A church in Kent is hiring a full-time journalist to help “build community life” after a survey of parishioners found a demand for local news and communication.
St Margaret’s in Rainham has advertised for a “multi-skilled qualified journalist” to produce a mix of community and church-based news. The successful applicant will be paid a salary of £20,000 a year.
The advert for the post of community journalist says: “For thousands of years, it is storytelling which has kept communities together. Now, more than ever before we need someone like you to tell our stories so that we might stay together even when physically we are apart.
“Whether it’s telling the story of the local fish shop, how the restaurant owners are coping whilst shut or the history behind The Oast House and what it’s doing now – we want a multi-skilled, qualified journalist to join our staff team as soon as possible.
“Half of the stories you produce will focus on the local community – its people and groups, schools and new housing. The other half will focus on telling the story of the church, its people, purpose and history … We believe this is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference in a local community through serious journalism.”
Nathan Ward, the vicar of St Margaret’s, said he believed the appointment was “revolutionary”.
“Sadly in recent years local journalism has been under increasing pressures which reduce the amount of truly ‘local content’. As a church we want to step into this gap.”
A community survey had identified a thirst for local news “as a way of dealing with the lockdown”, he added.
“We know that there are some fantastic things going on in Rainham which we need to celebrate and also some real challenges which people are facing and overcoming every day. The lockdown period has taught us a huge amount about our community and for us the importance of staying in touch with people is crucial.”
Simon Burton Jones, the bishop of Tonbridge, said: “The shrinkage in local journalism as advertising gravitates online is already having really important consequences at community level. As local papers disappear … their long-standing and important links with their communities can be lost. Online alternatives like clickbait, lists, gossip and the like are no substitute for real journalism.
“The lack of local journalism also brings a lack of scrutiny,” he added, citing the Grenfell Tower fire where residents’ concerns about the building had not been picked up by the mainstream media.
