No. The program is designed so you become a full-time employee of the host newsroom and develop your beat. Your efforts should be focused on your newsroom for the duration of the program.
Meet the Corps
Our corps members are talented local journalists selected by our partner newsrooms to report on under-covered issues that are vital for their communities. Reporters serve in the program initially for a year, with an option to extend their commitment for up to three years.
Our Model
Report for the World selects host newsrooms to develop a reporting position based on a beat they propose. After the announcement of organizations and their beats, each newsroom then conducts its search for candidates independently. The selected journalists become corps members and are hired by their newsrooms as full-time reporters for the duration of the stay in the program. During that time, Report for the World contributes half of their salary.
Throughout the year of service, corps members cover their assigned beat, reporting to an editor designated by the host newsroom. At the same time, they receive world-class professional development from veteran journalists, nonprofit and service leaders, technologists and academics, plus access to an international network of reporters who believe in the power of transformative journalism.
Report for the World journalists work in national and local newsrooms around the world. Our corps members are based in Afghanistan, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Hungary, India, Kenya, Mexico, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Syria, The Philippines, Ukraine and Zimbabwe.
“My experience with Report for the World and Ground Truth has been really eye-opening. It's given me a new perspective with which to view regular media."
Report for the World trainings have been fantastic. We learned different approaches taken by other investigative journalists to develop their work: for example, how to manage two or more investigative works at the same time with success.
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📍Greece
On June 14th, 2023, a ship carrying approximately 750 migrants sank near the Greek coast. Only 104 of them survived, even though the Greek Coast Guard was at the site before the accident. Using open source data, corps member Eman El-Sherbiny at SIRAJ collaborated with several news organizations to connect the on the ground reports of the tragedy with the official version, showing the discrepancies in the Coast Guard version and prompting an official investigation by the European Ombudsman.
📍Ukraine
Months before the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Kherson, Ukraine (of which the Ukrainian government blames the occupying Russian army), corps member Dymtro Simonov reported for Ukrainska Pravda on the vulnerability of the dam, and the risks a collapse presented to the local ecosystem and the nearby communities. Simonov’s reporting helped raise awareness about the threat of a nuclear incident if the nearby plant reactors didn’t receive enough water from the dam to cool its reactors.
📍Mexico
Self-styled “immigration influencers” prey on desperate migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, promising asylum help in exchange for money. Corps member Gabriela Martinez found more than 200 cases of migrants who were defrauded, tracking how victims were directed to a supposed nonprofit that offered to process asylum requests for free, only charging paperwork fees. An “employee” from the organization promised successful applications for migrants, only to disappear after the fees were paid.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are expats eligible?
Report for the World is unique from many other global reporting fellowships in that we give priority to local reporters who are from, and who live in, the communities they are serving. We’re looking for people who want to be a local journalist in that community for years to come—not candidates who are looking for a short-term or fellowship opportunity.
Do I have to know a certain language?
You’re only required to speak the language of the communities you’re going to cover, but speaking English is a plus, since it will allow you to interact more easily with the other corps members, staff and trainers.