Earth Journalism Network Infrastructure Reporting in Lower Mekong Fellowship 2024

Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) has launched a Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting in Lower Mekong to equip mid-career journalists with training, mentoring, and story grants to report on infrastructural development and its impacts on the environment and human rights. Participating journalists will also learn measures and strategies to mitigate potential physical and digital risks both they and the communities involved may face when reporting on this theme. Via a hybrid workshop (10 hours online and two days in-person) in March 2024 and subsequent story grants, the fellowship aims to strengthen journalists’ knowledge and skills to produce engaging and impactful stories on infrastructural development while ensuring a Do No Harm approach when engaging and reporting on individuals and communities.

• Table of Content
• About Earth Journalism Network (EJN)
• EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting
• Aim and Benefits of EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting
• EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting Courses
• Requirements for EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting Qualification
• Interview date, Process and Venue for EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About Earth Journalism Network (EJN)

Internews initially developed the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) in 2004 to enable journalists from developing countries to cover the environment more effectively. We are now a truly global network working with reporters and media outlets in virtually every region of the world. In our mission to improve the quantity and quality of environmental reporting, EJN trains journalists to cover a wide variety of issues, develops innovative online environmental news sites and produces content for local media – including ground-breaking investigative reports. We also establish netwo... continue reading

EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting

Aim and Benefits of EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting

To equip journalists with the skills to not only investigate the environmental and human rights impacts of infrastructure development in their communities but also to do so safely, EJN’s STRIDES project is running a hybrid training program. EJN will select 15 journalists who will take part in a series of online training sessions (8-10 hours over five days) and a two-day in-person workshop in March 2024.

Participants who successfully complete the training will subsequently be eligible to apply to receive story grants (with an average budget of $2000 each) and be closely mentored by experts as they research and investigate their stories. We expect the stories to be completed by September 2024. 

EJN will cover the cost of travel, accommodation, and meals of selected participants.? 

Each selected journalist will be paired with an EJN senior journalist who will act as a mentor throughout the story development process. Participants will also receive support through the resources and tools made available via the STRIDES online knowledge portal.

EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting Courses

• Journalism

Requirements for EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting Qualification

Participants can be from Thailand, Laos PDR, Myanmar, Cambodia, or Vietnam. We especially encourage early- and mid-career journalists, as well as women and Indigenous journalists, to apply.

Applicants must:  

• Commit to attending all days of both the online and in-person workshops.  
• Have at least two years of experience reporting on infrastructure and/or environmental topics in any medium (online, print, television, radio) from all types of media organizations – international, national, local and community-based.
• Understand and be able to communicate in English. For the purposes of this training opportunity, we will only be accepting applications in English. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to consider applications in other languages at this time. Applicants must either have a working understanding of English or have a translator available to assist with communication with Internews staff.
• Permit republication by EJN of any output as a result of participation in the fellowship.  

Applicants are required to be transparent about the use of generative AI tools, if any, in the development of their proposals.

EJN reserves the right to disqualify applicants from consideration if they have been found to have engaged in unethical or improper professional conduct, including, but not limited to, plagiarism and/or submitting AI-generated content as their own.

Interview date, Process and Venue for EJN Journalist Fellowship for Infrastructure Reporting

We welcome story ideas that focus on infrastructure development (and related activities such as illegal logging or mining) and the subsequent threats to the environment and human rights of local communities. We also welcome solutions-driven story pitches highlighting the actions of policymakers, civil society organizations, local communities and business sectors to deter and mitigate the threats posed by infrastructure development in the Lower Mekong.

Please note: Applicants should submit a preliminary story idea as part of their application. If selected for the fellowship, journalists who have successfully completed the training will have the opportunity to further refine their story ideas and budgets. 

Budget: All applicants are required to provide a detailed budget with justification for the amount requested using the template provided below. We ask that the budgets be reasonable and account for costs necessary for reporting, such as travel and accommodation. Story budget can be used toward local or English translations as needed. Please also note on your budget form if you are receiving funding from any other donors for the story.

Generally speaking, applications with smaller budgets will be more competitive, but we will consider larger grant amounts for stories using innovative, collaborative or investigative approaches that may be more resource-intensive and time-consuming.

We expect that proposals will largely reflect what equipment the applicant already has access to (including cameras, drones, lighting, tripods, etc.) and will not consider budgets that heavily focus on procuring new equipment. 

We will consider a stipend for the reporters’ salary, particularly if the applicant is a freelancer. Please estimate the time you’ll need to complete this story and propose compensation you believe reflects a fair market rate. We ask, however, that this comprises no more than 30% of the total budget. 

Acknowledgement of EJN support: Published stories and/or broadcasts must disclose EJN support by including this tagline: “This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.”

Application Deadline

How to Apply

• Click the 'Apply now' button at the top of the page.?? 
• If you don’t have an account, you must register by clicking “Log in” on the top right of the page and click the “Sign up” link at the bottom of the page that opens. Click?here?for detailed instructions on how to create an account, and?here?for detailed instructions on how to reset your password.?? 
• If you start the application and want to come back and complete it later, you can click 'Save Draft.' To return to the draft, you'll need to go back to the opportunity and click 'Apply now' again to finalize the application.??

For more details visit: EJN website.