The Board
Our two boards are made up of leading industry and training experts – all working together to ensure students of BJTC-accredited courses receive the best training possible.
Ralph Bernard CBE, heads up our Executive Board, which manages the key aspects of running the BJTC. It also oversees the Journalism and Accreditation Board, chaired by Diane Kemp.
The J&A concentrates on the detail of the accreditation process, adapting it as needed, to reflect ever-evolving industry practice.
After every accreditation visit, the J&A reviews the panels’ reports before they are sent to the Executive Board for a final decision. This ensures consistency and transparency across all our courses.
Ralph Bernard CBE
Chairman
Ralph Bernard’s career has spanned over 35 years beginning as a newspaper journalist in London before moving into commercial radio at Sheffield’s Radio Hallam and then at Hereward Radio in Peterborough. He launched Wiltshire Radio in 1982, as Programme Director, becoming Managing Director in 1983. He served as Chief Executive of GWR Group from 1987 to 2001 and then as Executive Chairman at GCAP.
His ground-breaking networked documentaries including the award-winning dramatised investigative documentary series, “Dying for a Drink”. A theme of another series, the dramatised “Down to Earth” which investigated the coal mining industry, led to Bernard’s production of “Dust” a hit sell-out play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which toured in 2012.
He is Chairman of Central School of Ballet and is a Trustee or Director of a number of not-for-profit organisations, particularly involving the performing arts.
In September 2012 he stepped down as Chairman of Classic FM on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. Classic FM was created after Ralph led the bid for the licence in 1991. He was Classic FM’s chief executive for 11 years.
He was responsible for the first merger in commercial radio which ultimately created GWR Group, Britain’s largest radio company. He led GWR Group for over 25 years stepping down as Chief Executive in 2008.
He was appointed a Fellow of the Radio Academy in 1998, he won the Sony Radio Gold Award in 2000 for his contribution to the industry and in the 2002 Jubilee Honours Ralph received a CBE for services to broadcasting.
Ralph Bernard is a currently a trustee of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and the British Lung Foundation.
Ralph is married with four children and four grand-children. He has completed 10 London marathons, running to raise funds for the British Lung Foundation and is due to run again in 2014. He is a keen 5-a-side footballer and in quieter moments he collects copies of Wisden, the cricketing year book.
Kate Ironside
Deputy Chair, Executive & Journalism & Accreditation Board
Kate Ironside was a journalist for 26 years before moving full time into academia. She specialised in political coverage, covering Westminster for Central Press, the Daily Express and BBC Westminster. She also wrote a weekly column on the EU for the Western Morning News for 17 years, winning UK Press Gazette’s Columnist of the Year award in 1999.
Kate is now a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Northampton where she teaches radio, ethics and law & public administration and is course leader for BA Broadcast Journalism. She¹s a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and sits on the BJTC board.
With BJTC chief executive Jon Godel, she co-ordinated the BJTC 2015 election night joint venture which saw students from 14 universities join forces to report the results of the last General Election.
Jon Barsby
Executive Board
At the NUJ John Barsby represents East Anglia on the NEC. NUJ Member of Honour, former president and long-serving member of the NEC, John has chaired Finance Committee for several years and has been the longest-serving chair of the Broadcasting Industrial Council. Much of his work is involved in BBC negotiations and representing members in regional television and local radio.
Chris Chohan
Journalism & Accreditation Board
Chris Chohan is the MA Broadcast Journalism course leader at the University of Sheffield, bringing his own style and experiences as a University Teacher in broadcast and digital storytelling.
He spent 11 years at the University of Lincoln, working across the undergraduate and postgraduate level groups, sharing his industry skills at the forefront of the teaching and learning, leading on modules and open days to develop the next generation of journalists with the team.
Chris is one of the graduates of the ITV News Trainee Scheme, working at ITV News Central before moving onto GMTV, the launch of Daybreak, and what is now the UK’s most talked about breakfast show – Good Morning Britain.
No day is ever the same and his experiences as a news and sport producer, working on programme items, to World Cups, Olympic Games and Oscars coverage, as well as those all-important people stories and features gave him excellent grounding and experience to move into academia and teaching.
Equality, diversity, and inclusivity is at the forefront of Chris’ work, culture and ethos and has been involved in mentoring students and industry colleagues for a number of years to help shape careers and thinking in the sector.
