Essential Journalism: the NCTJ guide for trainee journalists

Jonathan Baker, former BBC News executive and Professor of Journalism is set to release the second edition of Essential Journalism: the NCTJ guide for trainee journalists on the 30 October.

Jonathan Baker

Building on the success of the first edition, the new Essential Journalism continues to equip trainee journalists with a solid foundation across all areas of contemporary practice.

Author, Jonathan Baker shared his insights on the release of the new edition:

“I must say a little thought that when this one came out in 2021, within only three years, I’d be sitting down to update and revise it, but that says something about the pace of changing our business.

“Take artificial intelligence, barely mentioned first time round, but now having a profound effect on all aspects of journalism production in ways that are both helpful and benign and very much the opposite of those things. It needs careful handling. It’s clear that audiences don’t want and will not trust content that they think has been artificially generated without human intervention.

“Then, as the journalism of verification, I think we are now well beyond traditional fact checking, which you are making sure that what you’re putting out is accurate. Verification is now a stand-alone proactive discipline with journalists subjecting dodgy arguments, statistical claims, downright untruths to a high level of analysis, and crucially, being unafraid to call out the fake and the misleading wherever they find it.

“This is a shift, and I think it’s going to be an increasingly important function of journalism in the years ahead. To my mind, journalism’s best defence against fake news is professionally produced, reliable, and trustworthy journalism.

“There’s new material in the second edition about working from home, data research, social media inclusive reporting, and keeping safe online. But beyond that, everything that’s in this book is also in the new one. It was always intended to be a kind of one-stop shop for students, covering all aspects of the theory and practice of modern journalism, and that comprehensive approach has been carried over into the new book as well.

“Also, still there is a commitment to the enduring values of journalism. The argument of the first book was very much that in a changing world, core values remain the same. What’s changing is the atmosphere and the environment in which they are being applied. I think that underpins a lot of the syllabus of the NCTJ diploma, with which this book is closely aligned, and is very much at the heart of the new edition as well.”

The second edition of Essential Journalism: the NCTJ guide for trainee journalists can be pre-ordered directly from the NCTJ at a reduced price here.