Few professions have the allure that comes with being a journalist. Each year thousands of students sign up for coursework in the wide field of Journalism. Success in Journalism, perhaps more so than other careers, requires strong networking skills and taking classes with the right professors at the right universities can go do a lot to get your foot in the industry.

Top journalism programmes in the UK

The UK has a lot to offer prospective journalism students. Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies is one of the world’s finest journalism programmes and also the top journalism programme in the UK according to the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). Other great journalism schools include the London School of Journalism, London’s City University and Kingston University. When deciding which journalism school to attend look at who teaches there. Having the right professors, who have connections in the professional world, makes a bigger difference than what you might learn in the classroom. Having a good relationship with a professor could ultimately help you land a job or an internship. When analysing whether a school is right for you, take both the school’s reputation and faculty into consideration. If you’re interested in broadcasting it might make more sense to attend a school with faculty experienced working in broadcast news than a more prestigious school whose faculty worked in print. As the internet forces media outlets to adopt new business models, journalists are required to be proficient in a variety of fields and while the job industry is certainly dealing with this, not every journalism programme has changed their curriculum to reflect the demands of the job market.

Convergence and specialisation

Traditionally students have chosen a specific brand of journalism to focus on. If you wanted to work in broadcast, you took courses on broadcast and only got a background in other fields. The work place as well was more job specific. In most large market cities a reporting team might consist of a cameraman, reporter, and possibly even a sound man. Now news stations are more likely to hire a recent graduate who is capable of doing everything themselves: writing the stories, shooting their own video, and doing their own on camera work. With the advent of the web, newspapers and television stations are being forced to perform many of the same functions. A newspaper website will have all the articles and photos from the paper as well as video and multimedia content and a television station might have articles to go with their video content. With the Internet, news organizations are requiring their employees to be flexible and have a wide arrange of skill sets. It is important that your university gives you the opportunity to take a range of courses in different areas. Learning to shoot video, write stories, and work on the web is almost mandatory for a successful career in the field.

National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ)

Another way to improve your resume is to get a certificate from the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Frequently journalists will work towards these certificates while their working at a job, although it’s not required. The NCTJ offers courses in a wide array of fields, from photojournalism to sports writing to press relations and business writing.