Why the Happy Journalist?
I have always believed journalism is a force for good. Telling the stories that matter with trust and integrity underpins communities, supports democracy and can change lives. And I’m optimistic that local journalism has a bright future in an AI era, providing it has people, planet and purpose at its core.
🫂People - not just understanding audiences, but building, supporting, championing and empowering communities by being relevant, trusted and making a difference to people’s lives. Human-generated content created by diverse and inclusive newsrooms who reflect diverse audiences.
🌏Planet - climate is the biggest issue of this and future generations and yet it’s rarely top of the priority list for newsrooms. Changing the culture so climate becomes a priority, media organisations look at their own practices but also more effectively use their audience reach and storytelling powers to positively influence human behaviours and government policy?
⭐Purpose - in a world where news avoidance is growing, journalism needs to have a strong purpose, be focused on solutions rather than issues and be designed to have a positive social impact.
🤖 AI - learning, understanding and experimenting with generative AI is crucial as it has the potential to influence every part of journalism. But instead of dehumanising storytelling, how can we use it to make journalism more relevant, more representative, more useful and more connected to audiences? How can it help to enhance and sustain quality journalism?
🏆 Impact - it’s got to be measured. How can we best measure the positive social impact of good journalism to make a better case for the support needed from audiences, investors and public bodies to ensure its future sustainability?
Through a series of experiments, interviews and examples of newsroom innovation, I aim to showcase the best of journalism sustainability and address how new technology can be used to positive effect, to enhance and sustain quality journalism.
About me
I am an award-winning journalist and digital leader with more than 20 years experience in regional and national news in the UK. Most recently, I was Discovery Director for Reach Plc, Britain’s largest commercial news publisher, working across more than 50 regional news sites to develop new audiences and increase search traffic through SEO.
I am passionate about journalism sustainability, believing strongly that good journalism has a positive impact on the communities it serves. In 2009 I was appointed the first female editor of The Cornishman and have edited numerous newspapers and websites since, ultimately leading a team of 130 digital journalists across the South West.
Named leader of the year by Google Squared Online in 2016, I appointed the first ever happiness correspondent in a UK newsroom as launch editor of CornwallLive. I was co-chair of Reach’s first inclusion network for gender equality and recently launched a colleague network bringing together people invested in environmental sustainability and social impact.
I led some of the first experiments using generative AI in local newsrooms, integrating the technology into a project exploring new techniques and revenue streams to sustain local journalism.
I’m now taking some time to research AI, climate and social impact on journalism while pursuing my MA in Journalism Leadership and Innovation at UCLan.
Why subscribe?
Each week I’ll provide quick tips and shareable insights from a new set of experiments with AI tools, as well as taking a look at the latest news and developments in the industry.
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