Andy Dickinson in profile

Andy Dickinson has been a fixture in UK journalism education for well over a decade, and his career path is a useful case study in how the industry’s technical and editorial sides have converged. He arrived at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston around seven years before this profile was written, initially hired as a technician to support the Media Technology course. He ended up teaching on it, then moved into journalism teaching, and last year became course leader for the MA Online Journalism.

That trajectory — technician to lecturer to course leader — is not unusual in the more technology-facing corners of media education, but it is instructive. It reflects a wider truth about online journalism: the people who understand how the plumbing works are often the ones best placed to teach journalists how to use it.

Key Takeaways

• Andy Dickinson came to UCLan as a technician, moved into teaching, and became course leader of the MA Online Journalism — a technician-to-academic route common in media technology fields.
• He holds an HND in Professional Audio and Video Technology and a BSc in Media Technology from UCLan itself.
• He was part of the team that set up the first Web and Multimedia BSc in the country.
• His industry work includes training for Regional Independent Media (then owner of the Evening Post and Yorkshire Post), plus consultancy, design, production and ongoing TV/video work.
• His core advice to aspiring online journalists: the web is about good content communicated effectively, and journalists are well placed to do that — the technical side won’t turn you into a “geek.”

From technician to course leader

Dickinson is, in his own words, a self-confessed techie. He gained an HND in Professional Audio and Video Technology, then a BSc in Media Technology from UCLan. His interest in the online industry grew out of working with computers and watching multimedia technology emerge.

That progression matters for anyone considering a journalism career today. The skills that made him employable — audio, video, systems, production — are the same skills that now sit at the centre of digital newsroom work. A reporter who can shoot and cut a short video, understand how a content management system works, or read a basic analytics dashboard is more useful to an editor than one who cannot.

Multimedia soon gave way to the web and “all things online.” Dickinson got involved and “went with the flow,” which led him to join the team that set up the first Web and Multimedia BSc in the country. That is a meaningful credential: being present at the creation of an academic discipline gives you a perspective on how it has evolved that later arrivals simply don’t have.

Why the technician route produces good journalism teachers

There is a practical argument for the technician-to-lecturer path that is worth spelling out for prospective students and for departments designing courses.

• Tool fluency. People who have maintained the kit know its failure modes. They teach workarounds, not just ideal workflows.
• Production realism. Technicians see how long things actually take. That tempers assignments and expectations.
• Cross-disciplinary literacy. Working across audio, video and computing builds the connective tissue that online journalism depends on.
• Credibility with industry. Newsrooms trust trainers who have shipped real work under real deadlines.

The trade-off is that technical depth does not automatically confer editorial judgement. That is why the strongest online journalism courses pair production specialists with reporters who have newsroom scars. At UCLan, Dickinson’s technical background sits alongside the department’s broader journalism teaching, which is the sensible arrangement.

What “online journalism” actually means

Dickinson’s advice to wannabe online journalists is blunt: “Don’t believe the hype. The bubble hasn’t burst and there is a real career to be had in online journalism.”

He pushes back on two common misconceptions:

• That online journalism is either technical or arty. It is neither, primarily. “The web is about good content communicated effectively. Journalists are really well placed to do that.”
• That working with computers turns you into a recluse. “People think that as soon as you sit in front of a computer and work with a web site you automatically get an urge to put on an anorak and never go out. That’s not true — although I have a very nice anorak that I wear when it’s raining!”

The underlying point is durable. Tools change; the discipline of gathering, verifying and presenting information does not. A journalist who learns to publish on the web is still a journalist. The platform is a delivery mechanism, not a personality transplant.

The skills that travel

For anyone weighing up a journalism or media technology course, it helps to separate skills that date quickly from skills that last.

Skill type	Examples	Shelf life
Editorial craft	Sourcing, interviewing, verification, news judgement, media law, ethics	Long — decades
Production craft	Shooting, editing, audio recording, sub-editing, headline writing	Medium — years
Platform and tooling	Specific CMSs, social platforms, analytics suites, AI writing tools	Short — months to a few years
Technical foundations	How the web works, data handling, basic coding, media formats	Long — underpins everything else

The sensible strategy is to build the long-shelf-life layers first and treat the short-shelf-life layers as things you will keep re-learning. Dickinson’s own career is a demonstration of this: the audio and video fundamentals he learned decades ago still underpin his TV and video production work today.

