Over on the Empoword Journalism Instagram we share a different person working within the journalism and media industry. They act as our ‘Motivational Monday’ and enables us to share a variety of people with you from editors, to broadcasters to producers and presenters. It also lets us show how much we appreciate those who are shaping the industry and who are going out of their way to help and inspire young journalists.
“What makes a Motivational Monday is someone who makes an impact in our industry.”
Empoword was started following an online zoom workshop with News Associates and guest speaker, Kay Burley. Throughout the workshop attendees were encouraged to document their experience of Covid-19 and after two national lockdowns and seven months later, the Covid Diaries was transformed into Empoword Journalism.
Broadcasters
Kay Burley was the whole inspiration behind Empoword Journalism and why our whole project was set up, her motto of, “Keep typing till it turns to writing” is exactly the motivation we need. Not only does Burley ask difficult questions we all want answering so does her colleague at Sky, political editor Beth Rigby.
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What makes a Motivational Monday is someone who makes an impact in our industry.
“Other notable broadcasters who have featured this year have been Audrey Gillan, Naga Munchetty, Laura Kuenssberg, Emma Barnett, rising BBC journalist Rianna Croxford and Marianna Spring.”
Throughout 2020, we have seen Victoria Derbyshire tackle a number of important topics from domestic abuse and violence to openly talking about her breast cancer diagnosis on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
Emily Maitlis is another journalist who our contributors really admire and her book, ‘Airhead: The Imperfect Art of Making News’ has been featured as one of our Empoword Recommends.
Other notable broadcasters who have featured this year have been Audrey Gillan, Naga Munchetty, Laura Kuenssberg, Emma Barnett, rising BBC journalist Rianna Croxford and Marianna Spring, who we were lucky enough to hold a workshop with.
Entreprenurial spirit
This year young journalists have relied on indie publications more than ever with Beth Kirkbride founding The Indiependent in 2014 with over 500 contributors and Imogen Brighty-Potts who started The Hysteria Collective, a platform by and for women, trans and non-binary people. Investigative journalist Robyn Vinter founded her own publication, The Overtake which champions under-represented voices.
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Someone who is also taking over the world of social media is BBC journalist Sophia Smith Galer whose innovation of being the first from the BBC on Tik Tok has enabled her to write a number of stories surrounding young people.
Helping Young Journos
From numerous zoom workshops this year we have also found the advice from Jem Collins and Journo Resources invaluable, from jobs, to freelancing, advice and invoices, the information that they provide young journalists has helped many of us this year.
Talking of zoom workshops, Nicola Slawson has hosted a number of talks for PressPad Remote including freelancing, mentoring and her own start in the journalism industry.
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Another journalist setting up their own scheme to help young people is Jessica Noah Morgan who currently works for Refinery29.
Print Journalists
“All of these journalists continue to shape our industry and inspire many young people all over the world.”
Within the world of print journalism, Katharine Graham was an American publisher who was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002. When she ran the Washington Post, at the time Graham was the only woman to be in a high position at the publishing company.
Emma Tucker also made history after becoming the first female editor of The Sunday Times since 1901.
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All of these journalists continue to shape our industry and inspire many young people all over the world.
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Featured image courtesy of Kristin Wilson on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.