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NCTJ Journalism skills conference: Is shorthand ‘vital’ as a journalism skill?

December 5th, 2008Posted by Laura Oliver in Training

The full results of the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) convergence skills survey are in under the fairly predictable headline of ‘you need old and new skills’ to survive in this journalism age.

But the study, which questioned 217 employers and 50 NCTJ-accredited institutions, did flag up some interesting skills gaps – cited by employers – between new recruits and employer expectations:

Here’s Paul Bradshaw’s video of the presentation of the results from the Society of Editor’s conference last month:


A combination of new and ‘traditional’ skills (finding own stories, use of language, writing, media law, shorthand, newsgathering, video, SEO) were all areas of particular concern for the 71 per cent of those employers surveyed who reported skills gaps among new entrants.

But it was the gaps in traditional skills that employers and educators saw as most important. As the NCTJ chairman Kim Fletcher says in his intro to the results, a worrying gap in recruits’ ability to write shorthand was reported, a skill which is ‘as vital as ever’.

The above claim has already been causing some debate amongst twittering journos:

Is shorthand a ‘vital skill’ or just a handy one? It was part of my training and I find it useful for quick transcriptions, but there are growing calls for reporters to tape everything – something which has the added benefit of allowing you to post audio clips.

Excerpts from interviews conducted as part of the skills survey raise sound ideas on the whole – but are they really referring to shorthand when they mention important traditional skills? For example:

“It is a difficult task, but teaching the traditional skills must be maintained while cultivating multimedia talent as well – and both to a high standard. The traditional should not be  downgraded to accommodate the ’sexy’. The basics are needed for whatever medium is being used.”

(For me there’s still a slight hangover from the print (solid, traditional, credible) vs online (sexy, irreverent and all front) in the above…)

Educators reading this – what emphasis do you place on different skills and why?

New recruits and journos – in what proportion are you using the new and traditional skills you’ve learnt?

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 2:14 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “NCTJ Journalism skills conference: Is shorthand ‘vital’ as a journalism skill?”

  1. Will journalists write off journalists? « Sarah Hartley Says:

    December 7th, 2008 at 11:30 am

    [...] know much has already been said on this topic  but doesn’t this rather exemplify a gulf between what’s actually going on in a [...]


  2. Shorthand or the Dictaphone, a 21st century dilemma « Jordan Farley’s Weblog Says:

    December 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 am

    [...] this week the results of the NCTJ convergence skills survey, announced at the NCTJ Journalism Skills Conference in Salford, revealed a clear concern among [...]


  3. Shorthand or the Dictaphone, a 21st century dilemma « Jordan Farley’s Weblog Says:

    December 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    [...] this week the results of the Nantional Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) convergence skills survey, announced at the NCTJ Journalism Skills Conference in Salford, revealed a clear concern among [...]


  4.   Ignoring icebergs: The NCTJ and sinking ships. by andydickinson.net Says:

    February 18th, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    [...] NCTJ Journalism skills conference: Is shorthand ‘vital’ as a journalism skill? (blogs.journalism.co.uk) [...]


  5. Sunderland survey results: What do journalism students want from their training? | Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog Says:

    June 24th, 2009 at 9:00 am

    [...] (Interesting to compare some of these student responses, which were gathered by contacting journalism schools and online, with the results of the National Council for the Training of Journalists’ (NCTJ) recent skills survey.) [...]


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