Inequalities to address

When I graduated, I suddenly realised that if you want to become a journalist, you have to work unpaid in central London for as long as two years - and I just couldn't afford it. There was no way I could. Basically, if you don't have rich parents, it is increasingly impossible to become a journalist in Britain - and that is really bad, not just for social justice but for the newspapers themselves."

writes Emily Hill over at comment is free.

She is quoting the comments of Johann Hari upon accepting the Orwell priz for political journalism.

And it raises a good point.If journalists who succeed come from one political or social class only,how can the media employ people who reflect many and varied views.

She goes on to quote the findings of the 2006 Sutton report

It showed that although only 7% of the UK population is educated privately "of the top 100 journalists in 2006, 54% were independently educated - an increase from 49% in 1986". It also suggested that with the demise of grammar schools this trend - of 93% of the population being poorly represented at the top of mainstream media