you don't know anyone, but it really is all about who you know. So get to know people.
If you want to be a reporter, get in touch with your local paper, radio station, tv station, magazines... anyone and everyone. Find out who the relevant person to contact at each is (phone the switchboard and ask). If you want to work for a particular magazine or website, or any publication in a particular genre, find it. Find where it's based and who you need to contact and badger them. Do not give up badgering them until they say yes or no. Do not continue badgering them if they say they can't offer you anything. Call back in a month instead. It also helps to know exactly when you want your placement to start and end.
Explain that you are training and need to get work experience. Show how much you want to be there. Phoning is always best. People are extremely busy and emails often get ignored. (I thought that was mean of people until I got the job and people started emailing me, they really really don't have time to reply to them all). If you're not keen on phoning, by all means email at first. If you don't hear anything call them. Don't ramble or waste their time. Be brief, tell them what you want and why you can help them. Get them to agree at least to you sending them a covering letter, CV and examples of published work. Give them a couple of weeks, and if you don't hear (doesn't mean they're saying no, they just forgot) then call them back every week until they say something either way. Dedication wins.
Try to avoid 'making tea' type work experience placements. They're better than nothing but really don't do you any good. Explain when arranging it that you want to be hands on. When you get there, work your arse off. Chances are they get a lot of work experience people, we do. And for some reason most of them hide quietly and nervously in the corner, wait to be given work, and do nothing to make an impression.
STAND OUT. You need to be remembered. Don't be shy. I know some people are shy in new places, I am too. But offices are usually very laid back and writers are a good bunch of people. Get to know people quickly. Engage in banter. Don't sit quietly!! Don't wait to be given work, find work! Ask anyone, ask everyone. Don't sit still! Go around the office, meet everyone, talk to everyone, watch what they're doing, learn! (Pick your moments for this... if people are clearly very busy don't distract them or slow them down.) Take an interest in what everyone is doing, work with them, learn from them. Never stop asking if there's anything else you can do. And even better, have your own ideas for something you can do. At appropriate times, seek constructive feedback for your work. If you're doing something wrong to start with and you learn to fix it and improve over a week or two, people notice that. Progress is nice!
It shouldn't be hard to find work experience. Most publications are under-staffed and an extra pair of hands for a week or two always goes down well. But those hands need to have ability, and you may need proof of that ability to get a placement. You're no use if you can't structure a news story, interview people on the phone, do research etc etc.. That's what education is for.
Finding your publication
You'll be surprised how few publishers there are. Three of four big ones control most of the magazine market, and the same for newspapers. They all have websites, use them to find your magazine. I will be more help to you if you want to work on a magazine than a newspaper, simply because I don't work for a newspaper and never have. (I don't want to cover local "news", I want to write about my area of interest).
Newspapers are easy to find and easy to contact, so you shouldn't have too much trouble there. If you're really stuck, ask me and I can probably point you in the right direction.
Magazines! I'm guessing you know your genre of interest. I'd advise you to start here, simply because you'll enjoy it more and lots of people get jobs through work experience and you'd rather work for music/fashion/sport/whatever you love mags than Practical Caravan. If you don't already, read any magazines you're interested in working for. Understand the writing style and house style. If you turn up to work experience already getting that right it will make an impression. Most mags have a column somewhere on a page that lists the staff and where the mag is based, use that to get in touch. Or use the publishers website. Haymarket for example lists all of its mags on its website http://www.haymarketgroup.com/home
I can offer you more help with Haymarket publications than any other because I work for Haymarket, but it should be pretty much the same wherever you go. If you find your desired Haymarket mag and find the right person to contact (feel free to ask me about this), their email address is easy. Everyone who works for Haymarket has the same email format - [email protected] . You can also phone the Haymarket switchboard on 020 8267 5000. They can point you in the direction of pretty much anyone employed by the company
If you'd like me to help you get a foot in the door finding work exp at Haymarket, let me know. Obviously I'm not going to send just anyone in, but if you're for real and would be good at it, have a chat with me about things and I may be able to put in a good word for you with whoever it is you want to work for.
