Salary

Journalism is one of the most exciting careers around, but what can you expect to be paid once you’re qualified?

The median salary of those working in journalism six months after completing their NCTJ diploma is £22,500. This is slightly more than the salary of graduates in all subjects (£22,000).

This increases to £27,500 three years after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism.

Journalism salaries can also vary depending on which sector you go on to work in, and by location, with journalists working in London receiving the highest average salaries.

See the table below from our 2018 Journalists at Work research:

Average salary (£)
All 27,500
Job title
Editorial management 35,000
Section heads 27,500
Writers/reporters (newspapers or magazines) 22,500
Digital journalists 22,500
Broadcast reporters 35,000
Production 35,000
Main sector
Newspapers 22,500
Magazines 27,500
Radio 35,000
Television 45,000
Online 27,500
Other 22,500
Main platform
Print-based 22,500
Broadcast-based 45,000
Online/digital 27,500
Platform neutral 35,000

Industry research

We are committed to an ongoing programme of research to provide the industry with up-to-date labour market information about journalism. Here are some reports you may be interested in.

Journalists at Work 2018

We commissioned this research to provide new and consistent information across a range of industry sectors on the journalism professions. It is both an update of the organisation’s 2012 Journalists at Work publication, and an exploration of issues that have emerged since.

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