“JOURNALISM is a wonderful industry,” says Peter Taggart, who reports for Downtown Radio/Cool FM News in Belfast. He has recently broadcast interviews worldwide on CNN about the Northern Ireland peace process. And that’s a quiet day — he’s also had to dodge bullets during riots in Belfast. The National Union of Journalists says that there are about 80,000 journalists like Taggart in the UK, working in print, radio, TV and online. Demand for jobs is high — the BBC alone receives about 80,000 inquiries a year.

Taggart got into radio after learning his trade in local newspapers, but advises those with similar aspirations to go to prospective employers armed with a postgraduate degree. Two of the most acclaimed are offered by Cardiff University and City University in London. David English runs the postgraduate diploma at Cardiff. He says: “We like to think that as a consequence of the nine months at Cardiff, we will get people a job in journalism.”

Professor Adrian Monck is the head of journalism at City University, which has five applicants for each place. As such, entry requirements are high — the newspaper journalism course insists on four weeks’ regional newspaper experience and the courses cost up to £6,000. “We’re trying to educate the leaders, the editors of the future,” Professor Monck says. “We’re looking for self-starters, people with guts, confidence, curiosity and an ability to understand that news stories don’t just land in your in-tray.”

Paul Rees, the editor of the music magazine Q, started out at Brum Beat as a “general office boy” on £50 a week. His advice is to try for work experience — or, if still at college, to get involved with the campus paper or a fanzine. He says: “When people send me things, I look for obvious things — can they string a sentence together; can they spell; is it written in the style of the magazine? A knowledge of music helps too.”

Starting salaries can be as low as £10,000 on a free local newspaper, but at the top end it’s much more. And as Rees says: “I get to listen to music all day. I get sent free albums, free gig tickets and occasionally flown to the South of France to dine with Bono. What’s not to like?”

STEVE SMETHURST

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