Staff at the Leicester Centre for Journalism have been sharing their expertise in the professional sphere.
David Penman has attended the Metropolitan Police Crime Academy in Hendon, North London, to work with police officers on the force’s Senior Investigating Officers development programme.
Working alongside a former newspaper colleague-turned police media expert, Matt Tapp, David offers delegates on the course an insight into how journalists would cover a major incident, and the impact that coverage might have on the investigation.
David said: “Matt is recognised as a leading authority on police media relations and has been a popular guest speaker at De Montfort on a number of occasions. Working with him at the Met enables me to keep up to date with the latest police media techniques which I can then share with our students.”
The senior ranking detectives’ task is to conduct a murder inquiry in real time, including dealing with bereaved relatives, the public and the media. The week-long exercise involves decision-making under pressure and using the media to help catch the culprit.
In addition to producing dummy front pages of newspapers in reaction to officers’ media releases, David also leads the questions at a ‘press conference’ and debriefs the officers on their performance.
Matt and David have also shared their expertise with The Dutch Police and officers from Norway who have come to London to experience the Met’s training programme.
Meanwhile John Dilley has been running a Teach the Teachers seminar for the NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists).
John, who is the Chief Examiner for the Production Journalism exam, leads the workshop in sharing good teaching practice for lecturers from other accredited courses across the UK.
John said: “This is a brilliant opportunity to raise DMU’s profile and also to help other lecturers to help their students aspiring to become digital or print journalists.”
Leave a Reply