Carole Watson, BA Fashion Journalism course leader and media law lecturer at the University of Sunderland, has been recognised as an inspiring journalism educator by Behind Local News, an online news platform covering the regional press.
For Journalism Matters week, which is backed by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), Behind Local News asked their readers to nominate journalists who sum up why local journalism matters.
Out of these nominations, they chose 80 to form their ‘Public Interest News List’.
A spokesperson from the NCTJ said: “When they opened up nominations, it wasn’t long before the contribution of journalism lecturers from around the UK was also being recognised.
“So, they put together a Public Interest News List for teachers and trainers, where 17 educators have been acknowledged for inspiring the next generation of journalists across the UK.”
Carole said: “I was really surprised and delighted to hear of the nomination, especially given that the shortlist includes so many people I look up to, such as McNae’s Essential Media Law for Journalists’ authors Mike Dodd and Mark Hanna.
“What is really important to the journalism lecturers at Sunderland is inspiring our students and helping them realise their career dreams, whether in news, sport or fashion.
“Hopefully my passion for teaching fashion journalism and media law shines through to my students, as it’s all about them. It’s been really challenging, thinking of smart, creative ways to teach through the pandemic, but we are doing our very best because our students are at the heart of everything we do.
“We’ve been conducting news days for Fashion North online, with 100% attendance, and I’ve been delivering lectures on court reporting and media law live from my living room to our postgraduate students.”
She added: “In fact, I was teaching when the NCTJ tagged me on Twitter about the nominations and I quickly reshared it without reading it, and didn’t realise I was on the list! There’s a lesson there! I only found out later when someone texted me and I read it properly.
“I’d like to congratulate everyone who’s been recognised, but also a big shout-out to my colleagues at Sunderland who’ve worked their socks off to deliver first-class teaching in such trying circumstances.”