Sun reporter shares success secrets

By Jenna Richards

One of the countryís top journalists dropped in to share his Fleet Street experiences with the Departmentís students.

John Kay, chief reporter on The Sun gave third year BA (Hons) Journalism students pointers on everything from improving their work to getting a job after graduating. He also shared some juicy inside gossip about some top names in Fleet Street.

Touching on the Departmentís reputation for producing first class reporters John noted two Sun executives, Whitehall editor David Wooding, and managing editor Graham Dudman, trained here.

John gave students some practical advice on how to get the best out of news stories which have broken on television.

Develop contacts

"Editors are not happy about receiving a story they have already seen on TV," he said. "Reporters need to develop their own contacts and find their own stories.

"The acquisition of material is often more important than the writing of the story." 

Third year print student Mark Hudson said: "John was absolutely brilliant. He gave us some really useful advice on how to get into journalism and what to do when youíre there. He also told some great stories on a few recent national scandals." 

The talk was organised by newspaper journalism lecturer Delwyn Swingewood. He said: "It was tremendous that John Kay, arguably one of the most experienced national daily newspaper reporters should talk to our students about his career."

More info:
BA (Hons) Journalism >

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See also:
The Sun website >

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.