Career journalist and philanthropist John B Fairfax AO has made a $1.5 million grant through his family’s Jibb Foundation to support two cadets in AAP’s annual program for the next five years, expanding his support of aspiring reporters from rural and regional areas.
AAP has trained hundreds of young journalists in its 88-year history, with rigorous frontline experience in news gathering, plus specific instruction in important areas like media ethics, law and privacy.
In 2022, AAP announced the inaugural John B Fairfax Family Rural Cadetship, designed to support a trainee journalist from a rural or regional community. The first recipient, Neve Brissenden, completed her cadetship in July 2023 and has taken up her first reporting role as AAP’s Darwin Correspondent.
On the back of this success, the Jibb Foundation has increased its commitment to AAP, adding a second merit-based cadetship to support a young reporter. The Jibb Foundation partnership will fund the employment of two cadets for five years and serves as a solid endorsement of AAP’s commitment to supporting regional journalism.
AAP chief executive Lisa Davies said the Jibb Foundation’s support of the newswire’s cadetship program was a valuable gift to the media industry as a whole.
“The national newswire has a long history of training the next generation of reporters in the vital skills of factual and objective journalism, with many of our cadets going on to forge long and impactful careers across the media industry,” she said.
“We are so grateful John B Fairfax and his family have seen fit to support AAP’s training in this way, in particular to encourage more young reporters with strong ties to regional and rural Australia into the industry.”
Mr Fairfax said: ”I am delighted to be making a long-term commitment to support two cadetships through my family foundation. Cadetship training is unique, exposing journalists to all aspects of the craft of journalism, and the fast pace and complexity of the newsroom. It was a foundational experience for my own training. I’m confident AAP will continue to deliver an excellent, well-rounded experience for all its cadets, and identify more impressive candidates like Neve Brissenden, now stationed for AAP in Darwin.”
All AAP’s cadets are trained in social media as a source for news gathering, digital analytics and fact-checking. In addition to their traditional rotations through different parts of the newsroom including a regional bureau, they will spend time with the team at AAP FactCheck, learning how to spot and assess various sources of misinformation.