Will Cope
Journalism & Accreditation Board
Robin Elias
Executive Board
Robin has worked in television news for more than 40 years, and was programme editor for ITV News during some of the defining moments of the last quarter century. He ran programmes during events that included the death of the Princess of Wales, the first Gulf War, and the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York.
He started his career as a local newspaper reporter in Surrey. He worked for the Press Association in Fleet Street, and was a sub-editor on the London Evening News when it folded in 1980. From there he joined ITN. He worked as a scriptwriter and then as programme editor for eight years before becoming Deputy Editor in 2000, and Managing Editor in 2003.
In this role he had responsibility for more than 100 journalists working for ITV News. In 2007 he was appointed as launch editor for Setanta Sports News. He retired from full-time work in 2019, but still works at ITN on an ad hoc basis.
He has a particular interest in Diversity issues, and was a member of the Cultural Diversity Network for many years.
Robin is married with two children. He runs, and is a keen cyclist
Debora Gorbutt
Executive Board
Debora is head of Video Content Development at the Associated Press, responsible for news features covering a wide variety of topics from deep dives into breaking news stories, to health and science, technology, climate, wildlife, lifestyles and art.
During 19 years at the AP she has helped launch the North American Entertainment service and the regional video product, Middle East Extra, as well as re-vamping the AP’s digital video product.
Debora started out in regional radio and television in the north of England before moving to Vienna to work for the Austrian state broadcaster, ORF. When she moved back to the UK, Debora joined GMTV/Reuters as Senior News Editor, and later as a senior programme editor at the ITN News Channel.
Debora enjoys getting to the heart of a story, harnessing new storytelling techniques and technology. She says diversity and inclusivity are essential to making the modern newsroom tick.
Dr. Anne Harbin
Executive Board
Journalism & Accreditation Board
Anne currently leads the MA Journalism programmes at the University of West of England teaching radio, news writing and reporting skills and overseeing professional placements. She also teaches across undergraduate programmes. She has a strong commitment to the industry-standard frameworks of the BJTC. She is also a regular member of panels visiting other universities, so has direct experience of being on both sides of the table on accreditation visits!
Anne has worked in radio and online journalism for over 15 years and was instrumental in producing programmes during events such as 9/11 attacks and the US retaliation. She started her career in BBC Local Radio at Radio Merseyside and went on to become a news trainee at before becoming a producer at BBC London and freelancing for R4 and World Service.
She then worked on supporting the Community Radio Pilots in Manchester helping to oversee the training of many volunteers, working on the Community Radio Toolkit training which led to her becoming a lecturer in FE then HE.
Currently working on podcasts to help reduce the Awarding Gaps in HE. Anne is passionate about getting people into industry and supporting underrepresented communities to have a voice.
Lorraine Herbison
Executive Board
Lorraine is an accomplished news leader, broadcaster and journalist who has worked in radio, newspapers and tv.
She currently heads up all news and sport output for Bauer Media’s radio stations in Scotland, including Clyde 1 in Glasgow, Forth 1 in Edinburgh and Greatest Hits Radio. Her team provides content for all our UK wide radio stations including Magic, Kiss and Absolute Radio. She is also the voice coach for Bauer Media UK news department.
Before that Lorraine was responsible for the news and sport department at Radio Clyde and read news bulletins, jokingly known as ‘Big Lorraine’ on the Clyde 1 breakfast show with the legendary Scottish presenter George Bowie.
Born in Northern Ireland, Lorraine moved to Glasgow to take her Postgraduate Degree in Journalism on a joint course between Strathclyde University and Glasgow Caledonian University.
In that year she started her career at local newspaper The Lennox Herald in Dumbarton and freelancing for national newspapers in Scotland, before moving to the Evening Times in Glasgow
She was then headhunted to join Radio Clyde, where she began as a reporter. Her career there saw her become Chief Reporter, News Editor, then Head of News and Sport, which included a remit for Clyde 1’s hugely popular Superscoreboard football programme.
After a restructuring of the news departments in Scotland, she became Head of News and Sport for all of Bauer’s Scottish radio stations.
Lorraine sits on the Editorial Board for IRN (Independent Radio News) and is also a Trustee for Bauer’s charity Cash for Kids, West Scotland, which raised more than £2m last year for children living in poverty in the west of Scotland.
