In this newsletter
Industry news and trends
Latest content from independent media
Funding opportunities
Media jobs and opportunities
Updates on media policy and legislation
Diversity reading list
Practical tips and techniques
If you have a story to share, please email us at community@ima.press. We are excited to hear from you!
Industry news and trends
Workshop on Community Shares with New Internationalist. This workshop will explore how to run a community shares campaign in independent media, drawing from New Internationalist's success with their funding round. Book your spot
Independent News Forum 2023. PINF are designing a programme for the day of peer-to-peer conversation and coworking - lots of getting to know new people, small group conversations, crowdsourcing ideas and priorities and working together on issues you choose. Read more
Kyle Chronicle joins Scottish Beacon. The Scottish Beacon welcomes all independent community-based publications throughout Scotland. Read more
Latest content from independent media
Tackling Canada’s opioid crisis. As the country marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Karin Goodwin reports from Vancouver on how reconnecting with their Indigenous culture is helping women heal. Read more [New Internationalist]
Women call out gender pay gap and launch claim against city council. Thousands of women have launched a pay claim against Sheffield City Council. Read more [NADJA]
Large-scale study shows success of 20mph speed limit. A study by Edinburgh Napier University has shown that the rollout of 20mph speed limits across the Scottish Borders has reduced average speeds by 3mph. Read more [Rooftop News]
Embedding racism: a brief history of border violence. Ahead of The World Transformed, Siobhán McGuirk charts the development of UK borders and citizenship policies since the early 1900s. Read more [Red Pepper]
Lessons for those in government but not in power. The current president of Colombia (the first progressive one in the country's history) is facing, as he did even before taking office, all manner of attacks from the opposition ranks, determined to prevent him governing. Read more [The Prisma]
Funding opportunities
Professional Developmental Grants for Environmental Journalism. Supports environmental journalists by funding project ideas and facilitating training and education. €115,000 EUR grant. Closes 12 October. Read more
Investigation grants are available for environmental journalism. Journalismfund.eu is offering investigation grants for environmental journalism as part of its Earth Investigations Program. A total of EUR800,000 will be distributed among all supported investigations. Closes 26 October. Read more
Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award. The Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award offers talented writers needing financial support an opportunity to attend the Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavík, Iceland, in April 2024. Closes 31 October Read more
Media jobs and opportunities
Web Assistant, Morning Star. The Morning Star is the world's only English-language socialist daily, published six days a week. Apply
Partnerships Editor (Maternity Cover), Positive News. They are looking for an experienced editor to manage the delivery of their brand partnership service, through which they provide editorial coverage and promotion for purpose-driven organisations. Apply
Associate Editor, The Lincolnite. The Associate Editor will play a pivotal role in implementing editorial strategies to acquire new users and convert them into members, managing content creation and distribution, and ensuring the editorial staff's ongoing development. Apply
Updates on media policy and legislation
Russell Brand’s Rumble channel may benefit from press loophole in Online Safety Bill
The video platform Rumble appears to be close to benefiting from the “press loophole” in the Online Safety Bill which was lobbied for by national newspapers.
The Online Safety Bill was designed to hold social media platforms accountable for what their users post.
However, national newspapers successfully lobbied for a loophole in the bill which will prevent their content from facing any kind of remedial action on platforms.
Diversity reading list
An update on QueerAF
“At the beginning of last year, I wrote to you about the complexities of my disability, my health, and my fight with multiple organ transplants.
“Last week that took another complex and unexpected turn.
“I had very much planned to take the week off - and go on my first solo trip since surgery in November last year - hence the summer holigay edition of QueerAF you got.
“But that didn't happen. I had to travel from Cornwall to Cambridge for an emergency hospital admission instead, where I'm writing to you from today.”
Practical tips and techniques
Run your own Local Co-op Meetup. workers.coop outline key elements from what has worked best in their members’ experience, some practical things to consider as well as suggested formats for running the event. Read more
How To Tackle Writer’s Block And Find Your Creative Spark. Journalism involves a lot of idea generation — ideally completely original ones — and performing creatively under pressure is difficult. From Journo Resources. Read more
The AI Podcast Editor. After manually editing thousands of podcasts at Resonate Recordings, the team behind Resound built an internal tool to automate the process. Now they are perfecting that tool so we can share it with the world. Read more
Share your wins and successes
We want to hear about your achievements and successes in the independent media landscape. Share your stories with us at community@ima.press and inspire others with your journey.
Be featured in the newsletter
If you're working on an exciting project in the independent media industry and would like to be interviewed for our newsletter, get in touch with us at community@ima.press. We look forward to showcasing your work!