10.09.2004: This site has moved to a new address at www.westminsterjournalism.co.uk/coursesite, so that it will have more bandwidth. Click here to view the site at its new address on the web.

18.07.2004: The university has been contacted by the organisers of the Prix Italia television festival to provide students to start a discussion on the media and terrorism. The conference session is a new venture for the organisers, Italian state broadcaster RAI, and is the first of a series of conference sessions that will follow the prestigious broadcasters festival. The university has been asked to offer four students who will make a presentation based on television footage of three famous terrorist actions and discuss the way they view the material. Two of the students are coming from psychology and two will come from journalism. It has been agreed that one could be post-graduate (i.e. PGDip - just left) and one second year. The students will have to work together to look at the footage in the next few weeks and then with help cut together pieces they want to use to illustrate their points in an individual five minute presentation. There is also the opportunity for the journalists to contribute to a daily festival newspaper, offering great experience in news gathering and production. In return they will get a week in Sicily, all expenses paid, mixing with the top brass of 60 worldwide broadcasters. The conference runs from 12 to 18th September. url: http://www.prixitalia.rai.it/html_trale/Html_prix.htm ENDS Geoffrey Davies 077900-17104

08.07.2004: Work attachment section has been updated. The delegation from last year's PG Dip Print to go to the Groucho Club for the awards is Christina Boyle, Rachel Platt, Tom Lutz, Charlotte Moore (and possibly Harry Keegan). Next Thursday starting 6pm).

01.07.2004: Job on offer, notified directly by the PTC: ASSISTANT EDITOR. POPULAR CRAFTS MAGAZINE – HIGHBURY LEISURE. Are you a stylish individual with creative flair who is looking for a break into consumer publishing? Popular Crafts, the UK’s original craft magazine covering traditional and contemporary crafts from all over the world, is looking for an assistant editor to join its hardworking but fun team. Ideally you will be brimming with creative ideas and have a good working knowledge of feature writing, subbing and QuarkXpress. This a fantastic opportunity for a self-motivated media graduate to get that all-important first job! Please send your cv plus covering letter to: Dawn Frosdick-Hopley, Divisional Publisher, HIGHBURY LEISURE Publishing Ltd. Berwick House, 8-10 Knoll Rise, Orpington, Kent BR6 0PS, Email: [email protected]

28.06.2004: Even more PG Dip job news. Samantha Washington, who graduated last year, is now the actual producer (ie boss) of the Radio Four personal finance show Money Box, having gone straight from college to a national network - though also capitalising on her previous work in the financial industry and capitalising on a key skill shortage - financial journalists (or, at least, journalists who understand at least something about finance and economics). Chris "JJ" Deary from PG Dip this year has got a job producing football magazines, and Baba Boljafemi, who graduated two years ago, has landed a plumb job at Press Association producing wire material and syndicated page-ready features. PA - that's Premier League stuff.

26.06.2004: More good PG Dip Print job news. Emily Dent has got a job on the amazing Tramp magazine, after seeing the advert on the course site (see below) - though she will have to give up another job producing an in-house newspaper in the NHS in order to take it. This means she becomes the first student ever to have had not just a job but to have experienced an entire career before graduating; On the same day fellow PG Dip Print students Liz Sheehan (of "Bin Laden plan to blow up University of Westminster" fame) has got a job as a reporter on Legal Week and Anna Goldie has got a job come fast-track training deal with CMPi (Music Week, Property week, Travel Trade Gazette). This means that about a third of the people on the course have got jobs before the course officially ends, and before they knew whether they had passed it or not.

23.06.2004: More good job news. Legal Eagle Yomi Akiwumi/ [email protected]/ PG Dip Broadcast has landed a job at BBC Radio Four factual - ie, a national network, thus cutting out the usual paying of dues at local/regional radio/internet. This is very good going indeed for somebody straight out of college, even a fully trained lawyer. Perhaps somebody can profile him for "Tramp" magazine (see below) and thus kill two birds with one stone.

