FRONTLINE/Columbia Journalism School Reporting Fellow 2024-2025 at GBH in Boston, Massachusetts

Job Description:

GBH enriches people's lives through programs and services that educate, inspire, and entertain, fostering citizenship and culture, the joy of learning, and the power of diverse perspectives.

At GBH, we believe in the advantages of coming together to build community, mentor and learn from colleagues, and connect more deeply with our mission. As a result, the majority of our staff are hybrid and work both from home and onsite. Our current hybrid approach requires staff to work onsite a minimum of two days each week, every Tuesday and one other day, to be determined by their business unit. Hybrid staff are also welcome to come in additional days each week or may be asked to come in on other days by their manager.

DEPARTMENT OVERVIEW

FRONTLINE is PBS’s flagship investigative documentary series, exploring the issues of our time through powerful storytelling.

We’ve won every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 104 Emmy Awards and 28 Peabody Awards to date. Today our dedicated cadre of reporters, producers and digital makers report across platforms — from our documentaries to transmedia projects. In an age of 24/7 breaking news, we remain dedicated to thoughtful, incisive accountability journalism. 

As a member of public media, it’s a core part of our mission to reflect the diverse perspectives of all of the people we serve, while grounding our work in an understanding of how forces, including racism, sexism and classism, have shaped American life and institutions. We seek both to foster a work environment and to produce journalism that values inclusiveness and reflects the broad perspectives of the American public, from all racial, ethnic, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities and functional limitations, particularly those from historically underrepresented communities.

JOB OVERVIEW

FRONTLINE is hiring one graduating student from the master's programs at Columbia Journalism School to join our staff as a reporting fellow for a finite period of one year. This position is open exclusively to soon-to-be Columbia graduates (May 2024 and August 2024).

The FRONTLINE reporting fellow will work alongside our filmmaking teams in producing the series’ investigative documentaries. Responsibilities will vary depending on projects in production and the skill set of the selected fellow, but may include contributing to the research and development of stories, reporting out leads, wrangling and analyzing data, helping set up interviews and shoots, as well as various tasks as documentaries undergo editing, vetting and post-production. The bulk of the fellow’s responsibilities will be to contribute to documentaries for broadcast and/or digital release. There will also be opportunities to work on projects on other platforms as needed — including FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative that supports local news outlets producing investigative journalism projects — as well as pursuing and reporting shorter-turnaround digital stories for our website.

We are looking for a strong reporter and creative storyteller who is committed to pursuing investigative journalism with rigor, thoroughness and fairness. Previous investigative reporting experience is preferred. Experience working on journalistic documentaries is encouraged but not required.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work closely with FRONTLINE's editorial and digital teams, as well as with filmmakers and other editorial partners.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assist with research, reporting, producing and fact-checking series’ documentary films




• Pitch, report, write and produce original digital stories




• Coordinate with digital video, social media and other teams on future stories

SKILL SET

• Excellent reporting, writing, organizational and communication skills




• Facility in data and investigative journalism tools and techniques




• Strong news judgment




• Strong work ethic




• Comfort with managing multiple projects simultaneously




• Ability to work both collaboratively and independently




• Do you have skills not listed above that make you uniquely qualified? Let us know.

ELIGIBILITY

All 2024 graduates from the Columbia Journalism School M.S. and M.A. programs are eligible to apply. This position is open exclusively to graduates of the master’s programs at Columbia Journalism School.

COMPENSATION AND TERMS

This is a full-time position, with a salary of $70,000 and benefits, for a period of one year beginning in June 2024 (for May graduates) or September 2024 (for August graduates). FRONTLINE is located within the office of our parent organization, GBH, in Boston. We will consider remote candidates for the 2024 fellowship. Fellows who choose to relocate to Boston will be responsible for their own housing and transportation. The fellowship is non-renewable and has a finite duration of one year.

TO APPLY

Please submit the following materials via this GBH portal by April 14, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Applications without all of the following will not be considered. Candidates who do not submit an application and materials via the GBH portal cannot be considered.

Front page & cover letter (two pages). A front page with your name, full contact information and names and contact information for three references, including at least two Columbia professors. The cover letter on the second page should be addressed to Priyanka Boghani, FRONTLINE Digital Editor. The letter should detail your interest in FRONTLINE; any reporting, writing and investigative experience; and any specializations in specific beats or types of media.

Resume (one page) & work samples. Please limit your resume to one page. In the same document, add links or attach no more than five of your best work samples, including at least three stories with a significant reporting and writing component.

DEADLINE

11:59 p.m. (ET), SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2024

JOB SPECIFICS

Contract position 

GBH is an equal opportunity employer. The community and audience we serve are diverse, and we wish to foster that diversity in our workplace. Toward that end, GBH does not discriminate against individuals in hiring, employment, or promotion based on race, religion, color, sex/gender, gender identity and gender expression, age, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, citizenship, disability, veteran or military status, political belief, pregnancy, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

Application Process Assistance

GBH will reasonably accommodate applicants with disabilities who need adjustments to participate in the application or interview process. To initiate an accommodation request, contact the Human Resource department by sending an email to human_resources@wgbh.org or by calling 617-300-2000.