The National Council for the Training of Journalists has introduced the changes with immediate effect to cover all accredited pre-entry courses starting this month.

The key changes include the integration of online journalism into the news-writing exam, while video journalism is being made compulsory for the press photography exam portfolio.

Video reports have also been made an optional element for the reporters and magazine journalists portfolios.

The NCTJ said that the changes have been designed to address what it called "the general industry view that pre-entry trainees need to have a mindset for convergent journalism."

It is strongly encouraging all its accredited courses to offer video journalism to students and trainees as it becomes an increasingly common skill for reporters.

Chief examiner Steve Nelson said: "We found that editors wanted to see evidence of stories produced on work experience, so the portfolio element has been expanded to cover all disciplines accordingly.

"The NCTJ will continue to monitor the roles of the journalist and photographer in the newsroom and will ensure its examinations and assessments meet editors' needs, modifying when necessary to reflect the required skills base."

There has also been a change to the titles of the law and public affairs exams.

Law 1 has been renamed media law: court reporting, law 2 has become media law: general reporting, public affairs 1 is now public affairs: local government, and public affairs 2 is now public affairs: central government.