Community News Reporter - Somerset

Do you care about what goes on around you, wish your community had a louder voice, and want to make a difference? Would you like to join a modern media business, first in its markets for local news and information?

Operating in some of the most beautiful locations in the United Kingdom, Tindle Newspapers Limited holds our communities together with valued local news, delivered in print and online.

Nobody understands our communities like we do. We are proud of our rich heritage, which has been built upon trust and created by belonging to and caring about the towns and villages our committed staff serve. We are at the heart of all things local, ensuring that our news and information is read by more people than ever before.

Working with the Community News Project, a partnership between Meta, local news publishers and the NCTJ, we are recruiting a community reporter for Wellington Weekly News and West Somerset Free Press to work from their West Somerset newsroom.

Previous journalism experience or education is not essential. We want people who, like us, are passionate about local news, care about their communities, and want to make a difference for people living in them.

We are keen to hear from people who believe they can make our newsrooms more representative of the communities they serve. Flexible arrangements will be considered for the right candidates.

About the role:

Your main role will be to engage with people in specific communities to identify and report on the news that matters to them. You will build and act as the point of contact for these people by engaging with and seeking out content either written by you or from members of those communities.

You will also receive industry-leading digital journalism training which you will then share into your newsrooms, as well as gold-standard NCTJ journalism training to become a fully trained journalist.

About you:

Your role would be to reconnect with the smaller communities outside Taunton and Wellington, reporting on vital issues ranging from the economy and education, to housing and the environment. In the ‘race-for-space’ relocation post-Covid, these areas need to ensure their voice is heard and their identities and sense of community are not lost.

In order to be considered, you need to have at least 5 GCSEs with Maths and English at a grade C or above (or equivalent). We welcome applicants who are currently doing a completely different job, and want to make a career change to become a journalist.

We are offering two routes into journalism as a result of this scheme:

For applicants with no previous NCTJ qualifications, we are offering training towards the Diploma in Journalism, the qualification that editors look for when hiring trainee-level journalists. Intensive training will be combined with on-the-job experience, reporting in local communities.

For applicants who already hold the Diploma in Journalism, there is the option to combine your CNP role with further, advanced training towards the NCTJ’s senior level qualification, the National Qualification in Journalism (NQJ), which marks the transition from junior to senior reporter.

Equal opportunities

We are committed to equal opportunity for all. We may collect relevant data for monitoring as part of our candidate registration process. We will be reviewing applications as they are received so, please don't delay in submitting your application.