Jobs and Opps at BBC iPlayer, The V&A, The Scouts, Radio Exe and Many, Many More 🧊

Everything you should have on your list to apply for this week.

This weekend, I had a simply lovely time. On Friday, I cycled to see a friend and had a picnic in the park. Across the weekend, I swam in no less than three different outdoor pools, one of which included a very chill family of ducks. I stayed away in a hotel one night. I went to see the new Mario Bros. Movie (which I would largely describe as fine). I invited friends around, made pizzas from scratch, and won a round of Articulate. It felt like a mini-holiday.

A few of the pools I swam in this weekend.

I’ve spoken a lot about the struggle of working in and funding independent journalism of late, but it does come with its perks. Outside traditional newsroom structures and the pressure of breaking news, Bank Holidays actually happen on the days they’re meant to. It doesn’t matter what hits the headlines once I’ve clocked off — it’s just me and the ducks in a very chilly pool. To me, Bank Holidays give a window into what work should be like, for all of us, every single week.

I passionately believe in the four-day week campaign. On the whiteboard that sits next to my desk, one of my biggest medium-term goals for Journo Resources is to make this a reality for our tiny team. I want to give us the space to breathe, the opportunity to dream up more creative ideas, and, most of all, the work/life balance we all deserve. For us and other independent media, it’s a question of finding the money. For legacy media, it’s a question of stubborn inaction.

For all the thousands of column inches and headlines devoted to the four-day week in the past year, precious few news organisations are willing to walk the walk. The peerless gal-dem was trialling a four-day week before their closure, while Prism over the USA made their trial permanent in 2022. That’s basically it. VICE UK rejected union demands for a trial last year, while a Press Gazette search throws little else up. While our industry happily gives a platform to progressive voices, it rarely inspects its own structures or makes changes.

As journalists, often working under intense pressure, covering traumatic subjects, and on unsociable shifts, we deserve better. Newsroom leaders need to properly examine the values they stand for — and move towards tangible real-world change. For the rest of us, it’s important to know it is possible. Even if we can’t see it reflected elsewhere yet, that doesn’t mean we can’t push towards a better, more equitable industry.

Every Month, We Need to Raise £6,000 Just To Keep Going

We’ll be honest, sometimes it feels like an endless and thankless task. While £6,000 might seem like a huge amount of money to spend, when you stretch it across our staff team of five, things quickly start to run out. At Journo Resources, we’re entirely independent — we sadly don’t know any rich people. If you can, a small donation of just £4 a month makes a huge difference to what we’re able to do — and allows us to keep creating all of our free resources.

• 🚨 Ignore the site bug on this — I will one day get this fixed when we have some money to spare — this job closes today. Apply now to be the next broadcast journalist at FITV, where you get to spend your lunch break with penguins! Read our interview with someone previously on the scheme here. It pays £18,000pa, plus your flights are covered and accommodation is subsidised.

• Law.com International is advertising for a reporter to work on daily stories and long-term features around the legal industry. It’s a great beat to kick off your career with and you’ll be paid up to £24,000pa.

• The rad Scotland traineeship is now open. It’s for people who want to break into television production and offers an eight-month paid placement as either a researcher, edit assistant, or production assistant. You’ll be paid £10.90ph.

• 🚨 Also closing this week — there’s a broadcast journalist role for a trainee at United Christian Broadcasters. You’ll be paid £22–23,000pa and will learn about writing for radio, social media, media law, and the Ofcom code.

• South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is looking for a communications assistant to focus on digital and social media to tell the stories of their staff and the people they care for. Pays £26,618–28,065pa.

• The Victoria and Albert Museum is hiring for two communications assistant apprenticeships, to work on PR, digital comms, and broadcast and filming. It pays £22,370pa — and we’d also recommend visiting their current exhibit on musicals!

• Radio Exe has an advert up for local democracy reporters, holding the democratic institutions of Devon to account. They’re paying £25,000pa — and, fun fact, I grew up in Exmouth until I was seven!

• There’s a junior journalist job here with a recruiter, it says it’s in the B2B space. Pays a salary of up to £30,00, which is pretty baller for entry-level.

• 🕑 Tate Gallery is looking for an editorial assistant to work with their editor on the production of Tate Etc. and Tate Guide, both in print and online. If you’re looking to get into arts journalism this is a great first gig and pays £24,501pa FTE.

• And, finally, Adventure Bike Rider Magazine and Wired For Adventure are looking for a staff writer to work on travel content. You’ll be paid £20–25,000pa DOE.

• The British Heart Foundation is looking for a health content creator to writw articles, newsletters, leaflets and more. You’ll focus on content that helps people with heart conditions tell their stories and will be paid £27–30,000pa.

• 🚨 Last chance to apply for the crime and court reporter role at The Swindon Advertiser. You’ll be spending a lot of time covering the courses and developing key relationships. It pays up to £25,000pa.

• The Scouts need a social media coordinator to help build their online communities. You’ll be paid £26,918pa.

• 🏡 The team at reNEWS has a vacancy for a journalist to cover offshore wind. It’s a fascinating beat, you don’t need any experience, and they’re keen to hear from people at all levels of experience. Pays up to £40,000pa.

• There are a couple of interesting jobs this week at BBC iPlayer, who are looking to bulk out platform-specific news on the app. There’s a role for both a journalist (Band C, £25,670–50,313pa) and a senior journalist (Band D, £36,195–64,688pa).

• 🏡 🕑 CryptoGamblingNews.com needs a social media and community manager to lead their community, looking after Discord, Twitter, and more. They’re paying up to £30,000pa and are open to it being full- or part-time.

