Action Foundation has been chosen by IMIX, to be one of three hosts nationally for their Refugee Media Mentorship Scheme. IMIX is a team of media and communications specialists lifting the voices of people with lived experience to change the harmful narratives that exist around migration.

Along with two other refugee charities in Cardiff and Glasgow, we began offering our mentorship programme in January thanks to funding through IMIX from the Rayne Foundation.

Refugee journalists have incredible media and communications skills but often face barriers returning to work. Together with IMIX, we are providing this six month placement within our Communications team for Necati Kola, an experienced Turkish journalist. Over to Necati to tell you more…

Tell us a little about yourself

I am a Turkish journalist who has been living in Gateshead with my family for five years. Our house is very close to Gateshead Stadium – it must be because I love football so much!

I was born in Fethiye, a tourist city where many English people go on holiday. I spent my childhood in a village close to Fethiye with my grandfather and grandmother. Later, I went to Antalya, another tourist city, for middle and high school because my father, mother and siblings lived there. My father was a worker in a battery factory and my mother, who passed away 13 years ago, was a housewife. I was an extra burden to my family. My father was having a hard time covering my education expenses. I took the exam for the free dormitory provided by the state and passed. I spent 10 years in dormitories, including university.

How did you become a journalist?

When I was in high school, I loved writing stories and articles. There were mandatory study hours every evening. I would write a lot of stories in notebooks given to us by the state. My Literature teacher saw these notebooks and asked for permission to take them home and read them. I accepted and waited excitedly for my teacher’s comments.

Necati has reported from all over the world – this was in Sudan in 2008

A week later, he called me over and said that he liked the stories very much. Then he added: ‘You should be a journalist.’ With this motivation, I decided to start journalism in high school. My closest friend, Atakan, also helped me. During the study hours, the two of us prepared a wall newspaper.

When all the articles and news were finished, we hung our newspaper on the wall at midnight. In the morning, all the students gathered in front of the newspaper and started reading. Everyone read the articles with curiosity. But our Principal was angry. He said that we hung the newspaper on the wall without permission and unfortunately, the result was bad. The Principal had our newspaper taken down from the wall. I had to go to university to become a journalist. I entered Istanbul University, Faculty of Journalism. That was how my professional journalism adventure began.

Which publications did you work for?

While studying at university, I also had to earn money. We founded an amateur theatre group with our university friends.  Then I found a six-month job at a film company. I would promote and screen a film throughout Turkey. I travelled to almost all cities, promoting the film on local radio and television channels. This job gave me a lot of experience.

I should also add that I was the captain of the university football team. Then I worked at two radio channels in Istanbul. I started coaching at the Istanbul Municipality’s football school. Then I got an offer from the newly launched news magazine Aksiyon. I started journalism as a sports reporter, becoming an Editor and then Senior Manager at Aksiyon. Then I became the Editor-in-chief of the sports newspaper Sporvizyon. The Turkish National Olympic Committee gave me the Honorary Diploma and Fair Play Award for my quality sports broadcasting. The Turkish Sports Writers Association gave me the ‘Best Review of the Year’ award for an article in Sporvizyon. In addition, during my journalism career in Turkey, my articles and news were published in newspapers and magazines such as Yeni Safak, Milli Gazete, Hürriyet, Milat, and Futbol Plus. I also wrote two humorous books and two biography books about football.

Tell us about your journalism career in the UK

A new country, a new language, a new life… Of course, my job was a difficult journey. But I was loving journalism, which I had spent 25 years doing. I took my first step by joining the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). I would like to thank my journalist friends David Baines and John Bailey who helped me with the membership. Later, I received The UK Press Card. I became a member of the Sports Journalists Association (SJA). I ​​also received my AIPS Card and started to be accredited to matches. I watched the 2024 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at Wembley as a journalist and followed the 2024 European Championship in Germany. I also accredit as a journalist for The Great North Run every year.

What kind of stories have you worked on since coming to Action Foundation?

As part of the IMIX/Action Foundation mentorship project, I produce content for Action Foundation’s social media accounts. I meet different people and try to find interesting stories. One of them is the story of Abdul Rahim, a Syrian pharmacist who is now a chocalatier. I want to make a film about his story for Action Foundation’s YouTube channel and offer it to a local media outlet. I want to focus on success stories to provide hope to people trying to survive in difficult conditions in this country.

What is your dream job?

My biggest dream is to work in a British media company. I visited the ITV Tyne Tees studios in Gateshead as part of this placement with Action Foundation’s Communications Officer, Pauline Holt and IMIX Media and Communications Manager, Katie Bryson. We were shown around by ITV Tyne Tees journalist Amy Sutton. I could imagine myself working there, for example! I love journalism and I have nearly 30 years of experience. The only obstacle in my way is the language barrier. I am working to overcome this obstacle by attending English language classes at Action Foundation. I hope my dream comes true as soon as possible.