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Local Reporting Network Fellow

Role overview

Qualifications

  • Proven track record of investigative reporting and impact
  • Experience developing, pitching and executing in-depth investigative projects
  • Strong collaboration and communication skills to work with editors and partners
  • Ability to work remotely from a home newsroom while participating in a one-year fellowship

Responsibilities

  • Conceive and execute a locally-focused investigative reporting project with potential national relevance during the one-year fellowship
  • Collaborate with ProPublica's staff, including a senior editor, and utilize ProPublica's data, research, and engagement resources
  • Report from your home newsroom and ensure the work is published or broadcast by both your newsroom and ProPublica
  • Provide a memo detailing the project scope, methods, timeline, and expected impact, and incorporate feedback from ProPublica

About the company

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ProPublica

News Media & Journalism (Digital)

ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force. We dig deep into important issues, shining a light on abuses of power and betrayals of public trust — and we stick with those issues as long as it takes to hold power to account.With a team of more than 75 dedicated journalists, ProPublica covers a range of topics including government and politics, business, criminal justice, the environment, education, health care, immigration, and technology. We focus on stories with the potential to spur real-world impact. Among other positive changes, our reporting has contributed to the passage of new laws; reversals of harmful policies and practices; and accountability for leaders at local, state and national levels.Investigative journalism requires a great deal of time and resources, and many newsrooms can no longer afford to take on this kind of deep-dive reporting. As a nonprofit, ProPublica’s work is powered primarily through donations. The vast bulk of the money we spend goes directly into world-class, award-winning journalism. We are committed to uncovering the truth, no matter how long it takes or how much it costs, and we practice transparent financial reporting so donors know how their dollars are spent.ProPublica was founded in 2007-2008 with the belief that investigative journalism is critical to our democracy. Our staff remains dedicated to carrying forward the important work of exposing corruption, informing the public about complex issues, and using the power of investigative journalism to spur reform.

Company details

Company typeSME
IndustryNews Media & Journalism (Digital)
Company size51 - 200

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Job description

ProPublica is an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. 

ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network helps produce vital, investigative journalism in communities where such stories would otherwise not be done. Now entering its ninth year, the program will be taking on 15 new partnerships over the course of 2026. 

Applications for all 15 projects are open now and will be considered on a rolling basis using the deadlines below. There will be three fellowship periods and we will select five fellows for each round:

  • Spring cohort
    • Application deadline: Rolling, no later than Feb. 5, 2026, by midnight ET.
    • Open to: All applicants from English-language local and regional newsrooms in the United States and its territories. 
    • Fellowship dates: April 1, 2026, through March 31, 2027. 
  • Summer cohort
    • Application deadline: Rolling, no later than May 1, 2026.  
    • Open to: Newsrooms in the states listed as eligible through our 50 State Initiative
    • Fellowships dates: July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. 
  • Fall cohort
    • Application deadline: Rolling, no later than Aug. 3, 2026.
    • Open to: Newsrooms in the remaining states listed as eligible through our 50 State Initiative. (Note: This list of states will be updated in July 2025.) 
    • Fellowship dates: Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027. 

For these partnerships, ProPublica will provide a grant, to be paid in monthly installments, to the selected newsroom reflecting the annual salary (up to $80,000 plus a 25% allowance for benefits) for one full-time reporter in each newsroom. Successful candidates will have a proven track record of investigative reporting and impact, and will provide a memo about the project they’re proposing working on for the duration of the one-year partnership.

Strong applications will express why the project needs to be told in your community — we’re eager for projects that can’t be done anywhere else. They will also explain how the project would benefit from this collaboration, potentially including the role that our data, research and engagement reporting resources could play, and they will discuss how the project may resonate with both local and national audiences. 

Once accepted, local reporters will work from and report to their home newsrooms while receiving extensive support and guidance for their work from ProPublica, including collaboration with a senior editor and access to the nonprofit newsroom’s expertise. The work will be published or broadcast by your newsroom and simultaneously by ProPublica.

ProPublica reporters and editors are available to answer questions or to give you feedback on your application before you submit it. Please reach us at Local.Reporting@propublica.org. 

We are unable to accept applications via email. No phone calls, please.

We know there are great candidates who may not fit into what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

We are dedicated to improving our newsroom, in part by better reflecting the people we cover. (Here is a breakdown of our staff.) We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. And we are taking steps to meet that commitment. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age or any other status protected under applicable law. 

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