All-action journo joins international team

By UKJournalism

Central American civil wars, tropical hurricanes and Presidential election scandalsÖ all in a dayís work for new International Journalism lecturer Robert Beers.

Robert is teaching students on our new Masters in International Journalism. And in a career that has seen him visit over fifty countries, Robert brings with him a wealth of international print and broadcast journalism experience.

His impressive CV includes several years as a Bureau Manger at US news giant CBS, a similar spell with major media agency BSP Americas, and consultancy work for Bermuda Broadcasting and the Jamaica Gleaner. He also works with a number of magazines worldwide, including Trinidadís Maco.

Foreign assignments

Robert has been on innumerable foreign assignments including the death of Breshnev in Moscow, Chile under Pinochet, the Florida election wrangle in 2000 and, more recently Hurricane Fabian. But he counts the civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua as his most dramatic.

"Covering a war is pretty dicey but very interesting," he said. "Iíve been shot at a couple of times, had the hotel blown up I was staying in, and had a hand grenade thrown at me. War coverage helped me become a better reporter, because I had to produce under really extraordinary circumstances."

First time

Although itís his first time working in the UK, Robert previously taught print and broadcast journalism at Miamiís Barry University. "They had a very good journalism programme," he said. "But like most other places, they didnít have a programme or modules called international journalism, they teach it as part of other courses."

So when Robert discovered that Preston had launched an exclusive Masters in International Journalism, he decided to leave his previous role as management consultant at Bermuda Broadcasting and move to the UK.

"I couldnít find anybody else around who did international journalism," he said. "This is a unique programme. I think this is the leading university in that area. Itís always been a dream of mine to work in England, and my wife was born in  Brighton so itís been an easy transition for us. It seems like home already."

Looking forward

And as he tries to adapt to the weather, Robert is looking forward to the months ahead. "I want to get a handle on the international journalism curriculum and really connect with the students, particularly foreign students," he said.

"There are so many different ways of doing journalism. If you only focus on one country, you think that the way they do journalism is the way everybody does journalism, but thatís not true. There are places in various parts of the world where stories are affected by economic, social, political and societal influences. And nothing could be more interesting from my outlook."

More info:
Masters in International Journalism >

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Extra and related information

Our print and broadcast courses are accredited by the The Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Our MA Magazine Journalism is accredited by the Periodicals Training Council.