ITV News at Ten anchor Mark Austin called on the NCTJ to concentrate on quality journalism when he opened the training body’s new offices in Newport, Essex, today.
Austin, who trained on an NCTJ course at Highbury in Portsmouth, said that with so many sources of news available today, ITV was trying to give viewers added value by providing quality journalism.
“We and the BBC have correspondents who are real quality journalists who are reliable and have authority.
“If the NCTJ can continue to focus on quality journalism then I think we as broadcasters and Fleet Street newspapers will be very well served.”
NCTJ chief executive Joanne Butcher said the move represented a new era for a “more confident and modern” NCTJ.
New NCTJ qualifications are being introduced for magazines, sports, online and video journalists.
One break with tradition, however, will be the closing of Oxdown – the disaster-prone mythical town which features in NCTJ exam papers. Oxdown gets the axe after the round of exams on July 18.
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