University
Journalism
Renowned journalist Suzanne Moore, music journalist and broadcaster David Hepworth and correspondent Peace Hyde are all alumni of Middlesex University.
Peace Hyde is the West African Correspondent at Forbes Africa. She is a British Ghanaian education activist, media entrepreneur and motivational speaker. She is the founder of Aim Higher Africa, a non-profit organization focused on improving the quality of education in impoverished communities across Africa. In 2018, she was shortlisted among 200 leaders as part of the Obama Foundation Africa Leaders program and in 2019, was awarded the African Social Impact award at the House of Parliament, House of Commons in the UK.
David Hepworth is a British music journalist, writer and publishing industry analyst who was instrumental in the foundation of a number of popular magazines 1980s-2000s. He helped turn the iconic Smash Hits! into one of the most popular UK music magazines of the 1980s. He co-presented the notorious BBC broadcast of Live Aid in 1985 when Bob Geldof judiciously advised the British public what to do with their money.
Suzanne Moore has written for The Mail on Sunday, Daily Mail, The Independent, The Guardian, and the New Statesman.
She was the winner of the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2019, and continues to publish outspoken opinion-pieces.
Middlesex University teaches how to write relevant and powerful stories, whether as a part of its BA Creative Writing and Journalism or its MSc Digital Journalism. In addition to that, the university has a strong tradition in both producing journalism and academically researching the discipline. For example, Prof Kurt Barling worked as a journalist for the BBC for 25 years, and has published books including The R Word: Racism (2015) and edited Darkness over Germany (2016). Academic Sophie Knowles has published such works as The Mediation of Financial Crises: Watchdogs, Lapdogs or Canaries in the Coal Mine? (2020). And Prof Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is an internationally respected journalist with a range of publications to her name, including In Defence of Political Correctness (2018).
Current undergraduate and recent graduate students of Middlesex have also seen their work both published and winning awards. For example, Nicole Penzkoferova wrote ‘I can wear makeup, shave, love men, and still be a feminist’, which was selected for the Journalism@Middlesex website. Meanwhile, Petrana Zemanová was shortlisted for BBC’s ‘The Today Programme Student Broadcaster of the Year Award’ for her video documentary ‘Nation Without Borders’. Then, Lauren Stanley completed work placements at both London Live (a London based TV station, broadcasting from the Evening Standard’s newsroom) and BBC London. And Daniel Dwumfour, immediately after graduation, started working for MailOnline, where he became a video journalist. A whole range of opportunities are discovered by our students during their time at Middlesex, in part due to the networking events, talks from industry professionals (including Huw Edwards, Jon Snow, Laura Kuenssberg and Clive Myrie) and employment support they are offered.
For more information about journalistic story-telling at Middlesex, please check out…
Website: JournalismAtMDX
Broadcasting Today conversation and interview series, including the likes of Martin Bell, Julian Joseph, Jessie Jackson, Clive Myrie and many more!
Twitter: @JRNatMDX
Instagram: JournalismAtMDX
If you would like to access some free learning materials related to writing and story-telling, please find them here.