Do you need a postgraduate degree in journalism to get ahead?

It's a contentious issue. Those with a journalism postgrad say it gave them the skills, the contacts and the confidence to be a journalist. Those without sneer at the idea that journalism can be taught in a lecture hall.

Many postgrad courses follow a similar pattern: students learn media law and public administration, and courses that are divided by sector (print, magazine, web, broadcast and so on) teach more specialised modules, such as shorthand, production, coding or camerawork. MAs usually take a year to complete, postgrads nine months, and some of the fast-track courses last just a few months.

Journalism is a risky business, and even the most experienced hacks have to be wary of everything from misquotations and misspellings to factual inaccuracies and libel. Postgrads can teach you how to avoid the most common mistakes.

"It taught me skills I wouldn't have otherwise," says Sarah Dawood, a recent MA graduate of Sheffield University. In her first job at a business-to-business magazine, Dawood had to correct a defamatory statement made by another journalist.

"If I'd had no knowledge of media law, I don't know if I'd have even understood why the statement was defamatory in the first place," she says.

It used to be that local newsrooms would train staff in-house, but shrinking resources have all but eliminated journalism apprentices.

"I think apprenticeships are the best route into journalism," says Jamie Roberton, who got on to an apprenticeship scheme at ITV News and its online team after finishing his A-levels – but he admits most of his colleagues have postgrads and there aren't many opportunities for those without a degree.

Many job adverts for local papers specify the need for candidates to have qualifications certified by the NCTJ, the newspaper industry's accreditation body. Similarly, aspiring broadcast journalists often have to be certified by the BJTC.

But current master's student Michael Allen decided to go to City University London even though staff at his local paper in Norwich, where he had done work experience, told him this could exempt him from many regional newspaper jobs. City – unlike Cardiff, Sheffield and the University of Central Lancashire (Uclan), for example – is not NCTJ-accredited.

But it has a strong reputation within the media industry, says Allen, who found he was able to get higher profile work experience placements after securing a place at City. "I pretty much felt that you have to do a postgrad if you want to start in a fairly good job.

"I didn't feel confident at all just coming out of my BA at Warwick and trying to get a job somewhere."

Local papers aside, while recognised qualifications are a prerequisite to starting a career in many professions, from dentistry to plumbing, journalism is gradually doing away with these barriers – just look at the rise of bloggers and "citizen journalists".

Wannabe-journalists often just need the courage to drop the "wannabe".

"I am yet to come across a particular task that needed the extra experience a postgrad seems to give people," says Jerome Lyte, a 23-year-old television researcher and freelance radio producer who has worked on several BBC Radio 4 documentaries.

"If you listen to the advice of more experienced people and use a bit of common sense that seems to do the trick. You shouldn't need to go to a seminar to figure that out."

Similarly, Darren Burn, former acting head of planning at ITV national news, cracked the industry through perseverance and work placements.

"By working alongside the best in the business today, you are inevitably going to learn more than from lecturers who are disjointed from the industry," he says.

But standing out – even in the unpaid work experience market – can be extremely tough. David English, deputy director of the Centre for Journalism at Cardiff University, says the basic qualifications students learn on a postgraduate course give them "a headstart to get into a craft which is still massively oversubscribed".

But he cautions students against doing a full master's: "Those upgrading to an MA have to stay on over summer to produce their dissertation. In my opinion, that is not necessary and removes them from the job market at a crucial time."

A postgraduate environment can be a lot more forgiving than a busy newsroom.

Cathy Darby, a senior lecturer in Uclan's school of journalism and media says: "Students go on placement fully prepared to impress, having committed any blunders in the privacy of their course. They also have a ready-made contacts book, gained through meeting interested industry guests and their own cohort."

Training comes at a price – journalism postgrads can cost up to £9,000 (a master's at City University) – so you have to be sure you want to do it.

Like many students, Graeme Port had to take out a career development loan to pay for his MA at Sheffield – but he fell out of love with the profession on his first day of work experience at a Scottish local paper.

"From my small glimpse into the world of journalism it was very apparent that the hours were very long and the pay was very low," he says. "It does hurt when I lose £230 out of my wage packet each month to repay my loan."

These loan repayments start one month after a course ends regardless of a debtor's employment status, and the careers market for journalism is fierce.

"With or without a postgrad, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get into journalism," says Dawood. "But my MA – and particularly the hands-on stuff like reporting from my 'news patch' – gave me the confidence to call myself a journalist."

(Source: TheGuardian)