Getting a job
Assuming this will be everyone's first full-time job in journalism/magazines... see above. It's highly unlikely that anyone not currently in the industry or without relevant experience will be employed by any means other than work experience. They need to see that you can do the job before paying you. If needs be, turn up and work for free for a while. Two of people I work with got the jobs by coming in and working for free for a month or so and being the first name people thought of when a job came up. But obviously be careful, you can only live for so long without being paid and you shouldn't spend too long working for free because some evil people will take advantage.
(I'll stick some useful links in this thread as and when I come across them - please, make suggestions or add any advice from your own experiences)
Hopefully I've covered at least one or two useful points. But I know every case is different, so if you want to ask anything, want advice on something, or just want a general chat about it... that's what this thread is for, so go ahead.
Firstly, why I'm able to offer advice (just so you know I'm not bum on the street with no experience!):
I did my GCSEs and A-Levels like everyone else, but then went straight onto the NCTJ Certificate (more about that below) without going to uni. After one year I was a qualified journalist and could have started work on local papers straight away. But didn't want to leave the student life behind at 18, so I went and did a BA Hons in Journalism Studies. I finished that at the start of this summer and through the work experience part of the course I managed land a job straight away. 8 months on I'm the National Deputy Editor of a Haymarket magazine.
But I didn't do it the simplest way, I found some things to be avoided on the way there, as well as the best way of doing things. I wish I'd had someone who could have offered me advice at the time because I could have saved a fair bit of bother. Which is why I'm happy to help anyone else taking that route in any way I can.
Qualifications
The most important point to make is that qualifications are not the be all and end all in this industry. It's not like medicine where you're not allowed to do it unless you have a certain qualification. There are more crucial things to getting ahead in the industry, like ability, dedication/desire, who you know, and luck.
It really depends on what area of journalism/writing you want to get into. Newspaper journalism does require more of an academic background than magazine journalism. The demands of the job are different and getting into magazine journalism is made easier by the fact that a lot of people come to it later in life.
NCTJ
If you want to be a reporter, the qualification that is most likely to get you a job is the NCTJ Certificate. There are more variations of the course available than when I did it back in 2000 but it is basically a one-year course, aimed at post-graduates, that gives you the skills to act as a working reporter. There are modules in Journalism, Media Law, Public Affairs and Shorthand, and it really does cover everything. Newspapers and agencies actually come to the colleges looking for people with this qualification, so it is not only accepted, but sought after in the industry.
If you want to know more about the ins and outs of this course, feel free to ask me. Or you can find information on the www.nctj.com website, including a list of courses and where they're taught. You will also find a list of which universities have NCTJ accredited BA Hons Journalism Studies programs.
The NCTJ is aimed at postgraduates but you do not need to have a degree to do it. I was not the only one doing it straight from sixth form. So if you want to qualify as quickly as possible and don't mind not going to university, you don't need to.
University
If you want to be a journalist and do go to university, don't think that you automatically need to do a degree in journalism. To be honest there is not *that* much to learn in order to be a journalist and certainly not enough to fill a three year course. I found that we spent a lot of time being forced to do cultural studies, and language studies and sociological studies, to give us a vital underlying knowledge of blah blah blah, what a load of crap. If you want to learn about that do a degree in cultural studies, but it has nothing to do with journalism and is not even vaguely relevant to my job now, despite what they tell you at uni.
Now this is obviously not going to be the case at every uni. I only did one degree at one university, so look very carefully at the structure of the course over the three years. The more things like Editing and SubEditing, Law, Ethics, International Journalism, you see, the better. The more cultural blah, semiotics blah, society blah you see, the less time you will spend working on journalistic things. All that stuff is great for a general media studies degree, but that's not what we're doing.
BUT - if you do a general degree like History, English, or whatever you find enjoyable (pick a degree you will enjoy, three years is a long time), you will probably need a journalism qualification to get too far. You don't always need it and it's perfectly possible to get jobs without any specific journalism training, but I would advise against not doing anything. You may not need the actual qualification but you do need the ability, and it's not as simple as writing. You do need to spend time learning how to do it, it's just that from my experience a year is long enough. So if you don't mind taking an extra year to a NCTJ course or a Masters, I'd recommend a degree in whatever subject you love, rather than in Journalism - unless, of course, you really want to, but it's not vital.
