IBWS-PROPUBLICA INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
ProPublica and the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting are seeking inquisitive, enterprising and nimble student journalists or recent graduates to join ProPublica’s engagement and data teams and assist with investigative projects as summer reporting interns. You’ll work with our award-winning teams covering topics related to power and betrayals of public trust. This can take many forms: our past work includes a crowdsourced investigation into the nation’s maternal mortality crisis, the definitive trove of first-hand videos from the January 6 insurrection and local investigations in partnership with news organizations around the country.
This 10-week paid remote internship will provide two interns with mentorship from ProPublica’s staff on investigative fundamentals as well as the opportunity to work on projects. The program is funded through the Ida B. Wells Society, a news trade organization whose mission is to increase the representation and profile of reporters and editors of color in the field of investigative reporting. Throughout the program, the Society will provide interns with investigative workshops.
The internship will begin in June. The most competitive candidates will be college juniors, seniors, recent graduates or postgraduates who have had news internships or equivalent news experience.
Special consideration will be given to journalists from historically underrepresented communities and those currently enrolled or recently graduated from historically Black colleges & universities. To qualify, applicants must be registered members of the Ida B. Wells Society and a U.S. citizen. To register, visit here.
Two internships are available this summer:
Engagement reporting: This intern will work with mentors on ProPublica’s engagement team to crowdsource stories for investigative projects. You’ll likely manage a callout, sift through incoming tips and lead an outreach campaign. You’ll think about finding and reaching people with important stories to tell, pulling communities into the reporting process and staying in touch with stakeholders who care about our work. The strongest candidates will be thoughtful listeners, engaging writers, curious researchers and collaborative team players. We’d love to hear about your experience working with communities, either online (such as Reddit subs or newsletter lists) or offline (such as clubs or neighborhood organizations).
Data: This intern will work with mentors on ProPublica’s data team on high-impact investigative projects. You’ll be involved in all facets of data journalism: requesting, collecting, creating and querying databases and finding the stories hidden within them. The best data projects go beyond the numbers, so you’ll work alongside ProPublica data reporters as they interview sources and craft narratives around their findings. You’ll also work with the team to help ensure ProPublica’s published data journalism is sound and accurate. The strongest candidates will have prior experience in data journalism or data analysis techniques. Candidates should know their way around an Excel spreadsheet and feel comfortable working in their data analysis tool of choice, whether that’s Python, SQL or R, or something else. We’d like to see examples of your data journalism, including published news articles or unpublished class work, and/or examples of data analyses you’ve done for other projects. Computer science and related majors interested in learning more about journalism are welcomed to apply.
The application deadline is 5 p.m. ET on May 28. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
To apply, send a résumé, cover letter explaining your specific interest in the data or engagement position and three clips of your most relevant work directly to idabwellssociety@unc.edu with subject line: “ProPublica-IBWS Summer Internship.”
