Careers

Local Investigations Fellowship

Photo by Damon Winter

The Local Investigations Fellowship gives journalists the opportunity to produce signature investigative work focused on the state or region they’re reporting from that will be published by The Times and made available for free for co-publication by local newsrooms.

The nation’s local newsrooms have been gutted, even as the problems of the communities they serve — political corruption, economic disparities, crumbling roads, tensions between police and citizens — have become more evident. Editors who once oversaw hundreds of journalists in cities and suburbs now make do with dozens, or fewer.

There is so much remarkable work being done by American newspapers, and by new, energetic, nonprofit institutions that have emerged to fill the void left by those most deeply cut. But these new entrants and their predecessors admit they do not have the time or writers to do the most ambitious and difficult work — investigative reporting.

This is the kind of deep and original coverage that is often the hardest, most complicated and most time-consuming. It can involve protracted fights over public records and hundreds of interviews. It means taking chances on tips that might not pan out and spending weeks digging with no guarantee of success. Even when creative reporters and editors manage to make the time for this work, they may not have the resources to pull it off in a way that is unassailable.

It is a crisis deep within the larger crisis of the collapse of local journalism.

Dean Baquet, Executive Editor, Local Investigations Fellowship

 

Portrait of Dean Banquet

The Fellowship

This program is a one-year investigative reporting fellowship to develop the next generation of great reporters to do this essential type of accountability journalism at the local level. We are looking for fellows who have a few years of professional experience covering a local beat and who are ready to tackle an ambitious investigative project but lack the time, resources and guidance to produce it.

Under the guidance of Mr. Baquet and his handpicked group of veteran editors, these fellows will receive the rare opportunity to learn the judgment, skills and techniques needed to excel at investigative journalism from the best in the business. The fellows will spend a year, paid by The Times, to produce signature investigative work focused on their state or region that will be published by The Times. Our hope is that the fellows will do the best work of their careers in this program, and, after the fellowship, apply what they learned to create even more ambitious work in their local communities and newsrooms.

Fellowship applications are accepted on a rolling basis. We encourage all applicants interested in consideration among the next group of fellows to apply no later than September 3, 2024. However, urgent and time sensitive pitches submitted after the deadline will still be considered until December 31, 2024.

The decline of local investigative reporting means that there are fewer journalists to root out corruption, uncover injustice and expose wrongdoing in states and communities across the country. It’s our hope that this fellowship can play a small role in providing this much-needed accountability.

A.G. Sulzberger chairman and publisher of The New York Times

Benefits

For local news outlets, this fellowship is a prestigious development opportunity for promising, early-career journalists to spend a year learning from veteran investigative editors, and then return to your newsroom with a new set of skills that will benefit your report. The New York Times will employ the fellows for the year. Your newsroom will have the option to co-publish the work at no cost.

Eligibility

The ideal candidate for this fellowship:

  • Is either an independent journalist or a journalist employed at a newsroom willing to provide a yearlong sabbatical
  • Has a minimum of three years of professional experience as a reporter covering a beat for a local newspaper or local digital news outlet
  • Has an ambitious local investigative story idea that needs time and resources to execute
  • Is a journalist who believes they would bring new perspectives to investigative journalism

Frequently Asked Questions

When will applications open for the fellowship?
The applications are open on a rolling basis.

When will I hear back about my application? 
Fellows will be accepted and informed on a rolling basis.

Do the fellows have to move to New York?
The fellows will remain based in their local communities and make periodic trips to The Times’s offices for meetings and trainings.

What kind of story should I pitch for this fellowship? 
We are looking for local stories that hold power to account and that will take a few months to report. They can include investigations into government agencies and officials, or local corporations. They should be as specific as possible and backed up with some reporting. But the ideas do not have to be fully developed. We will also visit newsrooms to help shape some proposals.

How will you evaluate story pitches?
We will consider local impact and whether the subject is particularly tied to a community. If the story comes from a news organization, we will consider whether the organization believes in the project. We welcome story pitches from freelancers as well.

What if my story idea involves a team of reporters?
We may consider proposals that involve the work of more than one journalist. However, it is unlikely that we will accept more than one fellow from a single newsroom. The fellowship will provide ancillary support for the project, such as data and visuals.

Where will the articles be published?
The articles will be published in The Times and may be offered for co-publication, at no cost, to local news organizations.

Are international journalists eligible for the program?
This program is for journalists working in local communities in the United States.

What is the difference between the Local Investigations Fellowship and the Times Fellowship?
The Local Investigations Fellowship is a yearlong program for beat reporters in newsrooms or freelance journalists who are ready to tackle an ambitious investigative project. Applicants will ideally have three to five years of experience outside of internships. The fellows will be based in the communities they cover.

The Times Fellowship replaced our summer internship program in 2018. It is a yearlong program designed for journalists with some experience who are early in their careers, including recent college graduates. It incorporates reporters and visual and audio journalists across a range of departments at The Times.

Why did The Times create this program?
We have become one of the strongest investigative news organizations in the world, having exposed Harvey Weinstein’s harassment, Donald Trump’s taxes and civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes. Some of our most powerful local investigations, such as our look at how New York’s Jewish Hasidic schools are denying students a basic education, stemmed from years of intensive beat reporting.

These investigations have been at the heart of our journalistic and financial success. We want to use our experience to help local reporters — freelancers and those in newsrooms — take on the largest subjects in their states or cities. We also want to help teach investigative journalism to reporters, and to ensure that the nation’s corps of investigative journalists grows and becomes more diverse.

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