Though journalism in the United Kingdom was traditionally viewed as a trade rather than as a profession, nationwide training schemes for journalists have been in place since the 1950s and the professionalization of journalism has increased significantly in recent years. Almost all new journalists in the UK are educated to at least bachelor’s degree level (Thurman, Cornia & Kunert, 2016), and the proportion of new entrants to the profession with journalism-specific degrees has grown substantially (Jackson, Thorsen & Reardon, 2020, p.107).
The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) has provided training for journalists in subjects such as ethics, media law and regulation for over seventy years, and accredits journalism courses in the UK at academic institutions and elsewhere that lead to the Diploma in Journalism qualification. 65 per cent of all journalists in the UK hold a qualification from the NCTJ (81 per cent of journalists hold an accredited journalism qualification from any source) (Spilsbury, 2018, p8). According to the 2018 Journalists at Work survey 70 per cent of respondents who received training in the previous year had their training funded by their employers. 18 per cent received training for free, and just nine per cent paid for training personally. However, these proportions varied by sector, with broadcast and newspaper journalists more likely to receive employer-funded training than online or magazine journalists (Spilsbury, 2018, pp.56-57). The same survey found that journalists across all sectors were concerned about possible skills gaps due to the changing technological and employment context, and that attempts to address these gaps faced barriers due to time constraints and work commitments and potentially high fees. Overall, however, the majority of UK journalists (63 per cent) felt that the volume of learning provision in the UK was “about right” (Spilsbury, 2018, pp.64-65).
Larger news organizations in the UK operate their own internal training schemes. The BBC Academy is an in-house training hub offering a mix of classroom-based and online training modules, with 90 per cent of staff completing one or more courses in 2018-19 (BBC, 2019, p.85). Some BBC Academy content is available to licence fee payers and journalists at other organizations. The Corporation has also committed to the implementation of leadership development programmes to increase the proportion of women (including the Expert Women project) and staff from black and minority ethnic (BAME) and LGBTQ+ staff in leadership positions (BBC, 2019a, pp.77-81). Larger newspaper publishers also operate their own training and management programmes, such as Reach Plc (publisher of several national newspapers and over 200 local newspapers (Reach Plc, n.d.) and members of IPSO supply regulatory compliance training to staff (News Corp UK & Ireland, 2018). In the hyperlocal and community news sector, the Independent Community News Network offers training via Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies (an accredited NCTJ training centre), as well as access to advice on issues of media law (Independent Community News Network, n.d.).
