
To mark the Thomson Foundation's 60th year of nurturing and training journalists globally, we matched six talented young journalists with six of the best in the industry and called this mentoring project, Connect 6. We gave the pairs six months to work together. Now, at the end of the programme, our mentors and mentees tell us what the experience has taught them.
Patrick Greenfield is sitting in his car enthusiastically discussing the benefits of mentoring.
The point of mentoring is to help people grow in confidence , says The Guardian's environmental and biodiversity reporter who is one of the Thomson Foundation's Connect 6 mentors.
Patrick is on holiday and has found a quiet moment in his car to take a call from his mentee, Choon Chyuan Low, who's in Malaysia. Its clear from the smiles that the two are relaxed in each other's company.
What have I learned through mentoring? A huge amount, especially through Choon, says Patrick. Mentoring makes you challenge your own advice. You hear yourself say things sometimes and go, whoa, is that right? ...and it helps you improve too.
Choon says he's really grateful to have been mentored by Patrick. He was one of three applicants in the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2022 who was chosen to join our three finalists for the Connect 6 programme. He credits Patrick for helping him develop new ways of finding contacts and data for stories.
I think this mentorship was a very good chance for me to clear any doubts and ask basic questions...how to talk to sources, how to build contacts, how to respond to different people on the ground , says Choon.
Connect 6 mentees and mentors with the Thomson Foundation team
It's nice to know you're not obsolete
Saptarshi Ray, mentor and Editor, South East Business Insider
Learning and sharing Other participants are equally enthused with the programme.
The former India correspondent for the UK-based The Telegraph and now the Editor of the South East Business Insider, Saptarshi Ray, mentored Jyoti Yadav, one of the three finalists in the 2022 competition, who's in New Delhi.
Ive learned Ive still got something to share. Its nice to know that, you know, youre not redundant or obsolete, says Saptarshi.
Jyoti says she used her time with Saptarshi to try to improve her writing style. My editor... can see a change, she says.
Our Connect 6 mentors and mentees were drawn from countries around the world.
Based in Massachusetts in the USA, audio and podcasting expert Julie Shapiro was paired with Carlos Ra l Kestler from Guatemala. Mentoring is as much about learning as it is about teaching', says Julie, who found Carlos to be dedicated' to his job. Ive really seen how much he cares about the future of his country.
Carlos is now working on his first podcast and says he's very grateful for the personalised advice' he got from Julie.
I had a mentor who made sure that I was learning something, and she took the time to answer each question that I had, says Carlos.
-- Play
-- --
A challenging year Its been a particularly challenging year for one of our mentees, the winner of the 2022 Young Journalist accolade, Yashraj Sharma. He was unable to leave Indian-administered Kashmir to collect his award for legal reasons. For Connect 6, Yashraj was paired with veteran journalist and Pulitzer prize-winner Ewen MacAskill. He says it was a privileged opportunity to...pick [Ewen's] brain'.
Just having him around is a huge pillar of support for me, says Yashraj.
For Ewen the experience showed the positive power of mentoring.
Lots of journalists these days are working in isolation...I think that mentoring is a way of trying to replicate the newsroom experience where you learn almost by osmosis, he says.
When you are a young, inexperienced journalist working as a freelance, the gulf between you and an international reporter on the BBC, New York Times or wherever can seem enormous. A mentor can show that the gulf is not as big as it might seem, if you are determined enough and have some talent.
Confident about the future of journalism
Ewen MacAskill, mentor and Pulitzer prize winner Like all of our Connect 6 mentors, Ewen is full of pride for his young mentee.
When you come across someone like Yash operating in very difficult situations, trying to keep a paper going in a conflict zone and doing this for not much money but because he sees a value in journalism, that can only make me feel confident about the future of journalism , he says.
The praise is echoed by other mentors. Saptarshi Ray calls Jyoti Yadav fearless and determined'.
She has that unteachable quality of getting people to confide in her, which I think is...a spectacular quality to have as a journalist, he says.
