The National Union of Journalists and Journalism Education in Interwar Britain

ABSTRACT

Are journalists born or made? During the interwar period (1919–1939), the British National Union of Journalists (NUJ) grappled with this question, as the first university course for journalism was founded and more university-educated staff entered newsrooms. This article is the first to consider interwar journalists’ opinions on whether and how British journalists should be educated. Debates on journalism education continued until the 1990s, when university education became the norm for British journalists. This article explores the emergence of this contentious argument. Through the articles published in the pages of the NUJ’s monthly member magazine the Journalist, two strands of the NUJ’s activities on education are explored: the Union’s stance on the University of London Diploma for Journalism and the work of the NUJ’s Education Committee. During the interwar period, the National Union of Journalists developed educational output for its members. Unlike other British trade unions, the NUJ focused on providing its members with education that was directly related to their careers. These activities raised fundamental questions that went to the heart of the profession during a period when journalism’s professional identity in Britain was still evolving.

KEYWORDS:

• Britain
• education
• interwar
• journalism
• National Union of Journalists

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. F. L. Stevens, “On Books and Other Things: Journalists and Their Daily Experiences,” Journalist, November 1926, 222.

2. Stevens, “On Books and Other Things,” 222.

3. Stevens.

4. Political and Economic Planning, Report on the British Press: A Survey of its Current Operations and Problems with Special Reference to National Newspapers and Their Part in Public Affairs (London: PEP, 1938), 148.

5. Political and Economic Planning, Report on the British Press, 148; and “Membership by Branch and District, at December 31, 1919,” Journalist, May 1920, 28.

6. A. M. Carr-Saunders and P. A. Wilson, The Professions (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933), 268.

7. J. B. Beckett, “The Best Training for a Journalist,” Journalist, June 1921, 173; Stanley J. Bond, “The Education of the Journalist,” Journalist, April 1923, 67; and W. L. Andrews, “The Education of the Journalist,” Journalist, May 1927, 120.

8. Tim Gopsill and Greg Neale, Journalists: 100 Years of the NUJ (London: Profile, 2007); and F. J. Mansfield, Gentlemen, the Press! Chronicles of a Crusade (London: W. H. Allen, 1943).

9. John Holford, “Workers’ Education in the Twentieth-Century British Labour Movement,” in Vocational Education: International Approaches, Developments and Systems, ed. Linda Clarke and Christopher Winch (London, UK: Routledge, 2007), 202.

10. Mark Hampton, “Defining Journalists in Late-Nineteenth Century Britain,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 22, no. 2 (2005): 152, https://doi.org/10.1080/07393180500072095.

11. Gopsill and Neale, Journalists, 6.

12. National Union of Journalists, The National Union of Journalists—A Record of Its Benefits, Its Agreements, Its Affiliations (Abbots Langley: NUJ, 1941), 3.

13. Gopsill and Neale, Journalists; and Mansfield, Gentlemen, The Press!

14. Hampton, “Defining Journalists”; Haia Shpayer-Makov, “Journalists and Police Detectives in Victorian and Edwardian England: An Uneasy Reciprocal Relationship,” Journal of Social History 42, no. 4 (2009): 963–87, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27696524; Peter Cole, “Are Journalists Born—or Trained?” British Journalism Review 7, no. 2 (1996): 42–48, https://doi.org/10.1177/095647489600700208; Michael Bromley, “The United Kingdom Journalism Education Landscape,” in European Journalism Education, ed. Georgios Terzis (Bristol: Intellect, 2009), 47–66; Carlos Barrera, “Transatlantic Views on Journalism Education Before and After World War II-Two Separate Worlds?,” Journalism Studies 13, no. 4 (2012): 534–549, https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2011.637722; and Simon Frith and Peter Meech, “Becoming a Journalist: Journalism Education and Journalism Culture,” Journalism 8, no. 2 (2007):137–164, https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884907074802.

15. Hampton, “Defining Journalists,” 139–43.

16. Shpayer-Makov, “Journalists and Police Detectives,” 963.

17. Shpayer-Makov, 980.

18. Sarah Newman, “Gentleman, Journalist, Gentleman-Journalist: Gossip Columnists and the Professionalisation of Journalism in Interwar Britain,” Journalism Studies 14, no. 5 (2013): 698–715, https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2013.810906.

19. Mark Hampton, “Journalists and the ‘Professional Ideal’: the Institute of Journalists, 1884–1907,” Historical Research 72, no. 178 (1999): 183–201, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468–2281.00080.

20. Meryl Aldridge and Julia Evetts, “Rethinking the Concept of Professionalism: The Case of Journalism,” British Journal of Sociology 54, no. 4 (2003): 550, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468–4446.2003.00547.x.

