Review of the Year 2024

“The Inclusive Journalism Cymru team are united by our belief that we can live in a place where everyone works to make things better for each other”. That’s the very first line of our Strategic Framework and, as we look back on 2024, I’m really proud of the work we’ve done to live out those principles.

We now have almost 320 members, which means our voice gets louder every day. It’s always been our aim to build a network that challenges the systemic barriers in our industry, by supporting you – our members –  to create individual and collective power. 

This year, we’ve done that by delivering research, partnerships, events and opportunities that we hope have contributed to that. Here are just a few of the things that we, and our members, have been working on over the past twelve months.

In partnership with Cardiff University’s Centre for the Creative Economy, we were commissioned by the Welsh Government to produce a report mapping the state of the journalism industry in Wales. Our director, Silvia Rose, led on the qualitative research for the project, and many of our members were involved in the interviews which informed the work.

In essence, the report found that neither the journalism industry itself, or the journalism that’s produced, reflect the full range of people and communities that make up Wales. It also highlighted the precarity of journalistic work, and the failure of current business models. The result of that is that almost a third of Welsh journalists are considering leaving the profession.

Sadly, most of that will not be surprising to those of us who work in the industry, but it’s important that we have the data so that we can properly understand the issues in the sector, and can inform and evaluate policy interventions – whether at government or industry level.

Clearly one answer to the challenges facing journalism is for the industry to be more accessible and inclusive, so that we’re telling the stories of everyone in Wales, not just a privileged few. Better recruitment is one part of that puzzle, and who better to explain what the industry needs to do, than those of us who are most often marginalised or excluded by journalism.

That’s why we were very proud to publish our Recruiting for Inclusion guide in July. The guide developed out of conversations at our Inclusive Media Development Lab last year and we were particularly pleased that it was led by members and that we could deliver it in partnership with Marine Furet and the Institute of Welsh Affairs.

Many of the things we suggest in the report are simple, and largely centre around basic respect and transparency. Sadly, not enough journalism organisations are meeting even that very low bar in their advertising, application, interviewing and employment processes.

That’s perhaps one of the reasons that the guide went slightly “viral”, being read and shared all over the world and we look forward to seeing the recommendations being implemented and delivering the transformation the industry so urgently needs.

We know that will take time, so until we get that change, we know that we’ll have to build it ourselves. That’s why we’re supporting some of our members to take on the role of Network Weavers, to lead their own projects and collectively inform everything we do.

Cheryl, Heledd, Kaja and Sheryl have already had a really important impact on our work, attending directors’ meetings, providing valuable feedback and holding us to account. We look forward to working with them over the coming months and sharing more as they develop their projects.

One of the things we’re proudest of at Inclusive Journalism Cymru is the development of our Members’ Blogs. It’s become a really vital and inspiring space, where members have made clear what they want and need from the industry, shared personal stories and experiences and delivered all that in beautiful and affecting writing.

It’s also where we’ve shared the articles from our successful partnership with QueerAF. We’re excited to say that we’ve renewed that partnership and so we’ll be offering more opportunities to get involved with that in the new year.

We’re always open to your ideas, and if you think you might like to write something for us then we’ve put together this handy guide to explain how it works and how you can get in touch.

We know that many of the deep seated problems in the journalism industry are failures of governance – whether that be the recruitment processes we’ve challenged in our inclusive recruitment guide, discriminatory HR policies, or simply the way news meetings are run. 

Governance can sound boring, but we believe that if you get governance right and your work has clear boundaries and policies, then everything else good flows from that.

That’s why, as a team, we’re committed to learning and implementing good governance. Shirish took part in the Transformational Governance Collective’s Power Shift Learning Journey and Silvia is taking part in their Community Value Exchange and Rising Arts Agency’s Caring Work Cultures Training. We think of this learning as an investment not just in Inclusive Journalism Cymru, but in our members too. We obviously hope to show care in all our interactions, and we’ll also be sharing some of the key lessons from that training in coming months, hoping it will be of value to all of us working towards more inclusive, effective and healthy working environments.

We’re already looking forward to our annual get together, which will bring together our AGM and a whole bunch of other fun stuff, including events and showcases led by our Network Weavers. We’ll update you with more info in the new year, but for now we’d love you to save the date for Saturday March 15th at The Sustainable Studio in Cardiff. Don’t worry if you’re not based in Cardiff though, we’re also planning events in west and north Wales where you’ll also get the chance to feed in to our work.

We’re super excited that some of that work could even be international. The success of our Inclusive Media Development Lab and Recruitment for Inclusion Guide have attracted interest from abroad, and we’ve been asked to explore the possibility of rolling them out across Europe. There’s a long way to go before any of that is confirmed, but we hope that even wider visibility (and hopefully more funding) will ultimately support us to support you, our members.

Inclusive Journalism Cymru is just a small team, doing this alongside our “day jobs”, so I’m really proud that we punch above our weight. That’s down to a lot of hard work, and I’m really glad that I get to work alongside Silvia and Damian, who show their enormous commitment and care every day. This is a great opportunity to give them my personal thanks.

It’s also a constant pleasure to work alongside our members. We’ve always wanted Inclusive Journalism Cymru to be member-led and it’s lovely that so many of you are taking the opportunity to get involved and contribute to the work we’re doing together.

I’ve been a journalist for almost 30 years. Sadly, very little has changed in the industry in that time. We have to be clear – it should never be the responsibility of the victims of discrimination and marginalisation to have to solve that problem.

We would be lying if we said that we haven’t felt deep frustration with the inertia in the Welsh Journalism industry, and its apparent inability to engage with the existential challenges it faces.

It’s long past time for the wider sector in Wales to step up, reflect, take responsibility and do the hard work required to build a journalism industry that’s genuinely fit for the future. If it doesn’t, then those who continue to block the kind of change we need run the risk of being the authors of their own demise, as trust collapses and journalism loses relevance.

We, and our members, stand ready to support the people and organisations genuinely committed to change. We will continue to call out those who aren’t.