Welcome to HYP
A collaborative project between Hastings Independent Press and The Magnum Photos Foundation
Funded by the East Sussex County Council Community Wellbeing Fund.
Hastings Independent Press and The Magnum Photos Foundation have delivered a free multimedia journalism training programme to a group of young people from underrepresented backgrounds who live in the wider Hastings area.
The course required attendance in person or online at least one night a week, as well as independent project work throughout. The group worked together with the HIP team and industry guests to create a special edition of the Hastings Independent (HyP) and an exhibition – which will show at Stella Dore from 1 July – to represent their experience of life in Hastings, and issues that are important to them, through multimedia journalism.
Hastings Youth Press are:
ALICE DENNY, a current student of Photojournalism & Documentary Photography at LCC, is concerned with the rapid change she is seeing in her beloved town. Her work explores the personal losses and gains of gentrification in Hastings and St Leonards by taking on a collaborative approach with long-term residents. She writes, “I believe that giving a range of local people a voice and a platform to express their feelings is not only essential but also the most effective way to show an accurate reflection of collective thoughts and feelings surrounding the issue.”
EXGSOSA ZUBI is a poet and creative whose personal goal is to continue discovering and learning about the world around him. “Intrinsically though I would like to help myself become better connected with my identity so I can progress to become the best iteration of myself.” His work processes this connection between internal and external identities and how it manifests in an experience of self.
JOE CHARRINGTON is a photographer whose work stems from an interest in the local East Sussex lore. His photographs search “for traces of the past, forever etched in earth, tree, rock, and stone that breaths alongside us in parallel layers, webbed through our land and culture.” Joe hopes “to see larger bodies of funding being made more accessible to community projects” though he acknowledges positive steps have been taken over the last ten years.
JOSIE BARNES, a photographer who would eventually like to specialize in film stills or photojournalism says: “We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat.” Her work addresses the growing disparity in the housing market as a result of the gentrification of Hastings. Josie interviews and photographs local women in the fishing industry to help give voice to their specific stories, and enable us to better understand how women continue to be poorly represented in fishing today.
KATHRYN SUTTER is a writer interested in investigating the relationship between social media and a pervasive feeling of loneliness. She asks, “How can I be lonely when I have people in my life,” charting a connection between social media activity and increased emotional, mental, and physical isolation. As an extension to her piece, Kathryn asked young people in Hastings aged 17-30 to share their thoughts on social media and their relationship to it.
MARAH is twenty-five years old and moved to the UK as a refugee. She hopes to get a university degree and become a successful woman with a career in the media industry. Her writing aims to convey the reality of this world by telling the necessary stories of those who have endured and lived to tell their tales.
MICHAEL AMOS is a passionate environmentalist who wants to see a positive change in the state of the Earth. His work in HYP specifically documents the growing sightings of harbour porpoises at Dungeness, Kent’s vast shingle peninsula and designated National Nature Reserve. He longs for more scientific research on these marine mammals just off of the UK coast so that they may be better understood and protected from future harm.
MERLIN BETTS has been a Hastings Independent editor for about five years – plus a one year sabbatical – and is a fool. He hopes for a brighter future both for the paper and the town, but in the meantime he revels in a fascination with betrayed dreams and broken promises. He calls out for poetry in an attempt to be more open about loneliness, betrayal, depression and the resultant madness that can sometimes follow.
NOUR EL-DIN was born in the Syrian city of Homs, “a beautiful city and its people are more beautiful…whose hearts are as white as the whitest of Homs’ houses.” His work documents his experience of migration after the outbreak of war in his home country. Nour has been exhibiting his portrait series in West St Leonards International at Electro Studios and The Dove Café as part of Refugee Week Celebrations. He has also been commissioned to make a new photo-documentary project about the Dove Café by the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, which will open there on June 20th and be on display until Sept 17th, 2023.
SAMARA JAYNE MARTIN is a photographer and artist who wishes to demystify the narratives surrounding people with “neurodivergence”. Samara was diagnosed with ADHD last year and autism several months ago. She opens up about the loss of her late diagnosis due to not presenting stereotypical symptoms of neurodiversity and the process of un-masking her true self while acknowledging the struggle to find a balance between being her authentic self whilst still fitting in with societal expectations of her.
