How to get that job: Dermot Murnaghan, news broadcaster and presenter

In a series on inspiring careers and how to get them, award-winning entrepreneur Jessica Elliott speaks to professionals at the top of their game to find out how you can get their dream job.

Dermot Murnaghan has had a hugely successful career in journalism and news broadcasting spanning thirty years.

He started as a trainee reporter working for local newspapers, before joining Channel 4 as a researcher. Since then, Murnaghan’s has reported and presented for ITV, BBC, and most recently Sky News, where he is currently a main news anchor.

Murnaghan has received numerous awards and accolades for his work, including the prestigious Newscaster of the Year Award from the Television and Radio Industries Club, and the Royal Television Society’s Interviewer of the Year award.

He has also presented a number of programmes including the BBC quiz show Eggheads, Treasure Hunt on ITV and Crimes that Shook the World on CI.

We caught up with Dermot to find out his top three tips on how to forge a career in the news industry.

Resilience

"The standard advice of persistence, doggedness and refusal to take no for an answer is all very well.

"However, just as important to making the right impression is standing out through the distinctiveness of your writing/broadcasting.

"Try to let your own voice speak out. Don’t attempt to adopt what you believe to be the ‘proper’ way of expression. Work on developing your own identifiable character, and you’ll be a more trust-worthy and honest deliverer of news to people’s homes."

Challenge perceptions

"Go against the flow. If the received wisdom is that a certain company, personality or organisation is a good/bad thing then look deeper – test the theory.

"You may not come up with anything. But if you do it can make real headlines."

Never forget

"Some of the most flagrant abuses our politicians and corporations get away with are because journalists have too short memories.

"File away announcements accompanied by great fanfares, and raise them when they are meant to have come to fruition. Usually they’ve been quietly forgotten, as has the scandal they were designed to deflect attention away from."

Visit Demot's Plegit page.