Sunderland Echo and Shields Gazette launch search for two community reporters as part of Facebook partnership

The Community News Project (CNP) needs you. A partnership between Facebook, local news publishers and the National Council for the Training of Journalists, the CNP is creating 82 new community reporter roles around the UK.

In this area, the Sunderland Echo and Shields Gazette are looking to hire reporters to work from their newsrooms in Sunderland and South Shields.

Previous journalism experience or education is not essential. We want people who care about their communities and want to make a difference in local communities.

We’re especially keen to hear from people who believe they can help make our newsrooms more representative of the communities they serve.

Flexible arrangements will be considered for the right candidates. Successful candidates in their final year of journalism study will be able to start at the end of the academic course.

About the role:

Your main role will be to engage with people in specific communities to curate, collate and create content relevant to them. You will build and act as the point of contact for online communities 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 they will then share into your newsrooms, as well as the gold-standard NCTJ journalism training to become a fully-trained journalist.

About you:

You do need to have at least five GCSEs with Maths and English at a C or above (or equivalent).

We also welcome people who are 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 journalism experience or education, we are offering journalism apprenticeships, which combine intensive training with on-the-job experience in local communities.

For applicants with previous journalism experience or education, we are offering trainee community reporter roles, where support will be provided to gain the necessary NCTJ qualifications to become a senior reporter.

Example of salary and benefits:

This position is a two-year fixed contract.

In addition to your salary, JPIMedia offer 26 days paid annual leave, along with a number of flexible benefits such as bonus structures holiday purchase, childcare vouchers, and a cycle scheme.

We are committed to equal opportunities 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.

Details on how to apply:

If you feel this job is for you, please send your CV and covering letter, explaining why you’re the right person for the job, to:

Joy Yates, JPIMedia North East Editorial Director at [email protected]