Report for America: Environmental Journalism Job Openings

Report for America recently announced openings for approximately 150 new reporting corps positions to help the national service program continue its growth and further efforts to reverse the collapse of local journalism. The positions include the 10 environmental openings below, offered through a partnership with the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists. These 10 positions are part of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, a new collaborative network meant to boost coverage of environmental and agricultural issues throughout the river basin.

The early application deadline submission date is December 31 and the final deadline is January 31, 2022.

THE CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
The Cedar Rapids Gazette, founded in 1884, is the second largest paper in the state. This employee-owned media organization also has a news site, launched Iowa Ideas as an annual conference that looks at issues facing state’s future, and works to make the community and region stronger. It has earned the Iowa Newspaper Association award for innovation for four consecutive years.

Open Position
Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Beat: Flooding and its effects (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: Cedar Rapids has experienced record-setting flooding in recent years when heavy rains caused the Cedar River to crest well above the flood stage. The river flows into the Iowa River, a tributary of the Mississippi. This multimedia reporter works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offering a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Data/Investigative, Multimedia, reporting, experienced journalist

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE
THE COURIER-JOURNAL/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
The Courier-Journal is a 153-year-old, Pulitzer Prize-winning organization that aims to provide trusted news and information to the people of Kentucky and southern Indiana. It provides more local news, on a wider variety of subjects, than any other media organization in the region. In-depth and investigative reporting are key missions, shedding light on crucial issues and often inspiring action and change.

Open Position
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Beat: Pesticide runoff and climate change (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: Kentucky is located in the Mississippi River Basin, and Louisville is along the Ohio River, a tributary of the Mississippi River. The reporter investigates pesticide runoff into waterways, examines how farmers deal with climate change, and reports on environmental problems that disproportionately affect people of color and low-income people. The reporter works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk: this initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offers a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Reporting, writing

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE
DAILY MEMPHIAN/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
The Daily Memphian is the largest, nonprofit daily news site in the country that covers all local news, including sports, things to do and dining. It reports critical news, holds political, business and community leaders accountable, and engages with and entertains readers.

Open Position
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Beat: Environmental impacts on local communities of color (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: Investigating the effects of the environment on communities of color in Memphis, this journalist works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an initiative of Report for America in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists. This unique opportunity offers a network of collaborative reporting, covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Reporting, writing

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE
HARVEST PUBLIC MEDIA/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
KCUR is the flagship NPR station in Kansas City, Missouri, connecting people to ideas and to each other through news reporting, thoughtful conversations and arts and culture. The station is operated as an editorially independent community service of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, broadcasting 24 hours a day and online. KCUR also leads three public media collaborations: Harvest Public Media, the Kansas News Service and NPR’s Midwest Newsroom, a four-state regional news hub.

Open Position
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Beat: Air and water quality (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: No industry is more dependent on the environment than agriculture, and farmers, in turn, often greatly affect air and water quality. This reporter dives deep, focusing on in-depth reporting in both digital and audio on issues affecting the Kansas City area, and how what's going on in this area affects those living downstream. The journalist works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk: this initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offers a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Audio/broadcast, environmental reporting

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE
MIDWEST CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit, is an award-winning news site based in Champaign, Illinois. It provides in-depth journalism on agribusiness and related issues—agricultural, rural and environmental—covering 12 states in the heartland of the U.S.

Open Position
Location: Champaign, Illinois
Beat: Environmental impact of Iowa fertilizer (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: Iowa is a top agricultural state but roughly half of the fertilizer that farmers apply trickles into streams and rivers, with massive loads of nitrate winding up in the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a dead zone.This bilingual reporter, based in the IowaWatch newsroom, covers environmental and agricultural issues in communities around the river, and works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. This initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offers a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Data/Investigative, Multimedia

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a daily paper and news site, is part of the USA Today Network. With about 100 full-time journalists, the Journal Sentinel is recognized nationally for its excellence. While this news organization regularly does stories with national interest and impact, its focus is fiercely local, covering Milwaukee, southeastern Wisconsin and the state. The reporting chronicles the community, informs residents, holds officials accountable, exposes wrongdoing and highlights programs that work, engaging the community and helping to lead the search for solutions.

Open Position
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Beat: Wisconsin environmental challenges (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: Three species of invasive Asian carp are harming native freshwater species and tourism industry. Agricultural runoff threatens the river. "Forever chemicals" are polluting the groundwater. These and other issues are covered as part of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. This initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offers a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Data/Investigative, Multimedia

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE
NORTHERN PUBLIC RADIO-WNIJ/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
Northern Public Radio, a member station of NPR, has a mission to enrich, inspire and inform listeners in northern Illinois through programs and services that share ideas, encourage thought, entertain and create community.

Open Position
Location: DeKalb, Illinois
Beat: Drinking water quality (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: Nearly every county in the state north of the Illinois River has some concentration of nitrates in the drinking water. This multimedia reporter focuses on water, including the quality of the rivers and groundwater, and how climate-driven rain and flooding pose threats to life in the region. The journalist works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. This initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offers a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Audio/broadcast, reporting

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE
STAR TRIBUNE/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
The Star Tribune is the largest news organization in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest, and has been in business for more than 150 years. It is committed to serving the community with outstanding journalism on a wide range of topics. Its work has earned many national honors—most recently the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for its breaking news coverage of the killing of George Floyd and its aftermath.

Open Position
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Beat: Land use, water and wildlife (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: Communities in Minnesota are torn over protecting the land, water and wildlife while also sustaining their livelihoods. Much of the debate focuses on the Mississippi River. This multimedia reporter explores how this divide is being navigated in courthouses, town halls and at dinner tables. The reporter works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk: this initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offers a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Multimedia, reporting, writing

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE
THE LENS/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
The Lens is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-interest digital newsroom, dedicated to investigative and explanatory journalism. Its mission is to educate, engage and empower the people of New Orleans by providing the information and analysis necessary to advocate for more accountable and just governance. The Lens grew out of a citizen journalist’s drive to track demolitions after Hurricane Katrina.

Open Position
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Beat: Storm surges, hurricanes, wetlands (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: Storm surges, hurricanes, and quickly disappearing wetlands are just some of the reasons that environmental news is crucial to residents of southeast Louisiana. The reporter works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk: this initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offers a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Data/Investigative

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE
WISCONSIN WATCH/REPORT FOR AMERICA — REPORTER
Wisconsin Watch, founded in 2009, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan and independent news outlet based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It distributes content for free to editors in Wisconsin and beyond, and its guiding values are to protect the vulnerable, expose wrongdoing and seek solutions. In 2020, Wisconsin Watch produced 81 major reports picked up by 401 news organizations, reaching an estimated audience of 43 million.

Open Position
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Beat: Environmental and land use and agricultural issues in western Wisconsin (Mississippi River Basin Project)
Position: The Mississippi River is a major resource for Wisconsin: a way to move goods, a habitat for animals and plants and a source of recreation. This reporter covers the river's environmental issues, including water quality and flooding, a growing concern as climate change increases the number and intensity of storms. The reporter works on the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk: this initiative of Report for America, in partnership with the Missouri School of Journalism and the Society of Environmental Journalists, offers a network of collaborative reporting covering water, agriculture and environmental issues across the Mississippi River Basin.
Skills: Data/Investigative, reporting, writing

This position is sponsored in part by Report for America, a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.

All Report for America Newsroom Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers.

APPLY HERE

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