RÉMI DUANGPHRACHANH is a writer and a second-generation migrant who hopes to support young people “whose circumstances did not give them the best chances to be fully equipped for daily challenges.” He has begun to collect the stories of young people in Hastings and Rother who share in his experience of being a second-generation migrant. He writes, “Their stories of doubts, conflicts, and self-affirmation echo mine. We are the Second Generation.”
The Future
This was a pilot project for the Magnum Photos Foundation that it hopes will be the first in a series of local visual journalism projects around the United Kingdom in regional cities and towns, with a focus on under-served and under-resourced communities, and supporting local journalism.
For the Hastings Independent the projected provided much-needed staff and resources to deliver on its promise of providing journalism and media training to the people of the town, and support voices that are otherwise frequently unheard or silenced.
The project was designed to increase skills, wellbeing and social connectedness for the young people participating, strengthen community participation in the Hastings Independent and develop a stronger feeling of community “ownership” of the local paper. Data on the impact of this initiative will be analysed and shared to increase our ability to have an even greater impact in the future.
We aim to deliver this project yearly, and we will support the former participants to be tutors for the next cohort (pending additional funding).
Partners and Supporters include: The Peter Marlow Foundation, Fujifilm UK, The Newspaper Club, East Sussex Career Hub, Eggtooth Hastings, Hastings Contemporary, Xtrax Young People’s Centre, The Refugee Buddy Project, Hastings Radio, Stella Dore.
What social needs has the project addressed?
A lack of representation within journalism and the creative industries
Just 0.2% of journalists in the UK are black, compared with 3% of the UK population, Asian Britons make up 7% of the UK population, but just 2.5% of the journalist workforce, and 94% of journalists are white, compared with 87% of the population of England and Wales. These figures are more alarming given that most of the UK’s national news media organisations are based in London, where, according to the 2011 census, only 45% of the population are of white English, Scottish or Welsh heritage. Meanwhile, figures from 2014/15 on the likelihood of journalism students being employed as a journalist six months after graduation indicate that white students have a 26% chance, while black students only have an 8% chance. (LSE British Politics and Policy).
Some 80% of journalists come from professional and upper class backgrounds according to a report in May 2022 from the NCTJ. (Press Gazette).
A decrease in high-quality local news
Local news production, distribution and consumption have changed significantly during the last fifteen years as highlighted in the Cairncross review (Cairncross, 2019) and elsewhere (e.g. Hess and Waller, 2016; Nielsen, 2015). As part of these changes it is estimated that 245 local newspapers closed down in the UK since 2005 (Press Gazette, 2019). News has increasingly being produced in regional hubs rather than local settings, media plurality has weakened, and local professional journalism has declined (Harte et al, 2019). There are concerns that some communities are left without adequate local news provisions, and that the changes are adversely affecting local democracies and community cohesion. (Canterbury Christ Church University).
Cultural production, whether in live arts such as theatre or dance, visual arts or broadcast media, plays a central role in shaping everyday society. In a politically turbulent moment, where the mainstream political agenda is increasingly polarised and racialised, minority voices are ever more marginalised. How different communities are represented and are able to represent themselves through the arts and media is therefore of deep significance. (Runnymede Trust)
A worsening youth mental health crisis
According to NHS data, the mental health of children and young people in England has worsened since 2017. Even before the pandemic, children and young people were facing a mental health crisis. Although children and young people under 25 have always had to deal with personal identity issues in formative years, risks to mental health have been greatly exacerbated by heightened academic expectations and the ubiquity of social media. (Children and young people’s mental health, House of Commons Committee Report).
Testimony from Ben Cornwell who interned at the Hastings Independent
After the first two years of his journalism course at the University of Sussex in Brighton were disrupted by lockdowns and online teaching, Ben decided to actively search for further experience within the industry and therefore decided to undertake a placement year with HIP. During his time at HIP, he has written more than forty articles and taken over the responsibility of HIP’s social media accounts and weekly newsletter. He has also gained additional experience as both community and listings editor for several issues of the paper. Following the completion of his placement at HIP, he is planning on returning to Sussex to complete the final year of his course.
Ben says, “My experience at HIP has been incredibly beneficial to me. Not only has it helped my writing skills but it has also boosted my confidence and communication skills, particularly when approaching people for interviews. The support and guidance of the HIP team has helped me challenge myself and allowed me to create a larger and more diverse portfolio than I could have imagined.”
