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Newspaper Journalism

All good magazine courses should be accredited by PTC (Periodics Training Council)- the 'standard qualification' you should get out of a magazine course, City's magazine course still is.

Newspaper journalism is very rigid in that you 'need' NCTJ (with rare exceptions), but magazines don't always 'require' PTC training, yet a PTC course will greatly enhance job prospects as you will have the technical skills needed to work on a magazine. Competition will be incredibly fierce, so it will help you out by showing you are dedicated to your career.

So basically, you could get very lucky and get a job without a PTC course, but to do a course will greatly maximise the chances of getting a job, if that makes sense!

Pink Pantha- yes, most places such as London School of Journalism are PTC accredited.

Reply 21

pink_pantha

cool, but for the london school of journalism, you have to pay around £1,000 or £2,000

Reply 22

Pink Lady

1

??? I'm confuzzled! For most courses you'd have to pay around around £2500-£4000 depending on the place, (a few colleges may be a bit cheaper at £1500 or so) with at least an extra grand for courses at uni, so you'd be looking at £5000+ for a uni run course where the qualification offered is the same as that of a college.

Did you mean that LSJ was one of the cheaper ones, or were you unsure about 'typical' prices of courses?

Reply 23

pink_pantha

Lsj is the cheaper ones, but not accretited by the PTA, but is by NUJ

im talking about City uni, which is accretited by PTA, and i think i want a magazine course, not a general journalism course when i grow older

Reply 24

Pink Lady

1

Still confused!

There are two main types of print journalism courses: Newspaper and magazines, and they don't intersect, unless you opt to do one of the few courses where some parts may. So, there are not any 'general journalism courses' as they are all specialised- so for a magazine course you'd learn skills relevant to a magazine, and same for a newspaper course.

The only way that a course could be 'general' is if it is either crap (don't go) or of a lower level than is needed for professional journalism, such as a 'taster' or introductory course.

City Uni is not the same organisation as LSJ, and will be at least £5500 for a diploma course in magazine journalism. Its magazine course is still accredited with PPA so far, but with its newspaper course has left NCTJ, though I don't believe this will be a successful longterm move unless they are proven to offer a qualification equal to NCTJ by some kind of body, as otherwise people won't know that students will have reached the required standard!

Reply 25

pink_pantha

ok

but if you want to be a magazine journo, should i go to city instead, as they do a magazine course

Reply 26

Pink Lady

1

Nearly all centres do a PTC accredited magazine course, but along with Harlow and Cardiff, City's course has a very good reputation.

Reply 27

pink_pantha

cool, thanx for the help

Reply 28

Phillip

2

someone at my school who is extremely successful with exam results etc etc and who could easily go to Oxbridge is really keen on Sheffield university, he says that Sheffield is the best for journalism and he knows his research.

Reply 29

Cessie

2

Sheffield has a good rep. for undergrad in particular AFAIK. However many good Postgrad courses are at what would for other subjects not be considered a particularly good university or college.

Reply 30

HereFishyFishy

13

Phillip

someone at my school who is extremely successful with exam results etc etc and who could easily go to Oxbridge is really keen on Sheffield university, he says that Sheffield is the best for journalism and he knows his research.

In that case, your mate should research into doing a decent, respected degree before he embarks upon a journalism course. From what I've heard, doing a three year journalism degree really puts you at a disadvantage - even if you go for the top places. I'm not saying every person who studies media is going to end up jobless, but it does make it a lot harder for yourself with some employers because they have it on their blacklist.
When I recently secured some broadcast experience with ITV they thought I was doing a media degree for some reason and were really relieved when they found out otherwise. One of their pieces of advice was simply: don't do it.
Another place told me that when they recieve applications from media graduates they go straight in the bin. Pretty harsh, I know, but it tells you something.

And when it boils down to it, when you can achieve what you need in 10 months or a year, why bother going at it for another two years?

Reply 31

pink_pantha

wow, great advice

an english degree is looking like a more sensible route when i go uni in a few years now

Reply 32

HereFishyFishy

13

pink_pantha

wow, great advice

an english degree is looking like a more sensible route when i go uni in a few years now

Much more sensible. Mind you, don't think that doing an English Degree will put you at an advantage for journalism. Don't feel you have to study English to become a journalist. In fact, you can over-develop your writing style and become too 'flowery' if you're not careful.
But if you like English and want to do it, it's a good degree to have. :smile:

All aspiring journalists should just do something that will a) be useful b) be enjoyable. That's the best start.

Reply 33

pink_pantha

thanks

and i dont think i will be too "flowery", lol

it will either be english, or a foreing language(italian)

Reply 34

Rachel100

look up www.unistats.ac.uk
Gives rates of employment 6 mnths after graduation 4 postgrad & undergrad courses

Best places for MAs- according 2 that =

Sheffield (95% employment 100% employment/further study)
City (97% - but not NTCJ accredited & £2000 more expensive than Sheffield!)
Cardiff (89% and NCTJ accredited)
University of Central Lancashire (95% and NCTJ accredited)
Nottingham Trent (95% and NCTJ accredited)

Reply 35

JessicaWessica

When you guys are referring to 'City', which institution do you mean?
I'm looking to go to Brighton and Hove, so if anyone has any info. about it that'd be sehr helpful :wink:

x

Reply 36

HereFishyFishy

13

JessicaWessica

When you guys are referring to 'City', which institution do you mean?
I'm looking to go to Brighton and Hove, so if anyone has any info. about it that'd be sehr helpful :wink:

x

City University, London. The post-graduate Newspaper Journalism course is the best in the country, very closely followed by Cardiff. (My opinion of course, but a pretty widely held one.)
It's not easy to get into mind, there are a lot of applicants per place. You need a minimum of four weeks work experience at a local/regional newspaper, a good portfolio and there are a few tests to do too. And it'll set you back 7k.

Newspaper Journalism

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