22.06.2004: Attn all posh students: Editor of a new launch lifestyle magazine writes: Students may be interested in internships at our magazine Tramp. There are also staff writer positions avaliable for those with relevant experience and a drive to learn in a fast-paced environment. Tramp is an international luxury lifestyle magazine for today’s young and vibrant jet-setting glitterati combining entertainment with fashion, travel and arts, fusing them together with the underlining themes of wealth and opulence. A must have guide to ‘what’s hot and what’s not’ in major cosmopolitan cities and genuinely ostentatious locations of the world. Interns would get the opportunity for writing and research experience. If you think any of the students are interested, can they contact the editor, Kirsten on: 02077358171 ext 3061 or email her with your CV and examples of work at: [email protected]. Yours - Catherine Thurtle, Lifestyle Editor, Tramp magazine.

Also, somebody at EMAP writes: "we are looking for four brilliant people with enthusiasm, ambition, passion and outstanding talent who would love to write for one of our great magazines.

If you’re chosen you’ll get a contract for a six month paid (yes paid!) scholarship on either Empire, FHM, Closer or More. This will include formal training and invaluable on-the-job experience. There is simply no better way to take your first step into magazine journalism. Visit Emap Consumer Media’s recruitment site www.findamediajob.co.uk for an application form and more info (Please note: web site not activated until Monday 14th June).

Your deadline (get used to it!) for completed applications forms is 25th June 2004. Demand will be high so don’t delay. The scholarship scheme starts in September 2004. All placements are based in London."

AND ATTENTION ALL RADIO PEOPLE. Miles Ashby of Middlesborough (believed by some to be home town of Sibohan Trenholm and Bryan Robson) local commercial radio writes: "We're looking to recruit a trainee to join our expanding news team. You'll need to be enthusiastic and have a desire to make a name for yourself at EMAP - one of the biggest radio groups in the UK. CVs and Demo's (if you have one)to Myles Ashby. Head of News and Sport. 96.6 TFM and Magic 1170. Yale Crescent. Thornaby TS17 6AA. [email protected]. 01642 888222

22.06.2004: Felix Gill (pictured)writes: "Just a reminder to those of you who want to say goodbye. I am emigrating on the 7th of August to Canada and having a goodbye 'Canada themed' barbie type thing at my house in sunny Golders green. North West London. All partners and kids are welcome! Saturday 3RD July 2004, 2pm onward. It'll start at 2pm but there is a Westminster University alumni challenge football match on the heath (three minutes walk from mine) at noon, so those who fancy forming a team with me against this years current, highly self-rated team be at mine around noon. Of course a couple of Exeter 'ringers' are welcome. During the evening (8ish) those still up for it could move en masse into town to help me say goodbye to the city of London. So PLEASE let me know if you can make it so I get enough alcohol and food in for the afternoon because we all know what its like when the booze runs out. e-mail: [email protected]"

Chris Horrie adds: With agreement we are gatecrashing this party for the end of year course party (print, broadcast and medical - this year and all previous years). Could be a big crowd particularly if good weather so bring a bottle.

08.06.2004: Re-take for the law and public affairs exams will be 11am in J2/CH Monday June 20th.

08.06.2004: "OOH!" the consumer magazine produced by PG Dip Print/BAMJ last June (pictured here) has been shortlisted for PTC student magazine of the year and, surely, they must have a great chance of winning it. The awards ceremony is in July and I have four tickets. I am contacting last year's graduates directly, but if any still visit this site from time to time, please contact Chris Horrie. (PS this year's magazine, which will be up for the cup Next summer, is - if anything - better, experts claim.

08.06.2004: Out of interest, watch the Chris Horrie scripted documentary on musician John Coltrane on BBC1 on Wednesday June 16th - part of the Alan Yentob "Imagine" series. Proof, possibly, that the White Dot Society is right afterall!

