Deadline: December 20, 2023
Applications are open for the Rainforest Investigations Network (RIN) Reporting Fellowship 2024. Few stories are more urgent—and global—than the destruction of the planet’s tropical rainforests. The Pulitzer Center’s RIN seeks to create an ecosystem of collaboration among journalists to follow the money and the many illegal practices and legal loopholes that enable industrial-scale deforestation.
The RIN Fellows will work on individual and collaborative reporting projects to systematically probe the drivers of deforestation across the three main rainforest regions: the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia.
The Rainforest Investigations Network is coordinated by journalist Gustavo Faleiros, a pioneer of rainforest accountability reporting and founder of the data journalism outlet InfoAmazonia. The RIN core team includes Research Editor Jelter Meers, Data Editor Kuek Ser Kuang Keng, and investigative journalist Madeleine Ngeunga. The Fellows will also work with other Pulitzer Center staff, such as Executive Editor Marina Walker Guevara.
Benefits
- The opportunity to work on impactful investigations that are time-consuming and costly.
- A global network of investigative reporters who will aid your investigations and complement your skills.
- Access to data and documents as well as the opportunity to sharpen your data skills with support from the Pulitzer Center’s data and research team.
- Specialized training opportunities such as the use of satellite imagery and other digital tools in investigations, corporate and follow-the-money research, and more.
- The opportunity to work and collaborate with other journalists on stories that transcend your country and region and can achieve true global impact.
- A community of like-minded colleagues that will continue beyond your fellowship.
- The possibility of renewing your fellowship for an additional one or two years, based on performance.
- Salaries commensurate with experience.
- Reporting expenses such as travel, consultants and technology up to US$10,000 during the entire fellowship.
Eligibility
- Open to experienced investigative journalists with a proven track record covering the Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia regions.
- Reporters based in countries outside the three main tropical rainforest regions—Amazon, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia—may also apply but will need to focus their reporting during the fellowship on stories related to these regions.
- Staff or freelance journalists working on a wide range of platforms, including print, radio, video, and multimedia. Freelance reporters will need to have the support of a local or international newsroom that agrees to host them and publish the work they produce during the fellowship.
- Team players with the experience and/or ability to work collaboratively across newsrooms and borders.
- Reporters with a deep understanding of the scientific, environmental, social, legal, political, and commercial forces at play in deforestation and forest degradation around the world—and why this issue matters to our global well-being.
- Reporters willing to participate in outreach activities related to their investigations, such as meetings in communities and visits to schools and universities.
Application
To apply, you will be asked to provide the following:
- A statement of purpose: How does this fellowship fit in your career path and why are you best positioned to be a Rainforest Investigations Network Fellow? You may also include how collaboration with journalists from other regions can benefit your investigations or how you might be able to assist them. (500 words)
- An investigative project proposal describing the most ambitious rainforest reporting you seek to pursue during your fellowship. Please do not propose general themes, but offer concrete investigative projects that aim to uncover systemic wrongdoing/abuse that is unknown or hidden. It is expected that by the time you apply you have already done pre-reporting to determine the scope, feasibility, and novelty of the project. A compelling, well-researched project proposal with a reporting plan will help you stand out among hundreds of applicants. If the investigation includes a cross-border approach, explain your collaboration plan and identify partners outside and within the network. (1,000 words)
- Three examples (links) of your most impactful investigations published in the past three years.
- A letter of support from your media employer or a newsroom that has agreed to host you as a Rainforest Investigations Network Fellow and publish your work.
- Three professional references: These can be either contact information or letters of recommendation.
- A copy of your résumé or curriculum vitae.
For more information, visit RIN Program.
