The IIJ Has Big Plans for 2025
Also, NEW podcast episode: Navigating a journalist’s worst nightmare - getting sued. Freelance journalist Lisa Kwon shares her story.
We blinked and suddenly we’re sending out our last weekly newsletter of 2024!
As we look back on the year, we’re humbled by your support of our programs, and major projects, including The Freelance Journalism Podcast and our first-ever layoffs survey. Your support and engagement allowed us to continue growing as an organization and to provide even more resources to our freelancer community.
Though layoffs continue to impact many newsrooms, we’re ending this year stubbornly hopeful, a mindset influenced by the countless other organizations and individuals working to move this field towards a more independent, community-focused, and diverse future.
As a gift to you, we wanted to share a list of some of our favorite freelance journalism newsletters that are also serving up weekly opportunities and inspiration.
We can’t wait to see all 2025 has to offer you!
With appreciation,
-The IIJ team
P.S. We’re now on BlueSky!
Our Favorite Freelance Newsletters:
New Year, New Opportunities
Our upcoming conference is gearing up to be our best yet – and this is only the beginning of what we have in store for 2025!
The conference will open with keynote remarks from radio host and author Celeste Headlee in conversation with Deepa Fernandes, co-host of NPR’s Here and Now; exclusive panels with editors from Slate, Cosmopolitan, Condé Nast, and many more. On top of that, rare opportunities for virtual networking with fellow freelancers from all over. For a limited time, tickets are just $59!
In 2025, we’re also excited to partner with our peers to take our programs to the next level:
We’re excited to be working with the National Writers Union’s Freelance Solidarity Project to host a rate negotiation workshop next month, which will include hands on learning opportunities
We’ll see you at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference in the summer, where we’ll be offering a business of freelancing workshop (stay tuned for more details).
Meanwhile, be sure to subscribe to the Freelance Journalism Podcast. There’s a new episode out today! See below for more details. Next month, catch a conversation with marketing maven Lex Roman, who writes one of the newsletters we shouted out above, Journalists Pay Themselves.
Your Support Will Go Twice as Far!
Since 2022, the Institute for Independent Journalists has been a vital resource for over 3,000 freelancers from underrepresented backgrounds, including BIPOC, women, LGBTQ+, and disabled writers. Our work is made possible through the support of individuals such as yourselves, and allows us to offer low-cost and free programming and a wide range of learning opportunities.
It has never been a better time to give to the IIJ. Right now, every gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous major donor, meaning you have the power to make twice the impact! Don’t wait – give today and help us build a more independent, diverse journalism field!
New Podcast Episode: Protecting Yourself From Legal Risk with Lisa Kwon
It might be a freelancer's worst nightmare: getting sued over your reporting. After Lisa Kwon reported a story for nonprofit newsroom Knock L.A on Airbnb operators, one of them took Kwon to court. In this episode, she shares her side of the story with IIJ founder Katherine Reynolds Lewis, along with important advice for freelance journalists on how to protect yourself.
Webinar Replay: Finding Journalism-Adjacent Work
Friday was our last webinar of the year, where we discussed how freelance journalists might use their skills to branch out into work like marketing, communications or PR. Thanks to everyone who came, and of course a big thank you to our speakers: our moderator Michelle Faust Raghavan, freelance journalist and founder of Claridad Media; Mary Melton, editor-at-large for Alta Journal, and editorial director for the content marketing firms Godfrey Dadich and Smakdab; Stacy Brooks Whatley, Director of Marketing and Communications for the American Counseling Association and Ricardo Baca, founder and CEO of Grasslands.
Deadline Reminders
🌏 Apply for Grist’s Climate Reporting Fellowships
Grist just announced applications are open for three remote climate reporting fellowships that will run from May 5, 2025 through April 30, 2026. These fellowships are remote and each focuses on a different area of interest including climate news, climate solutions, and indigenous affairs. 💰 Salary: $58,750. All applications are due January 21, full information on how to apply available here.
📛 Deadline Extended for the David Carr Scholarship - Apply by Jan. 31!
The Power of Narrative is offering 10 journalists or journalism students free attendance to their upcoming March conference through an extension of the David Carr Scholarship. This scholarship provides professional conference experience to journalists from historically underrepresented groups including journalists of color, LGBTQ+ journalists, and journalists with disabilities. The conference takes place in person in Boston, on March 28 and 29. Applications are due Jan. 31. Apply now!
✏️ Early-Career Journalists: Apply for The Verite Fellowship!
Verite News is a Black-led nonprofit news organization on a mission to produce community-centered journalism while training and mentoring the next generation of minority journalists. Applications are now open for their news fellowship, a 12-month professional development opportunity to pitch stories, learn a variety of digital storytelling skills, and work with Pulitzer Prize-winning editors. 💰 “Competitive salary and benefits,” though an exact pay range is not explicitly outlined in the application. Learn more about this opportunity and submit your application here.
