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meaningful social conversations to unfold at home, without fear of being judged in a professional context. The definition of mentoring is quite elusive, as it is often


used interchangeably with terms such as coaching, advising or sponsoring. Chances are that if you work in news, then you will have benefited at some point from a mentor – even if the relationship was not defined in that way.


Neil Griffiths, co-founder of mentoring charity Arts Emergency, says mentoring should be focused towards helping people achieve specific outcomes: “You have to have an end point, otherwise you’re not mentoring – you’re just hanging out. It also has to be really personal.” The charity prides itself on arranging personalised


mentoring experiences. Teenagers are interviewed and carefully matched with a mentor in industry, who attends a brief training session before supporting a young person for up to eight years. Griffiths started Arts Emergency with the comedian Josie Long in 2011, when it helped eight students in Hackney. Today, it supports more than 500 people across the UK.


He tells the story of a 15-year-old boy who lived in the north east and was matched with someone in Leeds. His mentor was the first person he had ever met who had been to university, and the contact helped to demystify journalism. After deciding that higher education was not for him, he applied for an apprenticeship with Sky, and was put in touch with another mentor in London when he achieved that position. Now he has a career as a digital producer, which is testimony to his focus and talent. However, these attributes are rarely enough; the various steps to success can seem overwhelming with no support from industry insiders. Potentially professionals have the power to counter another key factor affecting inequalities, which is self- elimination. The real magic of mentoring comes not from some do-good mentality but from passion for the job. In other words, it is from people who care about journalism and feel lucky to do it for a living. Griffiths says: “It isn’t forced as corporate responsibility, or built on the foundations of a fragile, ethical obligation, or the bottom-line desire to diversify in order to reach new markets. It’s just people sharing the joy for what they do.” Ultimately, you’re in TV because you love TV, or radio because you love radio. Above all, a journalistic natural


curiosity makes mentoring extremely rewarding, as it involves meeting people and sharing new experiences. Crellin argues that good journalists should always be open to challenging themselves. Her message to those who are curious about hosting an intern? Give it a try. Griffiths adds that spending time with young people can be immensely restorative: their hope and optimism is life affirming. “Not in a patronising sense,” he quickly adds. “It just washes away all of the rubbish.” For journalists feeling world weary of the news media right now, it might be just the antidote.


To find out how to get involved, visit: PressPad.co.uk Arts-emergency.org


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