Journo Resources is proud to a be a business for social good. Our reason for existing is to help diversify the media industry, and that guides everything we do. Here’s how we put it into practice.
As an organisation committed to transparency, we want to set ourselves high standards. This includes our pledges to:
- Ensure all our content is accessible to everyone, with no financial barriers
- Provide yearly, plain English updates on our finances and growth
- Pay all those who work on the site fairly for their time
- Only advertise jobs which list a salary openly
- Always include both a woman and a person of colour on any panels/events we run
- Maintain the highest possible editorial standards in our journalism and wider work
- Strive to always reach out to underrepresented communities and showcase their voices
We’re always open to feedback on what we can be doing better. If you have questions or suggestions on what we should or could be doing drop us a line. Want to know more? You can take a deep dive below.
Editorial Policy
Journo Resources always aims for the highest possible editorial standards – we want our work to be the best it possibly can be, so it can help as many people as possible. When commissioning and writing new content for the website it must pass the following key tests:
- Will this content provide practical takeaways for readers?
- Will this content help uplift underrepresented communities?
- Is this idea original, or does it have a fresh take?
- Does this content provide an in-depth insight into an issue?
Across all our editorial work we follow the rigorous standards set down by our regulator IMPRESS. The same rules apply whether you’re reading our content on the website, on social media, or in our weekly newsletter. You can see the full details of the code here, with the main points to our work being:
- Accuracy: We strive for our content to be factually correct. We fact check everything before we publish, and will quickly correct any errors that do slip through. As part of our commitment to transparency, we’ll make sure any amendments are clearly labelled and given due prominence.
- Attribution: In any occasion where we use quotes or material from another source, this will be clearly signposted and linked to the original. Where using other sources we will be pointing to them, not using their work for our own gain – we want to lift up others.
- Discrimination: Our content is designed to lift people up, not knock them down. We won’t make any reference to characteristics such as disability, mental health, gender reassignment or identity, pregnancy, race, religion or sexual orientation unless it’s relevant to the story.
In addition, we also aim to follow best practice guidelines set by the Samaritans, GLAAD’s media guidelines and the Mental Health Media Charter.
The Way We Work
As a small team, we have to use our resources to the best of our ability, but that doesn’t mean compromising on quality. Each piece of content starts with the creator – whether that’s the person writing the tweets, the newsletter, or an article, we expect them to complete the task to the best of their ability. We expect them to:
- Conduct their own original research and interviews where possible – we prefer phone interviews over written communications where possible.
- Clearly signpost any material from other sources with a link to the original source.
- Fact check any claims included in the piece, whether written themselves, or as a quote from others.
- To always seek a diverse range of voices to go in the piece – we want a varied field of experts and interviewees.
All work will then be passed to a senior editor to be checked for spelling, accuracy, and value, before it is published. Additionally, work will be checked by an experienced sub-editor, either before or shortly after publication to iron out any rouge mistakes.
Complaints
If you have a complaint or see an inaccuracy, please get in touch so we can fix it and improve in the future. You can see the full details of our complaints and whistleblower policy here, but the long and short of it is to drop us an email on hello@journoresources.org.uk.
Make sure to include your name, address, email, and phone number and you’ll receive an acknowledgement within seven days and a resolution within 21 days – we’ll aim to address this sooner in may cases. We recommend reading our full complaints guidelines here before you submit a complaint.
We’ll always make sure to correct the complaint transparently too – if needs be, we’ll correct it with due prominence, or add a note to the content in question to explain any changes. If you’re not satisfied with our answer, there are provisions within our guidelines to escalate this with our regulator, IMPRESS.
Diversity Policy
Journo Resources is committed to improving diversity in the media – we believe it’s vital that the media represents the people it serves. This principle guides us in every part of the organisation.
Employment & Freelancers
When hiring for either staff or freelancers, we want our team to reflect the diversity we strive for. When looking at applications we do not look at any characteristics other than your ability to do the job. This means we won’t be looking at your age, gender, race, religion, disability, or anything else. However, we know this alone is not enough.
When hiring, we pledge to:
- Outreach to organisations of groups which are under-represented to seek feedback and encourage applications
- Create inclusive applications processes. We won’t ask for lengthy tests or tasks – short and concise is our aim
- To give personal feedback to every applicant or freelance pitch, as far as possible
- Clearly state the salary, hours of work and any other details of the job in the initial advert
- Offer staff and freelancers a flexible working environment, with regular reviews and opportunities for progression
- To make as many reasonable adjustments as possible to support staff with particular needs
In addition to this we will undertake a yearly audit to look at the diversity within our staff and freelance workforce, putting in place practical measures to improve this where necessary.
Events
Events are a key part of what we do at Journo Resources – but they need to reflect the diversity we aim to bring about. We pledge to:
- Ensure all panels are gender balanced
- Ensure all panels include a person of colour
- We will also strive to represent other underrepresented areas such as class, disability, religion, sexuality or gender identity as much as possible
- Outreach to organisations from underrepresented groups and communities to offer access to events and ensure that no one is barred from attending events due to financial barriers
- To take all possible steps to make the event accessible to those with disabilities
Content
The content we create at Journo Resources is perhaps our biggest asset, so it’s vital it represents the people who are reading it. Our commitment to diversity means we’ll:
- Follow all best practice on reporting from underrepresented groups themselves, such as GLAAD’s media guidelines and the Mental Health Media Charter
- Actively promote the work of those from underrepresented groups – we want to be interviewing and showcasing people from a wide range of backgrounds and this goes across all our sources
- To use imagery that depicts a wide range people in all situations – we want to positively showcase a range of people
- To undertake a yearly audit of our freelance writers, taking practical outreach steps to address any imbalances
- To positively reach out to underrepresented groups to ensure access to our content
Transparency Statement
Journo Resources aims to be open and accountable to our users, readers, contributors, employees, sponsors, and other interested parties. We want to make information about us as easy to find as possible, and encourage anyone with any additional questions or concerns about any aspect of our work to get in touch.
Our guiding principles are that we will:
- Provide open, accessible, and easy to access information about our accounts, expenditure, and other monetary matters,
- Make information available about our plans, policies, standards, and performance ,
- Make sure information is easy to find, relevant, accurate, and wherever possible self-explanatory,
- Always act lawfully and comply with any requirements set by our regulators,
- Respond to requests for additional information as much as is practicable.
In general, we publish the following documents on a regular basis:
- Annual accounts are available via Companies House. We also publish a TL;DR version in plain English each year.
- We publish an annual business report, which discusses the impact we have made during the last 12 months, and our future plans.