What does a journalist do?

There are so many different jobs in journalism that it's almost impossible to list them all here. To give you an idea, these are some of the things that a journalist might be involved with:

* Researching stories. Broadcasting companies often employ people whose job is just to research stories and guests. All writers have to research before they can start writing.

* Writing news and feature stories. News stories are short and focus on telling you what's just happened – the most important thing first. Feature stories often need a topical 'peg' (or reason) for publication, but they're more in-depth and less rigidly structured. They might be interviews, travel reports, how-to articles or opinion columns.

* Take photographs. Multiskilling is becoming more and more a part of life in media, so photography is a useful skill for all writers to have. But some people work as photojournalists and use their pictures to tell the story with very few words.

* Edit stories. Sub editors concentrate on editing other people's work – they correct any grammar mistakes, sometimes write the headlines and make sure the publication has a consistent style. In many places sub editors are an endangered species and journalists are increasingly expected to get it right first time because there's no safety net.

* Check facts. Legend tells of a time when people were employed just to check the facts in submitted articles. That's rarely seen nowadays.

* Plan magazines. Editors are responsible for all the content in a magazine. As you move up the publishing hierarchy, you'll do less actual writing and more planning and management of other writers, sub editors and designers.

* Lay out pages. In smaller publishing companies, journalists might be expected to lay out pages as well as write them. The standard software used is Quark XPress. It's a valuable skill to be able to edit Quark documents.

This is an excerpt from the e-book 'Journalism Careers: Your questions answered' by Sean McManus. These excerpts have been chosen for their relevance to school students. The whole e-book includes advice on picking university courses, vocational training, and how to succeed as a freelancer. It's equally suitable for students planning their future career and mid-life career changers looking to make a move now.

Text 16 the nctj

The National Council for the Training of Journalists delivers the premier journalism training scheme in the UK. We are dedicated to providing a world-class education and training system that develops current and future journalists for the demands of the 21st century.

Evaluation of current training provision NUJ Training's short-course provision has been a successful initiative on the part of the Union, demo-nstrating the existence of a demand among union members for professional training focusing on new technology-related skills and upskilling relevant to career transition. Demand has come both from working journalists themselves and from a small number of employers who have used NUJ Training to fill gaps in their own training provision.

The opening of the Union's own training facility, the development of new courses and the emergence of e-learning as a significant delivery mechanism, have encouraged NUJ Training to consider the issue of qualifications and accreditation. Expert opinion confirms the Union's own belief that journalists will increasingly need training throughout their careers to cope with a volatile employment situation, changes within the media themselves, and the rapid development of new technologies.

As with many other occupational groups, the career of a journalist today is uncertain and changeable. If training is to help 'smooth the bumps' and enhance the employability of journalists and the sustainability of their careers it must develop a model which can fit it to the increasingly turbulent environment of journalism.

In part, this means building a consensus among journalists and their unions and associations, employers and government agencies around standards for journalism training. As the ILO has pointed out in this regard, 'tripartite cooperation ... is of prime importance to prevent serious skill shortages.' In turn, the prevention of skill shortages in journalism and the media can only be healthy for democracy and an increasingly information-dependent economy.

Accreditation and qualification frameworks in the UK are in some disarray as a result of previous deregulation and, accordingly, the NUJ needs to undertake an intensive programme of research and discussion in order to clarify matters.

NUJ members, consulted through a small preliminary survey, expressed a clear demand for training in IT and internet-related subjects and, in general, we can predict a constant if not growing demand for training within these areas as they increase in technological complexity and journalistic importance. The NUJ cannot, should not and will not offer pre-entry courses in journalism or pre-entry journalism qualifications, but will offer mid-career training which may contribute towards a broader qualification and which, in any case, adheres to agreed standards in regard to curriculum and training methodology. The current market for journalism short-courses outside the NUJ is dominated by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), the Periodicals Training Council (PTC), the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) and their 'authorized suppliers'. Most of these courses are not accredited because of the rapidly changing nature of their syllabus. But this does not have to be the case.