LJMU Journalism’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion was recognised again this week as senior lecturer Polly Sharpe won a university award for her Community News Day project.
The initiative saw second year journalism students reporting from across the Liverpool city region, linking up with community centres including ‘Make It Happen’ (Birkenhead), Our House (Walton), The Big Onion (Bootle) and The Florrie (Toxteth).
Students reported live from these venues, supported by Polly and other members of our specialist technical team, telling stories that are often overlooked by the mainstream media. These included reports on mental health challenges in deprived communities; regeneration in Birkenhead and ‘social supermarkets’.
Polly, who worked at the BBC before bringing her expertise, was awarded the LJMU Faculty of Society and Culture Award for the project.
She said: “We wanted them [students] to understand the importance of building trust and reporting with empathy, whilst developing the confidence to approach people from a wide variety of different backgrounds.
“Receiving this award is testament to the hard-work and effort the students put into getting the most out of these newsdays and recognises the value of inclusive journalism.”
Students said that they gained valuable experience and understanding from taking part in the Community News Days. One responded: “It helped me be more of an inclusive journalist, as it gave the opportunity to platform voices who aren’t given that chance in regular news.” Another added: “It gave me the confidence to go to places I wouldn’t have thought to go for stories.”
The project has attracted interest from the national Broadcast Journalism Training Council.
Polly has helped lead the department’s award-winning EDI work for several years, including our mentoring partnership with journalism social mobility charity the John Schofield Trust.
In 2023, LJMU Journalism won the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award at the National Council for the Training of Journalists’ Awards for Excellence.
A year later, the department hosted a major national conference on EDI in journalism, bringing together industry, educators and students to talk about how to improve equality of opportunity within the media as well as better represent the whole of UK society in its reporting.
Howard Littler, director of the JST, said: “Polly has worked hard to ensure students who want a career in journalism but don’t have the family connections or finances to do unpaid work don’t give up on their dreams, by putting structured and well-researched initiatives in place. The outcomes her students have evidence how her work has changed lives.”
Dave Randles, programme leader for BA Sports Journalism, was also nominated in the academic leadership category of the faculty awards.