Also make sure that whatever course you do and whichever university you go to, you find someone/something/anything to write for. It is almost 100% likely that any potential employer will want to see work that you have had published. They need to see the quality of your work, it's as simple as that. Whether it's a university magazine or paper, or community newspaper, a website, or even for a local/national magazine, it doesn't matter. But you need to be writing. As well as giving you more material for a portfolio (btw, have a portfolio - keep clippings of anything good you get published) it is practice. Practice makes perfect, the more you write the better you get, and the more likely you are to be employed.
Work Experience
Do it, do it, do it, do it, and once more, do it. The vast majority of jobs in the industry are filled by word of mouth, and are often not advertised at all. It sucks when you don't know anyone, but it really is all about who you know. So get to know people.
If you want to be a reporter, get in touch with your local paper, radio station, tv station, magazines... anyone and everyone. Find out who the relevant person to contact at each is (phone the switchboard and ask). If you want to work for a particular magazine or website, or any publication in a particular genre, find it. Find where it's based and who you need to contact and badger them. Do not give up badgering them until they say yes or no. Do not continue badgering them if they say they can't offer you anything. Call back in a month instead. It also helps to know exactly when you want your placement to start and end.
Explain that you are training and need to get work experience. Show how much you want to be there. Phoning is always best. People are extremely busy and emails often get ignored. (I thought that was mean of people until I got the job and people started emailing me, they really really don't have time to reply to them all). If you're not keen on phoning, by all means email at first. If you don't hear anything call them. Don't ramble or waste their time. Be brief, tell them what you want and why you can help them. Get them to agree at least to you sending them a covering letter, CV and examples of published work. Give them a couple of weeks, and if you don't hear (doesn't mean they're saying no, they just forgot) then call them back every week until they say something either way. Dedication wins.
Try to avoid 'making tea' type work experience placements. They're better than nothing but really don't do you any good. Explain when arranging it that you want to be hands on. When you get there, work your arse off. Chances are they get a lot of work experience people, we do. And for some reason most of them hide quietly and nervously in the corner, wait to be given work, and do nothing to make an impression.
STAND OUT. You need to be remembered. Don't be shy. I know some people are shy in new places, I am too. But offices are usually very laid back and writers are a good bunch of people. Get to know people quickly. Engage in banter. Don't sit quietly!! Don't wait to be given work, find work! Ask anyone, ask everyone. Don't sit still! Go around the office, meet everyone, talk to everyone, watch what they're doing, learn! (Pick your moments for this... if people are clearly very busy don't distract them or slow them down.) Take an interest in what everyone is doing, work with them, learn from them. Never stop asking if there's anything else you can do. And even better, have your own ideas for something you can do. At appropriate times, seek constructive feedback for your work. If you're doing something wrong to start with and you learn to fix it and improve over a week or two, people notice that. Progress is nice!
It shouldn't be hard to find work experience. Most publications are under-staffed and an extra pair of hands for a week or two always goes down well. But those hands need to have ability, and you may need proof of that ability to get a placement. You're no use if you can't structure a news story, interview people on the phone, do research etc etc.. That's what education is for.
Finding your publication
You'll be surprised how few publishers there are. Three of four big ones control most of the magazine market, and the same for newspapers. They all have websites, use them to find your magazine. I will be more help to you if you want to work on a magazine than a newspaper, simply because I don't work for a newspaper and never have. (I don't want to cover local "news", I want to write about my area of interest).
Newspapers are easy to find and easy to contact, so you shouldn't have too much trouble there. If you're really stuck, ask me and I can probably point you in the right direction.
Magazines! I'm guessing you know your genre of interest. I'd advise you to start here, simply because you'll enjoy it more and lots of people get jobs through work experience and you'd rather work for music/fashion/sport/whatever you love mags than Practical Caravan. If you don't already, read any magazines you're interested in working for. Understand the writing style and house style. If you turn up to work experience already getting that right it will make an impression. Most mags have a column somewhere on a page that lists the staff and where the mag is based, use that to get in touch. Or use the publishers website. Haymarket for example lists all of its mags on its website http://www.haymarketgroup.com/home
I can offer you more help with Haymarket publications than any other because I work for Haymarket, but it should be pretty much the same wherever you go. If you find your desired Haymarket mag and find the right person to contact (feel free to ask me about this), their email address is easy. Everyone who works for Haymarket has the same email format - [email protected] . You can also phone the Haymarket switchboard on 020 8267 5000. They can point you in the direction of pretty much anyone employed by the company
If you'd like me to help you get a foot in the door finding work exp at Haymarket, let me know. Obviously I'm not going to send just anyone in, but if you're for real and would be good at it, have a chat with me about things and I may be able to put in a good word for you with whoever it is you want to work for.
