A Channel 4 broadcaster graced the lecture theatre of a London university to address journalism students.

Jon Snow, veteran broadcaster and news anchor for Channel 4, spoke to students at Middlesex University in Hendon about his long career as a journalist, offering advice on how they could join the ranks.

He began exploring his journalistic roots, telling stories of his time covering the IRA bombings, meeting Ugandan leader Idi Amin, and more recently, his anger at the terrible tragedy of Grenfell Tower.

But Mr Snow's main message to the students was to remain loving and empathetic to those who they meet during their budding careers.

He said: "The greatest qualification a journalist can have without a degree is empathy.

"It is an enormous problem because we form very strong personal views about what is happening then you must almost get rid of them when reporting, but still have empathy. And that is not a question of bias but a question of reality."

He expressed his struggle at remaining impartial when reporting tragedies happening all over the world, but also said to ignore your emotions entirely does the story an injustice.

He continued: "It is a very difficult balance between being mawkish and being true to the emotion, but also speaking intelligibly to the audience who have not been there."

Senior lecturer Dr Sophie Knowles started the series last year to help them link the theory they learn and practice through the careers of others.

She said: "We were really proud to welcome Jon Snow. He's a journalist that represents the kind of journalism we advocate - fair and fearless.

"Hearing from these stellar journalists is one thing, but our students play their own roles: researching guests, developing questions, capturing video and recording audio, and then creating output from the event.

"Students learn to work really well as a team and they love being involved in every step. It's great for them professionally and personally and it's part of what we do best at MDX - work with our students to build their confidence and skills so they can make it in the media industry."

Previous guests have included the BBC's first female political editor Laura Kuenssberg and BBC news anchor Huw Edwards.

The course's next event is a digital journalism symposium on March 14.