Hastings Independent Press Youth Training Project

Aim

Help us run a free multimedia journalism training programme for 18-30 year olds from backgrounds that are under represented in journalism.

Hastings Independent Press x The Magnum Photos Foundation

Youth Multimedia Storytelling Programme 

About Us

Hastings Independent Press 

Frustrated at the quality of local press coverage, in January 2014 a group of local residents took matters into their own hands and created a community-run newspaper. The Hastings Independent is a free newspaper, run by a group of local residents who know that Hastings is a unique place, with a character that deserves recognition. Our aim is to give a voice to the residents of Hastings, to support a strong sense of community and to provide an impartial platform for debate, employment, education and community-led regeneration. We feel it’s important that a local paper should be community focused, and written by people that live in and love Hastings. We also believe a local paper should serve its readers rather than its shareholders, and that’s why Hastings Independent Press is set up as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, with all profits being invested back in to the company to help it achieve its social aims.

The Magnum Photos Foundation

The Magnum Photos Foundation uses photography in the community to explore how we relate to ourselves, each other and the world. We co-create photography projects with under served and under represented communities with a focus on wellbeing and employment opportunities. Based in the UK, the Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the celebrated photographic agency Magnum Photos. Magnum Photos represents some of the world’s most renowned photographers, an idiosyncratic mix of journalists, artists and storytellers. 

What is the project you will deliver?

With your support we will deliver a free 8 week multimedia journalism training programme for 12 young people from under represented backgrounds. The group will create a special edition of the Hastings Independent Press Newspaper, to represent their experience of life in Hastings and issues that are important to them through multimedia journalism co-created with the wider community. We will actively encourage people from working class backgrounds, people from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds, people with experience of exclusion, incarceration, formerly looked after children, young parents or carers, differently abled people, refugees and migrants and those from the GRT and LGBTQI+ communities to apply. The programme will seek to build vocational skills as well as support creativity, confidence and wellbeing through the creation of a supportive peer and professional network. This project will also offer funding, new talent, a wider professional network and new audiences for the Hastings Independent Press.

This is a pilot project for the Magnum Photos Foundation that we hope will be the first in a series of local visual journalism projects around the United Kingdom in regional cities and towns, with a focus on under served and under resourced communities and supporting local journalism.

This project will increase skills, wellbeing and social connectedness for the young people participating, strengthen the communities participation and feeling of "ownership” of their local newspaper, increase representation in local journalism and data on the impact of this initiative will be analysed and shared to support even greater impact in the future. We will work with local partners and businesses to support participants into further training or employment opportunities.

We aim to deliver this project yearly, and we will support the former participants to be tutors for the next cohort (pending additional funding).

Partners and Supporters include: The Peter Marlow Foundation, Fujifilm UK, The Newspaper Club, East Sussex Career Hub, Eggtooth Hastings, Hastings Contemporary, Xtrax Young People’s Centre, The Refugee Buddy Project, Hastings Radio.

What social need will the project address?

    A lack of representation within journalism and the creative industries

Just 0.2% of journalists in the UK are black, compared with 3% of the UK population, Asian Britons make up 7% of the UK population, but just 2.5% of the journalist workforce, and 94% of journalists are white, compared with 87% of the population of England and Wales. These figures are more alarming given that most of the UK’s national news media organisations are based in London, where, according to the 2011 census, only 45% of the population are of white English, Scottish or Welsh heritage. Meanwhile, figures from 2014/15 on the likelihood of journalism students being employed as a journalist six months after graduation indicate that white students have a 26% chance, while black students only have an 8% chance. (LSE British Politics and Policy).

Some 80% of journalists come from professional and upper class backgrounds according to a report in May 2022 from the NCTJ. (Press Gazette).

   A decrease in high-quality local news

Local news production, distribution and consumption have changed significantly during the last fifteen years as highlighted in the Cairncross review (Cairncross, 2019) and elsewhere (e.g. Hess and Waller, 2016; Nielsen, 2015). As part of these changes it is estimated that 245 local newspapers closed down in the UK since 2005 (Press Gazette, 2019), news has increasingly being produced in regional hubs rather than local settings, media plurality has weakened, and local professional journalism has declined (Harte et al, 2019). There are concerns that some communities are left without adequate local news provisions, and that the changes are adversely affecting local democracies and community cohesion. (Canterbury Christ Church University).

Cultural production, whether in live arts such as theatre or dance, visual arts or broadcast media, plays a central role in shaping everyday society. In a politically turbulent moment, where the mainstream political agenda is increasingly polarised and racialised, minority voices are ever more marginalised. How different communities are represented and are able to represent themselves through the arts and media is therefore of deep significance. (Runnymede Trust)

    A worsening youth mental health crisis

According to NHS data, the mental health of children and young people in England has worsened since 2017. Even before the pandemic, children and young people were facing a mental health crisis. Although children and young people under 25 have always had to deal with personal identity issues in formative years, risks to mental health have been greatly exacerbated by heightened academic expectations and the ubiquity of social media. (Children and young people’s mental health, House of Commons Committee Report).

