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School leaver, 16, starts journalism career after new jobs created

Iona MadonaldA 16-year-old school leaver is among the latest cohort of journalists to have started their regional press careers thanks to Facebook funding.

Iona MacDonald has joined Highland News and Media, where she will cover rural communities for the Ross-shire Journal, Northern Times and Caithness Courier and John O’Groat Journal.

Iona, pictured, has taken up her new role as a result of an expansion of the NCTJ-administered Community News Project, which has led to 14 new partner publishers taking on a total of 18 trainee reporters.

The new recruits have been taken on by regional newsrooms to cover underserved communities across the country following an increase in funding for the project, which was launched in 2018, by Facebook’s owner Meta.

Iona, who has joined HNM after recently completing her exams at Ullapool High School, said: “My patch is pretty rural with lots of small villages but there’s a lot going on, especially tourism, though I think a lot of it is often missed because it’s so rural. It’s exciting to have these areas more recognised in the media.

“Because I am from the area, there’s a lot of people I know or vaguely know but may not have spoken to them in a professional way. I will use that to my benefit.

“I am really looking forward to giving a voice to people and showing all the different things that are going on.”

Iona will start training for her NCTJ diploma as part of the scheme with Glasgow Clyde College in August.

John Davidson, content and commercial editor at HNM, said: “We are delighted to have recruited Iona into the role of trainee community reporter covering the north-west Highlands.

“Her enthusiasm shone through during the whole recruitment process and she has great potential to develop her skills with the excellent training and support on offer through the NCTJ and Meta, as well as through in-house support and training.

“The communities in the North-West deserve to have greater coverage and we are embracing this opportunity to give them a voice, and at the same time improve the digital offering we provide via our websites and app.”

Other independent newspapers to have benefitted from the project’s expansion include Wokingham Today and the Henley Standard.

The former has taken on 26-year-old biomedical sciences graduate Ji-Min Lee, while ex-history student Albert Tait, 20, has joined the latter.

Both will undertake remote training with Darlington College every Friday.