Best degree for a career in broadcast journalism

[BennieAndBert]

DD is keen on a career in broadcast journalism/TV production.

Any ideas what degree subjects would be good? She's been told by the careers people at school that there's no need to do a journalism/media degree and that she'd be better doing something else followed by a masters in journalism or comms. But no guidance on the degree subject. A levels are maths, French, philosophy.

I think that is good career advice. If you look at the educational backgrounds of the most of the BBC broadcast journalists then a lot of them seem to have studied an academic subject at undergrad and then a post grad in journalism. I don’t think the subject matters so much as long as it an academic one from a good university. Any of her A levels would be a good degree. Or PPE would be a good choice. What grade is she predicted?

Sorry for typos

I worked at the World Service for several years - a fair few had degrees in politics or economics and languages - and some with science and history degrees. Very few had media degrees - those that did worked as studio engineers, floor managers, camera or sound operators erc.

Thank you, everyone- really helpful.

I know newspaper editors who did English Literature and wrote for university paper etc

If DD picks a few journalists that she aspires to emulate she could look up their career history on Wikipedia and see what they did.

I trained as a broadcast journalist, although I don’t work as one now. I studied Communication and Society, followed by an MA in Broadcast Journalism which was an accredited course.

On my MA I would say that about 50% had communication, media or film degrees, and about 50% had more classical degrees like English Lit or Law. Everyone but me is highly successful in the field regardless of their undergrad degree. I chose to leave after a couple of years although I do use my degree every day.

My recommendation is to study what she is passionate about.

It's good advice.

PPE is a good choice if she is interested in those subjects. Languages are also a good option if she is interested in international reporting MFL is also the easiest subject to get into Oxbridge. Although it isn't relevant to your DD, sciences are also good. Is there a particular type of reporting that she is interested in? Specialist knowledge in a subject can set you apart from other candidates when apply for jobs.

This list of MA specialism options from City might help her think of relevant degrees that might give her the edge:

www.city.ac.uk/prospective-students/courses/postgraduate/newspaper-journalism#accordion617201-header617205

eg PPE, international relations, economics (financial journalism is a huge sector), development, MFL, sciences/health, war studies, even theology and religion are all good choices that lead to specialisms.

Hi OP I have worked as a journalist most of my life, apart from a break when I was a teacher. Newspapers, magazines and PR tho rather than broadcast.

I want to put a different viewpoint. PPs have mentioned journalists whose degrees are in other subjects - mine is in MFL FWIW. Thing is tho, I would say that mainstream availability of degrees in journalism only dates back (guessing here) say 15 years? So the majority of journalists had no chance of taking that degree. Certainly it was not an option for me in any way.

That said, it is of course possible to become a journalist with doing a journalism degree. I am in no way a fan of the idea of a degree in journalism in general - how on earth do students spend three years studying it? and at the end so many of them still cannot write in decent English. But I do think it is a more straightforward way into the career if that is definitely what you want. The degree at Derby, to take an example, is very well taught by lots of former journalists and involves a lot of hands-on practical work and experience.

But if your DD is able enough to study and enjoy studying (for example) French at Bristol or PPE at Oxford or economics at Durham, then that might be a better choice with more options at the end of her degree. Journalism degrees IME tend to be offered at less popular unis. If she can flourish at a higher-ranked uni then that may be a better choice.

This is the thing though; the most most important thing is that she is writing and publishing her writing. Does she write a blog? Has she done some work on the local hospital radio? Could she start a radio station at lunchtimes in her school? These are the kinds of things future editors will be expecting and be impressed by. Why broadcast especially? Does she want to be Andrew Marr or is there a more viable reason? Can she articulate that and then see what might help lead to it - work exp at the local BBC radio station, setting up her own YouTube channel locally and interviewing local worthies, doing the PA at local events even - she could try volunteering at local sports clubs for example (at my athletics club we always need someone to do the announcing and they could interview the winners too for example).

All of this is way way more important than degree subject if she genuinely wants to get into the media world. It's not easy and she needs to be determined - and show it. Do feel free to ask me any questions - if I can help i am happy to.

Apols for essay-style post!