❄️ Happy Holidays From Inside The Newsroom
Job board announcement and what to expect in 2024...
Hello folks, happy penultimate Friday of 2023! I know I said I was done for the year, and I have been doing some hardcore hibernating over the past couple of weeks, but I have one last newsletter to wish you a happy holidays, to update you on the job board and what you can expect from Inside The Newsroom in 2024.
I also spoke to Julianne Culey, Assistant Director at The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Wow that’s a long title. Julianne is looking for more applicants to the inaugural James B. Steele Fellow in Investigative Business Journalism, which pays the tuition of a master’s degree at one of the top journalism schools in the world. Our conversation is published below, so do have a read and reach out to Julianne if you have any questions: jculey@asu.edu.
The Rest of 2023…
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, respectively, this year. In terms of updating the job board, those are the worst days to fall on. So I’m going to add a few hundred new openings today and tomorrow to tie us over, and then the next update will arrive over two days on January 2 and 3. From January 9, I plan to resume the twice-weekly newsletter as usual with new jobs every Tuesday, and our Journalism Awards, Events, Fellowships and Trainings Calendar on Fridays. I’ll be chexcking my emails periodically throughout, so if you have an urgent question, you can still reach me at daniellevitt32@gmail.com.
…What To Expect In 2024
Each year, I aim to make Inside The Newsroom the best value for money around. This year we’ve brought you more than 25,000 new journalism jobs and internships, as well as approximately 2,500 awards, fellowships and webinars to apply to. We’ve also introduced a whole host of our subscribers to recruiters directly via our Candidate Board.
In January, we’ll be launching the first ever Inside The Newsroom Salary Board, with more than 5,000 salaries from various openings we’ve listed over the past 12 months. And we’ll continue to update this new dataset weekly, as well as provide insights on industry trends and where the best-paid jobs are.
Also in early 2024, we will be revamping our Journalism Calendar to bring you the largest number of listings around, giving you the best opportunities to become smarter and more well paid as we possibly can. On that note, we’ll also be relaunching our Résumé Evaluation and Design service, making your application materials stand out to recruiters from the rest of the field. All this for as little as $6/£5 per month.
Until then, that really is all from me for this year. Thank you all so much for your continued support, and I sincerely wish you an amazing holidays wherever and however you are spending it. 💙💙💙
Daniel’s Chat With The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism
Daniel: Start by telling us about the James B. Steele Fellow in Investigative Business Journalism — what does it entail and what experience can fellows expect to gain from the year-long program?
Julianne Culey: The fellowship includes three graduate semesters at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, followed by a summer internship at a business publication. Fellows choose to complete one of two master's degrees available at Cronkite while working part-time at the Reynolds Center. While at the Center, students can apply the skills they learn in the classroom to their own story or investigation, while assisting with other activities at the Center. This includes participating in the judging of the annual Barlett and Steele Awards, getting involved in an annual survey of business journalists, and helping put on events for fellow students with seasoned business journalists.
What type of fellows are you looking for? Any specific background or experience that will help them stand out?
The most important traits we are looking for in this cohort are curiosity and a willingness to learn. Of course, it’s always helpful to have a background or some experience in the business field and with writing, whether that’s an accounting course or having worked at your local paper. But it isn't as necessary as genuine curiosity. Pure curiosity is often how investigations begin.
What are the eligibility requirements and what funding can recipients apply for?
Fellows must have an undergraduate degree before the start of the fellowship and they must apply for and be accepted into one of the two MA programs at Cronkite. The fellowship includes tuition for all three semesters of the Cronkite master’s program, a biweekly stipend and health insurance for the academic year, and placement in a funded summer internship.
The Fellowship was created for the 2024-25 academic year. Why was now the time to launch the fellowship?
Our center started with a focus on early to mid-career journalists already working in the field to improve their current business coverage. However, when our current team came on board two years ago it felt like the right time to shift the focus to be more student-oriented. We saw a need in the market for a business fellowship that was for individuals just starting their career or those considering a career switch. As we already host the annual Barlett and Steele Awards, which recognizes the best in investigative business journalism, it was a natural fit to have this fellowship focus on the same, and we think having more journalists watching over businesses and keeping them accountable to their communities can only be a net positive for society.
The Center was created in 2003 with the aim of improving the quality of media coverage of business and the economy. Which areas does the industry need to do better?
We think it's crucial to hold businesses accountable. Businesses spend millions upon millions lobbying the U.S. Congress every year to pass, or not pass, laws and regulations that make it easier for them to either pay workers less, have less oversight, or pay fewer taxes — all of which impact actual people. It can be so easy to write about businesses as if they are entities separate from individual people, but in reality, they are just people making decisions, usually about money, that impact others.
When businesses lobby small counties to give them tax breaks, the way Google and Amazon have done while building data centers in rural areas of Oregon, it can deny small communities the money they need for education and roads, while also pulling away natural resources. When it comes to social injustices, there’s often business or money involved somewhere along the line, and it is so important that business coverage doesn't forget that real people are involved and impacted by business decisions. We interact with businesses in so many ways in our daily lives, from the ones we work for to the ones we purchase food, shelter, and clothing from, and all these companies have the collective power to influence how easy or hard our lives are.
Some recent articles on your website include how U.S. businesses profit from war, and how renters have been locked out of the ‘American Dream’. How does business journalism separate itself from other beats and coverage areas of journalism?
The most exciting aspect about being a business journalist is that it’s not necessarily separate from other coverage areas in journalism, but is often deeply connected to them because, in a capitalist society, money is always involved. It is extremely common to assume that business journalists just write about stocks or the finance market, but in reality, they cover so much more than that. When we conducted our annual survey of business journalists this year, we had journalists participate whose main beats included the cannabis industry, sports, real estate, education, health care, technology, transportation, retail, immigration, you name it — a business angle can be found.
Once the fellows have completed the program, where do you think they’re needed most?
Although there are a lot of wonderful business-specific publications, one of which the fellow will spend time at for a summer internship, business journalists are needed at all publications. As we said, businesses are literally everywhere, and when money is involved, corruption is always possible. By adopting an investigative business mindset, fellows will be able to stand out from the crowd and market themselves to the publication of their choosing. The skills learned here are merely extra tools in their journalistic toolbox that will allow them to tell stories others may not think of to include in their coverage of the topic.
Take immigration for example. When it comes to the U.S./Mexico border, there is a cost to having border patrol, there is a cost to housing and feeding migrants in detention centers, there is a cost to immigration courts, there are businesses that heavily rely on immigrants to run their business such as farming, there are truly countless angles to cover. If a fellow is interested in covering international politics, you better believe there are businesses involved. Budget cuts, tax breaks, regulations, laws, all of it is tied to both businesses and people.
And lastly, in one sentence, tell people why they should at least inquire about applying for the Fellowship…
If you are interested in holding businesses accountable while also obtaining a graduate degree at an amazing institution, this fellowship could be the right move for you.