Amber Rahim Shamsi (Director Centre of Excellence in Journalism, Karachi and mentor) and Jamaima Afridi, (mentee, Pakistan)
The power of mentoring The project coordinator Catherine Mackie who is Thomson Foundation Training and Communications Editor says the response from all the participants in the programme had been overwhelmingly positive.
All of our cohort were really engaged and enthusiastic throughout the process, she says. Part of the key to the programme's success was matching the mentor with the right skills and experience to what the mentee needed. Connect 6 really has shown the power of mentoring.
-- Play
-- --
Connect 6 The Connect 6 pairs were:
Ewen MacAskill (veteran journalist, mentor) and Yashraj Sharma (winner, Young Journalist of the Year 2022, mentee)
Julie Shapiro (consulting audio executive, mentor) and Carlos Ra l Kestler (finalist, YJ award, mentee)
Saptarshi Ray (freelance journalist, mentor) and Jyoti Yadav (fina
More from Thomson
16/04/2025
At a time when Sudanese women journalists face unprecedented challenges, She Speaks Sudan has provided a critical platform for training, mentorship, and collabo...
15/04/2025
As women in Afghanistan are stripped of their rights - banned from education, barred from public life and rendered invisible - a number of women journalists con...
14/04/2025
Rwanda's vulnerability to climate change is underscored by its ranking of 124th out of 182 countries in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative's in...
19/03/2025
Applications are open for the second cycle of the Validation Booster programme, offering European media outlets, networks, and content creators the opportunity ...
07/03/2025
Increasing restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan is forcing women journalists take extraordinary risks to their own safety to tell their stories.
The ...
21/01/2025
Two senior war reporters from the BBC and Sky News have joined an outstanding array of experts in a unique series of training courses for journalists covering p...
16/01/2025
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Gary Mundy as Thomsons new Director of Research, Policy and Impact. Gary will join the organisation in March 2025,...
15/01/2025
The buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism reached a crescendo a...
08/01/2025
A landmark document examining key issues into how the media industry is grappling with the challenges of explaining how its using AI in its publications and bro...
30/12/2024
Leaving Thomson after 21 years, former Managing Director David Quin reflects on a career spent navigating the shifting sands of global media development. From r...
20/12/2024
Podcasting has become one of the most popular ways to tell stories and connect with audiences, but getting started can be intimidating, especially when it comes...
16/12/2024
Thomson's Executive Learning Series wrapped up its 2024 calendar with a landmark event in Prague. The AI in Media masterclass brought together 24 media lead...
13/12/2024
Reporting in secret under the oppressive shadow of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, ...
04/12/2024
Somaiyah Hafeez, one of this year's finalists for Thomson's Young Journalist of the Year Award, had a transformative visit to London. As the only finali...
26/11/2024
A woman journalist from Afghanistan has been named Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist of the Year 2024.
The journalist, who we are not naming for her ow...
13/11/2024
Award-winning journalists from the Western Balkans and T rkiye break new ground with impactful investigations on healthcare, environmental threats, human rights...
05/11/2024
Somaiyah Hafeez, a journalist and writer from Balochistan, Pakistan, stands out for her commitment to telling the stories of overlooked communities in her regio...
05/11/2024
Aisha Farrukh a multimedia journalist from Pakistan focuses on human interest stories and aims to create change through her storytelling. Twenty eight year old ...
05/11/2024
One of the three finalists for the Young Journalist of the Year 2024 is a woman journalist working in secret in Afghanistan because of the restrictions imposed ...
31/10/2024
Three journalists whose stories give a voice to people who are oppressed or marginalised have been chosen as the finalists for the 2024 Young Journalist of the ...
16/10/2024
We are pleased to announce that Federica Varalda has been appointed as Managing Director - Development for the Thomson Group. She will be leading project develo...
23/09/2024
Reporting from a female journalist who is working in secret due to Taliban restr...
