Applications Open for 2025 News Corp Media Fellowship for Digital Innovation

The News Corp Media Fellowship offers international reporters and editors an immersive, hands-on experience in some of the world’s most digitally advanced newsrooms. Fellows learn firsthand how these top outlets are navigating the changing journalism landscape.  By shadowing reporters and editors across different departments, the fellows gain a comprehensive understanding of how an innovative news outlet operates in the digital age, and bring back new skills to transform their own newsrooms. 

Since 2014, ICFJ and News Corp have partnered to bring journalists from Africa, India, Mexico and Russia to the company’s newsrooms in New York (The Wall Street Journal) and London (The Wall Street Journal’s London office and The Times). ICFJ also organizes expert briefings on journalism trends and press freedom for the fellows. 

More than 1,000 journalists have applied for the opportunity to spend one month at The Wall Street Journal and/or The Times of London.

Highlights:

• Fellows from Africa (2017): One fellow is establishing a data team in her newsroom. A second  fellow is organizing training sessions to push the digital transformation of her newsroom forward.
• Fellows from India (2016): Both fellows made data journalism an integral part of their work and introduced it to their newsrooms.
• Fellows from Russia (2015): The Wall Street Journal published six stories from the fellows during their attachment.
• Fellows from Mexico (2014): The five fellows said they were able to apply their new knowledge and skills back in their newsrooms in more than 20 tangible ways. One participant was promoted to her organization’s data team as a result of the fellowship.

About the Fellowship

Each year, ICFJ and News Corp accept applications from a different  region or country, making this opportunity available to a wide range of global journalists. 

To complement the four-week fellowship, ICFJ designs a three-day orientation to meet the training needs of each year’s fellows. Past topics have included mobile, investigative and innovative journalism. The participants also meet with media experts to learn more about issues such as press freedom, ethics in the digital age and media law. 

The fellowships are tailored to the individual interests and needs of the participating journalists. News Corp editors have, in the past, designed fellowship activities to focus on topics such as data journalism and visualization, audience engagement, business journalism and journalism ethics in the digital age. 

The fellowship is open to English-speaking journalists and editors. All travel expenses are covered by the program. The fellow will receive an honorarium. 

How to Apply for the Fellowship

To be considered for the fellowship, journalists must:

1. Participate in two, two-hour webinars conducted by editors and reporters with expertise in digital tools, data journalism and visualization, artificial intelligence, mobile journalism and audience engagement. Webinars will be open to a select group of up to 50 journalists. Both webinars will occur in April.
2. Receive one of four news innovation grants to support a data or digitally-driven project. Only journalists who participate in both webinars are eligible to apply for these grants. Projects should promote new forms of storytelling, data journalism and visualization, or citizen engagement. Each grant recipient will also receive online editorial coaching and mentorship from experienced editors, reporters and experts. The reporting period will run from July through September.

Only journalists who complete both stages successfully will be considered for the News Corp Media Fellowship. The ideal fellow will be one who:

• Has worked in a newsroom as a reporter
• Is currently working in a newsroom
• Has a strong news sense and curiosity
• Demonstrates strong collaborative skills
• Has an interest in audience engagement and building community
• Is digitally savvy but wants to expand on skills like digital strategy and project management

• Comes with ideas for several projects to work on during the fellowship

More About the Fellowship

During the fellowship, the journalist will be embedded for two weeks in November in the WSJ’s New York City office. This two-week fellowship will be in-person.

The selected News Corp Media Fellow will have the opportunity to:

• Contribute to WSJ projects on analyzing audience engagement
• Lead peer-to-peer discussions
• Promote an exchange of ideas and knowledge
• Establish new partnerships and relationships with WSJ teams
• The fellow will receive a stipend and expenses during their time in New York City will be covered.

Requirements to Participate  

English-speaking journalists and editors with experience working with data, audience engagement, or newsletters are welcome to apply for the webinars - the first step toward the fellowship. Journalists from all countries are eligible for the opportunity.

While reporting skills will be useful, the fellowship has a non-reporting component, instead focusing on audience, newsletter and other digital journalism skills. The selected journalist should not expect to receive bylines during their fellowship.

Applications can be found here and are open until Sunday, March 23, 2025 at 11:59 pm EST.

 

For more information, please check the Link

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