04.06.2004: OK, well that's the end of the course(s). Two dates to note: The exam board is Wednesday June 23rd and so you will be getting your results some time after that (I don't know when). There is a party at Felix Gill's house on Saturday July 3rd (not July 11th)which is partly a reunion with previous years. In the meantime David Dunkley-Gyimah says that he will provide notes (and possibly a voluntary session at the college)about how to update your website. Beyond this good luck everyone, stay in contact via this site. Otherwise, and thanks for all the fish.

02.06.2004: The central campus Investigative Journalism summer school will take place this year on July 16, 17, 18th. Tickets are expensive for this public event (it is not part of your course) but this is a top quality international event mainly for more experienced journalists, rather than recent graduates. But nevertheless... This year it features a chance to meet LOWELL BERGMAN, the legendary Pulitzer-winning hero-journalist and TV producer who single handedly destroyed the the US tobacco industry (and became the subject of the feature of the Hollywood feature film The Insider [Al Pacino, Russell Crowe].)

29.05.2004: Congratulations to Tom Evans (pictured left)who becomes the second PG Dip Print student this year to get a job BEFORE graduation. Congratulations also to Irina Von Witte (PG Dip Broadcast pictured right, who has been presenting the news on Finnish National TV, an event which can be seen by clicking this clip. You need realplayer (download from this page, or from the net) and Irina does not appear until about a minute into the bulletin. The job market does seem to be picking up. Research done for the BJTC found that 16 out of seventeen students who graduated from the Broadcast pathway last year are working as journalists at a good level (one as a newspaper reporter!). The picture is pretty much the same with the print pathway people.

27.05.2004: Thanks/Congratulations to broadcast students who participated in Wednesday's Broadcast Journalism Training Council re-validation inspection. The inspectors were most impressed by the quality of student work and urge all of you to enter course or freelance work for the Council's annual student awards. To do so you will need to cut a "show reel" of your best TV work and submit it to Chris Horrie. Time will be available in the Annexe in the later part of next week. Mike Dodd will also consider entering your Radio Documentary if you tell him to do so.

21.05.2004: PG Dip Broadcast: This "starter" job vacancy was sent to us by the BJTC - partly because the radio station (Wave FM) wants/needs your application and partly to indicate the sort of "entry level" type job you (on graduation) should be able to apply for with a fair degree of confidence.

21.05.2004: PG Dip Print: Early notice, entry details and forms for the PTC student journalist of the year awards. The guidelines are here. The entry form is here.

21.05.2004: Early notice (again, but we are going to have an end-of-course get together on Saturday July 3rd at the house of Felix Gill (in posh Hampstead, near Golders Green tube) on a bring-a-bottle/quiche basis. Quite a few ex-students will be coming too (it is a sort of annual re-union). This year it will have a Canadian theme, since Felix like millions of his fellow Irishmen before him emigrating DannyBoy style to Canada. Book the date in your diary (2pm to late at night for most people, but the inevitable current vs former students football match at a nearby park in the morning). Address, contact details and more details later.

21.05.2004: Guest lecture. Media Society lecture/discussion jointly organised with the faculty is on June 9th at central London campus. It is about the history/future of ITV and features high-powered TV biz legends such as DAVID LIDDIMENT, Director of Programmes ITV, 1997-2002 and STEVE HEWLETT, Programme Controller Carlton TV to 2004. Tickets available at heavily discounted prices. Full details here.

