THE BBC has chosen the North-East as the base for a £1m staff training scheme.

During the next three years, about 600 BBC journalists and production staff from all parts of the UK will be trained to report, shoot and edit their own news items at the BBC Broadcasting Centre in Newcastle.

The new centre is the focus of investment by the organisation to roll out Personal Digital Production (PDP) technology nationally and regionally.

Due to open next year, the centre will build on the ad hoc training already provided for about 100 journalists at different regional centres.

Wendy Pilmer, the BBC's head of regional and local programmes in the North-East and Cumbria, said: "It's a vote of confidence in all of us that we'll be pioneering a new way of gathering news which will change the face of TV journalism.

"It's another huge investment in the BBC outside London and will give us a real creative and financial boost."

Pat Loughrey, the BBC's director of nations and regions, said: "This puts Newcastle at the cutting edge of new technology.

"When journalists shoot and edit their own stories, it significantly increases our picture and story-gathering capacity, gives us better access to people, and makes us more creative."

Video journalist posts will progressively be created for staff who have completed the three-week courses