30/07/2024
We caught up with Yara El Murr, winner of the Young Journalist Award 2023, to find out how her life has changed since scooping the main prize for her investigat...
23/07/2024
Brussels was the location of our third Thomson Talks with Madhav Chinnappa held on 25 June 2024, focused on the specific subject of AI/News & Regulation. Four k...
03/07/2024
AI's integration into journalism has sparked a mix of enthusiasm and scepticism across Central Europe, according to research led by Thomson Foundation in co...
01/07/2024
This was such a confidence boost and so much motivation to keep pushing forward in my work and public service journalism.
Yara El Murr from Lebanon recollecti...
21/06/2024
A new platform dedicated to helping journalists win audience trust and tackle disinformation has been launched and with it a competition offering newsrooms (fro...
30/05/2024
Navigating Strategy, Ethics, and Innovation in the evolving European media lands...
28/05/2024
This is a summary of the report commissioned by Thomson on AI Disinformation Attacks during Taiwans 2024 Presidential Elections, written by Professor Chen-ling ...
13/05/2024
Journalists from the Western Balkans and T rkiye can now submit their investigative stories published in 2023 for the EU Award for Investigative Journalism 2024...
03/05/2024
An innovative learning tool to help media and civil society better understand ho...
29/04/2024
A groundbreaking initiative offering training and mentoring to 30 women journali...
23/04/2024
Psychology can play an important role in helping us understand what audiences respond to (Dr Jon Roozenbeek, Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab)
For newsroo...
10/04/2024
A regulator, a technologist and a politician walking into a conference room - the beginning of a very geeky joke - or more accurately, the start of the second T...
09/04/2024
This is a summary of the report commissioned by Thomson on AI Disinformation Attacks during Taiwans 2024 Presidential Elections, written by Professor Chen-ling ...
04/04/2024
This fantastic course will help you understand and fight disinformation, an absolutely essential skill to acquire during this global election season. Sign up an...
02/04/2024
Thomson's work in captive, closed and repressive media landscapes has long been about making sure we get the best possible idea of what people really need f...
28/03/2024
Out of an estimated 20,000 journalists in Pakistan, less than one thousand are women according to a recent Gender Disparity Report published by the Internationa...
15/03/2024
To help empower Sudanese journalists living in exile amidst the ongoing conflict in their homeland, Thomson trainers have been delivering workshops designed to ...
01/03/2024
MoJo is something I want to pursue further and include, not as a last thought, but as a one of the components of my daily work. Michelle Banda Vodacom Young Jou...
23/01/2024
A chance to apply for the new learning programme specifically designed for media...
16/01/2024
This is a summary of the inaugural Thomson Talks with Madhav Chinnappa held on 30 November 2023 focused on the specific subject of AI/News & Disinformation.
Th...
22/12/2023
Pakistan is one of more than 65 countries where decisive elections will take place in 2024 in what will be the biggest election year in history.
Thomson Media ...
19/12/2023
An innovative investigative training programme for Rwandan journalists has resulted in the publication of 15 impactful stories which have prompted widespread ch...
18/12/2023
As 2023 draws to a close, a new chapter begins for Thomson with the appointment of a new member of the team.
Anton Artemyev joins us in January in a new role a...
24/11/2023
The three finalists for the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year 2023 enjoyed an action-packed trip to London which included meeting the Queen, visit...
21/11/2023
Yara El Murr from Lebanon is Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist of the Year 2023.
Yara received the honour at the Foreign Press Association Media Award...
17/11/2023
Yashraj Sharma has seen big changes in his life since he won the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award in 2022.
In the run up to the 2023 winner being anno...
10/11/2023
Thomson Foundation has joined 16 partner organisations to launch the Paris Charter on AI and Journalism'. The first of its kind, the charter defines crucia...
01/11/2023
Zuha Siddiqui from Pakistan is a labour and tech reporting fellow for the global non-profit publication Rest of World. She's one of three finalists nominate...