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About Cleland Thom

Cleland Thom is recognised as one of the UK´s leading trainers.

Over the past five years, he has trained more than 1,000 staff from hundreds of businesses, public authorities, websites and charities all over the UK. See the list of them.

Cleland has been involved in communication for the whole of his career.

Click a subject area below to view Cleland's experience in that field: He was Group Editor of nine UK regional paper titles in London, and senior executive with Reed Regional Newspapers and a member of Reed's prestigious 100 Club.

He was appraised as being their 'best all-round editor for nearly 50 years' and for having 'outstanding commercial awareness and marketing skills'

His campaigns as an editor were featured in the Guardian, the Daily Mail and on Channel 4.

His paper's coverage of the first Gulf War was voted as the best in the UK by the Kuwait daily paper the Voice of Kuwait and was praised by President Bush Senior and Margaret Thatcher.

He has been involved in training since the early 1990s and set up CTJT in 2002.

He holds the National Council for the Training of Journalists National Certificate, the Certificate of Education from La Sainte Union College for Higher Education, Grade 8 qualifications in Speech and Drama and Public Speaking from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and is a qualified NVQ assessor, and an NVQ Moderator.

Cleland is a member of the Online Coaching Institute, the Training Consortium, the Society of Editors and the Chartered Institute of Journalists.

He is legal adviser to the Manchester Evening News, Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers, The Local Radio Company and Essex Independent Newspapers.

He writes regular articles on journalism training in the weekly 'journalists' bible', the Press Gazette.

He ran the highly successful NCTJ course at Highbury College, Portsmouth, for 10 years.

He has done freelance work for all the national daily and Sunday papers and for magazines, local radio and television.

Broadcast Journalism

Cleland has worked for Independent Radio News, ITN, BBC news and BBC local radio.

He now trains staff at radio stations across the UK and is legal advisor to The Local Radio Company.

Some of his students have worked for Sky Sports, Sky Sports News, BBC Online, BBC World Service and BBC local radio.

Copywriting

Cleland Thom is recognised as one of the UK�s leading copywriting trainers.

During his career he was written copy for a range of different clients in the commercial, public and charity sectors.

He has trained staff from Transport for London, London Fire Brigade, NCH (the children's charity), RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind), the Telerik Corporation, the City of London Corporation, London Connects and more than 20 London boroughs.

Education Writing

Cleland is a fully qualified and experienced teacher � he holds the Certificate in Education and is a certified NVQ Assessor.

He is journalism moderator and coordinator at one of London�s largest professional journalism training centres. And he was a member of a National Council for the Training of Journalists course accreditation panel and marks NCTJ exam papers.

He was course organiser, tutor and business development manager at Highbury College, Portsmouth, and was a tutor with International Correspondence Schools and The Writers Bureau.

Freelance Journalism

Cleland has been a successful freelance journalist for many years. He has had work published in all of the UK�s national daily and Sunday newspapers, and was an accredited correspondent for PA, Reuters, the Daily Express and The Evening Standard.

He has also done freelance work for Cycling Weekly, International Cycle Sport, Get in Touch and many other magazines and regional papers.

He did casual reporting shifts at the News of the World and the Sunday Mirror and has worked as a freelance for Independent Radio News, ITN, BBC news and BBC local radio.

Investigative Journalism

Cleland is recognised as one of the UK�s leading investigative journalists.

He has worked on investigative assignments for the Sunday Mirror, the News of the World and the regional press.

His 25-year investigation and campaign to free two men wrongly convicted of a double murder was nationally acclaimed and was featured in the Press Gazette, on an ITV documentary and on BBC 2's Rough Justice.

He worked on an expose of an alleged ticket scam at Chelsea FC and investigated a fraud by a London landlord which resulted in one man going to prison.

Another investigation into corruption in the Haringey Emergency Corps also resulted in another man going to prison.

He now trains investigative journalists from some of the UK�s leading regional papers, including:
  • Manchester Evening News
  • Liverpool Post and Echo
  • Birmingham Post and Mail
  • Wales on Sunday
  • Ipswich Evening Star
  • Derby Evening Telegraph
  • Kent News and Picture Agency
  • Birmingham Sunday Mercury
  • Coventry Evening Telegraph
  • Daily Echo, Southampton
  • East Anglian Daily Times
  • Western Mail
  • More than 100 weekly papers
Delegates frequently describe his investigative training workshops as 'the best training session they have ever been to'.

Newspapers

Cleland spent 25 years working on regional newspapers. During this time he was reporter, chief reporter, sub, chief sub, news editor, deputy editor, sports editor and group editor.

He has also done freelance work for all of the UK�s national daily and Sunday newspapers, and was an accredited correspondent for PA, Reuters, the Daily Express and The Evening Standard.

He ran the NCTJ Pre-Entry course at Highbury College, Portsmouth for ten years � and during this time the course became recognised as one of the best in the country.

He has taught journalism, desktop publishing, central government and local government on NCTJ courses, and has marked NCTJ exam papers for 15 years.

He has organised, or taught on more than 40 NCTJ National Certificate (NCE) Refresher Courses and has sat on NCTJ accreditation and interview panels.

He is legal adviser to the Manchester Evening News, Greater Manchester Weekly Newspapers, The Local Radio Company and Essex Independent Newspapers.

