Trainee Reporter - The Swindon Advertiser

Newsquest Media Group; Cheltenham; Hybrid; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading media company in Swindon is seeking a Trainee Reporter to join their editorial team. The ideal candidate will have a passion for news, social media skills, and a desire to develop into a fully-qualified journalist. Responsibilities include reporting on local news and events, with opportunities for training to achieve NCTJ accreditation. This full-time role offers hybrid working options but requires or requests relocation to the local area.

Qualifications

• Experience as a senior reporter or a trained trainee.
• Ability to produce stories that resonate with the audience.
• Must have a driver's license and a car.

Responsibilities

• Report on breaking news and local events.
• Build relationships through social media.
• Cover local politics, crime, and human-interest stories.

Skills

Social media engagement

Digital storytelling

News reporting

Education

NCTJ-accredited course

Journalism degree

Job description

Overview

Trainee Reporter - The Swindon Advertiser

Application Deadline: 10 September 2025

Department: Editorial

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Swindon

Reporting To: Daniel Chipperfield

Description

The Swindon Advertiser is looking for its next top reporter to join the team and work for one of the company\'s highest-performing newsrooms. This role involves reporting on everything from breaking news to High Street shop openings, drug raids, local events, reviews, court cases, as well as human interest tales. We cover it all, and no two days are the same. We want a confident, digitally skilled and versatile journalist to unearth the best-breaking news and features on a lively patch. The right candidate will be passionate about chasing the big stories, digital storytelling, full of ideas and have a desire to come up with innovative ways of presenting stories.

Key Responsibilities

• A significant part of the job will involve immersing yourself in social media, developing relationships, and understanding what matters to our online audience.
• We want to tell the stories our audiences care about, championing the best of our local communities, telling powerful human-interest stories and covering everything from local politics to crime.

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

• We are looking for a senior reporter or an experienced trainee.
• You will ideally have an NCTJ-accredited course including 100wpm shorthand.
• You must also have a driver\'s licence and your own car.
• If you have a journalism degree that is not NCTJ-accredited, we will provide the relevant additional training for you to become a fully NCTJ-qualified journalist and then onto becoming a fully-fledged senior reporter.

This is a full-time role based with the rest of our team at our Swindon office. We offer hybrid working, but living in the area, or the willingness to relocate, is required.

About Newsquest Media Group

We are a media company with a difference. We are committed to bringing a voice to your region by investing in a passionate team of journalists who proudly serve their communities by sharing authoritative news that readers trust. Our sales teams provide local businesses with highly responsive digital advertising and marketing solutions.

We are one of the largest regional news publishers in the UK and have a portfolio of more than 250+ local news brands and magazines online and in print. With an online audience of 41 million users a month and 7 million readers a week in print, our content is read by a substantial proportion of the UK population.

In addition to our local news brands, we own several digital pure play and specialist media businesses such as s1jobs and s1homes, Exchange & Mart, and Newsquest Specialist Media. We also own LOCALiQ, an award-winning digital marketing agency that specialises in driving more leads, increasing online growth and generating return on marketing investment on behalf of thousands of UK SMBs.