New investigative reporting center launched in the Deep South

Very excited to announce that Deep South Today will create a new regional investigative reporting center in collaboration with The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship. The Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center will launch in early 2026 with a lead investigative editor, dedicated full-time investigative and data reporters, and New York Times Local Investigations Fellows at Mississippi Today and Verite News New Orleans. It will also include support from Big Local News, a program at Stanford University that empowers journalists with data, tools and collaborations. As the Deep South Today network of newsrooms continues to grow, the Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center will add capacity in its new newsrooms with dedicated reporters and fellows. This initiative was made possible through a grant from Arnold Ventures, and Deep South Today and The Times view it as an opportunity to create a new sustainable, replicable model for building strong regional investigative teams that can produce high-impact local, state and regional stories in underserved communities. The Deep South Today newsrooms are already publishing impactful and award-winning investigative reporting, and our new Investigative Reporting Center in collaboration with The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship will dramatically expand the breadth and depth of that work. We developed Deep South Today to provide the infrastructure to sustain and grow local journalism in a region that is under-resourced and underserved, and this critically important initiative will advance our mission.

Deep South Today, the nonprofit network of local newsrooms that includes Mississippi Today, Verite News New Orleans, and The Current in Lafayette, Louisiana, today announced that it will create a new regional investigative reporting center in collaboration with The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship. The Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center will launch in early 2026 with a lead investigative editor, dedicated full-time investigative and data reporters, and New York Times Local Investigations Fellows at Mississippi Today and Verite News. It will also include support from Big Local News, a program at Stanford University that empowers journalists with data, tools and collaborations. As the Deep South Today network of newsrooms continues to grow, the Deep South Today Investigative Reporting Center will add capacity in its new newsrooms with dedicated reporters and fellows. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gnxbe6iG

🔎 This new #JMCQ article by Jan Kreft, Monika Boguszewicz-Kreft, and Mariana Fydrych examines how different journalist identity groups relate to #algorithmic #gatekeeping and what that means for #newsroom practice and public information. #journalism https://lnkd.in/duk-znC9

There are a myriad of reasons why reporters decide to launch their own news sites, but these enterprising journalists often face a series of new, daunting challenges. Here's how to dodge these pitfalls. https://twp.ai/E6Ak9e

Nkem Agunwa and I recently published a piece with Global Investigative Journalism Network highlighting how community-based verification approaches to investigative journalism are helping to reshape OSINT investigations! Both projects built by Opeyemi Lawal and kehinde Adegboyega show innovative models for increasing accountability and transparency through audiovisual documentation and cross-border collaboration with Open-Source Global Justice Investigations Lab - UU. These projects which came out of WITNESS' Fortifying Community Truth initiative are explored in this article alongside other colleagues' work: Laura Salas and partners in Latin America like Laboratorio Popular de Medios Libres who are building and strengthening movements and methodologies which offer decentralised alternatives to digital infrastructure. https://lnkd.in/exzeruKt

Introducing the 2025 NJ News Commons Investigative Reporting Initiative, a new program aimed at strengthening investigative journalism capabilities across New Jersey. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supports this comprehensive program, which provides eight newsrooms with professional IRE training, veteran journalist coaching, $3,000 reporting stipends, and complimentary IRE memberships over six months. Selected newsrooms will tackle critical community issues including education, fiscal responsibility, immigration enforcement, and healthcare access. The program serves diverse audiences from Spanish-speaking residents to African American communities and local municipalities. Participating newsrooms include The Jersey Bee, Montclair Local, New Jersey Hispano, New Jersey Urban News, New Jersey Monitor, Public Square Amplified, Slice of Culture, and The Trenton Journal. Each partners with experienced coaches bringing decades of expertise from major publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. #investigativereporting #journalism #newjersey #localnews https://lnkd.in/e2R2XVA4

We're grateful to announce that the IWMF has received a $200k grant from the Knight Foundation to build on our US newsroom safety program. At a time when journalists are facing unprecedented threats, the Knight Foundation’s grant will enable us to train 600 additional journalists on how to protect themselves online and on the ground. “Journalists who feel safe and supported, online and in the field, are better able to focus on telling stories that shape our daily lives. The IWMF has empowered newsrooms across the country, helping ensure they have the resources to continue serving their communities.” – Marisa Kwiatkowski, Director of Journalism, Knight Foundation Read the press release here: https://lnkd.in/dx-BJJbZ

What does your state’s local news ecosystem look like, and where does it need support? Virginia recently completed a map of its local news landscape, a practice that’s gaining traction across the country as communities work to better understand their strengths, gaps and opportunities for growth. University of Virginia’s Karsh Institute of Democracy and Virginia Humanities have detailed the character of news outlets and their coverage areas in a new report that was done with support from API, More Perfect and the PATH Foundation. Thanks to the report's analysis they were able to: - Identify coverage gaps - Understand business challenges - Have the tools to enable necessary conversation for news leaders and other stakeholders Read the full report and see how this info could help your news organization.👇🏾 https://hubs.ly/Q03KNkk60 #API #LocalJournalism #LocalNewsEcosystem

Newsrooms from all across Europe are uniting around an urgent goal: listening deeply and reporting in ways that can help combat polarization, conflict, and misunderstanding. For the next year, the 10 newsrooms and 20 journalists in SJN's first Bridging News Fellowship will be learning advanced listening skills, solutions reporting techniques, and — above all — a way of reporting on tense issues that helps, rather than exacerbates. This isn't going to be easy. This isn't hand-holding, everyone-get-along difference burying. This is getting in the mud and reimagining what role journalists and journalism can serve when people are polarized. And we couldn't be happier to build this way of working with these journalists and with our partners at European Journalism Centre (EJC), Bonn Institute, and Transitions Media. Please welcome Rhiannon J Davies, Devon McCole, Gael Cerez, Matthieu S., Cagri Ozdemir, Defne Altıok, Andra Matzal, Oana Filip, Assunta Corbo, Jan Rübel, Rike Uhlenkamp, Anne-Sophie Novel, Orianne PASCAL ⏚, Alexandra Tyan, Hélène Pillon, Andreea Vîlcu, Nicoleta Rădăcină, Maxine Betteridge-Moes, and Bethany Rielly! Learn more about the incredible and necessary work they'll be doing here: https://lnkd.in/gDnTz2Dh

We're thrilled that co-editor Bethany Rielly and digital editor Maxine Betteridge-Moes are taking part in this important fellowship on listening skills and advanced solutions reporting techniques. “We want to take part in this fellowship to deepen our newsroom’s solutions journalism skills and strengthen our ability to report with care, accuracy and impact on some of the world’s most polarizing and urgent issues," they told Solutions Journalism Network. "At New Internationalist, our mission is to push for change and spotlight solutions, and this training will help us expand that work while sharing learning across our team. We’re especially excited to apply these skills to our News Clubs, where constructive dialogue and community connection can counter division and inspire collective action.” This opportunity comes at a critical time, as a global wave of far-right authoritarianism is threatening human rights, climate action and democracy – steering the world toward disaster. Our latest issue traces the roots of the right’s rise, exposes the networks that enable it and spotlights the social movements offering real alternatives to the politics of hate and division. Read more 👉 https://lnkd.in/eCdiyKuh