A former regional editor has taken on a new role as course leader at one of the UK’s top journalism colleges.

Dave King, who was editor at the Swindon Advertiser and deputy editor with the Southern Daily Echo, is now running the journalism course at Highbury College in Portsmouth, which is this year celebrating 50 years of providing NCTJ training.

After quitting as editor of the Advertiser to spend more time with his family in 2011, Dave went on to become head of news with Johnston Press-owned Sussex Newspapers in Eastbourne.

He described his new role, in which he will work alongside former ITN journalist Nicola Phipps, as a “dream job.”

Said Dave: “I’ve been involved with the NCTJ in various guises over the past decade and I have learnt a lot about teaching journalism from working with Jon Smith at the Newsquest training courses, and also David Rowell at Johnston Press.

“This is something I have always wanted to do. I’ve got a fantastic team at Highbury, including Bernie Saunders and the legendary Dave Kett. I want to continue the Highbury tradition of producing quality young journalists who are multi-media skilled and ready to step straight into a newsroom.

“Over the next year I’m keen to introduce the NCTJ Advanced Apprenticeship in Journalism on an old-style block release basis, where we would take trainees from newspapers for six-week stints and prepare them over a period of 18 months with on-the-job training.

“We’ve got Solent TV moving into Highbury College shortly and currently we’re working alongside a community radio station which is already established here.
So this is going to really strengthen our broadcasting option. These are exciting times.”

Dave is currently the NCTJ’s chief examiner for sports journalism, and a member of the NCTJ’s journalism qualifications, newspaper journalism and accreditation boards.

Shortly after leaving his role at Swindon in 2011, he penned a humorous blog post in which he likened the job to toilet paper, saying he spent most of his time in the role “dealing with other people’s crap.”