Precise data about journalism training are not easy to assemble. One detailed report was published by the Journalism Training Forum (2002) based on research by the publishing sector’s National Training Organisation (NTO) and its broadcasting sector counterpart Skillset. The report was based on an extensive survey of UK journalists, responding to a comprehensive range of questions about their individual experiences of working in the UK press and broadcasting industries.41 The report included illuminating sections on journalists’ backgrounds, qualification levels, working conditions, contractual status, and the like. It also contained a section on their skills, needs and learning opportunities. This section found that the majority of the practising journalists (76 %) had undertaken some learning activities in the previous year; in the majority of cases this training related to the development of professional skills; and in two thirds of the cases the training was paid for by an employer. Over half believed that news skills were needed, these being largely core journalistic skills, new media competences and some legal training. 58 % stated that their employers had been very or fairly helpful, whilst 34 % disagreed (Journalism Training Forum 2002: 49).
The report indicated the highly educated quality of UK journalists, in contrast to an earlier era of ‘learning on the job’. A remarkable 98 % of the respondents had a degree or postgraduate qualification; nearly half of them had a postgraduate qualification, usually in journalism from universities with reputed journalism courses such as Cardiff and City University London. According to a sample analysis carried out for the Guardian (Wilby 2008)
‘nearly half of the postgraduate students in City University’s journalism school, still one of the main gateways to Fleet Street [the collective term for the UK’s national newspapers] and the BBC, come from just four [elite] universities: Oxford, Bristol, Leeds and Cambridge’.
In some regards this is a sign of professionalization. However, as Wilby (2008) remarks it is also indicative of a ‘narrow social and ethnic base’ (this is, of course, not a new phenomenon.). There is a growing awareness of this bias, and there have been attempts to remedy the situation. Wilby (2008) notes that the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), has had a journalism diversity fund since 2005.42
As regards the broadcasting sector, it should be noted that the BBC has always played a special role as a training organization. Within the BBC there is a ‘very strong sense of journalistic professionalism’ and since the Hutton report ‘there has been an increased focus on training in the BBC. The BBC College of Journalism website43 is an example’ (survey questionnaire response from former BBC executive, July 2010).
