Kate Golden / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Reporting intern and UW-Madison journalism master’s student Kate Prengaman talks to groundwater expert George Kraft in the Little Plover River in June 2013. She formerly covered the natural resources beat for the Yakima (Washington) Herald-Republic and now reports for Good Fruit Grower, a Yakima-based magazine focusing on the fruit industry.
The award-winning Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is hiring a paid interns. We are seeking a part-time public engagement and marketing intern to begin in March and a full-time investigative reporting intern to for the summer of 2019.
The intern will report on investigative stories and may use other skills, including photography and data analysis and visualization, to produce investigative coverage.
The internship will begin in June and end in August, 2019. The internship may be extended for up to a full year.
Eligibility is limited to undergraduate, graduate and graduating students who are enrolled, at the time of application, in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where the independent nonpartisan and nonprofit Center is based.
Pay is $11.50 an hour. The full-time schedule is about 40 hours per week; part-timers work about 20 hours a week. Schedules are flexible.
The application deadline is 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 31, 2018.
Interns are provided office space in Vilas Communication Hall.
For reporting interns: Some travel around Wisconsin may be required. Access to a laptop is required.
Kate Golden / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
During a staff training on recording audio, reporter intern Haley Henschel explains to Tara Golshan what she had for breakfast.
About WCIJ’s investigative reporting internships
Reporting interns receive intensive training and experience in interviewing, researching and writing. They work with WCIJ’s staff and partners at Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television to produce high-impact investigative journalism on government integrity and quality of life issues.
Reporting interns also may collaborate with news organizations throughout Wisconsin and elsewhere in investigative coverage. In-depth, investigative and computer-assisted reporting skills are preferred. Web, audio, video and photography skills are desirable.
To apply for a reporting internship, applicants must submit the following in electronic form to Executive Director Andy Hall at ahall@wisconsinwatch.org:
- One-page letter describing why you should be selected for the position.
- Resume including work and journalistic experience, awards, GPA and three references.
- Up to five examples of published or broadcast work. Students who want to do photos, videos or other multimedia should provide portfolios.
- One story pitch, no longer than three paragraphs. A pitch is not a topic. It should summarize the story in a single sentence, and explain who is affected by the situation, why the public should care, and how you plan to get it done.
- One-page cover letter stating why you should be selected for the position — your passion for public engagement and public service, writing and communication skills, digital media skills, and how this job enhances your career development.
- Resume including relevant work experience — marketing communication (e.g., advertising, PR, digital media planning) and public engagement (e.g., nonprofit marketing, social marketing, election campaigns, public outreach); digital media skills; awards; GPA and relevant course list; three contacts for reference.
- Up to five writing samples and/or design portfolio, and links to social media profiles that demonstrate your online presence.
To apply for a public engagement and marketing internship, applicants must submit the following in electronic form to Hall at ahall@wisconsinwatch.org:
Questions may be directed to Hall at ahall@wisconsinwatch.org, 608-262-3642, or in the Center’s office, 5006 Vilas Communication Hall.
Questions may be directed to Hall at ahall@wisconsinwatch.org, 608-262-3642, or in the Center’s office, 5006 Vilas Communication Hall.
About the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
The Center began operating in 2009. It increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future generations of investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy. The Center is guided by its values: Protect the vulnerable. Expose wrongdoing. Explore solutions. It focuses on government integrity — particularly the role of money in politics and policymaking — and quality of life issues such as the environment, education, the economy, health, and the justice system that are important to the people of Wisconsin.
The Center collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication, where it is housed, and news organizations in Wisconsin and across the nation.
The Center’s reports are distributed by WisconsinWatch.org, the Center’s Web site; and are made available for free to print, online and broadcast news organizations. Since 2009, the Center has produced more than 300 major news reports that have been cited, published or broadcast by more than 600 newspapers, radio and TV stations and news websites in Wisconsin and nationwide. The estimated audience of the Center’s reports exceeds 61 million people.
Stories produced by the Center’s staff, interns and classroom collaborations have received a first-place Society of Professional Journalists national investigative reporting award, 48 Milwaukee Press Club awards, and three finalist citations in the student category of the Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards. In 2012, the Center’s collaboration with the UW-Madison journalism school won the Associated Press Media Editors’ first Innovator of the Year for College Students award.
The Center’s former interns are thriving in journalism and related fields. They have worked for news organizations across the nation and around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, Green Bay Press-Gazette, WisPolitics.com, Voice of San Diego, NBC, USA Today, Appleton Post-Crescent, The Nation, Yakima Herald Republic, Forbes, The Guardian and The Associated Press.
More details about the Center’s journalistic and financial operations are available at: https://partners.wisconsinwatch.org/about/
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