Projects designed to support and sustain Wales' journalism sector
have been awarded funding.
The Welsh Government has announced over £210,000 of investment,
through Creative Wales, to support the journalism industry in
Wales.
The investment has seen sector support provided through an open
fund to eight innovative projects designed to sustain Wales's
journalism sector,
The open fund, launched in June, invited proposals for projects
that benefited the sector broadly and addressed key challenges
identified by the 2023 report Of and For Wales: Towards a
Sustainable Future for Public Interest Journalism, which
looked at building a sustainable future for public interest
journalism.
The successful projects will tackle critical issues including
news gaps, diversity and inclusion, and workforce development.
They range from creating Wales' first searchable database of
magistrate's court cases to establishing journalism academies and
mentoring programmes for aspiring reporters from
under-represented communities.
Key funded projects include:
- Caerphilly Observer's Court List – an open-source, searchable
database eliminating the need for journalists to manually search
court records, addressing the growing news gap in court
reporting.
- Cardiff University project – research into understanding the
needs of media users in Wales.
- Golwg360 Newsgathering Academy – paid apprenticeships and
intensive training for four aspiring Welsh-language journalists
- Nation.Cymru's Future Generations programme – providing
mentoring, paid placements and commissions for emerging
journalists from under-represented communities.
- National Union of Journalists' State of Media in Wales
Conference – bringing together media organisations, workers and
policymakers to develop a sector-wide strategy.
- Inclusive Journalism Cymru's Newyddion i Bawb programme –
expanding community-led participatory journalism to Blaenau
Ffestiniog and establishing a Wales-focused Fellowship at the
Reuters Institute.
- Institute of Welsh Affairs' anthology project – commissioning
articles from Wales' news ‘deserts' with mentoring for new
entrants.
- Talking Wales – providing opportunities for freelance
journalists to contribute content to dedicated radio broadcast
covering Welsh news and current affairs
, Minister for Culture, said:
"A vibrant, sustainable journalism sector is essential for Welsh
democracy and our communities. These 8 projects represent exactly
the kind of innovative, collaborative thinking we need to address
the challenges facing journalism inwales.
"By investing in initiatives that benefit the entire sector,
we're supporting systemic change that will strengthen public
interest journalism for years to come. Whether it's creating new
training pathways, developing vital infrastructure like the Court
List database, or ensuring communities across Wales can access
quality, locally-relevant journalism, these projects will make a
real difference."
Shirish Kulkarni, project lead on Newyddion i Bawb programme,
said:
"This work will explore and evidence what marginalised people and
communities really want and need from journalism. We believe this
is a vital conversation for the future of journalism in Wales,
and we hope the insights it generates will benefit the sector as
a whole.”
Sofia Lewis, the Reuters Fellow, said:
"On a personal level, I was drawn to this opportunity
because my own career trajectory remains relatively uncommon –
and it drives my passion for forging new paths and improving
class representation in the Welsh, and UK-wide, media industry.
I'm eager to spark conversations and drive collaboration to help
tackle this issue.”
The Wales Public Interest Journalism Working Group was
established in late 2022 to facilitate discussion between
industry stakeholders and the Welsh Government. Its 2023
recommendation report outlined the actions required for a more
sustainable, inclusive journalism sector in Wales.
