Fleet street veteran and award winning journalist join staff

By UK Journalism

A national newspaper veteran and an award winning journalist have joined the department to teach print and online journalism.

Michael Williams, the former deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday and currently the readers’ editor of the Independent titles, will work part-time at the university after spending over 25 years in the national newspaper industry.

Clare Cook is the new course leader on the Media Management degree programme. Most recently she was a sub-editor for celebrity magazines owned by the Daily Express and before that she was a reporter at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and the Nottingham Evening Post.

Newsquest Scoop of the Year

In 2005 whilst Clare was at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, she won the Newsquest Scoop of the Year award for her exclusive story on Robert Lund, a man accused of murdering his wife and dumping her body in a French Lake in 2003. In 2007 Clare helped to convict Lund of manslaughter after giving evidence based on her investigations at the time.

She said: “I went to France to interview Robert Lund and he took me and a photographer to the scene where his wife’s body was found. Some of the information he gave me was later used in the trial.”

Clare was also named runner up in the 2004 North West Newspaper Awards in the Reporter of the Year category.

Michael will continue with his job at the Independent on Sunday where he writes a weekly column and says he hopes to provide a key link to national newspapers in London.

“I want to act as a bridge between UCLan and the nationals and allow students to utilise my contacts to gain experience working on a national newspaper.”

Centre of excellence

He said he came to UCLan because of its reputation as a “centre of excellence for journalism” and feels the region offers great prospects to work in the industry.

Michael, who began his career as a graduate trainee on the Liverpool Echo, said: “I believe the North West is due for a renaissance as a power house of journalism, especially with the arrival of so many BBC jobs in Manchester.”

Clare says she is looking forward to the “new chapter” in her career and says budding journalists need to be prepared to go digital.

“These days a lot is expected from a journalist. You need to get the quotes, the photo and sometimes the video footage. Newsrooms have changed so much over the last few years and journalists need to be able to work in the digital medium.”

Some of the modules Clare will teach are advanced writing, digital media, online communications and the future of journalism. Michael will teach media management and the business of journalism.

In her spare time Clare is a keen mountaineer and edits the Lancashire Mountaineer Club magazine. She has trekked in the Himalaya’s and Munroe and also cycled across Africa through Kenya and Tanzania.

Michael has worked as the executive editor of the Independent and the head of news at the Sunday Times. He is a specialist writer on railways and recently wrote a book entitled “The Good Railway Guide.”

More info
BA (Hons) Journalism
MA Online Journalism
The Independent
Lancashire Evening Telegraph

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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.