Pitman Training

Get into Journalism

Course Outline

Getting your first job in journalism can be tricky. This course will give you the answers and help demonstrate your commitment to potential employers. It will also help you if you have PR responsibilities in your work.

This journalism course gives you an overview of a journalist’s life; the perfect introduction for moving to journalism training.

In four simple lessons, you’ll progress from publishing history and media technology through to editing, law, features and page layout. Unlike other journalism courses, this one is designed to be both practical and flexible.

It operates on self-study basis, so you can take in your journalism lessons on a flexible basis whenever it suits you. During the course, you’ll be creating a workbook, which will be yours to take away with you as a handy reference guide. You’ll also be taking away the right to put the renowned Pitman Training name on your CV, and that’s well worth having.

To progress further into journalism, we highly recommend our Teeline Fast shorthand course – an essential skill for all journalists.


This course will provide you with an overview of the work of a journalist.

This course is designed for those who are considering a career in Journalism and want to find out more about the basic principles of the profession. 

Prior to starting this course we would recommend you have a working knowledge of the Word program to Core level and be comfortable using the Internet.

There are four lessons in this course: –

Lesson One: Publishing through the centuries, the advances of media technology, skills and qualities required of a journalist, principles of effective news writing.

Lesson Two: Duties of a sub-editor, understanding of ‘house style’, the importance of copy-editing, the importance of proofreading, understanding publishing law.

Lesson Three: Different types of features, the importance of the brief, conducting an interview, writing up an interview.

Lesson Four: Understanding basic typography, the principles of page layout, using photographs on a page, understanding the role of advertising, writing headlines.

This course will take around 8 to 10 hours to complete.

Our Get into Journalism course is part of our distance learning range – which can be accessed online via our distance learning portal. 

This means that you have the flexibility to study our Get into Journalism course:

  • In centre, with our friendly course advisors available for support and guidance as and when you need it.
  • At home or from work – with support via email or telephone during working hours.
  • On a blended mix – in-centre for the modules you need help with, at home or from work for those you are gliding through.

Once you’ve decided to go ahead, all you’ll need to do is contact your nearest Pitman Training centre that offers and supports our distance learning platform, and they will arrange for you to have an induction to show you around the system and talk you through how our online training works. After this, you can learn in your own time and at your own speed, but with the knowledge you have support at hand if required. 

To find your nearest centre that offers and supports our online Get into Journalism training, /training-a-z/”>


The best way to make sure your training programme suits you, your skills, your ambitions and your busy schedule, is to get in touch with us for a free, friendly expert career consultation.

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