Founding professor of journalism receives top industry award

Our founding professor of journalism, Professor Jonathan Baker, has been honoured for his outstanding contribution to journalism training and education.

Professor Baker, who was head of newsgathering at BBC News and headed up the BBC’s College of Journalism, received this year’s National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) Chairman’s Award.

He joined Essex in 2014 to develop and launch our BA Multimedia Journalism course, making journalism our first new subject area for 20 years. Under Professor Baker’s leadership, the course became NCTJ-accredited and began training the next generation of journalists with the first students graduating this year.

NCTJ Chairman Kim Fletcher said: “He has shown a consistent commitment to giving students the best possible grounding in what it takes to find and tell great stories. The strong foundations Jonathan has put in place will continue to benefit future generations of students in the years ahead.”

After his first job as a graduate trainee at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, Professor Baker moved to the BBC where he had a long and successful career. He held a number of senior positions across BBC television, radio and newsgathering, including Executive Editor Radio News, World News Editor and Head of Newsgathering.

Professor Baker then went on to lead the BBC’s College of Journalism, in charge of meeting the training needs of thousands of journalists, before joining Essex.

Director of Journalism Tim Fenton, former Managing Editor of BBC News Online who took over from Professor Baker in the summer, said: “I’ve worked with Jonathan in various capacities for nearly thirty years; this is entirely fair testament to his standing in the industry. It is great to have the NCTJ recognise the strength of the Essex journalism programme”.