Media companies have been challenged to help raise £500,000 a year to help journalists from disadvantaged backgrounds with their training.

The National Council for the Training of Journalists has launched a campaign to raise the annual value of the Journalism Diversity Fund to half a million pounds.

The NCTJ is marking 15 years of the JDF, which has supported 347 people from diverse backgrounds through journlism training.

The fund is currently supported financially by NLA media access, Google News Initiative, Associated Newspapers, BBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Newsquest, PA Media, The Printing Charity, Reach plc, Reuters and Sky.

NCTJ chief executive Joanne Butcher, pictured, said: “In recent years, thanks to our generous sponsors, we have been able to support an increasing number of deserving candidates through their training courses. But we are at the point where demand will soon outrun supply.

“We are therefore hoping that media companies which do not at present offer their financial support to this tried and trusted scheme will come on board.

“We know there is a huge willingness within the sector to make the news media more diverse and more inclusive.

“The JDF, which helps to equip students with the industry-backed NCTJ diploma, is a really important means of achieving that.”

Last year, donations to the fund totalled £306k.

Olivia Tobin was a JDF recipient in 2016 and is now a senior reporter at the Liverpool Echo.

She said: “Every job I was looking at required you to have an NCTJ diploma, but I knew deep down there was no way I would be able to complete it because I couldn’t afford the fees.

“The JDF enabled me to complete an NCTJ course, for which I’m so glad. I’ve worked in four newsrooms, met other journalists and made lots of contacts across the industry through it.

“It also meant that I was head and shoulders above other people applying for the same jobs as me because I had shorthand and law training.

“I’m so proud to be a recipient of the JDF and hope it can go on to help more people. Experience has shown me that not all newsrooms are as diverse as they should be, and I hope this brilliant scheme can continue to help more people train.

“Journalism should be an industry that anyone can enter, no matter what their background.”