Certificate in Video Reporting
Course Overview
The Certificate in Video Reporting sits in the Media, Journalism & Communication department at LSCT and is a focused short course for aspiring reporters, content creators and PR staff who need to produce broadcast-quality video on a phone or DSLR and turn it around to the standard a UK newsroom would publish. Delivered over three to six months on-campus in central London, fully online with live editing surgeries, or by distance learning, the certificate compresses the practical skills of mobile journalism (MoJo) into a single intensive programme.
From day one you will be filming, voicing, editing and uploading short news packages. By the end you will have a five-piece portfolio — a vox pop, a court door-step style piece, a feature, a live cross rehearsal and a social-first explainer — assessed against the rubrics used by BBC and ITN regional teams.
The Certificate in Video Reporting timetable is built around UK assessment realities: continuous coursework that produces the artefacts employers actually ask for, plus end-of-module case-based assessments rather than rote examinations. Tutors include working practitioners drawn from Fleet Street’s remaining presence and the Westminster lobby — not only academics — so the standard being marked against is the standard media employers apply at first interview. Students join one cohort intake per year, so the cohort moves through the programme together and forms the working network that matters when first media-sector job applications start going out.
Key Features
- Syllabus mapped to NCTJ broadcast and BBC Academy MoJo standards for short-form video reporting.
- Three study modes — on-campus with kit loan, fully online with live editing surgeries, or distance learning with weekly upload deadlines.
- Shoot-edit-publish in 90 minutes drills under tutor supervision — the daily reality of UK regional digital teams.
- One-week placement window with UK regional newsrooms, community broadcasters or digital news publishers.
- Adobe Premiere Pro and CapCut Pro workflows taught side by side so you can publish from a laptop or a phone.
- Media-law primer covering defamation, contempt and the Editors' Code as it applies to filmed material.
What You Will Learn
You will leave able to plan, shoot, voice, edit and publish a one-minute news package to deadline, using either professional kit or a phone, and to defend the editorial and legal choices behind it. Modules include:
- Mobile Journalism (MoJo) Fundamentals
- Camera, Composition and Sound on a Budget
- News Writing for Video and Subtitles
- Voice Coaching and Piece-to-Camera Performance
- Editing in Adobe Premiere Pro and CapCut Pro
- Vertical-First and Social-Native Storytelling
- Media Law for Filmed Content (IPSO and the Editors' Code)
Who This Course Is For
- Aspiring journalists who want a fast, practical entry route into UK broadcast and digital newsrooms.
- PR and communications staff whose employers now expect them to produce in-house video.
- Creators and bloggers moving from lifestyle content into reportage or current affairs.
- International students preparing for a UK BA in journalism who want a hands-on confidence builder first.
Career Pathways
Graduates feed into the entry-level video and digital roles that UK newsrooms are actively recruiting for as broadcast moves mobile-first. The Certificate is not a degree, but it builds the portfolio that gets first interviews. Typical first roles include:
- Mobile Journalist (regional digital teams)
- Junior Multimedia Reporter
- Social Video Producer (news and current affairs)
- Broadcast Assistant (regional TV, podcast houses)
- Content Creator (in-house newsroom)
- PR Video Officer (charity, public sector)
Many learners progress to a Diploma in Journalism or directly into a BA in Journalism or Broadcast Journalism.
One pragmatic note for prospective applicants: UK newsrooms, agencies and platforms have not stopped recruiting craft-confident practitioners, and the Certificate in Video Reporting is designed to produce the documented portfolio that gets a CV read rather than only an academic transcript that does not. Coursework is structured so that, on graduation, you can hand a hiring manager three or four pieces of evidence — a project, a report, a deck, a documented intervention — that map directly to a published UK job description. Personal academic tutors also run two one-to-one careers conversations during the programme to keep that mapping honest.
Entry Requirements
- Completed secondary schooling or equivalent.
- English language: IELTS 5.5 (or accepted equivalent) for international applicants — strong spoken English will be tested at interview for piece-to-camera work.
- Minimum age 17 at programme start.
- A short personal statement outlining your motivation, plus one example of any existing video or written content if you have it.
Why Study at LSCT
The London School of Commerce and Technology (LSCT) is a specialist higher-education provider based in central London and part of Harold International College. We teach in small cohorts so every student is visible to their tutor, run a single intake schedule that students can rely on, and partner with UK professional bodies so qualifications carry weight with employers. London puts Whitehall, the City, Silicon Roundabout, the Royal Courts of Justice, the West End and the NHS estate within a short tube ride of every classroom — and our students use that proximity in their projects, placements and graduate job hunts. For video reporters that proximity is a working set: students film stand-ups outside Westminster, Camden Market, Brick Lane and the Royal Courts of Justice as part of their assessed coursework.
The teaching model is small-cohort and tutor-led on purpose. Discussion-based seminars, regular formative feedback and structured peer-review are how editorial-judgement is built — none of which scales to large lecture halls. Personal academic tutors are assigned at enrolment, and every student has a named contact for academic, pastoral and career-related questions. UK and international students mix in every cohort, which becomes an active strength in case sessions, group projects and the media-sector network that follows you after graduation.
Beyond classroom contact, the Certificate in Video Reporting makes deliberate use of UK-specific resources that international comparators cannot reach as easily: open government data on the gov.uk estate, parliamentary publications, House of Commons Library briefings, Bank of England datasets, ONS releases and the open-access research output of British universities. Throughout the programme, tutors expect editorial writing — accurate, fair and defensible against an IPSO or Ofcom complaint. Graduates often describe leaving LSCT with a set of writing and analytical habits they continue to use across a UK career — not only a transcript and a portfolio.
Apply for Certificate in Video Reporting
If the Certificate in Video Reporting fits your goals, Click Enrol Now to start your application. The admissions team will reply within one working day with the next intake date and document checklist, and will confirm whether you should bring your own phone or borrow LSCT camera kit for the first module.
