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The National Union of Journalists claims that although editors may have candidates queueing up to get job interviews, the industry is still missing out on talented graduates because of low pay.

Executive member Chris Morley, at this year’s annual conference, claimed graduates were no longer prepared to take starting salaries of £10,000 to £12,000, and claimed local papers were losing out to industries such as teaching, which offered starting salaries of £17,000 and the chance to earn £25,000 within eight years.

NUJ newspapers organiser for the UK, Jeremy Dear, said: “It is the ultimate irony when people pick up their paper to read a front page story on how police officers are struggling to cope on £18,000 for trainees when the person that wrote the article is probably earning a lot less.

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