ITV news jobs for recent postgraduates

By UK Journalism

Two former postgraduate broadcast students have landed television news jobs less than two years after finishing their course.

Hannah Lomas and Lucy Watson both work for ITV regional news. Hannah is a broadcast journalist at ITV Border and Lucy is a production journalist at ITV Central.

They both completed a postgraduate diploma in Broadcast Journalism at UCLan in 2006 and after starting their careers in radio, recently moved over to television.

Hannah freelanced at ITV Granada before she was offered her job at Border.

She said: “I was working at Granada and the opportunity came up at Border. It sounded like a way to get more experience on-screen and the area sounded interesting. I worked in radio before Granada and always thought that was where I’d stay but when I went to Granada I loved it.”

Learning curve

Hannah spent eight months at Granada as a reporter and as a field producer for a two week road show.

She said it was a steep learning curve.

“I saw how a big newsroom works together to achieve the results they do – they’ve won so many awards and the standards are so high that it’s quite daunting at first! The talent there is incredible too and you learn so much by just watching how people put a package together.

“Also, you have to think about much more than just speaking to people, TV news really is all about the pictures and that is limiting sometimes in what we can cover.”

Lucy worked at Century Radio before she moved to ITV Central in January after also freelancing at Granada.

She said: “I have always been interested in television journalism and the challenge of writing to pictures. I started my journalism career at Century Radio and without that experience I wouldn’t feel as confident in my journalistic ability or have even thought of applying for the job in television.”

As a production journalist Lucy produces the morning and lunchtime bulletins, edits packages and comes up with story ideas.

“I love sitting in the gallery and watching the bulletin I’ve produced go out on air without any hitches. I enjoy the adrenalin rush of reporting whether it’s in radio or television, being the first with new information and being able to tell everyone.”

Hannah’s job as a reporter see’s her travelling all over the region from Cumbria, to parts of Scotland and the Isle of Man.

She said: “I love telling stories and every day is different. I can come in and one day and be covering a really serious court case, the next I can be trampling through a muddy field with a farmer or interviewing a cockerel who’s been given a curfew! It’s a privilege to be able to meet so many interesting people and for them to share their stories with you.”

Journalist of the Year

Both admit they miss the immediacy of radio and Lucy even won Journalist of the Year for the Guardian Media Group whilst she was at Century Radio. She was up against all of the other journalists from the group and said it was the best moment in her career to date.

“When they announced my name I felt like I’d won an Oscar. It really was amazing and I wish I could have the moment again.”

Lucy’s ultimate ambition is to report from a war zone but she is quite open minded about what direction her career heads in saying she is just keen to “carry on and do the best job I can.”

Hannah said she would eventually like to work abroad or on national news but for the moment she loves working in a region and can’t imagine doing anything else.

“I haven’t really got a game plan though if you’d told me a year ago I’d have a staff job at ITV I’d have laughed so I guess anything can happen.”

Both praised the postgraduate course and said it helped to prepare them to work in industry.

Hannah said: “The course was great at giving a realistic idea of what it is like working in the industry and gave us the chance to get contacts we wouldn’t have been able to make otherwise.”

Lucy added: “I most definitely would not be in this profession nor in a job in television. I also wouldn’t have had any chance of winning any award. It’s must for anyone who wants to seriously get into journalism.”

More info
MA Broadcast Journalism
PGDip Broadcast Journalism
ITV Border
ITV Central

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Extra and related information

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