21.05.2004: Tom Lutz (pictured, [email protected]), a student on PG Dip print last year, offers some encouraging news on the state of the job market and the prospects for graduate PG Dippers: "Thought I'd let you know I have now got a permanent job at the Guardian. I'm a production assistant, a title which, unfortunately, doesn't impress women. I do a bit of subbing, ring the correspondents and interview them for audio reports and help design pages. Our year has done very well out of the Guardian actually, James, Charlotte, me and Rachel Foster all now have permanent jobs and Rachel Platt does a bit of freelance stuff and Chris Bourn may be getting a job on the Observer Music Monthly. I met Charlotte for lunch the other day and she'd just been to 10 Downing Street, so she seems to be doing OK. Rachel Platt is a line producer on City Hospital on BBC1 and Helen Crump is at the Ilford Gazette. Martin Ashplant is at the sports agency he was working at last year, but now he's full time and gets a desk and everything. In September we'll be looking for students to put the paper on to the website at night. Me and James started out on the night shift so it's well worth doing. Anyway, if you're interested I can give you the email of the person in charge of recruitment. It might be a good opportunity for next year's students." So that looks like a beach-head for Westminster mafia at the Grauniad.

21.05.2004: PG Dip Periodicals. Starter job on a food magazine/website notified via the PTC. Details can be found here.

20.05.2004: .Feedback from employers indicates that the main concern about journalism course leavers is lack of knowlege of local government. This can't be the case for Westminster Journalism courses where the subject is comprehensively dealt with by the Friday lectures in Semester One. Nevertheless Jim Latham of the BJTC has helpfully provided these additional notes indicating statutory responsibilities of different tiers of local authorities.

20.05.2004: .Hannah Robertson (PG Dip Broadcast) writes: Saw a trailer for a film called 'Shattered Glass' today, here's a synopsis: "This film tells the true story of fraudulent Washington, D.C. journalist Stephen Glass (Christensen), who rose to meteoric heights as a young writer in his 20s, becoming a staff writer at "The New Republic" for three years (1995-1998), where 27 of his 41 published stories were either partially or completely made up. Looking for a short cut to fame, Glass concocted sources, quotes and even entire stories, but his deception did not go unnoticed forever, and eventually, his world came crumbling down..." Looked quite good, and even Haydn Christensen didn't seem too crap. It was apparently released on 14th May." Shall we organise a trip out to the pictures?

20.05.2004: .Broadcast pathway nb: The BJTC inspection team [namely Steve Harris, Ric Bailey (political editor of the BBC) and Ginny Sterling of Skillset] will be in on Wednesday coming. They will want to speak to you between 11am and 11.30am (group A, ie: LW, RR, JW, AJ B, AH, YA, CD, P billy R, FN) and between 11.30am and 12 noon (group B, ie: ND, HR, SL, MZ, SL, SQ, ST, TT, RT). Please factor this in to your work plan for the day.

19.05.2004: PG Dip and BAMJ - reminder that this coming Monday at 5pm there is a compulsory meeting with Claire Barter of the PPA, PTC and the magazine paper company UPM-Kymmene. She will give a guest lecture/briefing on the technology of magazine "post-production" and paper technology.

18.05.2004: Attn: PG Dip Periodical/BAMJ. Reminder - do not forget this Monday's visiting talk on magazine paper and pronting processes. Details as below. BAMJ - the John Illman presentations will take place on the agreed date in room A3.17. This is a seminar room with data projection facilities.

18.05.2004: Locations confirmed. Guest lecture on investigative journalism will take place in the Auditorium at 5pm on June 2nd. This is for all students, please make every effort to attend.

18.05.2004: Attn PG Dip Broadcast. UPDATED notes on the use of technical equipment in the annexe/TV newsroom (inc. how to do record a telephone interview) can be found here.

16.05.2004: Attn PG Dip Broadcast. Notes on the use of technical equipment in the annexe/TV newsroom can be found here and MUST be read. Also - urgent - can somebody please take and supply digital still pictures of the newsroom in action, eg during a live broadcast.

14.05.2004: Guest lecture/screening. June 2nd 5pm. Gavin McFadeyan (ex World in Action, etc). Masterclass on investigative journalism. Gavin will be showing his suppressed documentary on the diamond trade. We are also planning to show Michael Moore's banned documentary "Farenheit 911" on the business relationships between George W Bush and the rulers of Saudi Arabia. All students are very strongly urged to attend. Will take place at Harrow campus. LT location to be announced.

