Earliest Days

Professor Jeremy Tunstall, formerly Professor of Sociology at the University, recalls the steps that led to the setting up of the journalism courses.

When the Royal Commission on the Press began work in August 1974, Lord Hunt decided to take an interest in recruitment and training (he had previously been active in that area). The commission quickly employed Colin Seymour-Ure, Professor Tunstall and Denis McQuail to work full-time for a year. O.R. McGregor was a sociology professor.

Professor Tunstall continues: “We pointed out the only existing piece of research, Oliver Boyd-Barrett’s ‘Journalism Recruitment and Training: Problems in Professionalisation’ in Media Soiology (Jeremy Tunstall, editor, London, Constable and University of Illinois Press) 1970 pp 181-201. This was research done by Mr Boyd-Barrett as my research assistant at Essex University. He got 99 journalism students at Harlow College and Sheffield Polytechnic to complete questionnaires. I also used Mr Boyd-Barrett’s data in my book Journalists at Work (Constable 1971).

“The Royal Commission also employed Social and Community Planning Research (SCPR) on this. One of the Royal Commission’s 13 volumes of publications reports the SCPR survey. SCPR obtained information from 1,219 people – mostly junior jounalists but also 133 editors – all about journalism training.

“In its final report the Royal Commission on the Press (HMSO: July 1977, Cmnd 6810) devoted a whole chapter to this: Chapter 18, Selection and Training of Journalists, pp 171-182.

“In the RCP’s Summary of Recommendations (page 234) there are several strong endorsements for journalism training, including ‘That the provision of advanced professional education for journalism should be made a major priority”.

“Because I was in and out of the RCP’s office over the whole three years (1974-7), I knew that the RCP was shocked by the low educational level of the journalism intake. I was friendly with Vice-Chancellor Parkes and was ablt to assure him that journalism education at university level would get RCP endorsement.

“Tom Hopkinson visited City University several times during 1974-7.

“Incidentally, the RCP mentions the City University course explicitly in two places (paras 18.6 and 18.31). Cardiff got more mentions because it was the pioneer.”