Behind Local News has launched an initiative to recognise the contributions of some of those journalists and writers from an Asian background working in newsrooms across the UK.
The news trade site is asking for nominations of reporters, journalists, sub-editors and columnists at any level within regional and local news organisations.
The full list will be featured on Behind Local News before the end of 2020.
The scheme was launched following the Asian Media Awards which took place online in November to celebrate the work of people from across the media spectrum – in TV, radio and stage.
Announcing the initiative for Behind Local News, Shuiab Khan wrote:
“In the past two decades the Asian community has been in the spotlight for all sorts of reasons and it became increasingly important for newsrooms to reflect the populations they serve.
“In towns and cities with large Asian and minority populations you will still find the newsrooms are not representative of the communities they serve. Having worked in local journalism for over 20 years it does make a huge difference to how your newspaper or website is perceived. Much of local journalism relies heavily on local knowledge and by encouraging a more diverse newsroom helps us to engage with communities from all backgrounds. This is important for how we report and what we report.”