Getting a job
Assuming this will be everyone's first full-time job in journalism/magazines... see above. It's highly unlikely that anyone not currently in the industry or without relevant experience will be employed by any means other than work experience. They need to see that you can do the job before paying you. If needs be, turn up and work for free for a while. Two of people I work with got the jobs by coming in and working for free for a month or so and being the first name people thought of when a job came up. But obviously be careful, you can only live for so long without being paid and you shouldn't spend too long working for free because some evil people will take advantage.
(I'll stick some useful links in this thread as and when I come across them - please, make suggestions or add any advice from your own experiences)
Hopefully I've covered at least one or two useful points. But I know every case is different, so if you want to ask anything, want advice on something, or just want a general chat about it... that's what this thread is for, so go ahead.
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Thats great stuff, thanks a million 
Thanks for that!
I just want to know how big is the difference between Journalism and Publishing, in terms of qualifications and work experience? Would you recommend vaguely the same advice for careers in Publishing?
I just want to know how big is the difference between Journalism and Publishing, in terms of qualifications and work experience? Would you recommend vaguely the same advice for careers in Publishing?
x-Jo-x
Thanks for that!
I just want to know how big is the difference between Journalism and Publishing, in terms of qualifications and work experience? Would you recommend vaguely the same advice for careers in Publishing?
I just want to know how big is the difference between Journalism and Publishing, in terms of qualifications and work experience? Would you recommend vaguely the same advice for careers in Publishing?
The people I know in publishing got into it through journalism, and were writers before they were publishers.
I don't know enough about it to be able to advise you properl, though. I've no idea whether that is the norm, or whether people are usually qualified publishers. Sorry...
wow, that post was SO helpful! thanks for that, it's been really useful to me
you wouldn't happen to know how/who I contact about work experience at any publications in the Liverpool area would you? I want to try and get a bit of work experience under my belt before I go to uni next year...
you wouldn't happen to know how/who I contact about work experience at any publications in the Liverpool area would you? I want to try and get a bit of work experience under my belt before I go to uni next year...
SuperCollin
you wouldn't happen to know how/who I contact about work experience at any publications in the Liverpool area would you? I want to try and get a bit of work experience under my belt before I go to uni next year...
No idea, sorry. I've never worked over that way. Is it a Liverpool-based newspaper you're after? Or a magazine?
WOW that was great info!!! thanks a million!
wicked stuff, exactly what I was looking for. I'm dying to become a journalist. I did a couple of months work experience on a newspaper in south america and loved it, and now I'm deputy editor of one of the student newspapers at York. Am doing English and Politics but hoping to do a pg dip in newspaper journalism at City afterwards, can't wait
Zurich
No idea, sorry. I've never worked over that way. Is it a Liverpool-based newspaper you're after? Or a magazine?
Either/or, there's a couple of newspapers here... I'm applying for a work experience placement at BBC Radio Merseyside too, so hopefully something will come from that. Thanks for all the info anyways, it was really useful
Yeah, that's good stuff- I'd find equivelent info on Writing (Fiction/Poetry) and also Publishing very useful as those are the careers I want to look at- but salaries are really bad, so I'm not so sure- but I guess if you were to work in London at one of the powerhouse publishers like Penguin or Faber and Faber then the pay might be £25k instead of £19k or something.
My cousin just finished a degree in English at Oxford and gained a 1st, and this autumn she's been doing work experience with penguin (without prior knowledge of the business), and has been offered a contract thing for 3 months with them which means she'll be paid, not sure which dept. she'll be working in though- but I think that's quite good, seems like a good plan. But I guess I'd be tempted to write as well and try and get published which I suppose you could do- and on the issue of making yourself known- I guess going to all/ or as many Literary events in London as possible will make yourself known a bit more, especially if you have got yourself published and you want to market your work then those would be a good idea.
Anyway, good info on Journalism, cheers.
