First participants graduate from journalism training academy

For too long, we’ve heard stigmatising language associated with people experiencing homelessness and poverty. “Benefits scroungers” and “lazy”, amongst other language used, often give unhelpful and inaccurate labels to people living through tough circumstances.

If we are serious about tackling homelessness and poverty, then we need to change the narrative around it. And fast.

This has been part of the energy behind the new Changing the Narrative Journalism Training Academy, which has been piloted in Glasgow, Scotland, over 2025.

I am fortunate enough to lead the charity behind the project – the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), the UK charity that represents printed newspapers and magazines sold globally by people as a way out of poverty, including our founding member, The Big Issue.

My role normally involves working alongside our global network of street paper organisations – 92 in total, spanning 35 countries – but for this project, it has been quite different.

The academy has connected us with local grassroots and national organisations based in Glasgow - including Emmaus Glasgow, Homelessness Network Scotland, Ubuntu Women’s Shelter, and the Simon Community Scotland - to recruit budding writers and news reporters.

We have also captured the imagination of funders who have generously supported the start-up phase of the project, including National Lottery Awards for All, The Robertson Trust, People's Postcode Lottery, Endrick Trust and The Albert Hunt Trust

Over 10 weeks, I took on the role of co-trainer alongside Mairi Damer from Word Up Communications, to deliver five workshops to participants who all have direct experience of homelessness and poverty, aiming to step up their knowledge of what news is and how the media works.

We also held a special ‘Meet the Journalists’ panel, where participants got the chance to hear directly about career pathways from industry experts, such as Paul McNamee, the Editor of The Big Issue, Assa Samaké-Roman, freelance journalist, and Brontë Schiltz, INSP’s News Editor.

What is driving the academy is two things: we know that the UK journalism sector often lacks diversity when it comes to the class and educational backgrounds of people fulfilling key roles within the profession; and compounding this is how the media often misrepresents people experiencing homelessness and poverty.

This perfect storm of conditions means that some people are excluded from the journalism industry, which in turn can lead to bias in reporting on the issues. The status quo is not enough when it comes to media representation of homelessness.

Each participant in the training academy has completed a written assignment on a topic of their own choosing, with INSP publishing these articles through our global newswire (the INSP News Service), meaning that any street paper throughout the world can publish them.

The published articles are available in a specially designed newspaper – The New Narrative, which you can download here.

Earlier this year, our first group of training participants from Glasgow and the surrounding area graduated from the academy, receiving a certificate of attendance and achievement. I am thrilled to report that one of our participants, Jordan, gained direct entry to study journalism at Glasgow Clyde College.

As we look ahead, INSP is running the second group of training participants over the autumn period. In my 20-odd year career, I have never felt so energised about a project as I do about this one. If we can challenge stereotypes, and raise the confidence of participants, then we may pave some of the way to change the narrative for the better.

Learn more about INSP’s training academy at Homeless Network Scotland’s national conference

On 27 and 28 October, Homeless Network Scotland will host their national conference, “It’s Personal: the human face of the housing emergency”.

On day two of the conference, INSP’s CEO Mike Findlay-Agnew will be running a workshop on Changing the Narrative on Homelessness, which will feature a discussion about the outcomes of the academy. Mike will be joined by James and Jordan, who participated in the academy.

Find out more on the Homeless Network Scotland website.