Guardian US has welcomed its first Scott Trust fellows — Briana Ellis-Gibbs and Marina Dunbar — who will be based out of its New York City newsroom for nine months. The paid fellowship, in partnership with the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, invited alumni of the Newmark J-School to apply for hands-on training and the opportunity to work with Guardian journalists and editors on a variety of topics.
Briana Ellis-Gibbs is a photographer who completed her BA at Howard University. She has a background in photo editing and arts writing, and has worked for outlets such as MSNBC, Lonely Planet and The Wall Street Journal. Marina Dunbar is a Berkeley graduate with a background in local reporting in California. During her masters, she focused on health, science and investigative reporting.
They will rotate around a handful of Guardian US desks, including East Coast news, features and investigations, receiving on-the-job training across different disciplines.
Dana Canedy, managing editor of Guardian US, says: “We are thrilled to host this important fellowship that supports early career journalists. Briana and Marina are both extremely talented and will gain experience in different areas of the Guardian US newsroom; from shadowing journalists and assisting editors, to completing their own assignments and receiving expert training and mentorship.”
The fellowship was created as part of the Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme. This decade-long restorative justice project was a response to research, commissioned by the Trust, which established clear links between the Guardian’s founders and transatlantic slavery. It is an expansion of the UK-based Scott Trust Bursary scheme, and is a key part of The Guardian Foundation‘s work to create opportunities for those who face barriers entering careers in journalism.
The Guardian US Scott Trust Fellowship aims to increase editorial diversity and inclusion for underrepresented journalists.
About Guardian US:
Guardian Media Group (GMG) is the publisher of theguardian.com, one of the largest English-speaking news websites in the world. Since launching its U.S. and Australian digital editions in 2011 and 2013, respectively, traffic from outside the U.K. now represents around two-thirds of the Guardian’s total digital audience.
The Guardian US has more than 100 members of editorial staff across bureaus in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. Today, the Guardian has nearly 270,000 recurring supporters in the U.S., plus roughly 170,000 annual one-time supporters. It draws an audience of more than 40 million U.S. readers every month, making it one of the top news sites in America. The Guardian is a global leader in reader-funded journalism, and contributions from readers are the publication’s largest source of revenue.
The Guardian US is renowned for its Pulitzer prize-winning investigation into widespread secret surveillance by the National Security Agency and for other award-winning work, including on the Paradise Papers. Today, the Guardian US is known for its urgent coverage of the climate crisis, politics, race and immigration, guns, gender, the arts and more.
About the Scott Trust:
The ultimate owner of the Guardian is the Scott Trust, which was originally created as a trust in 1936 to safeguard the title’s journalistic freedom. In 2008 it was replaced by a limited company with the same core purpose as the original trust: to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity, while its subsidiary aims are to champion its principles and to promote freedom of the press in the U.K. and elsewhere. Other than to cover expenses, the Scott Trust takes no dividend from the group’s businesses, whose profits are instead reinvested to sustain journalism that is free from commercial or political interference.
About the Legacies of Enslavement project:
In March 2023, the Scott Trust published a comprehensive report on the Guardian’s historical connections with transatlantic slavery, sharing an apology and its restorative justice response. The research identified links between John Edward Taylor and the associates who funded the Manchester Guardian’s creation, and slavery. It was conducted in three stages — first by Dr. Sheryllynne Haggerty and Dr. Cassandra Gooptar of the University of Nottingham’s Institute for the Study of Slavery, and later by Dr. Gooptar and Professor Trevor Burnard of the University of Hull’s Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation. Trevor, a historian who was lauded for his work on Atlantic slavery, sadly passed away in July 2024. The Scott Trust also commissioned author and expert Professor Olivette Otele as an external adviser, who reviewed the academic findings.
The academic research and restorative justice proposals were overseen by a committee of Scott Trust members: historian, writer and broadcaster David Olusoga, barrister and former deputy mayor of London, Matthew Ryder KC, Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, and Scott Trust chair Ole Jacob Sunde; and by a team of Guardian editorial and commercial staff, led by senior editor for diversity and development Joseph Harker and chief communications and marketing officer Brendan O’Grady. Cotton Capital, the editorial project running alongside the Legacies of Enslavement programme, is edited by Maya Wolfe-Robinson.
Since June 2023, Ebony Riddell Bamber has been in post as programme director, providing project management, advancing descendant community engagement and consultation in Jamaica and the Sea Islands region of the U.S., and initiating the development of a strategic plan. This work will continue throughout 2024, including progressing partnership work in Manchester and building awareness of the city’s connections to transatlantic enslavement.
About the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY:
The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, founded in 2006, is a public graduate journalism school based in the heart of New York City. With affordable tuition and extensive scholarship support, it prepares students from diverse economic, racial and cultural backgrounds to produce high-quality journalism. The school offers 16-month master’s degree programs: M.A. in Journalism, M.A. in Engagement Journalism, and M.A. in Journalism — Bilingual Program (English/Spanish). Through the school’s J+ division, which offers a suite of executive training programs, the J-School trains seasoned journalists to reimagine news business models, build news products, and step into leadership roles with an entrepreneurial mindset. The Newmark J-School is also home to four unique centers and initiatives: the McGraw Center for Business Journalism; the Center for Community Media; the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism; and the Journalism Protection Initiative.
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