My cousin just finished a degree in English at Oxford and gained a 1st, and this autumn she's been doing work experience with penguin (without prior knowledge of the business), and has been offered a contract thing for 3 months with them which means she'll be paid, not sure which dept. she'll be working in though- but I think that's quite good, seems like a good plan. But I guess I'd be tempted to write as well and try and get published which I suppose you could do- and on the issue of making yourself known- I guess going to all/ or as many Literary events in London as possible will make yourself known a bit more, especially if you have got yourself published and you want to market your work then those would be a good idea.
Anyway, good info on Journalism, cheers.
Thank you for an excellent resource Zurich!
I can still remember my work experience in year 11 at my local newspaper, "The Evening Telegraph" it was the most fun that I had in a long time (which does not really make sense, since I have never had a job before lol)
I am planning to go into the world of Journalism and will have a work experience in year 12 to do in the field of Jornalism too, I can't wait! I am also a "Journalist" as such, as my Sixth Form is currently running a magazine entitled "The 6th Forum" (you need to really see the front cover as it is a play on words, which will be too difficult to explain on here lol) and our first issue was a major hit.
Power to all the future Journalists - w00t!
I can still remember my work experience in year 11 at my local newspaper, "The Evening Telegraph" it was the most fun that I had in a long time (which does not really make sense, since I have never had a job before lol)
I am planning to go into the world of Journalism and will have a work experience in year 12 to do in the field of Jornalism too, I can't wait! I am also a "Journalist" as such, as my Sixth Form is currently running a magazine entitled "The 6th Forum" (you need to really see the front cover as it is a play on words, which will be too difficult to explain on here lol) and our first issue was a major hit.
Power to all the future Journalists - w00t!
MagikGuy
Thank you for an excellent resource Zurich!
I can still remember my work experience in year 11 at my local newspaper, "The Evening Telegraph" it was the most fun that I had in a long time (which does not really make sense, since I have never had a job before lol)
I am planning to go into the world of Journalism and will have a work experience in year 12 to do in the field of Jornalism too, I can't wait! I am also a "Journalist" as such, as my Sixth Form is currently running a magazine entitled "The 6th Forum" (you need to really see the front cover as it is a play on words, which will be too difficult to explain on here lol) and our first issue was a major hit.
Power to all the future Journalists - w00t!
I can still remember my work experience in year 11 at my local newspaper, "The Evening Telegraph" it was the most fun that I had in a long time (which does not really make sense, since I have never had a job before lol)
I am planning to go into the world of Journalism and will have a work experience in year 12 to do in the field of Jornalism too, I can't wait! I am also a "Journalist" as such, as my Sixth Form is currently running a magazine entitled "The 6th Forum" (you need to really see the front cover as it is a play on words, which will be too difficult to explain on here lol) and our first issue was a major hit.
Power to all the future Journalists - w00t!
Lol. I got a review of the bell jar published in our school magazine thing, but that's really not anything to be proud of! I did get a photo published in Wiltshire Life which covered a double page
, and I have TRIED to get several pieces of work published in various magazines- The Guardian rejected one of my pieces (I sent it to the book thing), TLS rejected one but said it was good, London Review said they couldn't publish it as I sent it to the wrong department, lol, but I also sent something to the American Review and they said that they would have published it but they'd got such a back log of stuff that it wasn't possible to publish it at all as it would be about 6 years time when they did! 
, but, I then sent an article about the Bloomsbury's group's impact on the Sussex scene to Sussex life and they said they liked it but it wouldn't suit the audience that would read it- like they're only interested in marriages and parties and general gossip, oops. 
I'm currently writing a collection of poems which I'm gonna send to Faber and Faber as they accept unsolicited material for poetry, so it's worth a try, they're about reactions to Gothic lit and a parody of spoofs made in the past of Gothic lit and also about travelling around Europe. lol.
Hey Zurich!
Thanks for that thread of information, it has been a huge help to me. Im sure you’ve read my thread so I was wondering your advice on what to do in my situation. Any words would be thoroughly appreciated. My Future
One of my tutors was an ex journalist and she has helped a lot, doing the three year course at Uni is a lot more broader and for the basics that the NCTJ is a good start. How does the NCTJ course work? My tutor goes you go to a college for one year, then you find a job and continue your training for two years? Is this right?