14.04.2004: Report by Mandeep Gakhal (pictured) on the recent visit to the campus of Prince Charles and various rap music 'slebs can be read by following this link.

14.05.2004: For those PG Dip people interested in taking the MA next year - Alan Hiscock explains all here.

10.05.2004: Good luck to PG Dip Broadcast who today (Monday) go live with Westminster Today - scheduled TV news bulletins for the campus. The first broadcast will take place at 3pm today in the "the street" and it would be good if all others could take a break and have a look at it. From Tuesday onwards there will be bulletins at 12 noon (or possibly 1pm) and at 3pm every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday until the end of term. The TV newsroom, which will staff in a way similar to the "crit room" during the production of WNOL, is based next to the J2 open area. Please feel free to get in contact with story and feature ideas.

07.05.2004: Attn: PG Dip Print/BAMJ. Ross Chainey ([email protected]) writes:"Could everyone involved in the magazine project please email me to let me know what job you would like to do. It's unlikely we will get it all sorted by Tuesday but I would like to have a rough idea of what everyone wants to do."

29.04.2004: All students please note the attached message from Viviene Saunders

29.04.2004:Geoffrey Davies' introductory powerpoint presentation on TV news can be read by following this link (it is a powerpoint document and will take a while to load. Also requires powerpoint player installed on your machine)

28.04.2004: The lecture from Kip Meek of Ofcom on regulation and competition is now booked into LT4 at 5pm this Thursday April 29th. Given the recent rush of publications from OFCOM this should be an interesting time for him to come and talk.

20.04.2004: The campus football final - Staff (+Broadcast) vs International (+Print) has been provisionally scheduled for 5.30 - 7.45pm on Wednesday, May 5th to take place on the field next to the gym (we have a qualified ref lined up). The match itself will be followed by moderate corporate-style entertainment and the formal presenation of the Harrow Cup (pictured) by HRH the Duke of Westminster (or similar) in or arround the Garden Room.

20.04.2004: Belated congratulations to MAJI student Hsiao-Hung Pai (graduated back in January) whose investigative piece (nb: subterfuge) on the exploitation of Chinese labour by "gangmasters": earned her a front page pictrue by-line in the Guardian in March. The project was coached by Richard Adamson, our resident tutor on public affairs and investigative journalism. This is significant journalism of the highest standard published on the front page of a world class newspaper.

19.04.2004: There has been a slight update to the programme for this term's broadcast/TV journalism course. The details here now replace similar details previously posted.

19.04.2004: Indefatigable coursesite correspondent Shubhobroto Ghosh offers this recent interview with self-proclaimed World's No.1 "New Journalist" Tom Wolfe (pictured) for general edification.

19.04.2004: Guest lecture (1): Thursday April 29th Kip Meek, Senior Partner, Competition and Content at OFCOM, will speak and take questions on the regulation of TV and radio from 5pm onwards in a lecture theatre to be announced. This will be especially interesting for people contemplating the MA "top up" (about which there is no need to rush, since there will be a briefing on this page soon)or for policy wonks generally. Guest lecture (2): Charles Begley, editor of the ITN "rolling" news channel, will be doing a celebrity-guest de-brief and feedback session on the May 18th output of the forthcoming broadcast pathway "Westminster rolling news" output for the day, a form of precision-directed organised chaos which he will watch going out live - just like he does for ITN every day. Charles is a good friend of the course, a former News of the World crime reporter, Harry Potter correspondent and student of Chris Horrie's at LCP so he will stick around to also offer a few words of wisdom about crime reporting/building a career in newspapers to the periodicals pathway people.

19.04.2004: Sally Feldman draws our attention to this local (Harrow) community radio station which will be launched in August and is looking for volunteers to help get it established.

