#ANDY BINARY EDITOR FOR FREE#
This week’s cohort included pupils with disabilities, in social services care, many who are eligible for free school meals as well almost 40% from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and 81% who define as either female or non-binary. We’ve partnered with charity-funded organisation Speakers for Schools to target young people from truly diverse backgrounds who have a passion for journalism. It’s the right thing to do of course, but as the days of trained young journalists beating our doors down in their droves for a job seem to have passed, we must now create our own new talent stream to survive. I can’t claim my work on the project is selfless, either. It also celebrates the success of current employees from challenged socio-economic backgrounds and promotes internal culture changes to help those in financial hardship succeed.Īs a former state school pupil who benefited enormously from similar outreach opportunities when I was younger, I know how important it is to show young people not only that this is the best job in the world, but that it’s accessible to them, regardless of their current situation. ReachPotential is one of six employee inclusion networks launched by Reach this year and aims to improve access to our newsrooms for talented people regardless of their economic situation, education or class. Improving access to newsrooms for talent regardless of economic situation Run by ReachPotential – our company’s inclusion network focused on social mobility – the programme has already reached almost 600 kids across the country. The event was part of our Big OutReach Programme, launched earlier this year with the aim of bringing young people from under-represented groups into the world of news. The girl was one of 94 youngsters from diverse backgrounds who took part in a hugely successful two-day virtual work experience at Reach this week. Their pitches were a shot in the arm for anyone who’d forgotten the power of newspapers, not only to change things, but to make people believe change is possible. Not aspiring environmentalists, but aspiring journalists. It wasn’t a planned speech by a wannabe Brit Greta Thunberg, but an inspiring off-the-cuff pitch – the result of a 30-minute brainstorm between her and nine other state school pupils asked to come up with their own Mirror campaign idea. And the numbers need a little work… but her passion and conviction silenced a (virtual) room of more than 30 Reach PLC staff and almost 100 other school children. She went on to describe with unjaded enthusiasm how she’d be calling on Leo DiCaprio, Emma Watson and David Attenborough to front the campaign.Īmbitious? Maybe.
They’ll be health warnings for the planet.” And we want health warnings on the labels, too – like the ones you get on cigarette packets to stop you smoking. “Five per cent on all non-recyclable products. “We’re demanding a new plastic tax,” she announced. On the eve of Budget Day as the usual Treasury leaks and predictions did the rounds, it was a schoolgirl from Wales who caught my eye with her own radical plan to save our economy.
As the industry faces a talent shortage, Gemma Aldridge, Sunday Mirror editor, says it’s on us to show young people why journalism can still be the best job in the world.