Industry work beyond the lecture theatre

Dickinson’s teaching is grounded in practice. Outside the university he has delivered training for Regional Independent Media, which at the time owned the Evening Post and the Yorkshire Post — regional newspaper groups that had to move their staff onto digital platforms. That kind of in-newsroom training is a useful bridge between academia and industry, and it is the sort of work that keeps a lecturer’s examples current.

He is also involved in consultancy, design and production work, and remains active in TV and video production. For students, this matters: a course leader who is still producing work can speak to what employers actually want, not just what a syllabus says.

The helicopter, the gig, and why highs matter

Dickinson’s career highs are worth noting because they illustrate the range of experiences a media career can contain. He has hung out of a helicopter while filming in Scotland — which he calls one of the high points of his career. He has watched the first programme he directed go out on TV. And he has played a gig to a few thousand people and, in his words, not been booed off but well received.

He really enjoys music and plays in his spare time. That detail is not incidental. Media careers are long, and the people who sustain them tend to have interests and outlets outside the day job. Music, sport, film, gaming, cooking — a genuine outside passion often becomes a source of story ideas and specialist knowledge later on.

Advice for prospective students

If you are considering an online journalism or media technology course, a few practical questions will tell you more than a prospectus will.

• Who teaches you, and have they done the job? Look for staff with current or recent industry practice, not just academic publications.
• What will you actually produce? Ask to see student work. A portfolio of published pieces beats a list of modules.
• How technical is it, and is that the right level for you? Some courses assume coding; others assume none. Match the course to your starting point.
• What are the industry links? Placements, guest speakers, newsroom partnerships and accreditation all signal a course plugged into the sector.
• What do graduates do? Ask where alumni work now, not just what percentage passed.

For the broader context of how digital journalism has developed as a field, the Wikipedia article on digital journalism is a reasonable starting point, and the University of Central Lancashire is the institution where Dickinson teaches. For anyone interested in the region, the Wikipedia entry on Central Lancashire gives useful background on the area the university serves.

The bigger picture for UK journalism education

Dickinson’s story sits inside a larger shift in UK journalism training. The old model — a postgraduate diploma, a local newspaper traineeship, and a slow climb — has been supplemented, and in places replaced, by multimedia and online-focused routes. Accrediting bodies such as the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) still set benchmarks for many courses, while university departments increasingly build their own digital-first curricula.

The tension is familiar to anyone in the sector: employers want graduates who can hit the ground running, but the tools they need to run with change constantly. The courses that age best are the ones that teach judgement and craft alongside tooling — which is essentially the argument Dickinson makes when he says the web is about good content communicated effectively.

For press officers, editors and trainees across the North West, that is a useful frame. The technology is the easy part to teach and the easy part to forget. The reporting is the hard part, and it is the part that lasts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Andy Dickinson?

Andy Dickinson is the course leader of the MA Online Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston. He joined the university as a technician on the Media Technology course, moved into teaching, and later became a course leader. He holds an HND in Professional Audio and Video Technology and a BSc in Media Technology from UCLan.

What did Andy Dickinson study?

He gained an HND in Professional Audio and Video Technology and then a BSc in Media Technology from UCLan. His interest in the online industry developed through working with computers and the emergence of multimedia technology, which led him into web and online work.

What is Andy Dickinson’s advice for aspiring online journalists?

His core message is not to believe the hype: the bubble hasn’t burst and there is a real career in online journalism. He argues that the web is about good content communicated effectively, that journalists are well placed to do that, and that working with computers and websites will not turn you into a geek.

What industry experience does Andy Dickinson have?

Outside the university he has delivered training for Regional Independent Media, which at the time owned the Evening Post and the Yorkshire Post. He is also involved in consultancy, design and production work, and remains active in TV and video production, including filming work in Scotland.

What was the first Web and Multimedia BSc in the country?

Dickinson was part of the team that set up the first Web and Multimedia BSc in the country, a milestone in the development of UK media technology education. Being involved at that early stage gave him a long view of how online journalism and multimedia teaching have evolved.

Is online journalism a good career choice?

Dickinson’s view is that it is, provided you focus on the fundamentals. The tools and platforms change quickly, but the ability to find, verify and communicate information effectively is durable. Journalists who combine editorial craft with a working understanding of digital production are well positioned in a changing job market.