🤖 Tarbell Grants to Support Freelance Journalists Reporting on AI
Tarbell is currently offering a variety of funding opportunities to freelance journalists looking to report on the harms of AI. In particular, this program is interested in stories related to the inner workings of leading AI companies, and critiques of lobbying efforts shaping AI policy. 💰 Grants range from $1,000 to $15,000 depending on the project scope. You will find more information on how to apply here and all applications are due Dec. 20.
🌟 Join The Asian American Journalists Association’s Mentorship Program
Apply now to be a mentor or mentee with the AAJA’s upcoming 2025 cohort! This mentorship match program is a year-long committee dedicated to fostering meaningful connections and community. Applicants must be current AAJA members. Applications are due Friday, Feb. 7, further information on the program available here.
🥘 Send Your Food-Related Pitches to The Food Section
The Food Section founding editor Hanna Raskin is looking for reported story pitches that center culinary news and culture across the South. Stories must take place in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, or West Virginia. 💰 Rate: $1,058 for 1,200 words. They’re open to conversations about covering minor story expenses as well. Pitch your story using this Google form.
✈️ The International Women’s Media Foundation Launches Ukraine Report Initiative – Apply now!
The IWMF just launched the Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines fellowship program. This program will lead reporting trips to Ukraine for American, French, and German freelance and staff journalists representing local and regional news outlets. The first trip will take place Feb. 12 - 26 and lead fellows through several days of training prior to eight days of reporting in the field. The IWMF will arrange all travel and in-country logistics including costs related to travel, lodging, and meals. Applications are open to women and nonbinary journalists and must include a letter of support from an editor. All submissions are due by Jan. 25 – apply here.
🎥 Support For Developing Your Reporting into a Documentary Pitch!
Prototipe Media is a production company empowering freelance journalists as they navigate adapting and pitching their stories to TV networks, streamers, or film studios. First, apply to become a part of Prototipe’s community of journalists and from there, you can submit your project for adaptation. If it’s green lit by the team, you’ll immediately receive a $1,000 stipend to further develop the idea. From there, Prototipe will help you develop a trailer/sizzle reel and begin pitching. For more information, check out their website.
Interesting Reads
📖 The list of barriers facing young journalists continues to grow: fewer jobs, low pay, lack of benefits, long hours – journalist Marigo Farr sets out to capture the experiences of her fellow early career reporters, providing a rare look into the unrealistic expectations placed on the younger generation. “Journalism will never be the most lucrative field, but we live in a time when humanity’s actual survival depends on asking hard questions about climate change, on telling people’s stories who are often overlooked, and on reporting the truth,” writes Marigo. “We can’t rely on exceptional scenarios to produce the journalists who will carry out this responsibility. It’s not fair to the hopeful journalists who have the passion, and it’s not fair to the public.”
📖 Alicia Bell, Brittaney Carter, and DaLyah Jones report for Prism on the influential legacy of BIPOC journalists advocating for truthful, democratic reporting in the face of threats. Now, the team writes, it’s more important than ever to remember the work of these pioneers as we navigate the political climate ahead: “We still collectively reap the benefit of Ida B. Wells’ work, and we desperately need more truth-tellers like her. We get there by rebuilding our journalism ecosystem.”
📖 “In 2025, unless we come together as a journalism field and course-correct away from information consolidation controlled by the ultra-wealthy, it will get worse,” writes Gabe Schneider, editor and co-founder of The Objective, in Nieman Labs’ 2025 predictions series. Check out other predictions from journalists such as Basile Simon, IIJ leader Meena Thiruvengadam, and Taylor Lorenz, each sharing their forecasts for what’s to come in news and media in 2025.
📖 IIJ leader Erika Hayasaki gets granular in her advice to early career journalists. While talking with Ryan Teague Beckwith for My First Byline, she shares: “Don’t think you are not a real journalist if journalism itself is not your main paying gig. Aim high. Create a tier system for yourself of goal publications for pitching.”
Calendar
🗓️ Friday, Jan. 17 at 12 p.m. ET - Learn to Negotiate Like a Rockstar with the IIJ and our friends at the NWU's Freelance Solidarity Project. In addition to a panel discussion from freelance pros, attendees will break out into facilitated groups to network and troubleshoot rate issues. RSVP now.
🗓️ Thursday and Friday, Feb. 27-28 - The IIJ Annual Freelance Conference. Early bird tickets are now available – but not for much longer! Snag yours now for $59 and receive access to two full days of live, online learning and networking with some of the best in the journalism field – including our keynote speaker Celeste Headlee. Register here!