"I'm starting as a financial reporter for Dow Jones, London on 4th August. 25k a year starting wage is a little more than expected, but who am I to complain? Thanks for the support."

Richie Benson, JW Graduate, Financial Reporter, Dow Jones, London

Mark presents the top-rated Sunrise on Sky News and has been a member of the award- winning presentation team for 14 years. In that time the station has been voted News Channel of the Year by the RTS eight times. He has more than 30 years experience as a journalist and broadcaster, having worked for the BBC, ITN, Channel Four, Thames, LWT, TV-am and now Sky.

His television credits include fronting live consumer shows for ITV, covering General Elections for Channel Four and ITN and undertaking many foreign assignments in Washington, Moscow and Berlin. He is also a familiar face more locally in Sussex, having presented BBC South Today for three years alongside Sally Taylor before switching to ITV Meridian.

Mark, what is your style of teaching?

It has to be fun to learn and there is no substitute for actually doing the job. So, lots of practical experience and lots of making mistakes - two wrongs always make a right!

What is your claim to fame?

I was lucky enough to make eight trips to Berlin when the wall was coming down. The first time we had to go through Checkpoint Charlie and were shadowed everywhere by the Stasi. The last time was the night of unification when the German Government gave all the press corps a medal! It was then that I realised the adage , "The first draft of history" was actually true of journalism. We had witnessed a changing tide of time.

Do you have any industry stories to share?

My early days in radio were shared with Richard Lindfield at Radio Sussex. We used to read the lunchtime news as a double-header and inevitably the national headlines would drop very late on the teleprinter (what technology!). It gave us no time to scan - so Lee Bum Suk, Canaan Banana and Cardinal Sin were a pleasant surprise. You can guess the rest.