Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting launches new diversity fellowship

EMERYVILLE, Calif. – Today, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a national nonprofit newsroom in the San Francisco Bay Area, launched a project-based fellowship for journalists of color. The Reveal Investigative Fellowship will help strengthen a field in which diversity of background and perspective are more crucial than in any other corner of media.

The yearlong fellowship, made possible with generous support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, emphasizes development of investigative reporting skills for early- to mid-career reporters and producers. It is intended for journalists currently employed by other outlets and includes on-site training at CIR’s Emeryville headquarters, ongoing coaching and mentoring, travel reimbursement and a $10,000 stipend to support the resulting text, audio, video or multimedia projects.

Four fellows will be selected annually for each of the next three years, based on their proposals for investigative projects they want to pursue. The deadline for the first year is Sept. 12; applications can be found at bit.ly/Revealfellows.

The Reveal Investigative Fellowship grew from a CIR staff diversity initiative undertaken last year, which underscored that even though CIR’s newsroom is among the most diverse in the nation, it does not yet mirror the country’s demographics. Attaining staff racial, ethnic and gender diversity always has been a particular struggle in investigative journalism. But too many newsrooms get frustrated and give up. CIR is committed to putting in the extra effort to responsibly reflect the world on which it reports. This fellowship is one of three primary strategies the organization is undertaking, alongside hiring and retention policies that favor a diverse workforce and regular assessment of our editorial content, to ensure it reflects our diversity.

Former Oakland Tribune Editor Martin G. Reynolds will lead the effort while also continuing his work as senior fellow for strategic planning at The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. He will report to CIR Editor in Chief Amy Pyle.

“I so appreciate the W.K. Kellogg Foundation helping us make this important initiative a reality,” Pyle said. “I also look forward to collaborating with Martin, whose long tenure working with communities of color, wide network of contacts and expertise in cultivating new talent will ensure a rich and rewarding experience for the fellows and for us.”

“I am very excited to be working on such an important project with CIR,” Reynolds said. “It’s an organization that is not only serious about working toward achieving diversity among its own staff, but with this fellowship, CIR is showing its commitment to addressing the lack of investigative journalists of color across our industry. This initiative aligns with the work I am doing with the Maynard Institute and will be an opportunity to build on the already exciting relationship between the two organizations.”

For the Kellogg Foundation, this fellowship was an opportunity to extend its extensive support of workplace development into journalism.

“We’re proud to support the Reveal Investigative Fellowship,” said Carla D. Thompson, vice president for program strategy at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. “Not only does this fellowship create a vital workforce pipeline for journalists of color, it will help ensure that newsrooms, and the stories they produce, reflect the diversity and culture of the communities they serve.”

In addition to the stipend, fellows will receive support to spend several weeks embedded at CIR receiving training and guidance in skills such as data analysis, document requests, audio gathering and interviewing techniques. They also will be sponsored to attend an annual investigative journalism conference. The rest of the yearlong fellowship will be spent at their home outlets, with continued mentoring by our editors, producers and reporters.

By the fellowship year’s end, the fellows will have produced an investigation for their home outlet and for one or more of CIR’s properties, which include “Reveal,” an hourlong public radio show broadcast on 300 stations nationwide; the Reveal podcast; and the RevealNews.org website.

Questions about the application process can be addressed to fellowship Director Martin G. Reynolds at mreynolds@cironline.org.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, the foundation works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. The Kellogg Foundation priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans and internationally are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.

About The Center for Investigative Reporting

Founded in 1977, The Center for Investigative Reporting is the nation’s first independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization dedicated to public service journalism. CIR empowers the public through groundbreaking investigative storytelling that sparks action, improves lives and protects our democracy. The stories CIR tells hold the powerful accountable and uncover information that would otherwise remain hidden from the public – revealing injustices, exposing threats to public safety, protecting vulnerable communities, championing human rights, speaking out against environmental degradation and shining a light on government fraud and waste of taxpayer funds. CIR’s reporting also exposes the intersection of power, money and politics and the impact of failures of accountability for vulnerable populations and underserved communities. CIR is the recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, winner of 2013 and 2015 Emmy Awards and a 2013 George Foster Peabody Award, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 (for local reporting) and 2013 (for public service).