The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) has launched a new campaign, ‘Where your story goes’, to inspire more young people to pursue a career in journalism.

Joanne Forbes, chief executive of the NCTJ, said: “Journalism is one of the most important professions in a democratic society, yet many young people still feel it isn’t a career for them or don’t fully understand the opportunities available.’

She said the campaign is designed to show young people the many ways they can build a career in journalism.

‘We also hope that by helping more young people discover journalism earlier, we can strengthen the pipeline into high-quality training and ensure newsrooms continue to benefit from skilled, diverse and passionate new talent.”

Targeted at 14–18-year-olds, the campaign was born from research showing that although young people are interested in journalism, many don’t fully trust the news or feel it represents them. Surveys also revealed many young people still think of careers in journalism in terms of more traditional roles and are unaware of the huge range of opportunities and roles within the industry across media, from content production to podcasting, documentary making to editing.

The campaign was produced by Livity, the youth-focused branch of full-service communications agency, krow Group.

It also showcases the experiences of five young journalists working in some of those roles at media companies including the BBC, Attitude Magazine, The Times, Southwark News and ITV News, through in-depth video interviews produced by Sata Studios.

In partnership with the Financial Times, a careers guide is also being distributed to over 35,000 teachers and education providers across the UK. The guide includes information on the different journalism careers available and why NCTJ offers the best route into the industry. NCTJ research showed 74% of working NCTJ graduates successfully found a journalism-related job, compared to just 28% of working journalism graduates surveyed by HESA.