Baltimore Pipeline of Working and Emerging Reporters (P.O.W.E.R.) Fellowship
Just Media is a national hub supporting emerging storytellers to cover the justice issues that define our generation. In the current moment, we’re seeing years of grassroots power-building coming to a head — with the uprisings, movements to defund and abolish carceral systems, voting rights restoration for 100,000s of formerly incarcerated people, referendums on DAs, and more.
The Real News Network is a Baltimore-based national nonprofit news network dedicated to amplifying the voices on the frontlines in the struggle for a more just and liveable planet. Rigorous in our journalism and dedicated to the facts, we are unafraid to engage alongside movements for change because we believe that journalism and media-making has a critical role to play in mobilizing collective action. We create journalism that makes our audience feel the world can be changed, and that they can play a key role in making it happen. Beyond our national and international reporting, The Real News Network is, also a place-based institution with a responsibility to serve Baltimore, the city we call home. We know that the struggles of this majority-minority city (unequitable access to resources like education, clean air, and transportation, for example) are the same struggles people face all over the globe. Our local coverage helps keep our friends and neighbors abreast of what’s going on in our city, but we intend for these stories to inform and inspire people united in the struggle everywhere.
Just Media and The Real News Network will join forces to create more opportunities for emerging journalists in Baltimore, especially young Baltimoreans of color, to report on the local criminal justice system, informed by the experience of this system’s impact on their own communities.
Who should report stories on policing and mass incarceration? Who gets a platform to cover the impacts of this carceral system on Baltimore’s Black communities, and the alternatives these communities envision?
This fellowship will empower young journalists, especially journalists of color, with the soft and hard skills necessary to be successful in a professional journalism environment. Our curriculum aims to bring a consciousness to their reporting, and in interactions with their communities as it relates to criminal justice reform.
We’re excited to announce our POWER Fellowship. Through this paid, 3-month cohort, fellows will receive comprehensive journalism training, mentorship, community building opportunities, and support publishing their writing with partner outlets.
Fellowship timeline: The fellowship will run from June 2023 through mid-August 2023.
Reporting focus: This year’s cohort will focus on criminal justice issues impacting the Baltimore metro area, including topics like police misconduct, criminalization of young people, overreliance on pretrial incarceration, racial and economic bias in who gets policed and jailed, and the long-term damage done to communities by carceral systems. We’ll also help Fellows cover stories of communities and policymakers working to shift the status quo—through harm reduction, violence interruption, and, ultimately, through the fight for alternatives to policing and imprisonment as primary responses to social and economic problems.
Who’s eligible: The fellowship is open to emerging writers based in the U.S., ages 18-25, with a relationship to communities impacted by prison and policing issues. Young writers of color and those with firsthand experience with the criminal legal system are strongly encouraged to apply.
Our ideal candidate:
A junior, senior, recent graduate, or grad students who have prior journalism experience or with a demonstrated interest in storytelling
Is between the ages of 18-25
Has a relationship to communities impacted by prison and policing issues in Baltimore
Has experience writing about and demonstrated interest in criminal justice-related issues
Open to growth, feedback and learning
Has a passion for community-based reporting practices
Demonstrated experience working as part of a team and being a self-starter
Preferred Qualifications:
Prior editorial experience as part of a student or professional newsroom
Enrolled in a journalism degree program
In alignment or in communication with local or national based movement groups
We strongly encourage people of color, women, LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities to apply
Fellowship benefits:
A $1,000 stipend, paid in 2 installments in June and August, in addition to any fees offered by The Real News Network and partner publications
Comprehensive and sustained political education, editorial training, and mentorship
Support publishing writing through The Real News Network’s website and local and national partner publications
Media training at The Real News Network’s downtown Baltimore Studio, and a co-working desk (if desired) for the duration of the fellowship
Opportunities to build relationships with grassroots groups, professional mentors, and fellow young writers
Access to Just Media’s growing alumni network and reporting resources
Expectations:
Participate in weekly Tuesday evening training and regular check-in calls with Just Media staff.
Pitch, report, write and publish at least one journalistic article related to the designated reporting spokes.
Overall, expect to commit an average of 5-10 hours per week to the fellowship.
Questions?
Email tatyana@justmediaproject.org or rjaa@justmediaproject.org. We encourage folks to get in touch if you have any questions or want to collaborate with us in the future!
Thank you to our donor
This program would not be possible without the support of the Scripps Howard Fund.
The Scripps Howard Fund is a public charity that supports philanthropic causes important to The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) and the communities it serves, with a special emphasis on journalism education, excellence in journalism and childhood literacy. At the crossroads of the classroom and the newsroom, the Fund is a leader in supporting journalism through scholarships, internships, minority recruitment and development and First Amendment causes. The Scripps Howard Awards stand as one of the industry’s top honors for outstanding journalism, and the Fund’s annual “If You Give a Child a Book …” childhood literacy campaign has distributed thousands of new books to children in need across the nation. In support of its mission to create a better-informed world, the Fund also partners with Scripps brands to create awareness of local issues and support organizations that help build thriving communities. The Scripps Howard Foundation, an affiliated organization with the Scripps Howard Fund, supports Scripps’ charitable efforts through its endowment, key projects and major donations.