Local Investigations Fellow

Job Description

The Times is looking for reporters with a local story idea who want to investigate it under the editing guidance of Dean Baquet, The Times’s former executive editor, and a group of veteran investigative editors.

The goal of the Local Investigative Fellowship is to provide fellows the opportunity to learn the ways and means of investigative reporting from some of the best in the business. Our fellows will be based in the communities where they are reporting and make periodic trips to The Times’s offices for training and support.

This one year program is for reporters in local newsrooms or freelancers.

Responsibilities:

• Spend a year producing signature investigative work focused on your state or region that will be published by The Times.
• Under the guidance of Mr. Baquet and a handpicked group of veteran editors, you will receive the rare opportunity to learn the judgment, skills and techniques needed to excel at investigative journalism from the best in the business.
• Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.

Job Requirements

Basic Qualifications:

• 3 to 5 years of professional experience as a reporter covering a beat for a local newspaper or local digital news outlet
• You are an independent journalist or a journalist employed at a newsroom willing to provide a yearlong sabbatical

Preferred Qualifications:

• Significant experience covering a beat and an idea for an investigative story that you have not had the time, resources or editing support to pursue
• Ability to bring a new perspectives to investigative journalism

Learn more about the program here. 

To apply, upload a résumé, Cover Letter (as described below) and five clips. Applications that fail to include any of these materials or follow these instructions will not be considered. 

Your Cover Letter must include at least one story idea or pitch, but you may include multiple if you'd like. Please limit each story idea or pitch to 500 words. We are not looking for polished story ideas or pitches. Instead, your answers to these questions will help us assess where you are in the reporting process and what editorial support and resources the local investigative fellowship could offer you.

1. What is your investigative story idea or area of focus? How would your story expose something new, something no one else has already revealed?
2. Describe who has been harmed and in what way. Is the harm enough to spark outrage?
3. Will your story hold someone accountable? Who and how?
4. What critical records, data and human sources will be required to tell your story? Describe how you have, or could, obtain these critical sources.
5. What do you need help with to report this story, and what are the barriers?
6. Can you give us a sense of what has been written about the subject? Please include clips of notable reporting on the topic.

We appreciate proposals that are as detailed as possible. Successful applicants have included specifics about what they aimed to prove through their investigations. 

For example, a reporter for The Baltimore Banner had reason to believe that the city’s overdose crisis was the worst in the nation. Mississippi Today had evidence of abuses in local sheriffs offices. And a reporter for The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif., suspected a pattern of deaths inside local jails. 

Candidates should submit five published clips that show excellence — in evocative writing, through high-impact news stories and by highlighting the voices of local communities. Your clips should be uploaded to the additional materials application question below. Please ensure to include the full text of your clips, not just the links.

What makes a good local investigation?

• Starts with high stakes
  How does the story affect people’s lives and livelihoods? Their health, safety and basic quality of life?
• Has a clear line of accountability
  Great investigations have a line of accountability to someone or some group with significant power.
• Reveals something
  Does your investigation reveal something that someone or some institution is trying to keep secret?
• Has a clear sense of place
  The most important element for any local investigation: How is it (e.g. the policy, the circumstance or the failure) unique to your community?

You may apply to the Local Investigations Fellowship once per calendar year. You may also apply for other newsroom opportunities, however separate applications must be submitted for each program.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States. We will not sponsor new work visas for the fellowship, but we may consider you if you have an existing work visa or a valid student visa that can be extended via Optional Practical Training

Applicants will be notified about their status on a rolling basis. 

Keep in mind that the fellowships are very competitive and generate a high level of interest. We won’t be able to accept applications that are mailed or emailed to us. Nor will we acknowledge the status of every application upon receipt or during the vetting process. We will contact you for interviews as needed.

These positions are represented by the NewsGuild of NY

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