Global Voices (GV) seeks a NewsFrames – Rising Voices Community Lead to coordinate a new series of GV stories related to the representation of marginalized communities in media coverage.
The NewsFrames – Rising Voices collaboration
This collaboration seeks to combine the objectives of two GV initiatives: Rising Voices and NewsFrames. Through this collaboration, we’ll try to apply the tools and skills of data analysis to the issue of representation of marginalized communities in mainstream and social media.
Rising Voices (RV), the outreach initiative of Global Voices, works to support marginalized and underrepresented communities wanting to tell their own stories using online tools by providing training, resources, microgrant funding, and mentoring.
NewsFrames (NF) is an initiative that addresses questions that have long been important to the GV community: issues of media biases, or how and why certain stories are covered as opposed to others (more about NewsFrames can be found here [1]).
What will the Community Lead do?
In collaboration with the RV and NF teams, the Rising Voices Community Lead will be responsible for managing the production of stories and promoting the project among potential communities and groups, with a special emphasis during this first phase of the project on indigenous communities in Latin America. Responsibilities will or will likely include:
- Developing stories related to NewsFrames investigations, including writing, assisting others to develop ideas, editing, and publishing online;
- Promotion of the project to potential communities for participation and coordination of community contributions to investigations
- Conducting research on new sources and story ideas related to marginalized communities in conjunction with the RV/NF teams;
- Documenting project processes in how-to guides, and assisting with the production of other kinds of documentation;
- Weekly/bi-weekly meetings with NF and RV Directors and other team members to report on progress;
- Sharing news and information about the project with the Global Voices community, through channels, such as WhatsApp, Google Groups and the Community Blog; and
- Offering support, including recruitment and editing, to volunteer authors who produce online content related to marginalized voices and media representation.
The Lead reports to the NewsFrames Director, and will also collaborate closely with the Rising Voices Director. The Lead will also work closely with other members of the GV community, including newsroom, regional and language editors, and volunteer authors.
This is a part-time level of effort role, to be compensated at the GV editorial range. The position will ideally begin no later than late February and last for a period of six months, with the possibility of extension. Strong candidates are likely to:
- Have exceptional writing skills;
- Have professional-level English and strong Spanish-language skills;
- Have experience working with marginalized communities;
- Have a sufficient level of computer literacy and technical skills to learn to use the MediaCloud toolset quickly;
- Have skill and experience with copy-editing;
- Be comfortable in loosely structured environments, and enjoy helping to define processes and policies;
- Be skilled in communicating as a member of distributed teams in a wholly virtual setting;
- Be a skilled and experienced online facilitator.
Previous experience writing or editing for Global Voices is a plus. Skills and expertise that will also help your consideration include an interest in or deep knowledge or experience in data analysis, as well as experience in research.
How to apply
If you are interested in applying, please submit your resume and short answers in English to these questions:
- How do you define what constitutes a “marginalized community”?
- What are some challenges you would expect to encounter in writing news stories about marginalized communities, and how would you overcome those challenges?
- What is it about the NewsFrames-Rising Voices Initiative and Community Lead role that appeals to you?
In order to be considered for the position, email your application to newsframes [at] globalvoices [dot] org by January 27 (11:59pm Eastern Standard Time) with this subject heading: “NewsFrames-Rising Voices Community Lead application”.
We are aiming for a start date of no later than late February. If you have any questions about the position, please feel free to direct them to the email address above.