Masterclasses

The John Schofield Trust offers all current and past mentees the chance to hear from the best in the news business on a range of subjects.

#JSTMasterclasses include practical sessions, deconstructing stories or explaining how a producer or reporter covered a particular kind of story as well as more topical debates about hot issues in the news industry.

We are greatly indebted to our our speakers who give their time for us for free.

Past masterclasses have been given by Tom Bradby, David Dimbleby, Martin Lewis as well as workshops exploring boarding interviews and radio reporting in disaster zones.

We held our first full day of masterclasses in February 2020 with sessions on how to shine at a job interview; how to find original stories and bring them to life on film; how a company reacts when it is the subject of a journalistic investigation; how to understand your finances as a journalist – whether staff or freelance; finishing up with a Q & A session with the Head of Sky News, John Ryley and Sky Special Reporter, Alex Crawford.

‘Every time I listen in on one of the Trust’s masterclasses I feel so much hope & love for this industry’

During the COVID-19 lockdown we introduced online masterclasses twice a month to keep mentees in touch with each other and across the issues being discussed in the industry.

Since March 2020 we have held these masterclasses:

• First Draft’s Dr Claire Wardle on disinformation
• Understanding your finances with Paul Simnock, of MGR Accountants
• BBC Video Journalist, Hannah Long-Higgins on video storytelling
• Writer and broadcaster, Afua Hirsch on impartiality on stories you are close to
• BBC Visual Journalist and TikTok creator, Sophia Smith Galer on finding and promoting stories on social media
• JST trustee, Matt Peacock on what next for the business world after COVID-19
• BBC Journalist, Helier Cheung on the first steps on the foreign reporting ladder
• BBC Journalist and former mentee, Mohamed Madi on foreign producing in a COVID-19 world 
• Author of Trauma Reporting: a Journalist’s Guide, Jo Healey on how to cover sensitive stories and trauma awareness
• JST trustee, Dhruti Shah, on social newsgathering and storytelling
• Top tips on podcasting by Georgia Coan, Shehab Kahn and Jaja Muhammad
• Mobile journalism by the BBC’s Dougal Shaw
• So you want to be a journalist? by Louise Hastings, Andrew Bailey, Hazel Baker and Gamal Fahnbulleh
• In conversation with Dorothy Byrne Channel 4’s Editor at Large, Dorothy Byrne, interviewed by trustee, Nick Pollard