Overall, 2022 was the busiest year yet for The Ferret. Here are some of our highlights.
As we finally shake out of our festive torpor in favour of several New Year’s resolutions — which we may or may not drop by the end of next month — here at The Ferret we are ready to kickstart 2023 with a host of new and exciting investigations.
But before we do that, we wanted to take a moment to thank you all for supporting us in 2022. A year that, amid international conflict and a devastating cost of living crisis, has been no walk in the park. We are so glad that you followed us along the way and made it possible for the Ferret to continue doing what we do best: good journalism that changes things.
So buckle up as we walk you through some of our highlights of 2022.
We got ourselves a newsroom!
Just in time for Christmas, last December we launched our new community newsroom together with the lovely folk of Greater Govanhill magazine. Located at the heart of Govanhill, Glasgow, the premises will serve as an office for our team and offer co-working desks as well as provide space for events and training.
And while our work will still be Scotland-wide, people in Glasgow will now be able to drop by for a cuppa and a chat on what we should investigate in the future.
The newsroom is part of a broader project called Mind the Health Gap, a collaborative journalism series by Greater Govanhill and The Ferret.
Mind the Health Gap will work with local communities to report on the way inequality leads to health disadvantages. If you have any suggestions for what we should explore in the new year – be it fuel poverty, access to GPs, or health and gender, pop in our new office or contact us at: contact@theferret.scot.
We reached new audiences…
From the cost of living crisis to the environment, last year our team dived into so many different stories and reached an increasingly wider audience.
Early in 2022, co-editor Karin Goodwin teamed up with citizen journalists Tam, Peter, and Michelle to uncover the crisis of addiction, homelessness and poverty in Scotland. This resulted in the release of our first ever documentary, filmed in collaboration with BBC Scotland, and an investigative series published on our website.
…our journalism changed Scotland for the better…
Our investigations also prompted people and organisations across Scotland to effect practical change. Following inquiries from The Ferret, a proposal to investigate eating beavers as a way of limiting their numbers was dropped from Scotland’s new wild beaver strategy.
And after our journalists found out that councils could be “massively underestimating” their climate emissions, it emerged that Environmental Standards Scotland was looking into local authorities climate reporting.
After we revealed that the pension fund for MSPs and Edinburgh University held shares in a sanctioned Russian bank called Sberbank, the trustees of the fund announced it would divest and the university said it would review its investment. Both stories were picked up by news publications across the UK, including The Scotsman, Press and Journal, The Independent, Press Association and others.
Our work consistently influenced conversations in the Scottish Parliament, with MSPs referencing our reports on power, children’s rights, health, transport, and the environment. On 16 March, Chris Stephens MP called for an inquiry in the House of Commons into the “alarming” number of jobs advertised “below the national minimum wage” while citing The Ferret’s report on 11 March 2022.
Our partnership with the Herald also continued to generate groundbreaking journalism projects, including Priced Out, a series looking into the cost of living crisis in Scotland; Are Councils Working?, exploring local issues, services, communities; and Who Owns Urban Scotland, which shone a light on the firms controlling our cities.
…and we were rewarded for it!
Last September we received the top award for Journalism Team of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards. The prize was for our 2021 series Who Runs Scotland, which we published in conjunction with The Herald and examined the ownership and power in Scotland’s economy, environment and politics.
Our beloved FFS show also received a mention, as the runner-up for Podcast of the Year.
Overall, 2022 was the busiest year yet for The Ferret and we can’t wait to see what 2023 will bring. We’ve got so many plans and ambitions for the year ahead.
But we need your help to help us keep making impact. Please consider supporting our journalism by becoming a member. But we know money is tight so if you can’t commit right now we’d hugely appreciate it if you would consider making a one-off donation.
It’s our members, readers and wider community who make The Ferret what it is.
If you have ideas and suggestions for us, or maybe you just want to socialise with fellow Ferret enthusiasts, join our Facebook group, drop us a line, or even visit us in person! You’ll always be made welcome.
