The award-winning Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is seeking applicants for two paid summer internships.
The interns will report on investigative stories and may use other skills, including photography and data analysis and visualization, to produce investigative coverage.
The internships will begin in June and end in August. The internships may be extended.
Eligibility is limited to undergraduate and graduate students who are enrolled, at the time of application, in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where the nonprofit and nonpartisan Center is based.
Pay is $10 an hour. The schedule is about 40 hours per week and is flexible.
The application deadline is 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1.
The newly hired interns will work with the Center’s four-member professional staff.
Interns receive intensive training and experience in interviewing, researching and writing, as well as data analysis, public records and fact-checking. They work with partners at Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television and news organizations across the nation to produce investigative reports.
Interns also collaborate with ethnic media outlets in investigative coverage. Some travel around Wisconsin may be required. Access to a vehicle is required.
Interns are provided office space in Vilas Communication Hall.
In-depth, investigative and computer-assisted reporting skills are preferred. Web, audio and video skills are desirable.
Reports are distributed on WisconsinWatch.org, the Center’s Web site; public radio and television; and by news organizations around the nation.
Applicants are asked to submit the following in electronic form to ahall@wisconsinwatch.org:
- One-page letter describing why they’re qualified for the job.
- Resume including work and journalistic experience, awards, GPA and at least two references.
- Up to five examples of published or broadcast work.
Questions may be directed to Andy Hall, the Center’s executive director, at ahall@wisconsinwatch.org, 608-262-3642, or in the Center’s office, 5006 Vilas Communication Hall.
The Center strives to increase the quality and amount of investigative reporting across Wisconsin and to train the next generation of investigative journalists while creating a replicable, collaborative model for local investigative journalism. The Center is guided by its mission statement: Protect the vulnerable. Expose wrongdoing. Seek solutions. It focuses on government integrity — particularly the role of money in politics and policymaking — and quality of life issues of importance to the people of Wisconsin, including the environment, justice system, education, economic issues, health and public safety.
Over the past two years, stories produced by the Center’s staff, interns and classroom collaborations have received nine Milwaukee Press Club awards, and a citation from the Dane County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. This year, the Center’s collaboration with the UW-Madison journalism school won the Associated Press Media Editor’s first Innovator of the Year for College Students award.
More details about the Center’s journalistic and financial operations are available at: https://wisconsinwatch.org/about/
In addition to internships, the Center is able to provide paid freelance experience to a limited number of students. If a student has a good idea (print or visual), we’d like to hear.