21. Aldridge and Evetts, 551.

22. See, for example: Adrian Bingham, Gender, Modernity, and the Popular Press in Interwar Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004); Adrian Bingham and Martin Conboy, Tabloid Century: The Popular Press in Britain, 1896 to the Present (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2015); Adrian Bingham and Martin Conboy, “The Daily Mirror and the Creation of a Commercial Popular Language: A People’s War, a People’s Paper?” Journalism Studies 10, no. 5 (2009): 639–54, https://doi.org/10.1080/14616700902797226; and Marianne Hicks, “No War This Year: Selkirk Panton and the Editorial Policy of the Daily Express, 1938–39,” Media History 14, no. 2 (2008): 167–83, https://doi.org/10.1080/13688800802176912.

23. Bingham and Conboy, “The Daily Mirror,” 653.

24. Hicks, “No War This Year,” 175–76.

25. Frith and Meech, “Becoming a Journalist,” 157–58.

26. Cole, “Are Journalists Born,” 46–47.

27. Bromley, “The United Kingdom Journalism Education Landscape,” 52.

28. Barrera, “Transatlantic Views,” 534.

29. Barrera, 536.

30. Aldridge and Evetts, “Rethinking the Concept,” 551; Frith and Meech, “Becoming A Journalist,” 138; Bromley, “The United Kingdom Journalism Education Landscape,” 55; and Barrera, “Transatlantic Views,” 545.

31. “A Diploma for Journalism—London University,” Journalist, August 1919, 16; Frederic Newlands Hunter, “Grub Street and Academia: The Relationship Between Journalism and Education, 1880–1940, with Special Reference to the London University Diploma for Journalism, 1919–1939,” (PhD diss., City, University of London, 1982); Fred Hunter, Hacks and Dons: Teaching at the London University Journalism School 1919–1939: Its Origin, Development and Influence (Essex, UK: Kultura Press, 2012).

32. Gopsill and Neale, Journalists, 45.

33. For example: A. Elizabeth Levett, “Journalism and French History,” Journalist, December 1925, 264–66; F. A. P. Aveling, “What is Psychology?” Journalist, March 1927, 56–7, 68.

34. J. Haslam, “Concerning ‘The Journalist’ Questions of Fighting and Educating,” Journalist, November 1925, 225–26.

35. Bond, “The Education of the Journalist,” 67.

36. B. D. Whiteaker, “Education and the Union: Journalists’ Limitations,” Journalist, April 1936, 76.

37. Hampton, “Journalists and the ‘Professional Ideal’,” 189.

38. Gopsill and Neale, Journalists, 5.

39. Gopsill and Neale, 5.

40. Hunter, “Grub Street and Academia,” 161; and Hunter, Hacks and Dons, 69.

41. Mo Moulton, “Introduction,” in The Question Mark, ed. Muriel Jaeger (London: British Library, 2019 [1926]), 11.

42. “Diploma for Journalist—London University Scheme,” Journalist, September 1921, 187.

43. Frederick Peaker, The Training of the Journalist, an Address (London: International Association of Journalists, 1927), 12.

44. Political and Economic Planning, Report on the British Press, 4.

45. “London University Diplomas,” Journalist, July 1919, 11.

46. James Fieldhouse, “Don’t Close the Ranks—Stop the Failures: Make Membership Conditional on Ability,” Journalist, February 1931, 29; “ADM proceedings,” Journalist, April–May 1931, 90; T. Foster, “This Dangerous Thing: Questions for Journalists about a Little Learning,” Journalist, December 1936, 238.

47. Bond, “The Education of the Journalist,” 67.

48. F. L. Stevens, “On Books and Other Things,” Journalist, November 1926, 222.

49. “An Education Experiment,” Journalist, August 1919, 2.

50. “A Chat with Students—Interesting Meeting at London University,” Journalist, May 1921, 162.

51. “Diploma of Journalism—London University Scheme,” Journalist, September 1921, 187. This “Accreditation of Prior Experience” was never implemented.

52. H. M. Richardson, “University and Practical Training: Making of Future Journalists,” Journalist, October 1924, 177–78.

53. Valentine Knapp, “Journalism at London University: Report on the Exhibitions,” Journalist, March 1929, 70. Italics in the original.

54. Sarah Lonsdale, “‘The Sheep and the Goats’: Interwar Women Journalists, the Society of Women Journalists, and the Woman Journalist,” in Women’s Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1918–1939: The Interwar Period, ed., Catherine Clay (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 2018).

