Journalism exams postponed at DMU

By Kira Gibson

The NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) exams for the single honours journalism course at DMU have been postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic ongoing currently.

Already scheduled a month later due to the UCU strikes that went on in March, all the exams in April have been cancelled and delayed till later in the year with speculation as to whether the same will happen for the May exam dates.

Tutors are keeping students up to date with what exam dates are being arranged via email.

DSU role for NCTJ qualified journalist

By Natalie Whitehouse

Journalism graduate Jonathan Whitney has found himself back on the De Montfort campus, returning to the university in a role at De Montfort Students’ Union as Media and Communications Coordinator.

The NCTJ-accredited journalist stumbled across the vacancy by chance, and knew instantly that it was a job he could see himself succeed in:

“I knew it was exactly what I was looking for so I applied straight away. I got an interview and heard back the next day that I’d been successful! My first day was during Freshers – the busiest time of the year for us – so that was a bit of a baptism of fire, but I haven’t looked back since.”

Being thrown in at the deep end, Jonny began his role four months ago at the beginning of the academic year, and pays testament to his course and experience gained at De Montfort for assisting him in successfully securing the role at DSU:

“All of the skills I’d learnt on my course were big factors in me landing the job, but my previous experience was crucial. In my final year of study I was a Frontrunner in the press office at DMU, and the skills I learnt there in sourcing and writing news stories more tailored to a commercial setting was really important, and it was most helpful to me in learning how to write for different audiences.

“I was also a Media Intern at Leicester Tigers during that time, and spent the season honing my skills across a wide range of areas including press releases, social media and a little bit of video content.”

This vast amount of experience put the journalism graduate in extremely good stead for the position at DSU, which have allowed him to flourish in his role, as well as learn new skills on the job:

“I work in a small team, so I can find myself turning my hand to anything during a normal working week. I coordinate all of the news content that goes up on the DSU website, most of which I write myself. I’m also in charge of all of the main social media channels we have, so scheduling messages for, and monitoring, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others can take up a large part of my day.

“I’m also getting more and more into video content, which is one area that I didn’t cover so much on my course, but it still uses all of the traditional story telling techniques I learnt during my time studying at DMU.”

Jonny Whitney

Having previously wanted to get into sports journalism, the 21-year-old realised early in his time at university that his career path may change, as he began to lean more towards a career in communications:

“I wanted to be a sports journalist for a long time, but quite early on during my course my eyes were opened to the opportunities in PR and Communications and my goals have changed to suit. At some point in my career I’d love to work for a communications team in a sporting environment, but right now I’m really happy at DSU!”

Jonny seems to have found his ideal career – or along the lines of it. He fully enjoys his role, the projects he has been involved in thus far, and also the interesting people he gets to meet along the way:

“The most interesting bit I find is when you get some weird and slightly quirky stories coming out of the woodwork. I was writing one about a student, Maddison, who is BUCS champion in her category of Karate as our sports department gives her funding towards her training. Only as I was interviewing her did it come out that she was not only BUCS champion, but a double European and triple world champion! That was fascinating and made for a brilliant story.”

And as is the consistently fast-paced nature of the communications world, there’s always something to keep him busy, and most importantly happy:

“Right now is a really busy time because we’re in the middle of planning comms. around elections, Varsity, RAG week and a whole lot more. But I’m really enjoying it!

“I get a real buzz out of actually seeing the effect my work has – whether that be more engagement with a certain campaign, or more student sign-ups to one of our services.”

“I always wanted to do a job that made some sort of difference to people’s lives”

By Natalie Whitehouse

NCTJ qualified journalist Katrina Chilver found herself employed before she graduated from De Montfort last summer, obtaining a fantastic full time position as a trainee reporter at The Slough and Royal Borough Observer and Villager newspapers.

