A new website directory connecting diverse voices to the media was launched this week, co-founded by TV broadcaster, Samantha Simmonds and newspaper journalist, Lauren Libbert. In a guest blog post, they tell us more…
This week saw the launch of our new website directory, www.findyourexpert.co.uk, connecting diverse voices to the media.
As journalists with over 45 years’ experience in the media between us – Samantha as a broadcast journalist and myself as a journalist in national print and digital media – we were tiring of seeing the same cohort of expert faces and voices in the media time and time again.
We felt it was time for experts interviewed in the media to reflect our wider society, allowing a more diverse range of voices to be heard and giving them a platform where the media could access them easily. For the last few months, Samantha and I have worked hard – and are still working hard – to recruit experts on that basis and we’re hoping that now we’ve launched, experts across the broad spectrum of society will also want to be listed on Find Your Expert so they can get their voices and opinions more heard in national print and digital media and appear on TV, radio and podcasts.
The website is free to all journalists and works with a simple registration process, allowing all approved members of the media to search our database of willing and available experts.
The journalists simply search who they are looking for and a range of suitable experts will pop up. Contact is made via a contact form which goes direct to the expert’s email – or through their listed phone number.
For experts who add their listing, the site is free until 1st September 2021. After that time, there will be a subscription fee starting from £75 a year.
100s of experts have already signed up across every field from oncologists, psychologists and business forecasters to dog behaviour specialists and experts in Bitcoin, AI and travel.
Samantha and I have been friends for over 24 years and launched a podcast for midlife women together, It’s a Grown Up Life, two years ago, so working collaboratively comes easily, especially when we’re so passionate about this project. We know there’s a lot more work to do to get diverse voices a fair share of airtime in the media but we’re hoping Find Your Expert makes an important start.
For anyone interested to find out more, please visit the website or follow us @findyourexpert on Twitter and Instagram.
