Media Trust & News UK’s Reframing Disability Mentoring Programme
Media Trust and News UK have partnered to deliver this new mentoring programme for disabled talent within the media industry.
The newest iteration of our Reframing Disability mentoring helps to move the dial on the representation of disabled talent in roles in the UK news industry by matching 10 Disabled and/or Neurodivergent mentees at an entry-level or early career stage with 10 senior mentors from across News UK.
This programme continues our work to ensure the media and creative industry becomes more receptive to and representative of disabled talent, aligning with News UK’s newly established Disability Network, formed following the creation of the Disability & Journalism Forum in March 2022. A second conference is to run in December 2023 with News UK supporting again.
The mentoring programme harnesses the knowledge and skills of 10 inspiring senior mentors from across News UK’s brands to support the disabled journalistic talent. Mentors and mentees will be matched and work one-on-one throughout the six-month virtual programme. The experience will provide both mentees and mentors with personal and professional development opportunities. Mentees and mentors will be brought together for our monthly mentoring circles including webinars, panels, and skill-enhancement workshops, all co-produced by the mentee group.
Applications for the programme opened in mid-February, followed by a series of weekly group induction sessions in April and monthly mentoring meetings from May to September. This will culminate in a graduation celebration at the end of September.
APPLICATIONS FOR THE PROGRAMME ARE NOW CLOSED
If you are disabled and/or neurodivergent, at an entry-level or early career stage within news, and would like to express your interest in being mentored as part of a future programme please reach out to [email protected]
We are always looking for mentors for future programmes to support underrepresented creative industry talent. If you are interested, get in touch directly with [email protected].
Meet our matches
| Mentee | Mentor |
| Finley Chung | David Firth, SunSport Senior Production Editor, The Sun |
| Gavin Wilson | Felicity Cross, Deputy TV Editor, The Sun |
| Hamse Abdilahi | Emily Fairbairn, Associate Head of Features/Books Editor, The Sun |
| Josephine Fay | Lizzie Parry, Health Editor, The Sun |
| Mohammed Azeem | John Maclean, Deputy Chief Sub Editor, The Scottish Sun |
| Nick Ransom | Florence Leslie, Social Media and Platforms Journalist, The Times and The Sunday Times |
| Rensa Gaunt | Ben Dilks, Homepage Editor, The Times |
| Shakira Dyer | Thea Jacobs, Features, The Sun |
| Sonakshi Bhatnagar | James Brook, Agency Development Partner, News UK |
| Stephanie Anastasiou | Ryan Watts, Data Editor, The Times |
| Tayyibah Apabhai | Ellie O’Mahoney, Deputy Editor, Fabulous Magazine |
The structure and content of this programme will be adjusted for accessibility, including but not limited to, BSL interpretation, live captioning, resources in other formats etc. News UK & Media Trust are also offering bursaries to support mentees with any further personal access needs to participate in the programme. These could be the cost of caring cover if you have caring responsibilities or the cost of appropriate support if you have a physical or mental health condition. Since the programme will be delivered online, if you need financial assistance to pay for enhanced mobile/WiFi connectivity, headphones, webcams etc, please let us know.
In partnership with:
Our Corporate Partners
We enjoy outstanding support from the media industry. Our partners include:
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