He writes regular articles on journalism training in the weekly 'journalists' bible', the Press Gazette.

Since 2002, he has trained more than 700 staff from dozens of daily, evening and weekly newspapers. See a full list. Delegates on his courses have ranged from junior reporters to editors, group editors and editorial directors.

Magazines

Cleland has been involved with magazine journalism for the whole of his career. He has done freelance work for many titles, including Cycling Weekly, Car Buyer, International Cycle Sport and Get In Touch.

He taught law and journalism Periodical Training Council-accredited magazines courses for 10 years.

He was also a magazine course tutor, and is now journalism moderator for a leading magazine journalism course in London.

He now trains staff at magazines all over the UK, including Which? Autotrader, Fusion, Janes Defence Weekly, Manchester City Life, SX, TNT and Go!

Photojournalism

Cleland has been picture editor for three different regional paper titles and has taken sports photographs for various titles including Go! Magazine and Cycling Weekly.

He has trained the picture editor and photographers at Manchester Evening News, Ipswich Evening Star and the Beds on Sunday group.

Opinion Writing & Reviews

Cleland has written regular weekly opinion columns and reviews for more than 10 different publications.

His opinion pieces have been read by celebrities, Prime Ministers, MPs, Lords and top officials in national and local government. And he has reviewed everything from books, plays and restaurants, to films, cars and holidays.

Political Journalism

Cleland has extensive experience of political journalism. He has covered everything from Parliament to parish councils, and has written articles for both the national and local press and local radio and TV.

He has dined with MPs and interviewed:
  • Margaret Thatcher, when she was Prime Minister
  • Jack Straw
  • Margaret Hodge
  • Barbara Castle
  • Michael Portillo
  • Ken Livingstone
  • Bernie Grant
  • Jeremy Corbyn
  • Eric Pickles
  • Martin Bell
He and many other Government Ministers, members of the House of Lords, MPs, members of the European Parliament and councillors.

He has covered five general elections and numerous local elections.

Proofreading

Cleland has provided in-house and home study proofreading courses for a range of clients, including:
  • United Nations Development Programme (New York)
  • British Council
  • Kumon Educational
  • Discovery Channel
  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets
  • Northcliffe Newspapers
  • Teacher Training Agency
  • Jobcentre Plus
  • Intervet UK Ltd
  • Essex Independent Newspapers
  • Dragon Brands
  • University of Gloucester
  • London Connects
  • London Voluntary Service Council
He is a former newspaper proofreader, production editor and has many years experience of proofreading on newspapers and magazines.

He was a tutor on the International Correspondence Schools proofreading course for five years.

Sport

Cleland has extensive experience of sports journalism. He has covered two FA Cup finals and many Premiership and Champions League matches.

He was even on the Arsenal bus with the players after one of their many FA Cup Final appearances. And just to be fair, he accompanied Spurs to their Civic Reception when they won the FA Cup in 1991!

He has interviewed many leading sports personalities, from England football managers and captains to Premiership stars and world and Olympic champions.

He used to ghost-write newspaper columns for ex-Spurs skipper and England international Gary Mabbutt, and for England and Arsenal goalkeeping legend David Seaman.

And he has worked for a number of specialist sports magazines, including Cycling Weekly and International Cycle Sport.

Cleland has covered sports ranging from football to athletics and boxing to cycling for the local and national press.

He is a qualified football referee and used to coach football. His team won 30 trophies in 10 years, including the Middlesex County Youth Cup and a top European youth soccer tournament, beating the West German Youth Team and the North Dutch Champions.

He was also a champion cross country runner and a racing cyclist.

He has trained sports journalists from a number of titles including the Manchester Evening News and Beds on Sunday group.

Travel Writing

Cleland is an experienced travel journalist and has written articles for a variety of magazines and newspapers, featuring holidays provided by major operators like PGL, Center Parcs and Canvas Holidays.

Web Writing

Cleland is recognised as one of the UK�s leading web writing trainers.

He has provided in-house and online web writing coaching for some of the largest websites in the UK.

His list of corporate clients includes:
  • NCH (the children�s charity)
  • London Fire Brigade
  • Transport for London
  • BBC Online
  • Manchester Online
  • Twenty of the London boroughs
  • The City of London Corporation
  • University College London
  • London Connects
  • London Councils
  • Manchester Partnership
  • Autotrader
  • Trader Media group
  • TNT magazine
  • Pioneer Trust
See www.web-write.biz for further details

Speed reading

Cleland is a speed-reader himself, and hasd delivered in-house training to of corporate clients, including Intervet UK, part of the Akzo Nobel group, a Global Fortune 500 company, Northcliffe Newspapers and Local Sunday Media.

Quark Xpress

Cleland has used Quark as an editor and sub editor for many years. And he has run courses in QuarkXpress for businesses, magazines, newspapers, colleges and training organisations across the UK. He is a winner of a Newspaper Design Award commendation.

Starting a small business

Cleland Thom started his business in 2002 with a budget of zero. In five years, the company has:

  • Become so big it's had to be divided into three
  • Attracted more than 2,000 new clients from scratch - including some of the UK's biggest companies and authorities
  • Got to the TOP of Google page 1 (it's still there now! Do a Google web search under Online journalism courses)
  • Seen its income quadruple
  • Become one of the UK's most successful distance learning organisations
  • Has clients in more than 40 countries

 
 
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