In this post Laiba Yousaf, a student on this year’s MA in Global Financial Journalism at City St George’s University of London covers the course’s first live news day, covering the UK budget on 26 November 2025

The MA Global Financial Journalism cohort held its first live news day of the term by covering the UK Budget in real time. To replicate the structure of a working newsroom, we began by assigning profession roles. This helped us to organise our workflow and collaborate effectively during a fast-moving national news event.

As soon as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, began her speech, the live news team launched the rolling blog, posting frequent updates as key measures were announced. They continued publishing throughout the speech and its aftermath, capturing initial reactions, expert commentary and political responses. Meanwhile, students in specialist roles contributed their insights to the blog and produced their own standalone pieces, ranging from policy explainers to analytical articles exploring the implications of the proposed changes for the public, different sectors and the wider economy.

Overall, the live news day was an invaluable opportunity for us to apply the skills we have been developing throughout the first term. It strengthened our confidence in working under deadline pressure, enhanced our understanding of economic storytelling and demonstrated the importance of teamwork in a professional newsroom environment. We look forward to building on this experience in future reporting projects.

Beyond the live news day, the first term of the MA in Global Financial Journalism course has offered a wide range of learning experiences that have helped us develop both our editorial judgement and our technical skills.

We benefitted from guest lecturers by industry professionals including Matthieu Favas, Donna Ferguson, Angelina Fusco, Frank Langfitt, Peter Thal Larsen and Alan Smith, who each brought valuable insights into different aspects of financial and newsroom journalism.

We also worked on team projects such as group pitches, developed our editorial production skills, and gained hands-on experience using tools like InDesign and the Bloomberg terminal. Alongside this, we have had the opportunity to study a wide range of modules, all of which have contributed to building a strong foundation for the rest of the programme.

More information and testimonials about studentships on masters’ courses in financial journalism funded by the Marjorie Deane Financial Journalism Foundation can be founded on our dedicated webpage.