Hello! We’re Journo Resources, a tiny, bootstrapped start-up based in the UK, trying to level the playing field with journalism and the media. We provide tools and resources that are free for everyone to use, run and attend events both online and IRL, and provide detailed and long-form advice for anyone that needs it. We’re also big on taking a moral stand – after all, you can’t create a change in the industry unless you make some fuss.
If you’d like to support our work, the best way to help is through our membership programme (which also gives you some fancy benefits as a massive thank you). Starting at just £6.99 a month, you’ll be helping to chance the face of the UK media industry, with every single penny going into making new resources.
Why We’re Doing This…
Journalism is not a diverse industry. A recent report by The Sutton Trust found that 51 per cent of leading journalists were educated privately, less than one in five went to a comprehensive and more than half went to Oxbridge. Just under 80 per cent of leading editors were educated privately.
Ninety-four per cent of journalists are white, and according to an investigation by City University and more than half are male. A State of the Nation Report also found that just 11 per cent of journalists are working class, compared to 60 per cent of the population.
Everyone should be able to break into journalism if they want too – our career choices shouldn’t be limited by our background. But it’s also bigger than that. How can the media represent the people it’s supposed to serve, if it’s not made up of people from those backgrounds. It’s inevitable we’ll miss the real stories, and large swathes of people won’t trust us.
So, we’re going back to the beginning, creating constructive and practical tools, advice, and resources to help people break into and progress in journalism.
What We’re Offering…
The tools we offer don’t exist elsewhere, and neither do our morals. We collect data on freelance rates and job salaries so people don’t get shortchanged when negotiating. We offer advice on how to pitch and templates on how to invoice or do your accounts and promote opportunities for free learning, and funding for education and reporting.
Our jobs board only advertises opportunities which list a salary range, and our events always have a practical takeaway – you won’t just see some people talking, you’ll also get a headshot done, or have your CV reviewed there and then. We put together the only complete list of journalism graduate schemes, awards, and mentoring, as well as compiling a fortnightly round-up of all the latest opportunities.
Amongst other things we also run a long-form advice clinic, with a new piece every week, answering all the questions you would ever need to know about a subject (well, we try…), and also go through our inbox at least once a week to personally answer all your questions.