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NQJ examiners highlight ‘lack of understanding’ in law

Candidates who sat the media law and practice exam as part of the National Qualification in Journalism showed a “lack of understanding” in some areas of the law, said examiners.

A lower pass rate in the law exam was blamed for the drop in the overall pass rate for the NQJ from 54pc in March to 49pc for those sitting it in July.

The examiners’ report highlighted that candidates had a “lack of confidence” when answering questions involving ethical issues in the second sitting of the new NQJ qualification, which puts an increased emphasis on ethics.

Here is a summary of how the candidates performed in each section and what the judges said.

Media Law and Practice

Candidates: 86
Passed: 37
Pass rate: 43pc

This section was the second sitting of the exam in its new format, including a compulsory ethics question, and examiners said it “proved quite a test” for a number of candidates.

Examiners were concerned that while most candidates knew the relevant codes of the Editors’ Code of Practice, they did not relate them to the scenario with which they were presented.

They also highlighted evidence of some candidates running out of time in answering questions.

The examiners’ report said: “As usual, the law questions tested areas that all candidates should come across in their normal working lives: defamation, contempt and reporting restrictions in court, plus a little bit on confidence, copyright, privacy and freedom of expression. While there were some good answers, it was disappointing to see the lack of knowledge in some of the answers.”

News Report

Candidates: 96
Passed: 57
Pass rate: 59pc

This section was based around a story where a rapidly expanding wild deer population in a forest was causing a danger to motorists and the Countess who owned the land had announced she would be making a cull of 2,000 deer.

Examiners said the overall standard in the exam was higher than markers had seen for some time but they highlighted a number of issues where basic details were incorrect, including candidates not using the correct form of address for a Countess, even though it was in the briefing notes, and 10pc who did not know the difference between “site” and “sight”.

The report said: “Overall, the standard in this section appeared higher than markers have seen for some time. There were fewer statistical and factual errors and fewer occasions when corrections would have been needed.

“But there was still evidence of weak shorthand and a tendency to try and create quotes by picking up words and phrases and then stringing them together in a sentence, as if that was how they had been spoken originally. Sometimes this stitching of quotes created contextual errors within the story.”

News Interview

Candidates: 89
Passed: 58
Pass rate: 65pc

The news interview was based on a story about a baby abduction and a mother’s desperate plea for her daughter’s return.

Examiners said successful candidates used strong words such as “vanished” and had good, accurate quotes which captured the drama of the abduction.

However, their report highlighted how many candidates chose the “Police are investigating” intro and several confused the chronology and names of those involved, while others were let down by their shorthand.

The examiners said: “There were some examples of poor use of language, for example, “wondered” into the shop. Sentence and paragraph construction was also disappointing in some stories. Candidates need to leave time to double-check their work before submitting it – otherwise they risk losing marks.”

Logbook

Candidates: 51
Passed: 49
Pass rate: 96pc

The July sitting of the NQJ saw the first submissions of e-logbooks and examiners said there had been no significant issues with the system.

Examiners said there were a strong selection of logbook submissions which had impressed markers.

Their report said: “A strong selection of logbook submissions gave examiners few causes for concern. Markers have been impressed with the work of the candidates.

“The only issue to have arisen this time is that council meetings appear to have been used for the key task concerned with press briefings/public meetings. Council meetings do not fit the criteria for this key task.”