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Section Four Index:
The Guardian's grip on the British media

Key sectors of the British media, including elements within the BBC, are often accused of being anti-monarchist, anti-American, pro-New Labour, and pro-Federal Europe.  There is an explanation.  These are Guardian tenets, and for the majority of Britain's journalists, and for an overwhelming majority of BBC News & Current Affairs journalists, The Guardian is a liberal icon whose standing should not be challenged.

"We all wanted to be the next John Pilger or Kate Adie, as I recall," wrote Rob Brown of his generation of journalists in last month's Press Gazette training supplement.  "Today, a high percentage of those who aspire to a career in journalism are driven by a deep desire to make a splash in what used to be considered the shallow end of our craft."
    Brown, senior lecturer in journalism at Salford University, was making the point that today's young wannabes seem to aspire to showbiz, fashion and sports rather than hard news.  But is he right? 
    We decided to do the thing journalists are trained to do: ask.  True, our survey would probably not stand up to the most rigorous scrutiny in the scientific community.  We sent out a set of questions by e-mail to around a dozen universities, colleges and training centres across the country.

Of the 1,000 or so journalism students at those centres, 134 responded - the rest, presumably, either being too busy practising shorthand or watching repeats of Neighbours - and their answers are shown here.  The results, while hardly conclusive, nonetheless give a reasonable indication of what motivates journalism's next generation. 
    The first surprise for Brown will be that Pilger and Adie are still at the top of the chart of most admired journalists and that nearly a quarter of respondents said they wanted to work as foreign reporters.  Jobs in showbusiness, sport and fashion, meanwhile, attract 18 per cent.
    Elsewhere, it's no surprise that The Guardian storms away as the best-read national newspaper - although not always for reasons that will thrill the denizens of Farringdon Road.  "It's overly indulgent, overly intellectual and overly sanctimonious," said one aspiring Rusbridger.  "But it would be quite nice to be on the side doing the over-indulging etc."

The excellent Channel 4 News strikes a blow for serious journalism as the best broadcast news programme.  On the other hand Heat - not necessarily a hotbed of frontline journalism - is the favoured magazine.
    Meanwhile, we look forward to the day that the students who voted Davina McCa11 and Chris Moyles as their most admired journalists are editing The Times and presenting Today. 
    And it's encouraging to know that the burning heat of ambition still smoulders in the breast of the stars of tomorrow.  The best job in journalism, for one, is "something that is incredibly well paid with lots of status but with very little actual responsibility".
    A tabloid columnist of tomorrow, if ever there was one.