Journalism scheme for the young tackles media 'class imbalance'

The Young Journalists' Academy is about to open its third annual summer school, a project designed help state school students enter the media industry.

Twenty-five students, selected after a competitive application process, will receive talks by high-profile journalists in different fields and learn about newsgathering, writing and photojournalism, and undertake practical activities during workshops hosted by Reuters. Participants will be blogging about their experiences throughout the week, and the two best bloggers will be awarded a placement at the Times.

Journalists from the Times, Sunday Times, BBC and Reuters are all participating in the scheme and News of the World and News International will offer a tour of their studios.

The journalism 'summer school' run by not-for-profit organisation Journalism Education, is free of charge and open to London state school pupils aged between 16 and 18 years old. This year the course will run in Canary Wharf, August 1-8 2009.

Origins
The YJA scheme was initiated by online magazine spiked in 2006 when results of a Times Higher Education and Sutton Trust report revealed that 50 per cent of the nation’s top journalists had been privately educated, compared to seven per cent of the population, who had the same privilege.

A government-commissioned study published last Tuesday indicated that journalism is an elite profession, dominated by the middle class as a result of the high costs of training and long-term unpaid internships.

Nathalie Rothschild, YJA coordinator, said the YJA aimed at challenging the idea that one needed to have the 'right' education or have personal connections in the media to be able to get into journalism.

Past students have said the programme helped them develop a better appreciation of their ability to write and acquire greater confidence in pursuing a career in the media. According to YJA, many went onto internships or to study journalism at university.

Former participant Swapnil Gurung, of Blackheath Bluecoat Sixth Form in Greenwich, said: "The best part of the programme has been listening to the journalists and getting to know how they got into journalism."

News ideas needed in journalism
"We desperately need to find new and exciting ways to get the best of British talent into journalism. Anything that helps a more diverse range of people and skills get into the news media is a good thing," said Charlie Beckett, director of the journalism think-tank Polis.

He welcomed schemes like the Young Journalists' Academy as a means of incorporating new ideas in journalism. "If the news media is not diverse then it will not reflect the wider population," he said in a blog post last week.

"We want teenagers of all backgrounds to think that journalism is exciting and worthwhile career for the future," he told Journalism.co.uk.

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