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Sir Harry speaks up for journalism training

Legendary editor Sir Harold Evans has spoken out in support of the work of the National Council for the Training of Journalists.

The former Sunday Times and Northern Echo editor, in Britain to promote his autobiography was speaking during a literary event in London.

During a question and answer session Sir Harold was asked the best way for a young person to begin a career in journalism.

He replied that his personal recommendation was to take a course accredited by the NCTJ.

Speaking afterwards he added: “The work of the National Council for the Training of Journalists is indispensable – to individual careers and importantly the credibility and viability of journalism.

“When I got my first job as a weekly paper reporter, there was no NCTJ. It meant the start for all of us entering newspapers at the time was tricky. Accuracy was beaten into us, but even seniors had only the haziest ideas of the law.

“Many hard lessons were learned slowly, much time wasted and some leads abandoned out of old legal saws that were false such as ‘the greater the truth, the greater the libel.’

“Yes, geniuses may flourish without training…but I’ve not encountered many in 50 years.”

Sir Harold started his career as a reporter for the Ashton-under-Lyne Weekly Reporter in Lancashire, a newspaper which is still published as an edition of the Tameside Reporter.

He later joined the Manchester Evening News and progressed to assistant editor before editing the Echo from 1961-67, the Sunday Times from 1967-81, and The Times from 1981-82.

Comments

chris g (19/10/2009 09:35:32)
Yes, it may well be useful to study NCTJ, but their pace of change in a developing 21st Century new media world is a lot to be desired. They need to move quicker on their curriculum…

Tom Welsh (21/10/2009 12:02:20)
Well done, Harry. He has always been a great supporter of training for journalists. When I was lecturing at Harlow to block-release journalists in the sixties, the great man impressed us all by turning up on his motor-cycle, and leaping onto a desk to make his points. In 1976, in the Sunday Times offices, he launched City University’s first journalism course (I was first Director of Journalism) with splendidly down-to-earth advice on the craft http://earliestdays.wordpress.com/