18.04.2004: David Gyimah's web-based documentary about South Africa can be viewed by following this link - state of the art online journalism.

16.04.2004: Broadcast pathway student please use this detailed timetable for the first week of the all-new, improved TV news course.

14.04.2004: High-powered Media Society symposium on Wednesday April 28th dealing with war reporting in light of the situation in Iraq and in the wake of the Hutton report. Speakers include John Simpson, the veteren BBC war correspondent (pictured). Full details here.

13.04.2004: The PPA magazine newsletter is now available free online if you subscribe as a student on a PTC accredited course. It will then be e-mailed free weekly and is a very detailed briefing on current professional issues and problems helpful to those wishing to shine even more brightly in any interview for a job (or promotion, Damon) in the B2B or consumer magazine business or in fact, possibly, in features journalism of any sort (inc TV and radio). You can see a sample edition here.

12.04.2004: BA Medcial Journalism - reading list for the remainder of the year (seminar topics with John Illman) can be found here. I understand that reading lists for specialist journalism will be e-mailed directly to you from seminar leaders/tutors. Methods will vary from group to group, however.

09.04.2004: The finalised membership list for the specialist journalism seminars can be found here. The essay questions examining the pre-easter lecture programme are as follows (you must answer ONE of these two questions, 2000 words, Deadline 4pm, May 28th, 2004).

Either account for the increasing importance of specialist journalism in the media, with reference to at least one of the subject areas covered in the lecture series."

or

"Describe the influence of specialist journalism on the national news agenda, using examples from one of the subject areas studied."

08.04.2004: Former PG Print student Rosemary Ling, has sent this information about an entry-level job on BBC TV "newsround".

 

07.04.2004: Claire Barter of the PPA, PTC and the magazine production/Finnish tree-pulping company UPM-Kymmene will give a guest lecture/briefing on the technology of magazine "post-production" at 5pm Monday May 24th. All periodical pathway people to turn up to this valuable insight into a side of the industry rarely dealt with by courses these days, but vital to the success of any title and, also, a key area of responsibility for more senior editors and editorial executives.

29.03.2004: We have official press credentials for ONE "print" student and TWO broadcast students to cover the visit of Alicia Keys (pictured) and other bigwig music biz people (plus other VIPs) to judge the Prince's Trust music awards at Harrow Campus (in the big TV studio) on May 7th. If you are interested please put your name forward to Chris Horrie by 5pm Wednesday at the latest. In the (apparently likely) event of more than one person wanting to do this job, names will be drawn by lot. Security demands that we are restricted to these limited numbers. However both the broadcast students and print will be involved in the event. Broadcast can use it for a live "OB" for Westminster News TV and print, though working on the consumer magazine at the time, can bring WNOL out of mothballs for live coverage - which will likely get 100s of '000s of hits from music fans around the world (David DG will brief on arrangements for web reporting and webcasting of the event).

29.03.2004: Attn: PG Dip Broadcast. There will be a briefing re: TV next term from Geoffrey Davies and Chris Horrie at 11am in room A4.8 this Friday (directly after the specialist journalism session where seminar groups will be determined).

22.03.2004: Geoffrey Davies asks (a) all broadcast students to read through this worthwhile link about the way in which "mainstream"TV news is now using the new cheap-and-easy digitial production technology previously the preserve of aloternative documentary makers, students, bloggers, etc, and (b) to carefully read through this new version of the TV newsroom handbook, which also contains timetable details for the TV course after Easter.

19.02.2004: Vivien Saunders has posted an urgent message about the last teeline workshop before Easter.

19.02.2004: Attn: BA Medical Journalism. The extra teaching session re: Features will now take place 2.30pm - 4.30pm on Friday and NOT on Wednesday as previously advised. Please make sure that you do the preparatory reading, including examples from the papers and magazines, and a look through Features Web.

19.03.2004: Previous messages have been archived, but can be accessed following this link.