She is also a regular contributor on STV’s Scotland Tonight current affairs programme.
She is also an accomplished MC/event host and a judge for the ARIAS, Scottish Press Awards and BJTC Awards.
Chris Howard
Executive Board
Chris is the Editor of News Output for Sky News, where he oversees the evening TV output – including editing News at Ten.
His journey in journalism began on Radio 4, with a 2-week work experience placement on the Today programme. He never left and 4 years later was editing the programme.
Stints on Newsnight, in Washington and Westminster followed, before he left the BBC for Sky News where he’s held several roles commissioning and editing programmes, running the planning operation and leading on special events.
Everywhere he’s worked he’s been lucky enough to run landmark and often award-winning projects, including covering wars in the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa, elections at home and abroad – including most recently Sky’s US election coverage and results programme – and now a global pandemic.
Having been born – and spent a good portion of his childhood – abroad, he’s always been inspired by the stories and possibilities the world has to offer, and been guided in his professional life by Nelson Mandela’s maxim that “it always seems impossible until it’s done.”
More importantly he’s father to three wonderful girls who distract him very effectively from the reading, sport, cinema, music and travel that might otherwise occupy his time.
Tim John
Executive Board
Tim John is the Managing Editor for LBC News, the UK’s first national rolling news radio station which was launched by Global, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment groups.
Tim also leads Global’s network of newsrooms which provide bulletins for the country’s biggest radio brands including Capital FM, Heart, Smooth, Radio X and Classic FM.
Tim joined Global in 2005 and prior to his management role he was a broadcast journalist and news editor in Nottingham and Cardiff. He spent more than 10 years on air at Capital FM and will be a familiar voice to Londoners having spent more than 5 years presenting the news on the award-winning Capital Breakfast show.
Tim has 20 years’ experience as a broadcast journalist and has reported from Singapore, Barcelona and locations across the UK.
Gail Mellors
Journalism & Accreditation Board
Gail Mellors is Course Leader of the BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism degree course based at the Centre of Broadcasting and Journalism at Nottingham Trent University.
She is an experienced journalist with more than 20 years in the industry working across platforms in both national and regional news.
She remains a freelance on-screen journalist for ITV, often reporting and presenting for ITV Central News.
She started work with ITV as a reporter for Yorkshire’s Calendar News and went on to present and produce the programme as well as reporting on diverse range of news stories and documentaries for both regional and network news.
Gail began her career as trainee reporter at the Derby Evening Telegraph where she became the paper’s crime reporter and then deputy news editor before working as a freelance reporter for national newspapers namely the Sun and the Daily Mail.
She has also spent time working for ITN and the former GMTV as well as Radio Trent, in Nottingham.
Grace Melody-Gardner
Journalism & Accreditation Board
Grace Melody-Gardner is a Content Editor for ITV Calendar in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, producing the flagship 6pm programme. She has worked for ITV News for 14 years and been involved in News at Ten, Tonight and election debates as well as regional productions.
She started her career in radio, working for the Guardian Media Group. There, she won numerous awards including from The Radio Academy, IRN and the New York International Radio Awards.
She has also worked abroad contributing to broadcasts from the European Parliament in Brussels and for the BBC World Service.
Grace has a keen interest in developing talent and bringing fresh voices into the industry.
Joe Michalczuk
Executive Board
Joe Michalczuk is Head of Broadcast and Programme Director for the MA Broadcast Journalism and MA Television Journalism programmes at City, University of London.
His career spans over 15 years in journalism, including prominent roles at Sky News and Good Morning Britain.
During his ten-year tenure at Sky News, he began as a radio newsreader, reading the news to over 300 stations across the UK Commercial Radio Network. He then transitioned to the Entertainment Desk, where he made his mark as Sky’s Arts and Entertainment Reporter and Movies Editor.
Joe’s role took him to some of the world’s most glamorous events, including countless film premieres and junkets. He was a familiar face on the red carpet at prestigious award ceremonies like the Oscars, Baftas, MTV Awards, Brits, and Grammys.
Beyond his work at Sky News, Joe expanded his presence by providing regular TV and film reviews on shows such as ‘The Saturday Show’ on Channel 5, ‘The Wright Stuff’ on Channel 5, and ‘The TV Club’ on BBC Radio 5 Live. Additionally, he freelanced across various outlets, including Reuters, Getty, and Netflix.