55. W. L. Andrews, “The Education of the Journalist,” Journalist, May 1927, 120.

56. Andrews, “The Education of the Journalist”.

57. Donald I. Rendall, “Tests for Journalists,” Journalist, December 1927, 245–46; Andrews, “The Education of the Journalist,” 120; James Fieldhouse, “The Question of Status,” Journalist, April 1930, 85; and James Fieldhouse, “Don’t Close the Ranks—Stop the Failures: Make Membership Conditional on Ability,” Journalist, February 1931, 29.

58. “Courses in Journalism,” Journalist, September 1924, 174; and “Exhibitions for Journalism,” Journalist, June 1931, 124.

59. “University of London: Exhibitions for Journalism,” Journalist, April 1936, 82.

60. “Who Wants a Scholarship?” Journalist, March 1938, 62.

61. “Halifax Branch Report,” Journalist, March 1938, 65–6.

62. “London University Diplomas,” Journalist, April 1919, 7; and R. H. K. Clark, “Training of Journalists,” Journalist, February 1922, 23.

63. “Journalists’ Education,” Journalist, May/June 1924, 109.

64. “Journalists and Educational Training: Education Committee to be Reformed,” Journalist, May 1936, 109–10.

65. “The New Vice-President,” Journalist, May 1938, 102; and “Our New President,” Journalist, May 1939, 101.

66. “Education for Journalists—the NUJ Reading Course,” Journalist, September 1925, 191.

67. “Journalists’ Education Problem: An Appeal to British Universities,” Journalist, October 1925, 205–6.

68. “Journalists University Lecturers,” Journalist, May 1926, 109.

69. J. G. Gregson, “Lectures for Journalists,” Journalist, June 1927, 126.

70. “Letters,” Journalist, November 1925, 228.

71. H. T. Hamson, “Education for Journalists: Existing Facilities,” Journalist, July 1925, 151.

72. C. A. Miles, “‘The Journalist’ and The Journalists: An Educational Opportunity that Lies Before Us,” Journalist, August 1925, 169.

73. “Education for Journalists—the NUJ Reading Course,” 191.

74. J. Isaacs, “Literature and Journalism,” Journalist, November 1925, 238–40.

75. J. G. Gregson, “The Struggle for the Freedom of the Press: Story of the Taxes on Knowledge,” Journalist, July 1932, 113.

76. H. T. Hamson, “Education by Correspondence,” Journalist, February 1927, 37.

77. John Price, “Letters,” Journalist, November 1925, 228.

78. Hamson, “Education by Correspondence.”

79. H. T. Hamson, “NUJ Education Course: Room at the Top,” Journalist, November 1927, 233.

80. J. W. T. Ley, “The Cult of Knowledge: Comprehensive Scheme Outlined by Union’s Education Committee,” Journalist, June 1938, 127.

81. Ley, “The Cult of Knowledge.”

82. Ernest Green, “The Appeal to Reason: How the Workers’ Educational Association Can Help,” Journalist, September 1938, 189–90.

83. J. W. T. Ley, “Interest in Education: Sequel to Mr. Green’s Article in The Journalist,” Journalist, October 1938, 212.

84. Holford, “Workers’ Education,” 202.

85. “Liverpool Lecture Circle Subjects,” Journalist, January 1930, 22.

86. “District Councils’ Conference,” Journalist, January 1930, 8.

87. “Liverpool Lecture Circle: An Editor on Editorial Responsibility,” Journalist, December 1930, 252.

88. “Branch Libraries: Books which the Pioneers Are Acquiring,” Journalist, June 1938, 134; and J. W. T. Ley, “Education Booming: The Bristol Branch Sets a Good Example,” Journalist, November 1938, 233.

89. J. W. T. Ley, “Education Committee Notes,” Journalist, October 1937, 169.

90. J. W. T. Ley, “The Education Committee,” Journalist, September 1939, 182.

91. C. J. Bundock, “The Proposed Summer School,” Journalist, December 1925, 215.

92. “London University Diploma,” Journalist, August 1919, 2; “A Chat with Students,” 162; “Diploma of Journalism—London University Scheme,” 187; and “NUJ University Exhibition: ‘Tommy’ Winter Wins It,” Journalist, August 1930, 165.

93. John McIlroy, “Unions and Universities: A Troubled Marriage,” Studies in the Education of Adults 20, no. 2 (1988): 114, https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.1988.11730509.

94. F. Arnold Mansfield, “Correspondence Course,” Journalist, February 1927, 40.

95. Bond, “The Education of the Journalist,” 67; Fieldhouse, “Don’t Close the Ranks,” 29.

96. Cole, “Are Journalists Born,” 48; and Frith and Meech, “Becoming a Journalist,” 157–58.

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Mara Arts

Mara Arts holds a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London. Her research investigates popular culture in interwar Britain. Her monograph, Interwar London after Dark in Popular Culture, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2022. Her work has also appeared in several academic journals. She is based in London.