I am really tempted to go on this NCTJ course as going to University doesn’t thrill me a lot ATM, don’t know why. I was thinking of doing this three year course at Uni, then go onto a job. Or do this year NCTJ course, possibly do one year English course at Uni, then go into the job world or third option go to a local paper as a trainee.
Would you say that simply doing this NCTJ course could have you in better prospects for the future?
EDIT - Some things I have done, I had a small article presented on the BBC Sport Academy website for the FA Cup Final in 2002. I won some PS2 Games for writing my introduction. Also, I had an article I did about my college printed in my local newspaper also, Ive got some print outs which I will keep incase for the future.
Thanks again and look forward to hear your views.
Cheers
Thanks for that thread of information, it has been a huge help to me. Im sure you’ve read my thread so I was wondering your advice on what to do in my situation. Any words would be thoroughly appreciated. My Future
One of my tutors was an ex journalist and she has helped a lot, doing the three year course at Uni is a lot more broader and for the basics that the NCTJ is a good start. How does the NCTJ course work? My tutor goes you go to a college for one year, then you find a job and continue your training for two years? Is this right?
I am really tempted to go on this NCTJ course as going to University doesn’t thrill me a lot ATM, don’t know why. I was thinking of doing this three year course at Uni, then go onto a job. Or do this year NCTJ course, possibly do one year English course at Uni, then go into the job world or third option go to a local paper as a trainee.
Would you say that simply doing this NCTJ course could have you in better prospects for the future?
EDIT - Some things I have done, I had a small article presented on the BBC Sport Academy website for the FA Cup Final in 2002. I won some PS2 Games for writing my introduction. Also, I had an article I did about my college printed in my local newspaper also, Ive got some print outs which I will keep incase for the future.
Thanks again and look forward to hear your views.
Cheers
Which area of journalism you're looking to get into should be a factor in deciding which way to go. If newspaper/magazine journalism interests you I don't think you're missing out on anything with the one-year NCTJ course. If you're looking at TV, radio, or some other specialised area then you might require more specific training.
Don't rely too heavily on what I'm saying, though. These are just my experiences and I'm sure you could find someone else that would give you advice to the contrary.
But during my journalism degree I felt that we were wasting a lot of time. And while it does cover more ground (history of the press, foreign and world media, the power & responsibility of the media, ethics etc etc) it didn't seem to me as though there was enough material to fill a whole degree, and we ended up studying a lot of irrelevant sociological and cultural rubbish as well.
You can make it work whichever way you go, so it might just come down to how much you want to go to uni. I didn't need to do a degree because I did the NCTJ straight from A-level. BUt I finished it at 18 and didn't want to start my working life just yet. So I had four more years of the student life, travelling and seeing the world. There's a lot more to uni than just the course you're doing. You meet hundreds of new people, get invovled in activities you would never have done anywhere else. You get the opportunity to study abroad and experience other cultures. And you get loads of free time each year to go and see the world.
My advice to anyone would be to a degree in any subject that interests you... History, English, Politics, French, Biochemistry, Juggling... or whatever. If you're going to be spending three years doing something it makes sense for it to be something you love. And then you can do the one year NCTJ afterwards to prepare you for, and probably get you into, the industry.
Don't rely too heavily on what I'm saying, though. These are just my experiences and I'm sure you could find someone else that would give you advice to the contrary.
But during my journalism degree I felt that we were wasting a lot of time. And while it does cover more ground (history of the press, foreign and world media, the power & responsibility of the media, ethics etc etc) it didn't seem to me as though there was enough material to fill a whole degree, and we ended up studying a lot of irrelevant sociological and cultural rubbish as well.
You can make it work whichever way you go, so it might just come down to how much you want to go to uni. I didn't need to do a degree because I did the NCTJ straight from A-level. BUt I finished it at 18 and didn't want to start my working life just yet. So I had four more years of the student life, travelling and seeing the world. There's a lot more to uni than just the course you're doing. You meet hundreds of new people, get invovled in activities you would never have done anywhere else. You get the opportunity to study abroad and experience other cultures. And you get loads of free time each year to go and see the world.
My advice to anyone would be to a degree in any subject that interests you... History, English, Politics, French, Biochemistry, Juggling... or whatever. If you're going to be spending three years doing something it makes sense for it to be something you love. And then you can do the one year NCTJ afterwards to prepare you for, and probably get you into, the industry.
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