NCTJ reopens Journalism Diversity Fund for aspiring journalists

The NCTJ has reopened its Journalism Diversity Fund to help aspiring journalists get into the industry and increase diversity in newsrooms.

The fund launched in 2005 and has since supported more than 200 trainee journalists, helping them cover course fees and living expenses.

The JDF is aimed at those from an ethnically or socially diverse background without the financial means to attend NCTJ-accredited training courses.

Applicants need to demonstrate a “genuine commitment to journalism and the potential to be successful”, the NCTJ said.

Applications for cohort two of three in 2018 are now open until 11 July.

The first round of the JDF this year awarded bursaries to six trainee journalists to start their training at NCTJ-accredited courses in the 2018-19 academic year. They were:

Sharmin Akhtar – Press Association Training
Solape Alatise – Press Association Training
Matthew Ford – News Associates London
Yusuf Khan – Cardiff University
Jessica Murray – Press Association Training
Adam Sonin – Press Association Training

The interviews took place on 18 May and were hosted by Bloomberg, with an interviewing panel including senior managers and editors from the NCTJ, Claire Prosser Bursary, ITN, The Printing Charity, Bloomberg, Press Association and Google News Lab.

The NCTJ’s Diversity in Journalism report, released in November, revealed that five per cent of journalists working in the UK are from ethnic groups, compared to nine per cent of all jobs in the economy.

It also found that journalists are more than twice as likely to come from higher social classes than the overall population (39 per cent compared to 15 per cent).

To apply to the Journalism Diversity Fund, go here.

Picture: NCTJ