In just over two weeks time, I will come face-to-face with one of the most horrific things known to wannabe journalists. A media law exam. To say I’m stressing would be something of an understatement. I don’t like exams and I often don’t do as well as I should have in them (which explains my AS Level results the first time around very nicely).

And with journalism practices being picked apart by the Leveson Inquiry and the public more aware than ever of what newspapers are doing, there’s an increased pressure to know the law and know that I’m working inside of it. Ignorance is never an excuse when it comes to the law, but I think most wannabes will agree that you now feel the pressure to know exactly what the law states and what that means you are and are not allowed to do or broadcast or publish.

There has been a big clamp down on newspapers, not only in the bad practices such as phone hacking, but also in things like defamation and all eyes are on them, waiting for them to slip up again. Newspapers are having to make retractions and publish apologies more than I can ever remember them doing before.

As well as feeling the pressure to know the laws that cover journalism practices, I also feel that some of what I’m learning could be slightly pointless if, as is expected, Lord Justice Leveson makes recommendations to changes in the law. It’s all well and good me spending days on end trying to make sense of my notes and becoming good friends with my text book, but if it’s not going to be relevant when I’m actually working as a journalist I struggle to see why I’m doing it. Yes, I know it’s to pass my exam but if the law changes all this work I’m doing is going to feel somewhat pointless.

And I do understand that the law changes, that’s what happens and we have to relearn it and learn to adapt to it. But with the Leveson Inquiry looking so closely at newspaper practices, we could find ourselves in an industry that is subject to a whole new set of laws. And yes, this is something that we’re all going to have to face, but it would be nice to think that what I’ve learnt at uni is going to be relevant for more than just a few months.