A journalist working overseas needs an array of skills and knowledge. They must be self-starting, able to find and source stories, have strong interviewing skills, be able to tell compelling stories for a variety of platforms and be technically adept at using all the digital tools available to communicate appropriately with their audience.
They also need to be able to take still photographs, produce and edit audio and video and understand how to deal with the many ethical issues they will confront in their day-to-day work. They must be able to identify appropriate responses dependent on their international environment and should have an awareness of media law and public organisations on the global stage.
This qualification will deliver the above skills and is designed for candidates with a minimum English language standard of 6 IELTS or an equivalent.
It may be studied by candidates with English as a first language, but it does not prepare you for work as a journalist in the UK. To prepare for work in the UK you will need the Diploma in Journalism.
This qualification is assessed by an e-portfolio of evidence. The aim of the e-portfolio assessment is to ensure candidates can write, shoot or record engaging, accurate, well-balanced and ethically-sound stories that have an international dimension.
Delivered online via the NCTJ’s Journalism Skills Academy, you will receive access to an e-learning site which includes multimedia learning materials
Key details
- The total qualification time an average candidate can expect to take to complete the qualification is 600 hours.
- Study units
- News story-telling
- Features story-telling
- Interviewing skills for all platforms
- Social media and analytics
- Ethics of international journalism
- Media law for the international journalist
- International affairs
- Photography, video and audio skills
- Assessment will be through a single online portfolio of five real-world published stories in formats chosen by the candidate which may include digital, print, video, audio, broadcast and documentary.
- Candidates have the opportunity to submit their portfolio for marking four times a year.
- Each submission must have an international dimension and will be accompanied by a brief coversheet, providing students with the opportunity to describe their core story-telling skills.
- Each story must include at least one quote from an interview conducted by the candidate. This can be done in any format, face-to-face, telephone, email, etc, but contact details of the interviewee must be supplied.
