Data-Driven Reporting Project

Data-Driven Reporting Project

Today much of investigative journalism is about acquiring, organizing and analyzing large, digital document sets. Technology plays a critical role in all phases but those resources are unevenly distributed. Only a few news organizations are able to take advantage of these advances. Many local news organizations and freelance journalists, especially those who serve local and underrepresented communities, would benefit from additional resources. This program aims to close this gap with targeted, financial awards to organizations and freelancers working on document-focused, investigative stories.

Modern journalism relies on technology

The Data-Driven Reporting Project (DDRP) aims to support local news journalists and freelancers working on document-based investigative projects that serve local and/or underrepresented communities in the US and Canada. The work can be in any storytelling medium: text, visual, or audio and be a singular long-form piece or a series. Projects should be publishable within 3-12 months.

Additional support

Recipients will receive specialized training and support from Medill on Google Journalist Studio tools as well as other resources. To contribute to the wider journalism community, after publication of their work, recipients will be asked to share core source documents (text, audio, visual, etc.) publicly for the benefit of other journalists.

Scale of the funding

The Data-Driven Reporting Project will make awards of up to $35,000 for projects that demonstrate a clear document-based investigation and provide proof of intent to publish from a reputable news organization. Awards will cover up to 80% of the total overall budget of the project.

Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

• Who can apply?
  • The DDRP is designed to support investigations focused on specific geographic areas and/or underrepresented communities.
  • For the purposes of the DDRP program, “local” can be interpreted to be state-wide or even regional.
  • This program is meant to support small to midsize newsrooms,
  • if your newsroom has more than 350 full-time journalists, it is probably too large to qualify for a DDRP award; however, collaborative applications involving multiple newsrooms are welcome, even if the total number of journalists working for those newsrooms is more than 350.
  • While some language here may refer to organizations, freelance journalists with a proven track record are also invited to apply.
  • Only organizations or individuals based in the United States (including territories) and Canada are eligible for DDRP awards.