This is the minimum qualification required by employers in New Zealand's news media industry. It is a standard national qualification designed by the Communications and Media Industry Training Organisation and posted on the NZ Qualifications Authority’s National Qualifications Framework. Whitireia is accredited to teach the programme. Whitireia Journalism School operates out of modern new facilities in Dixon St, Wellington. It focuses on multimedia, ensuring that graduates learn research, reporting, writing and camera skills required for journalism on the internet and for newspapers, magazines, radio and TV. It is the one of the few journalism schools in New Zealand with its own news website – NewsWire – where student stories, photographs and videos are posted daily. The site is linked to top New Zealand news website Scoop, which exposes student work to more than half a million page uploads a month. When graduates seek employment after the programme, they are able to provide editors with links to their work on NewsWire. Whitireia has opted for a mid-year start to the programme each year to ensure that graduates have no competition from other journalism school graduates when going for employment. It works well, with most graduates being employed within a couple of months of the course end. They find jobs in a wide variety of media outlets – for example, TV3, RadioNZ, NZ Press Association, magazines, business news websites, daily newspapers and community newspapers A typical class includes people aged 18 to 60 (but mostly in the early 20s and 30s) and from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, school-leavers, degree-holders, and mature applicants looking for a career change or a return to the workforce. The programme differs from university-based journalism courses in its focus on practical work and the high degree of one-to-one tutoring available. The school has a staff of seven former journalists, whose specialities include print, web, radio and TV news media.

Graduates receive the National Diploma in Journalism, which is regarded as the minimum to enter journalism. It equips graduates with research, technology and writing skills welcomed by a wide range of careers, including communications, management and public relations. Related Careers: Print Media Worker Print Illustrator Publicist Publisher Website Designer Journalist