Journalism jobs and news from Holdthefrontpage.co.uk

Regional press news - this story published 14 December 2004

Autumn 2004 NCE:Logbooks

by NCE examiners

LOGBOOKS
- 157 candidates; 145 passed
- (92 per cent)

This was the second time logbooks had been assessed as an integral part of the NCE and the high pass rate suggests that most candidates and trainers have taken note of comments made in the last report and read the up-dated guidelines on content, presentation and submission.

The examiners again praised the high standard of many entries and the clear evidence of commitment to training in many newspaper offices. They were pleased to note a dramatic nationwide decline in editorial computer failure and consequently a great improvement in reporters' ability to find original copy for their logbooks.

Of the dozen candidates who failed, most did so because they failed to complete all the Key Tasks or submitted inappropriate entries. Problem areas included:

Reviews: The examiners were unenthusiastic about features detailing freebies to Tenerife, and did not feel that discussion of the price of chips in an Eating-Out column qualified as critical judgment of an artistic event;

Press conferences: Too many submissions were in fact merely public meetings to which reporters had been invited;

Public inquiries: Some candidates (and, presumably, their trainers who endorsed their submissions) clearly think a meeting of the local council planning committee is a public inquiry;

Politics: Submissions needed a genuine political angle, but several candidates thought they could get by with run-of-the-mill council meeting rows about dog-fouled pavements.

Two candidates failed because they submitted stories with joint by-lines and failed to indicate which bits they had written.

And one candidate was failed for a story about councillors' expenses in which the key figure was inaccurate and the sums involved failed to add up. Why the candidate chose to submit this as evidence of her Numeracy is as baffling as her trainer’s decision to endorse it with the comment "a story in which accuracy was vital".

Thanks are extended to all those senior journalists, from papers across the country, who gave up their time to join the marking panels.

The NCTJ welcomes comment on the logbook, its composition and assessment. A guide to logbook compilation and submission is available on the NCTJ website.

Click for more on this year's:

NCE results;

Newspaper Practice paper;

Speech;

News Interview.

Back to the training index

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail pastill@nep.co.uk

E-mail this story to a friend. Your name:

Your friend's e-mail: