Quiet birthday for Newcastle training course

In a similar sort of vein to the previous post, the journalism foundation course run in Newcastle by the Press Association recently turned 40, but there were no birthday celebrations for the renowned training centre.

Sadly for its many distinguished alumni, PA decided against holding a party due to the current economic climate.

The training scheme has been responsible for launching the careers of such regional press luminaries as the Herald's Donald Martin, Adrian Faber from the Express and Star and Brian Aitken of The Journal, in whose newsroom the students are now based.

Other notable graduates include BBC political commentator Andrew Marr, The Sun's newly-appointed political editor Tom Newton Dunn, Radio 4 presenter James Naughtie and Financial Times editor Lionel Barber.

The centre was originally the brainchild of John Gay Davis who became editorial director of Thomson Regional Newspapers, the then owners of Newcastle's Evening Chronicle and Journal, in 1969. He set up two operations, one in Cardiff and the surviving Newcastle operation.

Trinity Mirror later bought the course when they acquired the two Newcastle papers in 1995 before Press Association took over the reins in 2006.

Credit where credit's due

Will Green, my successor-but-one as political editor of The Journal, scored a notable exclusive by persuading Minister for the North-East and Labour Chief Whip Nick Brown to go on the record with his thoughts about Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.

The story, in which Brown effectively told Ashley to get out of Toon, was followed up over the weekend by several national newspapers.

But as Will reveals on his blog, while the Mirror's version of the story duly credited The Journal with the original scoop, the Daily Telegraph's version failed to include such a hat-tip.

Strange, that, given that the entire regional press has spent the summer busily hat-tipping the Telegraph over its MPs' expenses revelations.