Bridgid Nzekwu is the new Managing Director of PA Media Academy and joins us with a wealth of experience, having previously served as Head of Media Training and then Director of Media Training for 10 years, leading a team of specialist journalist media trainers. In this Q&A, we delve into Bridgid’s background, her inspiration for taking on the role, and her plans for the exciting future of PA Media Academy.
Tell us what you were doing before taking on your new role…
I was the Director of Media Training, leading a team of specialist, journalist media trainers who train spokespeople, senior leaders and communications teams. Our clients are across all major industries, and organisations in the private and public sectors come to us for media training, crisis communications skills training, and other leadership and thought leadership skills such public speaking and speaking on panels, as well as media handling/relations training for press and communications teams.
I’m delighted to have been appointed and I’m lucky to have inherited a fantastic team. We’re all energised and inspired by the purpose and work of PA Media Academy. We’re shaping the journalists of the future and equipping journalists and communications professionals with the additional skills they need at a fascinating and challenging time for the media industry worldwide. All are grappling with the technological revolution of AI, a surge in misinformation and disinformation and declining levels of trust among audiences.
What are your top priorities as MD?
We launched our new brand, PA Media Academy, earlier this year and we want to bring our suite of courses, workshops and consultancy to an even wider audience, including international clients. I can’t give away much of our strategy here but we’re doing work to future-proof training by understanding how AI and other technological developments might have an impact and where there are opportunities to grow the business.
What are the current challenges facing the training industry?
It’s an industry that is constantly changing. We responded to the global pandemic by introducing remotely-delivered formats of our world-class courses and, now that the pandemic has receded, our training is mostly back to in-person.
However, there’s still a strong appetite for flexible delivery and online formats and this requires significant adaptations to suit students, apprentices and business delegates. Technological change can present risks, as well as opportunities. The impact of AI on the training industry is still unclear but this disruptor is certain to lead to changes in the way courses are developed and delivered.
Low growth in the economy can create challenges too. When economic activity is hit by headwinds (inflation, war in Europe to name just two), training budgets are often among the first to be paused or cut, so that requires strong investment in relationships with clients and a stellar portfolio of training products to weather difficult periods.
What sets PA Media Academy apart from its competitors?
I would say the most important and valuable differentiator for us is the universally trusted brand of PA. Our name is a byword for quality, integrity and credibility. These values have underpinned PA for more than 150 years and are in the DNA of our training of journalists, communications professionals.
Our student journalists have unrivalled opportunities to learn from senior journalists from across the media industry, including PA Media itself, the national news agency of the UK and Ireland. This year, they had the opportunity to work in the PA newsroom on election day and overnight as results came in – an experience that totally enthralled them.
Our business and corporate clients value the heritage of PA too, as well as the fact their media trainers are, or were recently, anchors or correspondents in the UK’s leading broadcast newsrooms.
Tell us the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received and how has it influenced your approach to leadership?
The best career advice I’ve received to date came from Dorothy Byrne, former Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4 and now President of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge.
At the time I was a young producer and had failed to get the promotion to the reporter job I desperately wanted. Dorothy invited me to lunch and told me not to be too downcast and to toughen up, as everybody experiences a career setback at least once in their life.
It’s desirable generally to be resilient but it’s an essential survival technique if you’re embarking on a career as a journalist. I’m still relying on that wisdom today and intend to emulate Dorothy’s compelling leadership style of empathy, clarity, encouragement and support with the team I’ve been entrusted with at PA Media Academy.
What’s your career highlight so far?
It’s impossible to pick one! The first time I anchored Channel 4 News remains a defining and magical moment for me. It had been my dream job for so many years – not just to become a TV news journalist but to work alongside the great Jon Snow on the UK’s best TV news programme.
Becoming a financial reporter was another. I became Channel 4’s Money Reporter just months before the biggest financial story in more than a century – the credit crunch, the run on Northern Rock and the subsequent financial crisis. These were exhilarating, exhausting and formative parts of my career as a reporter.
I’m only weeks into my new position as MD of PA Media Academy but this, too, is a career highlight. It’s an exciting new path, another step away from my years as a journalist, with commercial and leadership responsibilities.
What advice would you give journalism apprentices and diploma students?
I’ll stick to three pieces of advice:
- First, get into a newsroom, learn as much as you can from colleagues and find a mentor, someone who can give you advice and take you under their wing. My first job was not my dream job but it was a rung on the ladder at ITN and I learned so much on the job from experienced producers and reporters who’d seen it and done it all years before me
- Second, ideas are the best currency. Pitch enough good stories and you’ll get noticed and start building a reputation. It’s also worth considering a specialism as this can boost your career enormously
- Third, be prepared to move job if you’re not progressing or not a good fit. The media industry is much bigger and more fragmented than when I started out, so there are so many outlets who need your skills, ideas, energy and storytelling. You may have an ultimate destination in mind (mine was Channel 4 News at the start of my career) but don’t be disheartened if you can’t get there straight away.
