Deadline: 07-Mar-21
The East-West Center and Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, in partnership with the Stimson Center, are jointly offering fellowships to journalists from Mekong Basin countries that aim to strengthen their data-journalism skills and support data-driven investigations into water security challenges and solutions in the Mekong region.
Fellowship Overview
- The Fellowship will provide selected Fellows the opportunity to gain an increased understanding of issues related to water security along the Mekong River Basin, which covers Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
- Over the course of four months, Fellows will learn how to find open-source data and use it to produce revelatory, relevant media stories that will raise awareness of water security challenges, such as hydropower plant development, and potential solutions in the Mekong region.
- Selected Fellows will join a series of virtual seminars with experts in fields such as water management, attend an intensive, 80-hour data journalism training and receive one-on-one mentorship support to produce a data-driven media story they will pitch based on topics aligned with the theme of this Fellowship. Exact dates and times of the trainings and seminars will be set later according to participating journalists’ schedules.
Benefits
- US$3000 to compensate for fellows time, story production and any costs related to the training or reporting. Fellows will receive the grant in installments and will need to manage spending themselves.
- Virtual, interactive seminars with global and regional experts on water security issues and river management and their impact on the environment and local communities.
- Free, 80-hour data journalism training. Each class will proceed from the one before so selected Fellows will need to commit to join each one.
- One-on-one mentorship from a senior journalist throughout the story production process.
- Ability to network with regional journalists and experts and build up source lists.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be a national from one of the following countries: Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand or Vietnam.
- As the Fellowship will be conducted in English, applicants must be proficient in the English language. The Fellowship will only be accepting applications in English.
- The Fellowship is seeking journalists (online, print, television, radio) and other expert media practitioners with 2-3 years of journalism experience, preferably including reporting on environmental issues in the Mekong region and with an interest in and basic understanding of how to use data in reporting.
- The Fellowship encourages applications from freelancers and staff from all types of media organizations – international, national, local and community-based. Freelance journalists will need to guarantee publication and should identify the media outlet(s) through which they plan to distribute their stories.
For more information, visit https://earthjournalism.net/opportunities/mekong-data-journalism-fellowship-2021