A full article by Ben about his experience can be found here:
Example Community Training Projects from the Hastings Independent Press:
About Us
Lead Staff
Shannon Ghannam – The Magnum Photos Foundation
Shannon Ghannam is the Global Education Director at Magnum Photos, managing a team responsible for the celebrated agency’s educational programming globally, including the online learning platform Magnum Learn learn.magnumphotos.com and the Beyond Magnum series of lectures with curator Pauline Vermare. She is currently seconded to The Magnum Photos Foundation, the UK based foundation of Magnum Photos, with a remit of amplifying the positive social impact possible through the use of photography in the community. Previously she managed Content Strategy and Development at Reuters, working to showcase on multiple platforms the agency’s multimedia content. Shannon has collaborated on numerous photographic books, international exhibitions and multimedia projects including the Emmy award winning photojournalism app Reuters The Wider Image. Shannon has worked in various roles during a 20 year career including Screen Labs, Night Contact photography and multimedia festival, Australian Associated Press (AAP), “The Australian Photojournalist Journal”, The National Archives of Australia as well as developing a year long collaborative portraiture project with refugee communities for the Australian Red Cross. Shannon proudly comes from a working class background. She studied at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia where she graduated with First Class Honours in Photography.
Ben Bruges – Hasting Independent Press
Ben Bruges has worked as a teacher, trainer, videographer, video and audio editor, media trainer and TV producer. Extensive experience teaching and training adults and children over four decades in English, literature, video production, communications, study support, dyslexia support, drama and media studies. In 2001 he set up a successful videography business that produced corporate, training and communication video for a wide range of clients and situations.
He produced, filmed, wrote and edited a film for UNESCO to promote and launch their Bamiyan Cultural Centre Architectural Competition, gaining over 20 thousand views; other clients included Logobrand, Unilever, Luxembourg Education Dept, NATS, BCB International, CfWI, Dentaprime, TalkPR (Saatchi&Saatchi), Aussie Hair Care, Company Magazine, Turquoise Mountain, Sidar, Lewisham Council, Net-Trade Price, UCE and more.
As part of a team he helped provide SIMPRESS to blue light services like the National Health Service, UK military, UK nuclear safety industry and NATO – providing interview skills, media awareness, media strategy development, media monitoring.
In Afghanistan he worked as producer and trainer, filming and editing TV spots for broadcast by the five major TV stations in Afghanistan. Helped oversee the development and shape of Afghanistan’s most popular soap opera. Trained camera operators, TV journalists and TV section generally in-house and externally within the public affairs community. Trained video production, public affairs, social media, TV and radio journalism to a wide range of Afghan outlets.
Ben lives and works in Hastings as a teacher and in IT support, is Features Editor and produces audio and video for Hastings Independent Press.
Anselm Ebulue – Lead Photography Tutor
Anselm is drawn to issues surrounding identity, memory, community, mental health and environmental space. He looks for inspiration in portraiture where he aims to convey sincerity and intimacy. Anselm is motivated by his personal experiences, using photography to communicate his perspective and pose questions. In 2019 he was awarded the Magnum Photos Intensive Documentary Scholarship and is a winner of the 2018 and 2020 Portrait of Britain Award. A regular contributor for The Guardian, Anselm has also just completed a MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at UAL.
A full list of local, national and international guest speakers on the programme will be shared closer to the time.
The Organisations
Hastings Independent Press
Frustrated at the quality of local press coverage, in January 2014 a group of local residents took matters into their own hands and created a community-run newspaper. The Hastings Independent is a free newspaper, run by a group of local residents who know that Hastings is a unique place, with a character that deserves recognition. Our aim is to give a voice to the residents of Hastings, to support a strong sense of community and to provide an impartial platform for debate, employment, education and community-led regeneration. We feel it’s important that a local paper should be community focused, and written by people that live in and love Hastings. We also believe a local paper should serve its readers rather than its shareholders, and that’s why Hastings Independent Press is set up as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, with all profits being invested back in to the company to help it achieve its social aims.
The Magnum Photos Foundation
The Magnum Photos Foundation uses photography in the community to explore how we relate to ourselves, each other and the world. We co-create photography projects with under served and under represented communities with a focus on wellbeing and employment opportunities. Based in the UK, the Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the celebrated photographic agency Magnum Photos. Magnum Photos represents some of the world’s most renowned photographers, an idiosyncratic mix of journalists, artists and storytellers.