As well as producing, filming and editing the stories the team are also covering the studio roles for the programmes, and the developing stories and issues are also being carried on the programme web site.

Mike Best who lectures on the television side of the course said: ”This is not a training exercise or an academic project, it is genuine television broadcasting and everything is designed to ensure the team experience exactly what they will when they are working in the industry.

“If it gets to half past four and the top stories haven’t been completed it doesn’t alter the fact that the programme starts on the dot and it’s up to the presenters to keep things going until the stories are in. That’s just what happens in any television studio. There’s no question of holding things until everything is ready, because that’s not what they are going to experience once they have jobs.”

Guest Editors from ITV, BBC and a range of local independent companies will be coming in to review the programmes and Mike says they won’t be pulling any punches in their critical assessment. “You will never hear the phrase – ‘that’s not bad for students’ and you never should. The Guest Editors all pay the trainees the compliment of treating them as professionals and judging their work as they would judge any of their employees. ”

For the final two weeks of Leeds Today the Broadcast trainees will be joined by their colleagues from the Postgraduate Print courses.

“These days everything is about multi-skilling and multi-platform” added Mike, “so if you get a job on a newspaper you’re quite likely to take a camera with you for your story and record an interview for the paper’s web site. Similarly even if you work for a television or radio station, writing for an online audience and as well as a broadcast audience is an essential these days, so the more experience we can give the trainees – whatever their intended career path – the better the chances of them hitting their goals, and that’s ultimately what this course is all about.”

Mike worked for twenty years at ITV Yorkshire ending as Head of Regional Programmes and Director of Broadcasting before leaving to set up his own independent company. “I can honestly say that already in the first week of Leeds Today I have seen some better and more entertaining programmes produced by the trainees than some that were actually broadcast on Yorkshire Television and that can’t be bad.”

To catch the Leeds Today programmes live or after transmission then go to http://www.thenewspoint.co.uk

Find out more about the Postgraduate Journalism courses at Leeds Trinity.