Testimony from Ben Cornwell who has been interning at the Hastings Independent Press. 

After the first two years of his journalism course at the University of Sussex in Brighton were disrupted by lockdowns and online teaching, Ben decided to actively search for further experience within the industry and therefore decided to undertake a placement year with HIP. During his time at HIP, he has written more than forty articles and taken over the responsibility of HIP’s social media accounts and weekly newsletter. He has also gained additional experience as both community and listings editor for several issues of the paper. Following the completion of his placement at HIP, he is planning on returning to Sussex to complete the final year of his course.

Ben says, "My experience at HIP has been incredibly beneficial to me. Not only has it helped my writing skills but it has also boosted my confidence and communication skills, particularly when approaching people for interviews. The support and guidance of the HIP team has helped me challenge myself and allowed me to create a larger and more diverse portfolio than I could have imagined.”

A full article by Ben about his experience can be found here:

https://www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/features/hard-hipping-journalism/

Example Community Training Projects from the Hastings Independent Press

https://www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/news/the-freedom-to-get-organised/

https://www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/issues/organisation-workshop-hastings/

Lead Staff

Shannon Ghannam - The Magnum Photos Foundation

Shannon Ghannam is the Global Education Director at Magnum Photos, managing a team responsible for the celebrated agency’s educational programming globally, including the online learning platform Magnum Learn learn.magnumphotos.com and the Beyond Magnum series of lectures with curator Pauline Vermare. She is currently seconded to The Magnum Photos Foundation, the UK based foundation of Magnum Photos, with a remit of amplifying the positive social impact possible through the use of photography in the community. Previously she managed Content Strategy and Development at Reuters, working to showcase on multiple platforms the agency’s multimedia content. Shannon has collaborated on numerous photographic books, international exhibitions and multimedia projects including the Emmy award winning photojournalism app Reuters The Wider Image. Shannon has worked in various roles during a 20 year career including Screen Labs, Night Contact photography and multimedia festival, Australian Associated Press (AAP), “The Australian Photojournalist Journal”, The National Archives of Australia as well as developing a year long collaborative portraiture project with refugee communities for the Australian Red Cross. Shannon proudly comes from a working class background. She studied at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia where she graduated with First Class Honours in Photography.

Ben Bruges - Hasting Independent Press

Ben Bruges has worked as a teacher, trainer, videographer, video and audio editor, media trainer and TV producer.  Extensive experience teaching and training adults and children over four decades in English, literature, video production, communications, study support, dyslexia support, drama and media studies. In 2001 he set up a successful videography business that produced corporate, training and communication video for a wide range of clients and situations.

He produced, filmed, wrote and edited a film for UNESCO to promote and launch their Bamiyan Cultural Centre Architectural Competition, gaining over 20 thousand views; other clients included Logobrand, Unilever, Luxembourg Education Dept, NATS, BCB International, CfWI, Dentaprime, TalkPR (Saatchi&Saatchi), Aussie Hair Care, Company Magazine, Turquoise Mountain, Sidar, Lewisham Council, Net-Trade Price, UCE and more.

As part of a team he helped provide SIMPRESS to blue light services like the National Health Service, UK military, UK nuclear safety industry and NATO - providing interview skills, media awareness, media strategy development, media monitoring.

In Afghanistan he worked as producer and trainer, filming and editing TV spots for broadcast by the five major TV stations in Afghanistan. Helped oversee the development and shape of Afghanistan’s most popular soap opera. Trained camera operators, TV journalists and TV section generally in-house and externally within the public affairs community. Trained video production, public affairs, social media, TV and radio journalism to a wide range of Afghan outlets.

Ben lives and works in Hastings as a teacher and in IT support, is Features Editor and produces audio and video for Hastings Independent Press.

Anselm Ebulue - Lead Photography Tutor

Anselm is drawn to issues surrounding identity, memory, community, mental health and environmental space. He looks for inspiration in portraiture where he aims to convey sincerity and intimacy. Anselm is motivated by his personal experiences, using photography to communicate his perspective and pose questions. In 2019 he was awarded the Magnum Photos Intensive Documentary Scholarship and is a winner of the 2018 and 2020 Portrait of Britain Award. A regular contributor for The Guardian, Anselm has also just completed a MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at UAL.

A full list of local, national and international guest speakers on the programme will be shared closer to the time. 

Every small contribution will have a huge impact and we thank you for your generous support at this time!

This project successfully funded on 12th January 2023