Degree or no degree, that is the question

The Guardian newspaper devoted four pages today to journalism training. Peter Wilby moans that there are now few working class journalists any more, just an old guard of working class heroes who slogged their way up from the slums. Now he says the business is full of middle class ex-public school folk with private incomes. They're the only ones who can afford the huge cost of postgraduate courses to bag the best jobs.
Of course, it was better in the old days you left school at 16 and got a job on the local rag, spent several years reporting flower shows and funerals before packing your belongings in a handkerchief tied to a stick and hitching a lift on a horse and cart for the big smoke, wearing a trilby with a band for your press card. At least then it was a meritocracy, says Wilby, with grit and determination winning through.
As for ethnic minorities, they are drastically under-represented in the business. He has got a point there. But what's the solution to this mess?
Perhaps his London-centric view is distorting his grasp on reality. Outside the capital, with its promise of riches and broken dreams, there are thousands of journalists toiling in the regional media. Most, but not all, are graduates. That's because editors decided they wanted the best on offer, and equated better education with better quality staff.
They have found though that graduates are keen to get trained and clear off, party through ambition, partly to try and up their wages from the measly trainee stipend. Maybe the NCTJ has got some responsibility for this, by locking industry starters into a rigid framework that the media groups are only too happy to sign up to. In fact, there's nothing to stop editors paying trainees more, other than they would have to pay everyone else more.
Meanwhile, you can actually still leave school with A-levels and get on a journalism pre-entry course. And often these journalists stick around longer. They are more likely to have local roots and knowledge and stick around longer, providing a return on the investment in their training. Maybe it's time editors placed more value on that route. And with the explosion of college and undergraduate courses, there could be an answer.
More locally trained entrants, equipped with the necessary skills, but also with local connections, could be on their way to a newsroom near you soon. And this should also address the imbalance in represenation of ethnic minorities. Meanwhile there are a number of schemes offering cash and support for ethnic minority candidates on postgraduate courses, including the Scott Trust, NUJ and Journalism Diversity Fund. See more details on the links section of http://www.beajournalist.talktalk.net/ .
Anyway, as I understand it, you train in the regional media, learn your stuff, then if you want, go to London, get some shifts and if you're persistent or lucky enough, land a staff job. Or carry on with shifts, go into PR, or decide you want to do something more useful or worthwhile. The options are there for the best to be recognised and rewarded, no matter which school or college they were at. At every level, you're only as good as your last story.
Roy Greenslade suggests it's time the industry pulled itself together to address the working class/ethnic minority shortage. And I guess the rather confusing entry system could do with a little more clarity. But with the NCTJ accrediting more private sector providers, and many institutions opting out of the NCTJ, that's unlikely to happen. It's down to editors to recognise who is going to do the best job for them. And that's fundamentally down to ambition, skill and persistence, which are equally available to all.
Chris McGillion, former editorial page editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, says editors should work with the courses to shape the type of graduates that they want. Sound sensible.
As for me, I did a postgraduate one-year pre-entry course at City University in the 1980s, funded by a government grant. My coursemates are now all over the place, in regional and national newspapers, foreign correspondents, TV and PR. There was a mix of backgrounds, colours and creeds. All shared the drive and ambition which got them there, and which has driven them on afterwards.