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News Video

"News Video" roles sit inside newsrooms and produce short video journalism for websites, apps and social platforms - things like a 60-second explainer on a Budget announcement, a vertical clip of court footage, or a cut-down of a live press conference. You find, verify, film, edit and caption news video, usually working to the same deadlines as the text reporters sitting next to you. The audience is whoever consumes the outlet's video: web readers, YouTube subscribers, TikTok and Instagram followers, and sometimes broadcast or partner outlets.

Approximate graduate salary

Typically around GBP 22,000-30,000 to start, though this varies widely - regional and trade publishers and small digital outlets sit at the lower end, London national broadcasters, news agencies and big publishers at the upper end, and internships or short-term contracts may pay less. Freelance day rates for experienced people can be considerably higher but come without job security.

What you'd actually do

  • Monitoring incoming footage all day - agency feeds, user-generated clips sent in by the public, police and government social accounts, court and parliament feeds - and judging quickly what is usable, newsworthy and legally safe
  • Editing packages in Adobe Premiere Pro (or similar) to a tight turnaround: trimming a press conference to its 40 usable seconds, adding burnt-in subtitles, lower-third name captions and the outlet's branding
  • Verifying user-generated video before it goes out: reverse image searching, checking metadata, cross-referencing landmarks and weather, and contacting the person who filmed it to get permission to use it
  • Writing the words around the video - headline, standfirst, on-screen text, and the short script or voiceover - because in most digital newsrooms the video person writes their own copy
  • Filming and self-shooting: going out with a camera or phone rig to do a vox pop (short interviews with members of the public), a reporter piece-to-camera, or cutaway shots of a location
  • Reformatting the same story for different platforms - a 16:9 cut for the site and YouTube, a 9:16 vertical cut with captions for TikTok and Reels - and checking how each performed afterwards
  • Sitting in on newsdesk conferences to pitch which stories will work as video and flag which ones have no pictures and therefore won't

How graduates get in

  • Broadcast and digital journalism graduate schemes and trainee schemes run by national broadcasters, news agencies and large publishers - competitive, usually annual intakes, and the most structured way in
  • A postgraduate diploma or MA in broadcast, multimedia or digital journalism, ideally one accredited by the NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) or the BJTC (Broadcast Journalism Training Council) - very common and often what pushes an application over the line
  • Direct entry as a video producer, junior video journalist or social video assistant at a regional title, magazine, trade publisher or digital-native outlet - often the realistic first job rather than a national newsroom
  • Starting on the text or social side of a newsroom (content editor, social media producer, junior reporter) and moving across as you pick up editing skills - a well-trodden internal route
  • Building a portfolio independently: student media, hospital or community radio, a YouTube channel, freelance clips sold to outlets. A showreel of finished work matters more here than in most graduate jobs
  • Apprenticeship routes exist in broadcast and content production and are a legitimate non-graduate way in, though less common for people who already have a degree

What employers ask for

  • A degree in any subject is usually fine - journalism, English, politics, history and film are common but not required. What is genuinely non-negotiable is evidence you can make video: a showreel or portfolio of published or self-made clips
  • Many employers ask for or strongly prefer an NCTJ or BJTC-accredited qualification. This varies a lot: agencies and broadcasters tend to want it, some digital-native and social-first newsrooms care far more about your reel
  • Practical familiarity with a professional editing suite - Premiere Pro is the most widely expected, sometimes Final Cut, Avid in more traditional broadcast environments, plus basic After Effects or Canva-style graphics
  • A working knowledge of UK media law and regulation: defamation, contempt of court, reporting restrictions, copyright in footage, and Ofcom rules if the outlet broadcasts. Employers will test this at interview
  • Grades are rarely a hard filter beyond a 2:1 or 2:2 at some larger employers; portfolio and news judgement carry more weight
  • Shifts often include early mornings, evenings and weekends, so availability for a rota is effectively a requirement. A driving licence helps for regional self-shooting jobs

Skills that matter

News judgement

You decide in seconds which of a hundred incoming clips is actually a story and which is a distraction, and you have to be able to defend that call to an editor.

Fast, clean editing under deadline

A breaking-news cut may need to be published within minutes, so the ability to build a coherent, correctly captioned clip quickly beats the ability to make something beautiful slowly.

Verification and open-source checking

Publishing a faked or misattributed clip is one of the fastest ways to damage an outlet's credibility, so you need habits for checking where footage really came from.

Media law awareness

Blurring a child's face, honouring a court order or spotting that a clip is contempt of court is your responsibility at the point of publication, not someone else's afterwards.

Writing very short

On-screen text, captions and headlines carry most of the meaning in a silent-autoplay clip, so you're constantly compressing a story into a handful of words.

Platform literacy

The same story needs different framing, length and pacing on YouTube versus TikTok versus an article embed, and knowing those differences instinctively saves hours.

Where it leads

  1. Trainee or junior video journalist / video producer: heavily supervised, mostly cutting and captioning other people's material, learning the rota and the legal checks. Typically the first year or two.

  2. Video journalist or video producer: owning stories end to end, self-shooting, pitching your own ideas, occasionally on camera yourself. Timelines vary widely - some people reach this in a year, others take three.

  3. Senior video journalist or specialist: leading a strand (investigations video, explainers, a particular beat), or specialising as an editor, motion designer or on-screen presenter. Some people deliberately deepen craft rather than move into management.

  4. Video editor, social video editor or output editor: commissioning and directing others' work, planning coverage, sitting on the newsdesk making the calls about what gets made.

  5. Beyond that: head of video or digital content editor in a newsroom, or a sideways move into documentary and long-form production, brand and agency content, communications video for charities, government or corporates, or freelance work. Freelancing is very common in this field and often more lucrative than staff jobs for experienced people.

What people get wrong

“It's a technical editing job - you sit in a dark room cutting what reporters bring in.”

In most digital newsrooms it is a journalism job. You are expected to find stories, make contact with people, verify material, write copy and make editorial and legal judgements. The editing software is the easy part to learn.

“It's the route into being a TV presenter.”

Some video journalists do end up on camera, but the great majority of the work is off camera and the natural progression is into producing, commissioning and editing rather than presenting. Presenting is a separate, much narrower pipeline.

“You need broadcast-grade kit and formal camera training.”

A large share of news video is shot on phones or small mirrorless cameras and cut on a laptop. Many newsrooms would rather hire someone with a strong phone-shot reel and good news instincts than someone with a film-school showreel and no news sense.

“"News Video" as a job title means one clearly defined role across the industry.”

It's a loose label. At one employer it means a self-shooting reporter out on the road; at another it means a desk-based producer clipping agency feeds and press conferences; at another it's essentially a social media role. Read the actual duties in the advert rather than the title.

Where this varies

This role differs a lot depending on where you do it. At a broadcaster it sits close to traditional TV workflows, with Ofcom rules, more formal compliance sign-off and sometimes union-negotiated terms. At a newspaper or magazine publisher's digital desk you are far more likely to be a one-person band: shooting, cutting, writing and publishing your own work. At a news agency the emphasis is on speed and feeding footage to client outlets rather than building an audience. Social-first outlets will care almost entirely about platform performance and vertical video. Geographically, most senior and specialist news video jobs cluster in London, with significant hubs in Salford, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast; regional roles are more general and often cover a whole patch alone. Hours also vary - some jobs are office-hours-ish, many are shift-based including weekends and overnights.

General guidance about the role across the UK market, not about any specific employer. Entry routes and requirements vary — always check the individual job advert.