Editor, Journalism Mentoring Programme

The organisation

At the Thomson Reuters Foundation we stand for free, independent journalism, human rights, women's empowerment and the rule of law. We expose corruption worldwide and play a leading role in the global fight against human trafficking. We use the skills, values, and expertise of Thomson Reuters to run programmes that trigger real change and empower people around the world. We tackle global issues. We achieve lasting impact.

With over 70 staff members around the world and offices in 10 locations across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe, the Foundation has quickly become a point of reference in the corporate philanthropic world.

Some of our high profile initiatives include:

• Media Development - for the past 30 years we have been training journalists and media professionals, improving the standards of journalism around the world. We also build platforms for independent journalism like Aswat Masriya, an independent and unbiased political news website launched in Egypt in 2011.
• Under-reported stories - our growing team of journalists covers the stories other media won't cover with an emphasis on humanitarian relief, corruption, women’s rights and climate change.
• Free legal assistance - TrustLaw is the world’s leading service providing free legal assistance to NGOs and social enterprise. The network boasts 1,600 members, including 1,700 NGOs and social enterprises, 380 law firms and corporate legal teams, and more than 100,000 lawyers.
• Trust Women - an influential international conference to take action by putting the rule of law behind women’s rights. Every year Trust Women forges new strategic commitments to help women to know and defend their rights.

The role

The Foundation's Media Development team is running a range of programmes that engage hundreds of journalists from around the world each year. They receive practical training and guidance to help them produce high quality stories and investigations on diverse topics including business and finance, tax evasion, extractives, health, elections, and the impact of climate change.

Across our programmes, selected journalists receive one-to-one mentoring to help them produce specific stories and investigations and get them published – both in their own media outlets, and potentially on international platforms, such as the Thomson Reuters Foundation's news service trust.org. Mentors are drawn from our network of experts and consultants and work with their mentees for a period of weeks or months, depending on the scope of the story being reported.

We are looking for someone to oversee this mentoring process across our programmes. We wish to engage a consultant on a freelance basis, working an average of two days per week. The engagement would last until the end of 2015, with the possibility of extension.

Key responsibilities

• Review story/investigation proposals from participating journalists, providing feedback where necessary, and identifying most viable ideas
• Matching journalists with mentors (with input from the Media Development team)
• Make connections between journalists covering similar stories in different places – opening up the possibility of cross-border collaboration
• Monitor the progress of stories and investigations
• Respond to specific editorial/ethical queries from mentors, drawing on the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles
• Support the community of mentors by providing guidance on how they can best work with their mentees, circulating useful tools for reporting/communicating etc. (This may be done through a Facebook group or equivalent, and regular conference calls with mentors)
• Work with mentors to ensure stories are good quality, and with trust.org editors to prepare best stories for publication
• Look out for, and share, major developments or story leads on specific topics (such as those listed above)

Requirements

We are looking for:

• A journalist or editor with at least five years' experience; you must have the ability and enthusiasm to engage with a broad range of topics
• Someone with knowledge of Thomson Reuters editorial standards and the Trust Principles; a background in Reuters News is therefore a strong advantage
• Someone who can engage with mentors and journalists from a variety of cultures and backgrounds

Fluent English is a necessity. We are keen to hear from people with other languages as well, particularly French, Arabic, Spanish, Russian or Portuguese.

This role can be performed anywhere in the world with a good internet connection. We do not require the work to take place on specific days of the week.

Compensation

A consultancy rate will be agreed for the successful candidate.

To apply

Please email TRFmedia@thomsonreuters.com with your CV and a concise explanation of how your experience matches the role.