Back in December, we were delighted to announce Sofia Lewis as the recipient of our inaugural Cynefin Fellowship. As part of the fellowship, Sofia is spending a term at the Reuters Institute in Oxford, exploring the future of journalism alongside six other Fellows from around the world. This is the first in a series of blog posts Sofia will be sharing with us about her experience. This project has received support from the Welsh Government via Creative Wales.
As a journalist working in broadcast, it’s rare to get an opportunity to take a step back.
The demand of the daily news output – in my case, multiple television bulletins, a streaming service, social channels, and a news website – means that you’re constantly on a coffee-fuelled hunt for the next story.
And while it can be one of the most exciting and rewarding careers for that very reason, there’s a risk of being so focused on what’s next that you lose sight of why the storytelling matters in the first place.
I’m Sofia, a broadcast journalist working at ITV Wales in Cardiff.
I’ve been glued to news and current affairs for as long as I can remember – well before it was part of my job description. Yet growing up in Port Talbot, a small, industrial, working-class town, it often felt like the headlines about our community were shaped by those with little understanding about the realities of life there.
That disconnect played a major role in why I was first drawn to becoming a journalist – to have a stake in that narrative. I wanted to platform stories that mattered to communities like mine, communities that were underrepresented, and sometimes misrepresented, in the media.
But even when you’re armed with passion and persistence, landing that first break in journalism can be a struggle for many. Between low-paid and unpaid entry-level work, the demand for expensive master’s courses, and a stubbornly London-centric industry, people from working-class and lower income backgrounds still face significant barriers to getting work.
While I did manage to secure a spot on a competitive news traineeship and find success in my early career, the reality is that my own journalistic career trajectory remains an anomaly in the industry. That’s what fuels my interest in exploring which stories get to be told, and who gets to tell them.
They are big questions… but not so easy to unpack when a daily 6pm programme deadline is looming.
Which brings me back to that rare luxury – being able to stop and take stock.
This week, I’m getting ready to start a Journalism Fellowship at the Reuters Institute at the University of Oxford.
"I feel truly privileged to have the chance to hit pause on my busy day job and dig deeper into this topic: how socioeconomic background shapes who enters journalism and who advances within it – and what this means for the stories told across Wales."
Cynefin Fellow
I’ll be the very first Cynefin Fellow, a partnership between Inclusive Journalism Cymru and the Reuters Institute. The Fellowship gives a journalist working in Wales the opportunity to spend a term at Oxford exploring a project based on inclusion and innovation.
I feel truly privileged to have the chance to hit pause on my busy day job and dig deeper into this topic: how socioeconomic background shapes who enters journalism and who advances within it – and what this means for the stories told across Wales.
I’m going to be researching and discussing the future of journalism with a global cohort of journalist fellows, each of whom is grappling with similarly complex questions relating to the media industry in their own country.
The enormity of this opportunity isn’t lost on me – not least to be based at perhaps the most renowned educational institution in the world. On a personal level, it’s also a chance to reflect on how far I’ve come, and where I want to go next.
Most of all, I feel the responsibility of representing the Institute and the Fellowship keenly, as well as a sense of excitement in being able to shape my own learning and project.
It’s a timely topic to research. As Wales approaches May’s Senedd election, the media will play a central role in election coverage, including setting the agenda around key issues. It’s clear that robust public interest journalism that truly represents the audiences it serves is not just a nice-to-have – rather, it’s crucial for a healthy democracy.
But against the backdrop of an ever-competitive industry, how exactly can we work towards an inclusive and sustainable journalism industry in Wales that holds power to account?
I may not have all the answers by the end of my time at the Institute, but my aim is to further fuel that conversation – and make a contribution to lasting, positive change in the industry.
Sofia Ellen Lewis is a journalist from Port Talbot currently working at ITV Wales. You can follow her on LinkedIn and Instagram.
