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Zara 3rd year student telling us why she decided not to take short hand

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A free shorthand course runs along side your chosen journalism BA. An exam is also taken at the end of the year which is an NCTJ qualification costing only £14. To learn the skill it is important that you attend as many theory lectures as you can. All you need is a pen, lined paper and a text book costing £22.

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We also asked Ian how long it took him to learn shorthand.

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When you first look at shorthand it may appear to be very daunting. However, if you follow a few simple rules it will put you on your way to success.
When writing shorthand all double consonant words change to single consonant. For example, tickets will change to tcts.
Also, when writing in shorthand, you exclude vowels in the middle of words and silent letters. Example, bright would be spelled as brt and for excluding Vowels when spelling sunny, you would change it to sny.
After some practice these rules will become second nature to you.

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What can you gain from learning shorthand?

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What can you gain from learning shorthand?

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Having a skill such as shorthand makes you stand out against other journalists. NCTJ, an external organisation that allows you to take a shorthand exam can make you look like a better employee in this industry. Taking this exam at a diploma or gold level shows your hard working skills.

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We asked ex-journalist Ian Wood how shorthand helped him in his professional career.

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How long does it take to learn shorthand?

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How long does it take to learn shorthand?

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Shorthand can take up to a year to learn but students are ready to take the exam after 3/4 months in which students can achieve a variety of awards from the bronze award for writing 60 words in under a minute to the gold award for writing up to 100 words in under a minute.

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Why to use shorthand instead of voice recorders.

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Why to use shorthand instead of voice recorders.

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Shorthand may seem like an outdated way of taking notes when there is a wide range of technology that can record voices, but there are times when a voice recorder will not be allowed or suitable. Meaning that it is a vital skill for journalists to have. An example of when voice recorders would not be allowed is when reporting in a courtroom. Additionally, interviewees are more likely to freeze up when a voice recorder is put in their face. In the long run, using shorthand will actually save journalists time as it prevents them from having to sit through hours of recordings to pick out extracts.

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Shorthand is a big part of the journalism world, especially at news desks. It is a faster way to write down interviews/information you need to gather when you're reporting a story. If you put enough time and effort into learning it you can write 100 shorthand words in 1 minute. This can be really useful if you're wanting to gather lots of information in a lengthy period of time for example in a court room. Shorthand is made up of outlines that abbreviate words. For example, the letter "H" is a straight vertical line but if you then wanted to write the word "him" you would miss out the one vowel and write a vertical line for the "H" joined up with and a large arch for the "M". Even though journalism has shifted to the online world it is still very much used today by many journalists.