Indigenous Media Fellow, Investigative Journalism Foundation

Investigative Journalism Foundation

19h • Remote

About The Position

This role is funded by a Canadian Race Relations Foundation Media Fellowship grant. The purpose of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation is to facilitate, throughout Canada, the sharing and application of knowledge and expertise in order to contribute to the elimination of racism and all forms of racial discrimination in Canadian society. The Media Fellowships Program supports the CRRF’s commitment to building a national framework for fighting racism in Canadian society by strengthening media organizations’ capacity to combat racism and creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue, learning and sharing with the broader public. Please note: Based on grant eligibility requirements, this role is limited to journalists, reporters, columnists and storytellers who belong to First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, Black and other racialized communities, and/or religious minorities, to advance equity in newsrooms. We encourage applications from emerging or early-career journalists. Successful applicants may be asked to submit a self-identification form in accordance with funding guidelines. The Indigenous Media Fellow will receive hands-on training in the data-driven investigative methods in which the IJF specializes, and will, in turn, contribute to the IJF’s reporting on how money and power in Canada affect Indigenous peoples. Reporting on money and power in Canada through an Indigenous lens is a longstanding priority of the IJF. We are looking for a journalist with an interest and expertise in Indigenous affairs, politics and government at all levels. The successful candidate will devote 40 hours per week to reporting on Indigenous affairs, including coverage of the legacy of residential schools and Indigenous people’s representation, or lack thereof, in government activities like lobbying and contracting. We’re happy to hear from candidates based in Canada. Successful candidates will be excited about working with a mission-driven nonprofit that uses journalism to strengthen Canadian democracy every day.

Requirements

• Experience writing in-depth or investigative stories that make the world a better place.
• Experience and a comfort level with culturally-sensitive and trauma-informed journalism that can help to shine a light on both Indigenous affairs and experiences of Indigenous communities within the residential school system.
• The ability to spend weeks methodically working on a long-term investigation while simultaneously bringing an accountability lens to quick-turnaround pieces.
• Excitement about working in a data journalism-focused newsroom.
• Experience working with spreadsheets and data.
• A genuine interest in working with others.
• Journalists, reporters, columnists and storytellers who belong to First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, Black and other racialized communities, and/or religious minorities.

Nice To Haves

• We integrate things like web scraping, data visualization, machine learning and natural language processing into our editorial process.
• Programming knowledge and advanced scraping and data skills are assets.
• Entry-level, aspiring, emerging, and early-career reporters are encouraged to apply if they think they would be a good fit for this position!

Responsibilities

• Dive deep into our Residential Schools: the Hidden Stories database and other databases to shine a light on the experiences of Indigenous people in the residential school system in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive manner.
• Practice shoe-leather journalism to connect with Indigenous communities on the ground to report on socio-economic and governmental issues as they pertain to Indigenous affairs.
• Lead investigations of different levels of government and their policy decisions, services, and spending, as they relate to Indigenous affairs and beyond.
• Produce stories approximately every two weeks, each about 1,200 to 1,500 words in length.
• Collaborate with other IJF reporters on everything from story-idea generation to long-term investigations.
• Participate in weekly pitch meetings and the IJF’s practice of peer review, in which IJF reporters carefully fact-check and copy edit each other’s stories before publication.
• Work on co-productions with reporters in partner newsrooms at some of the largest media outlets in the country.
• Participate in related activities to be delivered by the CRRF and its partners as required, up to and including weekly meetings, training, and evaluation activities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed