The seven newly-advertised roles – now open for applications – form part of the Guardian’s long-term programme of restorative justice following the publication of the Scott Trust’s legacies of enslavement report in March
The Guardian has today announced it is recruiting several new editorial positions, including dedicated correspondents for the Caribbean, South America and Africa, and reporter roles in the UK and the US specialising in race, equity, community affairs, health and inequality.
The seven new roles aim to boost the scope and ambition of the Guardian’s coverage of underrepresented regions and communities, and come in response to research which found links between the founders of the Manchester Guardian and historical transatlantic slavery.
The roles are:
US senior reporter, race and equity covering race, identity and inequality for both US and international audiences, including stories on culture, health, education, social justice, politics, religion, education, and the legacies of American slavery. A second US reporter, race and equity will report across similar topics, while also prioritising ideas about Black communities in southern states, including the Gullah Geechee people (as identified in the Scott Trust’s research).
Three dedicated correspondent roles – a Caribbean correspondent, a South America correspondent and an Africa correspondent – each covering daily news and analysis, features, multimedia content and coverage for other non-news sections, particularly stories affecting African-descended populations.
A Manchester-based UK community affairs correspondent, focusing on Black, Asian and ethnic-minority populations and racial justice issues more widely, and a UK health and inequalities correspondent highlighting racial justice issues within the health industry, including the NHS.
Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media says:
“These new roles will further boost our coverage of underrepresented regions and communities all over the world, in North and South America, the Caribbean, the UK, and across Africa. They will be reporting on the urgent stories and issues that affect societies in those regions today, aiming to cover these populations in a depth and breadth rarely seen in the western media. I look forward to the positive changes that all these positions will make to the Guardian’s overall coverage.”
The new editorial roles are part of a broad range of restorative justice proposals that the Scott Trust intends to fund over the next decade, including community projects, fellowship programmes, the expansion of The Guardian Foundation’s journalism training bursary scheme, educational initiatives and research. The Guardian plans to open further editorial vacancies in the coming months, including editing and sub-editing roles.
The opening of this first set of editorial roles follows the recent appointment of Ebony Riddell Bamber as programme director of the Scott Trust’s legacies of enslavement project.
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Notes to editors
Guardian News & Media press office: media.enquiries@theguardian.com
About the Scott Trust
The core purpose of the Scott Trust is to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity. The Trust was originally created in 1936 to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of the Guardian, free from commercial or political interference.
The Trust was reconstituted in 1948 and in 2008 replaced with The Scott Trust Limited, a limited company with the same protections for the Guardian enshrined in its constitution. The Scott Trust is the sole shareholder in Guardian Media Group. Its profits are reinvested in journalism and do not benefit a proprietor or shareholders.
About the research
In March 2023, the Scott Trust published a comprehensive report on the Guardian’s historical connections with transatlantic slavery, sharing an apology and its restorative justice response. The research identified links between John Edward Taylor and the associates who funded the Manchester Guardian’s creation, and slavery. It was conducted in three stages – first by Dr Sheryllynne Haggerty and Dr Cassandra Gooptar of the University of Nottingham’s Institute for the Study of Slavery, and later by Dr Gooptar and Professor Trevor Burnard of the University of Hull’s Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation.
The academic research and restorative justice proposals were overseen by a committee of Scott Trust members: historian, writer and broadcaster David Olusoga, barrister and former deputy mayor of London Matthew Ryder KC, Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, and Scott Trust chair Ole Jacob Sunde; and by a team of Guardian editorial and commercial staff, led by: senior editor for diversity and development Joseph Harker and chief communications and marketing officer Brendan O’Grady. Maya Wolfe-Robinson is editor of Cotton Capital.
