Social Spider Community News is a growing group of social enterprise local newspapers based in north, east and central London – publishing high quality newspapers with and for local communities.

We are looking for a journalist to join our team as part of the BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The ideal candidate will be knowledgeable about and interested in the workings of local public bodies, focusing mainly on councils but also covering schools, the NHS and the police. Your job will be to hold power to account and keep local people informed about the decisions being taken on their behalf.

About the role

This is a full time, 35 hours per week role as Local Democracy Reporter for the London Boroughs of Barnet, Enfield and Haringey.

The role involves ensuring that local residents are kept informed and engaged with local democratic issues.

The reporter is responsible for providing reliable, fair, balanced, accurate and timely coverage of local democracy issues within Barnet, Enfield and Haringey.

The reporter will be based with community newspaper Enfield Dispatch at Social Spider CIC’s office at Nicholas House, River Front, Enfield, EN1 3TF.

Responsible to Editor-in-chief, Social Spider Community News

Key responsibilities

● Deliver strong content in a multimedia way daily, focusing on text but also providing images, audio and video where possible.
● Ensure agendas for councils and public bodies are scrutinised, identifying issues and stories which need to be brought to the public’s attention.
● Working with your content editor, identify which meetings need to be covered and reported
● Build strong contacts for story-gathering within local communities
● Ensure all content produced has suitable metadata attached
● Deliver live coverage as and when required

Purpose of the role

● To ensure that matters, decisions and issues relating to the public authorities are covered in a timely, impartial and audience-friendly way
● To generate multimedia content which engages the public and which meets all standards set by the partnership in terms of quality, impartiality, consistency and legal accuracy
● Be a public ambassador for the project and become a trusted source of news and information about the public authorities covered.

Person Specification

We are looking for a candidate who is familiar with North London and has:
● Good writing skills, up-to-date legal knowledge, shorthand proficiency (e.g. 100 wpm)
● National Qualification in Journalism (NQJ) (or similar) qualification, or a minimum of 2 years’ experience as a reporter in a daily news environment and/or working to daily news deadlines is highly desirable
● Excellent communicator on social media
● Excellent at working under pressure and identifying priorities
● Be familiar with digital tools and techniques across a range of mobile devices
● Strong understanding of working and processes within local government
● Demonstrable experience of delivering great ideas for content
● Strong contact-building skills
● Proficiency taking images, shooting video and gathering audio

To Apply

If you are interested in this role, please email a CV, a short covering letter outlining your interest and relevant experience to david@socialspider.com

The closing date for expressions of interest is Friday November 10th 2023. Interviews will take place from Monday 13th November 2023.

Please mention Journo Resources when you apply! It really helps us out.

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About Enfield Dispatch
Enfield Dispatch is the borough’s free community newspaper. Launched in October 2018, we are a not-for-profit publication that exists to hold authority to account and offer a platform enabling local people to highlight what matters to them.

About Social Spider Community News
Social Spider Community News is part of Social Spider CIC, a not-for-profit social enterprise that publishes five community newspapers – Waltham Forest Echo, Haringey Community Press, Enfield Dispatch, Newham Voices, Barnet Post and EC1 Echo.