Professional development
There is no official requirement for journalists to complete training courses as part of continued professional development. News organisations however do provide in house training to develop new skills such as those required for social media. The BBC Academy provides training to BBC journalists and shares much of these resources with the wider UK broadcasting industry for free.
A Reuters Institute report ‘Journalists in the UK’ shows that at 45 percent the proportion of women within journalism is relatively good compared to some other countries. However, once other factors such as seniority, employment status and salary is taken into account, data from 2015 shows that inequalities remain. The gender pay gap has been controversial in the UK in 2017-2018 with female journalists being paid less than men for doing the same job. Women are less likely to progress to senior roles and to be paid high salaries. Only 18 percent of women who have over 20 years’ experience occupy senior management roles compared to 37 percent of men with the same experience. Diversity is also lacking with only 6 percent of journalists coming from a non-white background.