What the BJTC is looking for from its courses

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While the BJTC does not impose a single prescriptive syllabus on our accredited courses, there are five key areas in which we expect training providers to meet our requirements.

  • Industry-like production newsdays– we expect our graduates to be comfortable in all aspects of story-gathering and broadcast production, and newsdays give them a real taste of the challenges and pressures of daily broadcast. From reporting in the field to non-negotiable deadlines and gallery discipline, students learn ‘on-the-job’ what it means to produce under pressure.
  • Voice training sessions– there is a realistic expectation that today’s journalists will be required to voice reports and conduct audio interviews, and that is why we insist students are exposed to basic voice and presenting skills.
  • Industry placements– a minimum of 15 work placement days is a requirement that allows employers like the BBC, ITV, commercial radio and many others to keep an eye on the next generation of talent, and in turn allows that talent to demonstrate its skills and accomplishments to potential employers.
  • Industry standard media law, court reporting training and exams– our requirements place emphasis on a broad and thoroughly tested knowledge of media law, regulation, production codes and contemporary copyright as it affects every form of journalism.
  • Industry standard technology and facilities– it’s important that when BJTC accredited graduates turn up on their first day of work they can find their way around a newsroom and studio, with all the technology it brings. Ensuring industry standard technology and facilities ensures students are up to speed with the basics when they start their first job.

The full details of our training standards are set out in our Accreditation Requirements, which have been established by representatives of our industry and academic partners. These Requirements are regularly updated to reflect changes in industry and academic practice, and our appointed Accreditation Committee will carry out a full review and revision of the entire document at least every three years.

The Accreditation Requirements are made available to any courses who have begun the Advisory process with the BJTC – find out more by visiting What’s the process if we want to get our course accredited?