Exhibit JC42 - The Leveson Inquiry

For Distribution to CPsThe University of London Diploma for Journalism: The Educational Background and Aims ofthe CourseThe First GraduatesOne of those graduating in the summer of 1921 was Norman Robson,who became a reporter on the Norfolk Chronicle in Norwich, moving onwithin a year to work for the Starmer Group of newspapers.Progressing from chief reporter to chief sub-editor Robson entered theParliamentary Lobby in 1929 as the Group’s Political Correspondent andlectured to the course, in 1938, when the Group was reformed underWestminster Press Provincial Newspapers Ltd. Trevor Allen and C.E.Phillips both got jobs on the Westminster Gazette, while R.R.C. Jamesonwent onto the Associated Press. Among the others Ernest Betts eventuallybecame film critic of the Evening Standard before going to the NewsChronicle as a columnist. Succeeding generations of graduates from thecourse also managed to gain entry to both provincial and nationalnewspapers in increasing numbers except for the depression years of theearly 1930s.Another ex-Serviceman graduating that year has recorded hisexperiences on the course as then structured. Between October 1921 andMarch 1923 The Writer magazine published thirteen articles in a seriesentitled ’The Making of a Journalist. By One in the Making’ who highlightedwhat he saw as ’the remarkable freedom of choice in the matter of studies[which] struck me as ideal, yet it was continually abused and grumbled atby many for not being "practical" [but] neglected the important subject ofshorthand.’ He concluded that ’professional success in journalism can onlybe made possible by a university; the winning of it must be accomplishedby the individual.’Widening Newspaper Co-operationThe Journalism Committee itself was strengthened by gaining membersfrom the group representing provincial newspaper managements, theNewspaper Society, which Mr. Knapp had helped re-organise into the onlynational newspaper organisation in the country, while he was president.During that same year, 1922-23, East London College, a formertechnical college, now Queen Mary, University of London, announced itsintention of withdrawing from the Diploma, possibly reflecting the drop inex-servicemen once the Government stopped providing scholarships, andthe estimates show a sharp drop from the £2,542 of 1919-20 to £1,470 in1922-23. Student numbers were also greatly reduced: only 57 compared tothe previous year’s 89 and the opening year’s 102. With the completestoppage of Government grants in 1925-26 something had to be done toattract fee-paying students, or to raise money to subsidise them on thecourse. By 1 st July 1924 the Committee could report donations of £1,100towards Exhibitions with £200 each from the Norfolk News Company, oneof the first to take graduates of the course, the Surrey NewspapersAssociation, Sir Roderick Jones of Reuters, and Colonel Sir Joseph Reed(1867-1941) of the Newcastle Chronicle. Sir Roderick Jones (1877-1962)was impressed by the high educational standard of young American74MOD100051245