NCTJ taking action on lack of confidence and resilience among new journalists
The NCTJ is tackling ongoing issues around confidence and resilience among the new generation of journalists.
The NCTJ is tackling ongoing issues around confidence and resilience among the new generation of journalists.
A lack of confidence to carry out traditional journalism tasks, such as phone interviews or cold calling, was highlighted at the NCTJ’s Safety and Resilience Advisory Panel last week.
This follows feedback raised by journalism tutors at the NCTJ’s accreditation seminar in March. NCTJ-accredited courses are required to deliver safety and resilience training and to provide health and well-being support.
Lisa Bradley (photo: Josh Caius)
Lisa Bradley, course leader at the University of Sheffield, said young people were highly anxious and fearful of “getting it wrong”.
Speaking at the panel meeting, she warned failure to address and overcome the issue could lead to a significant impact on journalism.
She said: “It is important that journalists starting out understand the impact of NOT developing the confidence to speak to people.
“Journalism is about giving people a voice and representing people in their communities. If journalists struggle to speak to people, there is a danger that people won’t have a voice, which could negatively affect the long-term sustainability of journalism.”
The NCTJ’s safety and resilience action plan includes creating a portfolio of training resources through its Journalism Skills Academy. This includes a free safety and resilience e-learning course and ‘train the trainer’ sessions for journalism tutors.
A new training course on developing core skills to communicate confidently is due to be launched by the NCTJ later this year.
Laura Adams
Laura Adams, head of the NCTJ’s Journalism Skills Academy, said: “We are proud of our work with the employer-led safety and resilience panel to tackle safety and resilience issues.
“It is important that we continue to explore meaningful ways to support the industry, educators and learners, and we will carry on doing this through the NCTJ’s safety and resilience action plan.”
The Safety and Resilience Advisory Panel was set up in 2023 to help the NCTJ gain an understanding of the online and physical threats to journalists’ safety, what the charity can do to help journalists and to create a link between the industry and NCTJ-accredited course leaders.
Chaired by Joanna Webster, global managing editor for visuals at Reuters, the panel includes representatives from BBC, Financial Times, Iliffe Media, National World, Newsquest, Sky News, SWNS, and talkSPORT.
At their meeting last week, the panel members noted a lack of confidence had been exacerbated by mobile phone usage, online abuse, lockdowns, home working, and tensions between police and journalists.
The panel is advising the NCTJ on how to support journalists to be more confident of their rights, to face and overcome their fears, and to get into their communities.
