Work with Fathm
Experimentation and consultation on strategy, products, training and projects
Today we are launching Fathm — an independent news lab, consultancy and agency with a mission to spark creative and impactful innovation and change for the journalism industry.
Fathm will work directly with organisations, journalists, technologists and newsrooms to test and implement creative solutions to emergent challenges. As an independent news lab we want to be able to move fast and create new avenues for experimentation and consulting on strategy, products, training and projects.
These are some of the services that Fathm can offer organisations:
- Innovation Lab: Facilitating product prototyping to help you design and test technical and editorial products in an independent news lab environment.
- Organisational Transformation: Working with stakeholders from across your organisation to run human-centred design sprints, framing and defining problems before leading a process of creative ideation to capitalise on new opportunities.
- Editorial Strategy: Collaborate with your team to help design and implement efficient and robust digital workflows and standards for newsgathering, verification, fact-checking, publishing, social media and newsletters that are optimised for trust and sustainability.
- Closed Network Strategy: Reach your audience where they are by making your content available on-demand. We’ll also help you with the workflows, newsroom training, audience engagement and publishing on private messaging apps.
- Project Management: Need help running a project? We can do that for you — from design to implementation and evaluation — with your team or with one that we build.
- Initiatives and Events: We design and implement large-scale high-impact initiatives and events around the world. We can also build teams and add capacity where needed.
- Training: We can help your organisation identify critical gaps in skills and knowledge, and then design and deliver comprehensive training programs that target those areas.
The Team
Fergus Bell and Tom Trewinnard are the co-founders of Fathm.
Fergus is an experienced journalist, editor and consultant. His experience spans both the business and editorial sides of the news industry. A journalist for 16 years, he has worked for organisations including CNN, ITN and The Associated Press. Since 2015 he has been an independent consultant advising broadcasters, publishers and start-ups on social and digital newsgathering, newsroom transformation and innovation.
Tom has ten years’ experience working at the intersection of technology and journalism, leading high-impact international media projects and driving product strategy for collaborative technologies. Formerly Director of Programs at Meedan, Tom led Check Global, a programme dedicated to developing innovative open source tools and training programs for journalists, fact checkers and human rights researchers around the world.
Over the past three years Fergus and Tom have lead multi-award winning collaborations around the world.
If you work with us you’ll have access to some of the best practitioners and consultants in the business. Fathm works with a network of associate consultants, all respected industry professionals with extensive in-role experience in their specific areas of expertise.
Laura Oliver is a journalist with a background in audience development and social media strategy. She was head of social and communities for the Guardian and editor of Journalism.co.uk and has launched and managed social media channels and policy, built online communities, managed multidisciplinary teams and run editorial desks and projects.
Eoghan Sweeney is an independent consultant and expert trainer specialising in the verification of online content and information, and open source investigation, with more than two decades of experience in print, broadcast and online media.
Pamposh Raina is based in Delhi and has been a staff reporter with The New York Times and Special Correspondent, South Asia, for AFP covering policy, politics, gender, and child rights. Her recent work has focussed on analysing misinformation and disinformation on social media and closed messaging apps in India.
Andrew Mills is the co-founder of Jumpline, a community hub driving the transformation of journalism education. He works with organisations and universities to develop and implement new ways of learning. As a professor, his teaching has focused on media innovation, international reporting and the use of emerging technology to gather news and tell stories.
Yusof Abdul-Rahman is a journalist and consultant with a current focus on video, convergence strategy, and news transformation. He spent 20 years with the Associated Press in London and Beijing. He has also worked at Euronews, Europe’s major multilingual broadcast channel.
Tom Law is an experienced media development consultant and journalism trainer. He is a former deputy director of the Ethical Journalism Network and his wide-ranging experience in communications, policy and programmes include working with inter-governmental, humanitarian, media, and civil society organisations.
Over the past ten years the members of this team has been at the forefront of innovation and experimentation in newsgathering, publishing, digital strategy, newsroom technologies, and large- scale collaborative journalism initiatives. We will be expanding our associate consultant programme over the coming months in order to meet identified industry needs.
Let’s get to work! If Fathm sounds like a great fit for your organisation please get in touch via hello@fathm.co
