Travel reporter/producer

Start date – ASAP

Salary - £28,000 - £35,000 DOE

Location – Bristol or London

If you’re a journalist with a passion for travel, this role is about creating original stories and social content for global audiences.

SWNS is the UK’s biggest independent news agency. Every day, hundreds of stories, images and videos from SWNS are published and broadcast across the national and international media. Our clients are the biggest news publishers in the world – Reach, DMGT, News UK, LADbible, The Times, The Telegraph, BBC, ITN, Yahoo! and the New York Post to name a few.

We cover everything from breaking news and amazing human interest stories to consumer issues, scientific breakthroughs and breathtaking imagery and viral videos. Our proprietary news wire platform is the gold standard for popular agency journalism – original, verified and fully rights-managed. But our storytelling now extends far beyond the news wire; we supply global aggregator platforms like MSN and Yahoo, publish our own social formats, and co-produce documentaries for global streamers.

SWNS has an unrivalled track record in producing the journalism stars of tomorrow and is very proud to count several serving editors, news editors and digital chiefs among our alumni. Our parent company, the SWNS Media Group, is embarking on a period of substantial investment that will expand our storytelling into exciting new formats and markets. The news wire will be at the forefront of this - so it’s an exciting time to get on board!

The role

We’re looking for an ambitious, creative journalist who can produce original, people‑led travel stories for the world’s biggest publishers and our own storytelling channels.

But this is not a straight reporting role – you will also be assisting our Originals team in producing travel-related content for our growing social brands.

The two main responsibilities of the role are:

• Producing original travel-related stories for our news wire – ready to be used by the biggest websites around the world.
• Working with our video editors to produce social content for the wire and our owned and operated publishing channels. You will act in the role of producer to co-ordinate original shoots and bespoke content packages. The ideal candidate will also be comfortable appearing on camera if required.
  

We are not looking for someone to turn around press releases or re-write stories already out there. Your brief is to source and create original stories from scratch.

You will be able to monitor trends and emerging issues and then create exclusive stories with a strong human-interest focus - from travel hacks and airport meltdowns to global aviation disruption and sunbed wars.

SWNS brings issues to life through the experiences of real people. So the ability to source case studies globally and quickly strike up a rapport with members of the public is crucial.

The ideal candidate will also be able to turn around clean and accurate copy at speed, as well as work on longer form investigative stories.

This is a hybrid role with a minimum requirement of working three days per week from either our Bristol HQ or London office in Farringdon. You may work one Saturday or Sunday every six or seven weeks, for time off in lieu.

Requirements

You will have experience reporting on travel issues for a consumer publishing brand and a track record of producing articles which fly with a digital audience:

• Minimum of two years' experience writing for a mainstream national or international digital or print publication.
• Proven ability to generate original story ideas in the travel sector. Please send examples of your work with your application.
• Strong interest in travel topics, with at least one year of experience in the field.
• A willingness to explore new social media formats and to appear in front of camera.
• Experience contributing to social content in a production role is preferable.
• Excellent writing, research, and interview skills.
• Proficiency in using social media platforms to source stories.
• A collaborative mindset, with the ability to work in a team by accepting help and helping others. We are fiercely competitive, but not with each other!
• We won’t micromanage you, so you must be a self-starter who is comfortable working independently and generating your own ideas and material.
• Flexibility – this is a role in a new team. You should be comfortable with changing requirements and responsibilities.
• Drive and pace. You should be able to produce your own high quality content, at pace, every day.
• Eligibility to work in the UK.

Desirable

• In front of camera experience
• Experience building social audiences
• NCTJ qualification or equivalent.
• Social first storytelling

Why Join SWNS?

At SWNS, you'll be part of a supportive and driven team that values originality and integrity in storytelling. We do not curate, scrape or aggregate material - we source and create stories from scratch, or syndicate original material from our partners or copyright owners.

We offer flexible working arrangements and the opportunity to see your work published across a range of high-profile platforms globally.

Our collaborative environment encourages continuous learning and professional growth. We are a small-ish team - about 70 in the UK - so your voice will be heard in the editorial and strategic direction of the business.

Benefits and extra details

SWNS is a national living wage employer.

SWNS is an inclusive employer that values diversity in its workforce. Recent studies show most UK journalism industry professionals come from white ethnic groups (92%) and from professional or upper-class backgrounds (80%). We want to continue to do our part to change this and welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and experiences.

SWNS also has a generous and growing list of employee benefits, including:

• Employee Assistance Programme
• Health and Wellbeing Support Service
• Holiday Entitlement: 25 days (+ Bank Holidays) per year
• Company Pension Scheme with Employer Contribution
• Hybrid Working
• Enhanced Maternity Pay
• Enhanced Paternity Leave
• Life Assurance
• Company-wide Summer Event and Christmas Party
• Paid Bereavement / Compassionate Leave
• Railcard reimbursement for regular travellers for work
• Sick Pay
• Your birthday off
• Subscription to Furthr
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• EV Car Scheme
• Health Cash Plan – reimbursement on a number of health services
• Gym Discounts
• GP Anytime
• Additional time off for long service
• Holiday purchase and buyback scheme

Please send your CV with the job title Travel Reporter/Producer references in the subject box.

Please include:

• A covering letter explaining how you fit the criteria above and why you want to work at SWNS – we are unlikely to consider you without one!
• Examples of your travel work.
• We’d love to hear one or two story ideas you would pitch as a travel writer at SWNS which you think would work for our clients.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to apply for this position and for your interest in joining our team. Whilst we do our utmost to reply individually to all applicants, this may not always be possible due to a high volume of applications we often receive. If you’ve not heard from us within two weeks after the closing date for this advert, please presume your application has, unfortunately, not been successful on this occasion. Once again, we appreciate your interest in SWNS.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.