Jon Boyle
Senior Lecturer in Sports Journalism
Jon is a creative, competent and enthusiastic sports journalism lecturer who joined the University of Bedfordshire in May 2014 after five years as course leader of foundation degree journalism at Milton Keynes College.
He started his journalism career as a news reporter for the Leighton Buzzard Observer – covering crime, council news, cinema, music, computer game reviews and features – before progressing to the role of senior reporter at its larger sister newspaper The Milton Keynes Citizen.
Jon combined his news position with the role of Milton Keynes Dons FC reporter at the Citizen, travelling the length and breadth of the country to report on every match for more than three years, before landing a job as sports editor at the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald.
He was soon tasked with the extra responsibility of sports editing the Gazette’s sister newspaper The Wiltshire Times, which involved designing and sub-editing all the pages for both sport sections, managing reporters, writing stories, producing video content and managing both websites.
Alongside his full-time journalism positions, Jon has worked as a national freelance football reporter for more than 15 years, covering teams such as Leicester City, Coventry City, Luton Town, Swindon Town, Wycombe Wanderers and MK Dons for national newspapers including the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Sun and the Daily Star.
He has also worked for sports news agencies Sportsbeat and Hayters Teamwork, which involved writing regular match reports for the Press Association and the Football League Paper, for whom he has also carried out subbing shifts.
Jon is currently editor of Celebrate:MK lifestyle magazine in Milton Keynes, a publication he launched in December 2016.
Qualifications
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
- Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status (QTLS)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
- MA Public Relations (CIPR accredited)
- BA (Hons) Journalism (NCTJ accredited)
Teaching expertise
- Practical match reporting
- Live blogs and social media
- News and feature writing
- Interviewing skills
- Magazine and newspaper design
Course co-ordinator for:
- BA (Hons) Sports Journalism
Unit co-ordinator for:
- Practical Sports Journalism
- Reporting and Writing
- Sport, Media and Culture
- Sport in Society