Katrina began her role in June, just before she graduated with a First Class degree in Journalism, after being on the hunt for journalism jobs during her time at university:

“I was looking for trainee reporter jobs based all over the country on the journalism website Hold the Front Page throughout my third year at DMU. I was really lucky because I applied for this job in May just as I was finishing my course and was invited to interview that month too.

Photo by Mike Swift

Katrina interviews Mary Berry.   Photo by Mike Swift

“I think it helped that I was open to moving anywhere as jobs in journalism can be limited and it gives you more options if you’re looking all over the country.”

As well as being open to change, she cites her course as another area that gave her a helping hand in securing the role, as well as her time as News Editor for The Demon, and various other placements she undertook throughout her studies:

“The NCTJ preliminary qualifications that I got while at DMU really helped because I wouldn’t really be able to do my job without Shorthand, Media Law and other things I learnt from those exams.

“I also think that the work experience placements I did on local newspapers while at university played a big part because they really showed me how a newsroom works and gave me the chance to have my work published.”

These factors enabled Katrina to land what she describes as her dream role: “This is definitely my dream job. It sounds really cheesy but I always wanted to do a job that made some sort of difference to people’s lives, and although I’m definitely not changing the world in any way, I do get calls from people I have written stories about thanking me and telling me it has helped them, whether that’s raising awareness of their fundraising or helping them get an apology when they have been wronged in some way.”

The role of a journalist is diverse in its nature. Katrina divides her time between looking for story ideas, interviewing, receiving calls from readers and of course writing. And she notes that this makes sure her job always has an edge of excitement:

“I get to chat with loads of different people every day and hear about their lives and other things. I could be interviewing an elderly couple about their 70th wedding anniversary one minute and be writing about someone being arrested the next, it’s not a job that’s ever really boring.”

And her first day on the job proved to be as exciting and interesting as any – going out to cover a story about the Queen:

“I cover the Windsor area and on my first official day at work I was sent down to Windsor Castle to cover the Order of the Garter ceremony. It was pretty exciting to be able to say that your first day at work involved the Queen. I’m yet to meet her but I have met Mary Berry, which some would say is just as exciting!”

Katrina’s aspirations don’t just end here. She plans to get additional qualifications in the hope of furthering her career, and maybe one day becoming an editor:

“At the moment my goal is to get my NQJ qualification so that I can become a senior reporter and I can take that in about a year’s time. After that I hope to become a news editor and hopefully one day an editor, but those goals are quite a way off at the moment.”

As for graduates still searching for jobs, and indeed current students on the lookout too, Katrina leaves some pearls of wisdom when looking for the job that’s right for you:

“I do think it’s just as important for you to find out if you want the job as it is for the employer to decide it you are the right candidate.”

DMU student preparing to bring Disorder to fashion industry

Despite the fact that she is yet to even graduate, one Journalism student at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) has secured herself a job with fashion magazine Disorder.

Samantha Jagger, who has only recently completed her final year studying DMU’s NCTJ accredited Journalism course, has managed to find the ideal job with Disorder magazine by combining her love for fashion with her passion for journalism.

Disorder Magazine is an independent youth magazine featuring the best in new fashion, music, art, technology and film.

Samantha, who had done some work for Disorder prior to being offered a full-time role, was offered a position as a Journalist and Stylist for the magazine.

She said: “I was asked a while ago to do a photoshoot for them which they really liked and told me that they wanted to take me on full-time. I’ve also been made editor of a monthly four page feature which I’m really excited about.

“DMU made it easy for me to tailor everything I did on the Journalism course towards fashion so at the end of it I came out with the relevant journalism qualifications but I also have experience in fashion on top of that.”

One of Samantha’s first responsibilities was to represent her new employers at Graduate Fashion Week in London, the world’s biggest student fashion event.

Speaking at the catwalks, Samantha added: “Everyone’s got a really good vibe at these places, there’s just so much passion about.

“If you want to get into fashion then these are the places to be because you have to network with people to make yourself known.”