What I’ve been reading & hearing: Diversity and inclusion in journalism, Ofcom’s online nation + backlash to AI-written content

A later update this Wednesday as I’ve spent a wholesome day at the NCTJ (National Council for Training of Journalists) and Journalism Diversity Fund’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference at Media City in Manchester so I’ve thawed out now after a chilly trip and battle through the traffic on the M61 on the way back.

My key takeaways from the event are:

– The Journalism Diversity Fund is fulfilling its purpose and has become a really important entry route into the industry for a diverse group of participants who are going on to do a variety of roles within traditional and start-up newsrooms. It was fantastic to see and hear about some of these stories. It’s also been good to see the NCTJ transitioning from simply being a stamper of standards for courses to playing an active part in nurturing and expanding the talent pool within the industry with direct interventions such as the JDF and also being an enabler of schemes such as the Facebook Community Reporters scheme (which will sadly be shelved due to Meta discontinuing the funding after five years).– Socio-economic diversity and routes into journalism is becoming a major challenge. While great strides have been made on improving ethnicity diversity and awareness of neurodiverseness in the industry (and more definitely still needs to be done, as Nihal Arthanayake made very clear in his fireside chat) there is a growing challenge around reflecting those from lower socio-economic backgrounds getting into journalism. The disproportion is stark at the moment and appears to have worsened as local media in particular has become more challenged in recent years – local media I would argue has always been more representative of socio-economic background due to where it was physically located. I was really struck by the question from a single mother, and recipient of the JDF, during one of the panels who lives in a more remote location and is trying to get started. How does she gain experience while juggling childcare? There were some really practical and good tips from the panel and remote-working definitely helps but for those starting out having that nurturing and learning physical environment is important for their development – and that’s also becoming more challenging outside of major hubs like Media City for example. There was much talk of towns, and how supporting media/stories/journalism in towns, is crucial outside of big cities. A logical step might be helping to support those who are based outside big cities temporarily relocate to the training hubs/media hubs in big cities to gain the experience and development they need. But that’s easier said than done.

And here’s some interesting links that have made their way across my newsfeed in the past week or so

7 practical takeaways from Ofcom’s Online Nation report – Tim Gatt – I’ve not had chance to read the full state of the digital nation report from Ofcom, but thankfully Tim’s already been browsing away on it. Some good call-outs – especially the prevalence of WhatsApp and YouTube. Newsrooms tend to still obsess over the platforms which can give the instant return (Facebook, X etc) but the public’s usage mix is fragmenting but WhatsApp and YouTube are now dominant, so how are you thinking about your output for these two channels? I’ve written previously about my thoughts around experimenting with WhatsApp channels which are still in a relatively nascent stage. We finally got round to launching a WhatsApp channel for the hyperlocal site I founded – Blog Preston – this week so it looks like the ability to create channels is being turned on now for lots and lots more people. Will report back any learnings in the coming months.

Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers – Futurism – at the NCTJ conference there was a session focused on AI, and its potential impact and usage around diversity, but an interesting piece here about how a publisher had potentially created full AI-driven authors and published work essentially passing it off as being journalists. What I found most interesting is the calling out in the comments of the publication in question by readers and their absolute disappointment. As the Online Nation report showed from Ofcom, usage and passing knowledge of AI is quite high in public – it’s becoming mainstream and not just something that kids in bedrooms are using. HoldTheFrontPage recently reported on a local news site start-up which appeared to be doing the same thing as the Sports Illustrated example. We’ll see more of this, I am sure, and I think it’s important for human authors that building out that authority, relevancy and almost proof you are who you say you are is going to become more crucial. Make your writing or storytelling as human as you can, and you’ll have not much to fear from AI.

Plenty to digest this week, as always and it was great to see some familiar faces at the Equality, Diversion and Inclusion conference and meet some new ones too. And it was really encouraging to hear all the support and opportunities that are being given on encouraging new talent and diverse talent into the industry – I hope I can continue to play a small part in supporting that to happen.

And an update on the newsletter version of this digest, I logged into TinyLetter to discover that it’s going to be shelved from February next year and I don’t particularly want to pay MailChimp some coins so any suggestions for a free newsletter platform for you my lovely subscribers to continue receiving the weekly digest then I’m all ears. 

A reminder you can get this round-up in your inbox first by subscribing to my newsletter on TinyLetter, it comes out each Wednesday afternoon.