• A B2B publication that focuses on the maritime industry is looking for a senior journalist to write, sub-edit, and research. They’re looking for at least two years of experience, and are paying up to £27,000pa.

• Pharmaceutical Journal needs a senior clinical reporter to work across news and analysis in the sector. The requirements actually look pretty chill, and it pays £35–40,000pa.

• The Royal Horticultural Society is looking for a gardens content editor to cover a maternity contract. It sounds like such a dreamy job to write about plants and it pays £28,000pa.

• And, finally, there are two assistant producer jobs open at the BBC this week. One is with BBC Cymru Wales Sport, working on live rugby and football programmes. The other is with BBC Radio 2 on the new Vernon Kay show. Both pay £25,670–50,313pa.

• The Royal Horticultural Society is hiring a senior digital content editor to oversee the daily flow of content on their website, with a focus on SEO and analytics. They’re paying £40–45,000pa.

• Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is in need of a head of digital content to help shape a new digital content team and bring in colleagues across the museum. They’re paying £40–50,000pa.

• This is a content writer gig based in Canary Wharf, working on marketing for a brand. If you can get over the soulless hellscape of the city, it pays up to £45,000pa.

• There’s also one here for an investment writer, editing commentaries, adapting and tailoring existing content, and working with teams across the globe. It pays £50–60,000pa.

• 🌍 Sentient Media is looking for a social media manager. It’s remote, as long as you can work hours that fit with East Coast USA. They’re a non-profit journalism organisation that wants to change the conversation around animals and are paying up to US$48,000pa.

• 🚨🏡 Last call for freelance journalists for Law.com International. They’re looking for great journalists in all locations to write news stories and conduct interviews. Pays US$0.40 per word.

• John at The Quietus is looking for Reissue of the Week essays on Codeine and Liars (Sisterworld). I don’t understand a word of what I just typed, but if you do, all the info is this way.

• 🚨 An urgent one from The Solutions Journalism Network — Nina Fasciaux is looking for a solutions journalist to do some interviews tomorrow.

• The New York Times’ style section has just put together a guide on how to pitch. There are also tonnes of examples of what they’re looking for.

• New Lines Magazine focuses on the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia and is looking for pitches on the theme of Peripheries. Details from Danny Postel.

• BuzzFeed News is taking pitches for their entertainment section — so everything from culture conventions to your favourite TV shows.

• Paul Murphy is looking for pitches on Wario for a new book. Pays £100.

• MIT Technology Review is open to pitches for its next issue on the theme of ethics. Pays US$1-2 per word and has a deadline of April 20 to get in touch.

• Ian Tucker from The Observer is in need of pitches that could run on their science and tech pages, typically features of about 1,700 words. Pays £361 per thousand words.

• Metro.co.uk is advertising for freelance social media video producers to work shifts creating content for TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter.

• Reader’s Digest is on the hunt for freelancers to write for their home section.

• OK Magazine need people for shifts in April, with a focus on entertainment, the Royal Family, and digital news. Get in touch with Kelby.

• Finally, People of Colour in Tech (POCIT) is looking for stories from Black and Latine folk. Pay starts at US$100 for short essays.

• Just over a week left to apply for the RPS Young Classical Writers Prize. Anyone aged 16 to 25 who wants to write about classical music can apply. The first prize is £500 and the opportunity to write a short article for a significant publication.

• 🚨 The Edinburgh TV Festival’s Ones To Watch List closes for entries on Friday at 10am. If you get on the list, you’ll take part in a week-long programme of career development and get a pass for the TV festival.

• 🚨 Tomorrow is the deadline for The Evening Standard Stories Competition. They want you to explore the theme of belonging in 1,000 words in any way you like. You’ll win a masterclass with their stories editor, one year of mentorship, and the chance to perform your story at their stories festival.

• Experienced health and science journalists can apply for a HIV/AIDS reporting fellowship with The Internews Health Journalism Network. You’ll get US$1,000 each to report on a story as well as training and mentoring sessions.

• The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications are open for global applications. They’re looking for creative, original work and there is a range of categories. There are top prizes of US$40,000.

• 🚨 Next Monday is the deadline for The Orwell Society/NUJ Young Journalist’s Award 2023. Send either an arts review or a political piece. The winners will receive a prize of £1,500 and membership to The Orwell Society.

• The New Media Incubator, from the International Press Institute, is open for entries, offering up to €15,000 of funding. It’s for media entrepreneurs developing creative new business models and products.

• The next round of Flashlight grants is open, offering US$500–1,000 for freelance investigative journalists. You can find out more info here.

• The inaugural Freelance Journalism Awards, run by Freelancing for Journalists, are open! There are seven categories, each with a £100 prize.

• 🚨 Submissions to the AGU Journalism Awards close tomorrow, so send your science stories in ASAP.

• And, finally, Breakthrough x Black Ballad have teamed up to run a mentoring programme for Black women who aspire to be published authors. You’ll get mentoring sessions and a tutorial with a literary agent.

• Ever wondered what it’s like studying for your NCTJ remotely and if it could work for you? We spoke to some students on News Associates’ first-ever remote learning course to give you the low-down.

• Zesha Saleem writes for us about how to get your first professional byline while you’re still studying, packed with hints and advice.

Every Month, We Need to Raise £6,000 Just To Keep Going

We’ll be honest, sometimes it feels like an endless and thankless task. While £6,000 might seem like a huge amount of money to spend, when you stretch it across our staff team of five, things quickly start to run out. At Journo Resources, we’re entirely independent — we sadly don’t know any rich people. If you can, a small donation of just £4 a month makes a huge difference to what we’re able to do — and allows us to keep creating all of our free resources.