Joe’s journey led him to Good Morning Britain, where he served as an Entertainment Reporter and Producer, curating content for the programme’s daily showbiz segments. His final interview for GMB, before leaving the industry for academia in 2018, was a UK-exclusive sit-down, with Steven Spielberg.
One of Joe’s greatest passions is radio football commentary, where he started his career as a regular commentator for Manchester City, Aston Villa, and Portsmouth on local radio.
Datshiane Navanayagam
Journalism & Accreditation Board
Basmah Fahim
Executive Board
Basmah Fahim is the Newsroom Development Specialist at Reuters in London. She leads the global recruitment of top editorial talent and oversees initiatives designed to cultivate the next generation of diverse journalists through Reuters’ internships, fellowships, and accelerator programmes.
Basmah’s 20 years of journalism experience includes leading Reuters’ video coverage of major global events such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and the COVID-19 pandemic in her role as Output Editor. Her earlier work included editing Middle East Report, a specialist Reuters subscription service, and extensive field reporting and producing across Europe and the Middle East.
Rajiv Popat
Executive Board
Rajiv Popat is an award winning journalist who has worked as a journalist for almost 30 years. During that time he has covered some of the biggest stories across the Midlands as a reporter for ITV news Central. Rajiv has also travelled extensively abroad filming in India Uganda, Zambia, America, Italy and Spain to name a few.
However, some of the stories he is most proud of, which made International headlines, have their roots much closer to home, right here in Leicester. Who can forget the incredible moment Leicester City FC won the Premier League with odds of 5000-1 ? Just a few years before that, archaeologists in Leicester struck gold when they discovered the remains of King Richard III under a council car park. Rajiv says that’s why he has the best job in the world because you never quite know what or who might turn up next.
Joanna Potts
Executive Board
Joanna Potts is the Commissioning Editor of Channel 4’s award winning Dispatches strand, joining the Channel just over 4 years ago. As well as Dispatches, she oversees the Channel 4 Investigations Unit. Previously she worked as a PD and Exec Producer of current affairs films.
James Porter
Executive Board
James Porter has been a journalist at the BBC for more than 35 years working in both News and Sport before taking up his current role running the BBCs Journalism training department.
He joined the BBC as a Local Radio reporter at BBC Radio Leicester and then moved into Sport with a role on 5 Live when it launched. In his time at 5 Live he won 3 Sony Radio Gold awards and worked with presenters including Gary Lineker, David Gower and Sir Matthew Pinsent.
James spent time leading the Sports News areas on 5 Live and then the BBC News Channel before he set up and ran the BBCs 1st multi-media Sports News department across TV, Radio and On Line.
In 2011 he moved to the BBC’s in house training department and is now responsible for all Journalism Training across the BBC. He has been a BJTC board member since 2011. James is also a mentor for the John Schofield Trust helping aspiring young journalists.
Away from the office he has been part of a team who swam the English Channel and can be found supporting Liverpool and Aldershot Town.
Leigh Purves
Journalism & Accreditation Board
Journalist and broadcaster Leigh Purves has more than 24 years’ experience, spanning across the media industry with a solid career in radio and television, presenting across mainstream commercial airwaves as well as the BBC.
Leigh has also worked extensively in the print & digital world, serving as both a high-profile columnist and news editor, and continues to work in industry as well as academia.
Leigh leads annual media training packages for a suite of brands and offers bespoke media law consultancy alongside being Course Leader for Broadcast and Digital Journalism (BA) Hons at Leeds Trinity University.
Matt Walsh
Executive Board
Matt Walsh is the head of the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University, one of the UK’s leading centres for journalism education and research.
He became an academic in 2014 after more than 20 years as a working journalist. After completing a BJTC-accredited postgraduate course at Falmouth University in the mid-90s he worked for the BBC before joining ITN, eventually becoming a senior programme editor at ITV News and then Deputy Editor of the ITV News Channel. Matt left ITN for The Times where he was a member of its digital management team, and launched both its podcast service and pioneered its video journalism.
Matt has also worked as an editor in international news at Al Jazeera, and as a training and editorial consultant for the Thomson Reuters Foundation.