The Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) is an industry-led body offering accreditation to courses for aspiring journalists.

History

In the late 1970s, the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades ...

was pushing for a more structured approach to training for broadcast. After a series of meetings with universities, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

, the Joint Advisory Council for the Training of Radio Journalists was formed, chaired by the retired managing director of

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, Gerard Mansell. This organisation was the forerunner of the BJTC. In 1987, Tom Beesley succeeded Mansell as chair. He continued for 23 years, before retiring in 2010. Other past chairmen have been Marie Kinsey from the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

and Martin Campbell, former

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

chief advisory. Currently the BJTC is chaired by

Ralph Bernard Ralph Mitchell Bernard (born 11 February 1953) is a British journalist, and a former chief executive of commercial radio group GCap Media. Early life He attended Caterham High School in north-east London. Career He started his career as a journa ...

, CBE, with Jon Godel as its chief executive. It was founded on 25 November 1996.

Purpose

The BJTC is a partnership of 90 per cent of UK broadcasting employers: the

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

Group,

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

Thomson-Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational content-driven technology conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 19 Duncan Street there. Thomson Reuters was creat ...

RadioCentre Radiocentre is the industry body for commercial radio in the UK. It exists to maintain and build a strong and successful commercial radio industry. The organisation works on behalf of over 40 stakeholders who operate over 300 licensed radio statio ...

, APTN, plus the NUJ and Creative Skillset, the sector Skills Council for the media industries. Associate members include 37 colleges and universities, running a total of 56 accredited courses. The aim of the BJTC is to make students more employable, so the primary role is as a forum for employers and training providers to agree training standards. Recently the BJTC has reviewed and updated its Requirements in accordance and consultation with industry and academic personnel. These were published to all accredited courses in December 2015. The BJTC hold biannual conferences for Council members, allowing them to get up-to-date news from the BJTC and partake in debates, talks and workshops including voice training, mobile, social media and drone journalism.

Awards

The BJTC also runs a successful annual awards programme. In 2016, the ceremony was held at

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

Southbank studios, hosted by

Charlene White Charlene Denise White (born 22 June 1980) is a British television broadcaster, journalist and presenter, best known for presenting ''ITV News'' programmes. She has been an anchor on '' Loose Women'' since 2021.City, University of London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" an ...

winning the top Steve Harris Award for Best Original Journalism. Past presenters have included

Alastair Stewart Alastair James Stewart OBE (born 22 June 1952) is a retired English journalist and newscaster. Stewart joined Southern Television in 1976, then joined ITN in 1980, where he served three years with ''Channel 4 News'' and went on to become a ma ...

Nina Hossain Nina Hossain is a British journalist and presenter employed by ITN as the lead presenter of the '' ITV Lunchtime News''. Background Hossain was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England to a Bangladeshi father and an English mother. Her f ...

, Neila Butt (BBC Diversity Editor),

Dominic Laurie Dominic Laurie is a former English business broadcast journalist. He was a presenter of business news on Breakfast, BBC One's morning television news programme and BBC Radio 5 and now works in communications in the private sector. Early life Hi ...

and Chris Mason (BBC Political Correspondent).

Structure

It is headquartered in

Gerrards Cross Gerrards Cross is a town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies immediately south of Chalfont St Peter and a short distance west of the London Borough of Hillingdon, from which it is separated by the parish of Denham, Buckinghams ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, near

Gerrards Cross railway station Gerrards Cross railway station is a railway station in the town of Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the Chiltern Main Line between and . History The station was built as part of the Great Western and Great Central Joint Ra ...

, between the B416 and

A413 The A413 is a major road in England that runs between Denham (west of London) to Towcester (northwest of Milton Keynes). It passes through or near various towns and villages including (in northbound order) Gerrards Cross, Chalfont St Peter, ...

References

External links