Director of Journalism and Media Programmes

Steve Harris joined ICM in July 2007 as Director of Journalism and Media Programmes.

An experienced journalist, broadcaster and lecturer with a career spanning five decades, he is perfectly placed to undertake the ongoing development of ICM’s new suite of media and journalism qualifications.

Steve’s work for ICM dovetails neatly with his position as Accreditations Secretary of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC), where he is responsible for visiting and assessing all future and current Broadcast and Online Journalism courses in the British Isles. The BJTC currently accredits nearly 50 courses.

Additionally, he is a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and is an active member of its Professional Training Committee, which delivers a wide range of short career development courses. Between 1993 and 2007, he worked as Secretary of the Federation of Entertainment Unions and was involved in setting up top-level meetings with the BBC, ITV, the ITC, Radio Authority, Ofcom, the Film Council and Skillset.

Steve studied Politics and Sociology at Durham University and made his first foray into journalism working for the Walthamstow Guardian during one of his university vacations. On graduating, he joined the Northern Echo in Darlington, followed by the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Other senior roles have included positions at Pennine Radio, Southern TV, Solent Regional Radio and MyTV.

Steve is highly experienced in the field of education, having assisted with the launch of the postgraduate Broadcast Journalism course at Highbury College in Portsmouth, and teaching on the same course for nine years until 1990. He was also a member of the Corporation of Highbury College from 1990 to 1996.

Outside of journalism, Steve has a variety of interests including football, cricket, film, theatre, television, classical and adult rock music, cooking and gardening. In July 2002, he turned his hand to wine importing and founded Fine Wines of Italy, a specialist niche importer and retailer of exclusive Italian wines.

Steve’s words of wisdom: “Tread lightly. Journalism is a relatively small industry and people move around a great deal, so everyone knows someone, somewhere else, who you might know and might know you.”